The infamously long-lived garbage heap at 10th and Wacouta streets is, at last, no more.

Fed-up citizens took matters into their own hands Sunday after months of waiting for officials to act. The group documented on social media how they cleared the trash and stuffed it into garbage bags in just a few hours.

Two members of the group then hauled the bags to St. Paul city hall and deposited them outside the facility as a befuddled security guard looked on.

“If city hall won’t come to the garbage,” said team leader Erich Mische, “We’ll bring the garbage to city hall.”

For months, city officials and workers from nearby businesses had been quietly complaining about the downtown trash heap. Piles of discarded clothes, a ripped tarp, a broken sofa recliner and other detritus had been strewn just off the intersection.

Related Articles St. Paul council approves mayor’s basic-income project for poor families

St. Paul City Council agrees on no levy increase

St. Paul police budget cuts would reduce officer ranks, ‘have direct outcomes,’ chief says

Business owners and community groups refine state aid requests for properties damaged in riots

‘Moral courage’ training, already planned for St. Paul officers before George Floyd death, takes on more urgency City officials recently forced homeless residents to move out of the spot, and the group left behind unsightly belongings. Since then, the city had been hesitant to send in Parks and Rec workers to clean up the mess. The land is owned by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Recently, state officials told the city they would solicit bids for the clean up. By Thursday, city officials were told the cleanup could happen as soon as April 5.

That wasn’t soon enough for residents, who engaged in civil disobedience with their unauthorized trash-pickup-and-delivery operation on Sunday.

“The people who live in the neighborhood have been living with four times more trash than we just delivered,” Mische said. “The city of St. Paul, the state of Minnesota and Ramsey County couldn’t seem to figure out who (would) clean up this trash.

“Less than a dozen neighbors have spent less than six hours picking up what has taken almost four months for (the city, county and state) to not do, not because they couldn’t do it but because they wouldn’t do it,” he said.

Mische and a companion initially pulled up int two trash-stuffed vehicles to city hall’s Kellogg Boulevard entrance, where a security guard demanded to know what they were doing.

The guard then explained a wedding party would be passing through that entrance, so Mische moved his operation to the Fourth Street side.

As Mische unloaded there, the guard relayed word from his superiors that, “officially, they don’t want you putting anything out here.”

“Got it,” said Mische, who didn’t stop. “Understood.”

This trash situation generated two police reports on Sunday.

Mische notified St. Paul police Sunday morning that he had found two empty syringes as he and his companions prepared to pick up the trash.

One syringe had a needle and the other didn’t, according to Steve Linders, a police spokesman. Officers were dispatched at 11:11 a.m. Sunday to collect the syringes.

Then, just after noon on Sunday, an officer was dispatched to city hall on security personnel’s report of Mische’s arrival with the trash bags.

Security provided license-plate information from the two vehicles, according to a police report. The report was labeled as “Littering – dumping.” The officer did not issue any citations at the scene, Linders said.

The mayor’s office and the city department of safety inspections said on Monday that they planned no further action against Mische.

@FrederickMelo I am here picking up this garbage come join me pic.twitter.com/scCxSNIAXV — Erich Mische (@BlazeGlory) April 1, 2017