RICHMOND, Va. -- As Darvette Hawkins showed us around the trash dumpsters outside her Richmond apartment, she asked to step away.
"This is the first time in the past week that I have been near my trash can," she said. "I normally get my boyfriend to bring out the trash, so can we please move now?"
Hawkins said the overflowing amount of rotten food, dirty baby diapers, and trash bags on both sides of the dumpsters at what used to be called Midlothian Village, disgusted her.
"This is triflin'. How can people live like this?" Hawkins said.
CBS 6 Problem Solvers recently featured the troubled section 8 housing complex subsidized with taxpayer dollars in an investigation in which Congressman Donald McEachin said residents lived in "unconscionable conditions."
Since then, a new owner bought the complex and renamed it The Belt Atlantic.
The owners promised to make major renovations, but now trash has piling up. Eight dumpsters at the complex were overflowing with trash Tuesday.
"Evidently, and excuse my French, I know I'm on TV, but they don't really give a damn," Hawkins said.
When asked about the trash situation, an employee referred CBS 6 Problem Solver investigator Melissa Hipolit to her regional manager with Edgewood Management.
A message left with Edgewood Management has not yet been returned.
Later, a call placed to Richmond City Councilman Parker Agelasto prompted Richmond Code Enforcement to visit the complex Tuesday. Enforcers said they learned there was an issue with the trash service that was corrected, and the trash should be picked up within 48 hours.
"It's kinda messed up that we have to stay in the house because of stuff like this," Hawkins said.
The city said it's not uncommon for something like this to happen when transitioning from one owner to another, and they're confident this won't be a problem in the future.
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