As heaps of black bags littered sidewalks with their contents spilling out of holes chewed by critters, the city council declared a major incident to bring in additional cleanup crews and vehicles.
As COVID has become less virulent, the debate over vaccine mandates has faded. But some workers who were fired for refusing the shots are still fighting to be reinstated.
Some cities are so shorthanded they have temporarily stopped collecting things like recyclables or oversized junk to focus on the grosser, smellier stuff.
As people stay at home, they are putting out more trash, from pizza boxes to cardboard delivery boxes. That's putting a big strain on residential garbage collectors.
