NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)— Inmates from the Orleans Parish Justice Center along with Sheriff Marlin Gusman of the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office took to the streets to help with the major trash problem.
“Nobody wants to walk out of the house and smell trash and see flies and maggots everywhere. It is nasty,” Quinterra Doughty, a New Orleans resident said.
All of this stinky trash has been piling up on our New Orleans streets for weeks.
“It is nasty and they need to come and pick it up,” Doughty said.
Seeing there is a great need for help—in comes the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office Sheriff Gusman and some of his inmates in the transitional work program to help pick up the trash in Gentilly.
“We are trying to make a difference in the city. The City needs help picking up the trash. It is not a whole lot, but every little bit helps at this point,” Sheriff Gusman said.
The transitional workers from the Orleans Parish Justice Center are getting paid between $12 and $15 an hour to do this work.
“Transitional work to get into the habit of going to work and be productive. I’m proud of what they’re doing because they made the commitment to work,” Sheriff Gusman said.
Sheriff Gusman even joined in to help.
“I did a little bit of work. I didn’t get as dirty as I should have, but I’m willing to work to, every little bit counts and the longest journey begins with a single step,” he said.
Their trash efforts were possible because they had an old Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office garbage truck they brought back into use for this.
“We used to use them when we had a bunch of facilities and now we basically only have one facility,” Sheriff Gusman said.
All of this in hopes that we are one step closer to a cleaner and less stinky city.