A Baker Street resident is unhappy about what she calls the city’s seemingly lackadaisical approach to cleaning a vacant lot that it owns just west of her property in the 500 block of the street.
Resident Diane McClain said she has spoken to Mayor Steve Rosenthal on several occasions about the condition of the property and nothing has been done.
“It’s snakey and rat looking,” she said.
According to McClain, their most recent conversation was last Tuesday, just one day before she says high winds hurled part of a dead tree from that property into her yard crashing into her crepe myrtles.
There are also fragments of a lifeless tree branch, apparently from a tall dead tree in the midst of the city’s lot, in her yard and on the top of her house. Another branch, that looks to be from that property is resting on the southwest corner of her roof.
McClain said the looming overhang from the next door lot also leaves her cautious about allowing her grandchildren to play on their activity set in her back yard, because she is fearful that one of the far-stretched limbs may give way.
Rosenthal confirmed that he did recently speak with the homeowner about the over-growth and said he is in the process of getting quotes from two tree trimmers. He added that the grass is normally cut during the summer, but lately it has been too wet. “We are addressing it,” he said.
Rosenthal said the city workers are behind with the grass cutting and the city has even had to hire outside contractors to cut some of the highway areas. According to him, a local business owner donated the Baker Street property to the city about four years ago.
The vacant lot sits between McClain’s home and the old National Guard Armory, which is also in major disrepair even though a portion of it is still being used by the city’s garbage service to stage trash cans.
