I have a small apartment building on my block- probably 8-9units. Several times throughout the year, garbage blows out of their overflowing and open dumpster and into my and my neighbors' yards and down the alley. If it just happened once, that'd be one thing, but it's an on-going problem. It has gotten better due to neighbor calls.
I have no qualms about calling the city for them to inspect and take care of the problem. This is why:
1. This is an ongoing problem. It's the city's job to make sure these things are inspected and problems fixed. It's why I pay taxes.
2. It's the landlords job. This is their business. They need to know what's going on at their property. If they or their property manager doesn't inspect their property on a semi regular basis, take previous complaint calls into consideration or have a on-site property manager that is doing this job for them, then maybe they shouldn't be in the business. It's nice to have great neighbors that will be your eyes and ears, but it's not my job. Otherwise, give me a paycheck and I'll do it for you. I already have to pick up the garbage that flies out of there.
Again, if it was a one-time or once-in-a-blue-moon problem, not a big deal. But for ongoing problems, sometimes a call is the only thing that will fix something. Some of the only things that encourage bad landlords to either sell or fix their property is code enforcement.
/Rant off.