Trenton worker collecting mattress until honeymoon
A City of Trenton sanitation worker picked up discarded mattresses until hours before his honeymoon.
Tyrone Gee, a sanitation truck driver, completed a collection of more than 100 mattresses left on street sidewalks and back alleys before he and his bride of five months headed off for a delayed getaway to Florida followed by a cruise in the Caribbean.
Gee, along with coworker, Max Villanueva, disregarded a city requirement that required mattresses to be wrapped in plastic before collection.
“We called our effort Operation 100 matches and we worked off the list that The Trentonian published. We did not collect all of those but we found others during our trip through the city,” Gee said.
Gee expected push back from some coworkers who believe their lives, especially homes, could be compromised by picking up unwrapped mattresses.
“Yes, bedbugs are doing jumping jacks on some of these matches. We can put on a protective suit and gloves. Bottom line, we have to gain control of this mattress situation, then we can start talking about other initiatives that must include getting information out to the public.”
Gee said he and his wife anticipated a fun time being away from work for a while.
“San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Dominican Republic. No, picking up mattresses is not what most people do before leaving for a honeymoon,” Gee, a long time city resident, noted.
King quoted a popular Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. insight.
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way,” he said.
“I want what a lot of people want in this city. We deserve to have a clean city of Trenton and I’m more than willing to work toward making that happen.”