WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Members of a tight-knit Downtown Wilmington community teamed up over the holidays to provide home repairs for an elderly neighbor Catherine Grantham, known simply as Ms. Cat. After the success of those repairs, those same community members raised concerns that Grantham was being treated unfairly.
Greg Pampell and Kristen McKeithan, who live just a few doors away from Grantham’s Campbell St. home, say a trash truck has been driving across her lawn to access a dumpster at the Brooklyn Arts Center. Pampell says this has created ruts in Grantham’s lawn and cracks in her sidewalk.
“It started about 6 months ago, and it’s just gotten worse as the weather, rain and different things like that, the ruts get deeper, it’s even broken up the sidewalk here in front of Ms. Cat’s house where the trash truck runs across the sidewalk and the curb.”
Brooklyn Arts Center Executive Director Richard Leder said although he asked Waste Management to stop driving on the lawn, it is city property and the truck is doing nothing wrong.
Dylan Lee, a spokesman with the City of Wilmington, said although the grassy area and the sidewalk is city property, the truck is not allowed to drive on it.
Waste Management Senior Community Relations Specialist Marla Prince said “Apparently, Waste Management’s commercial customer built a corral on their property which restricted access and made it difficult to service the container. This is something we were just made aware of and we are in the process of assessing the situation. We will make every effort to take corrective action to service this customer correctly.”
Meanwhile, Leder said he and his employees plan to plant new grass and beautify the area for Grantham in the spring.
If you want to hear more about Grantham’s story or would like to donate to her cause, you can do so here.