**"Trash Trouble: Businesses Blast Garbage-Clogged Alley Near I-40 in South Nashville"**

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Metro Codes inspectors respond to more than 35,000 complaints a year across Davidson County.

On June 17, they reportedly received a complaint about a cut-through in South Nashville that connects Murfreesboro Road and Elm Hill Pike.

Inspectors said they visited the property within 24 hours of the complaint, and just a day later, on June 18, they pulled the property records and sent the owner a Notice to Correct Violation.

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According to Will Dodd, the assistant director of public affairs and development for Metro Codes, the alley that cuts behind a fast-food restaurant and connects to a truck stop is a private access road. If it were a typical alley, Dodd said NDOT would have cleaned up the mess, which is considerable.

News 2 has visited the alley multiple times and observed unattended trailers packed with garbage, debris, construction materials, gas cans, tires and food. In addition, there are vehicles in the alley that appear to be where people are living.

When News 2 attempted to speak with a man, who was holding a tiny puppy in a truck with a broken windshield, he rolled up his window.

Many business owners in the area said they are not happy with the mess, which is located in the shadow of downtown and only a block away from the Metro Nashville Police Department’s headquarters.

Bobby Joslin owns a sign company on Murfreesboro Road and is one of many business owners who has complained about the alley.

“It’s pretty embarrassing as a citizen of Nashville to know that stuff is right here in downtown Nashville. Whoever owns that property needs to be dragged into court and they need to be dragged into court quick and clean it up,” said Joslin. “You need to get out there and clean it up. You are embarrassing the whole neighborhood. Plus, this is a black eye on your own business.”

“There’s health department issues there, standing there using the bathroom in public, never seen anything like it. It’s pretty bad,” Joslin continued.

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When it comes to the terrible conditions in the alley, Dodd said he agrees with Joslin and Codes inspectors in that letting this continue will only perpetuate unsafe and unsanitary conditions.

“This was a pretty egregious violation. Even though it’s owned by a property owner, it’s used as a cut-through to a fuel terminal back there. So you have lots of traffic and now you’re impeding traffic, and when you start to impede traffic, that’s when people start to take notice,” Dodd expressed. “It’s blocking a sidewalk, so you have egress issues, which you can imagine is a fire and life safety issue. What if there’s a vehicle fire? We have to make sure emergency vehicles can get there as well, so there’s a whole host of issues this causes.”

The property owner reportedly has until July 16 to make corrections before being liable to other penalties, including going before an environmental judge and possibly paying for every day the alley is not cleaned.

News 2 spoke with a Nashville-based trucker who was parked at the truck stop next to the garbage-filled alley. The driver said he sometimes feels unsafe in the area.

“It’s only at night when they are active and you can see them walking around a lot,” the trucker said.

“If I told you there’s been a complaint to the city and the city has been here and told the owner to clean it up, is that good news?” asked News 2’s Andy Cordan.

“That’s good news. Very good news,” replied the trucker. “It doesn’t look OK.”

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The property owner spoke with News 2 Monday, June 30. He said he just got the notice from the city and was unclear what it was about, adding that he sent a representative to the property after getting a report and can understand why people are so upset.

He added he questions who owns the alley that runs next to his property and plans to contact the Metro Codes Department to figure that out.

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