Abandoned Chicago home's backyard filled with garbage

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It looks like a dump from a third world country, but it's right in Chicago, and it's the type of blight that drags neighborhoods down and fosters crime.

In the middle of the 3400 block of West Grenshaw, dozens of white bags filled with garbage, some hanging from trees, cover a back yard. There is also a couch and various other pieces of furniture.

Cats roam in search of rats, which find the area to be the perfect breeding ground.

There's no telling how long people have been dumping garbage at the location, but tickets written by the ward supervisor date back to 2013.

Norrisa Mack works at a senior center nearby and she walks down the alley to get to her bus. She says the extent of the garbage is unbelievable.

“It get worse and worser, every time it get worse and worse,” Mack said.

Last summer, 24th Ward Alderman Michael Scott entered the abandoned home into the city's troubled buildings data base, which allows the city to begin the process of going after the owner to clean up their property. But she was apparently difficult to reach and may now live out of state.

Finally, in February, a judge signed an order to allow the buildings department to move ahead with demolition, and that job is currently out to bid.

“I think it's ridiculous and it shouldn't even be able to pile up to half of what it is right now, maybe somebody could get back in here and clean, community garbage, community cleanup or something like that,” said Dorean Houston, who walks home from school through the alley.

On Thursday night, the buildings department said that cleanup work could begin as soon as Friday.

Perhaps one telling thing that allows yards to get this bad, according to Alderman Scott, who’s been in office for just about a year, is that no one from the neighborhood has called to complain.