Trash talk: St. Paul vows to speed up roadside garbage cleanup

St. Paul city officials say they'll respond more quickly in the future when they receive reports of areas that need garbage picked up.

Over the weekend, a group of volunteers cleared an area near Interstate 94 that had been used by homeless people before they were evicted by the city. Residents then deposited the bags of trash in front of City Hall.

Mayor Chris Coleman said in a tweet that the garbage piled up downtown "does not meet our standards." He also praised volunteers for going ahead and cleaning it up. The director of the city's safety and inspections department, Ricardo Cervantes, said the agency was aware of the need to clean the parcel owned by the state Department of Transportation.

"In all honesty, having known now that it had taken that long, in reviewing this case, we had other options," said Cervantes. "We could have cleaned that up ourselves."

Cervantes said his department works well with other government entities, including the state, county and public school systems with similar situations.

"We have a pretty high standard in regards to health and safety in our city and we're pretty good at that," said Cervantes. "The fact that this took that long is just unacceptable. And we're going to be moving to ensure that that doesn't happen again."

Cervantes said one quote for cleanup of the land was $2,000.