From: Rob Janes
Columbus
I have been trying since mid-June to get the city to clean up a street. Here is the situation and my various attempts to get this addressed.
The far east end of Tipton Lane, just behind Sirloin Stockade, is a mess. There are leaves, yard debris, trash, weeds and small trees starting to grow there. Most of this is right on the street. Since the street in this area is a short dead-end, it doesn’t get much attention.
I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to get the city to clean this up. It doesn’t look as bad in the winter when the weeds and small trees are dead or dormant. It’s much more impressive in the summer with the weeds green and growing.
About mid-June, I used the city website to contact the Department of Public Works asking that this area be cleaned up. After no response and no action I tried again about mid-July. Around Aug. 6 after no response and no action I used the city web site to contact the mayor’s office. This time, someone stopped by and told me they were working on it. Around the second week of September after that one response and no action I emailed my city council representative about the problem. I received another visit saying they’re working on it and an email saying that the city had send letters to the two sites in the area.
The second week of November, I tried emailing an at-large member of the city council using the email address given on the city website. I never received any response.
The area I’m trying to get cleaned up had two Columbus Villa dumpsters there. This may have contributed to the mess. The person who stopped by both times mentioned these and other dumpsters in the area. I’m guessing that dumpsters are not permitted on city streets and this may be what they said they were working on. I think the letters which were sent may have been about this. I don’t care about dumpsters, I just want the area cleaned up. On Dec. 11 the dumpsters in this area were moved. I waited to see if the city was waiting for this to happen before cleaning up the area. So far nothing like that has happened.
I know this doesn’t have to be a big deal. This problem first arose about five or six years ago. The area wasn’t as bad as it is now but it still needed attention. I tried a similar process. I used the city website to contact the Department of Public Works. After two weeks with no response and no action I tried this again. After another two weeks and no response or action I used the city website to contact the mayor’s office. The next day walking home from work I saw that the area had been cleaned up and when I got home I had three emails and a voicemail letting me know the problem had been addressed.
Getting this cleaned up doesn’t have to take almost seven months.
