Eagle Eyes (Forest Hills Grid 18)

Use this site to report problems (street sign down, mailbox vandalized, speeders, habitual curfew  violators, stolen lawn mower, etc) or to simply generate a discussion about any topic you would like to see addressed. If you are reporting, for exampley, a stop sign which has been knocked down, but you have already reported it to the city, please indicate so. You never know when a neighbor will have a similar problem/question, or possible even a solution to yours!

I -- and a few other neighbors -- make it a habit to pick up litter along Ola as I walk between my house and the corner newspaper dispenser at Ola & Linebaugh. I usually buy the paper only on weekends, but I notice neighbors making pick-ups of litter on various daily errands.    Taking pride in your community adds a lot to its value.

One thing I have noticed is that wherever there is an un-mowed right-of-way there appears to be a larger collection of litter, almost as if the litter-bugs selected that location to toss trash. Or, perhaps the trash blows to those locations and catches in the tall weeds/grass, collecting there. Either way, it's there, looking unsightly, and giving the impression that we don't care about our community.

Our neighborhood gets a lot of visitors in the form of traffic to the high school-- especially along Ola near the stadium. Seeing trash already there just encourages the addition of more. A number of the houses on Dartmouth whose property backs up to Ola do not maintain the right-of-way on a regular basis, and there is a lot of trash that collects there. This encourages others to dump items there (such as old mattresses ) . It would be nice if we could show community pride by keeping these right-of-way areas cleaned up. It would help property values, too.

I realize that some of the residents may be unable to maintain their property, especially the area along Ola, due to physical impairments or other factors. Plus it's sort of "out of sight, out of mind", sitting there behind the privacy fence. I'd like to see other neighbors help these homeowners out in maintaining the right-of-ways, but the owners have to let us know that they have a problem so that we'll know to help. We don't want to embarrass anyone by simply going ahead and mowing it for you.

How about talking to one another and solving this little problem among ourselves, before city code enforcement gets involved?

Thanks.  

Keep Hillborough County Beautiful:  www.khcbonline.org/programs discusses how to report someone for littering and includes a downloadable form to submit to the county organization.

The Trash Trooper Litter Hotline is 1-877-Y-LITTER

I wonder how we could get some "Think Before You Throw" signs installed along Ola between Busch & Linebaugh?

I see that there has been 2 incidents of graffiti on wooden privacy fences along Ola.  Just to let you know, pressure washing the fence will usually take of the spray paint; in fact, if you pressure wash the entire fence it will make it look almost new again, bringing back that nice fresh wood color from the grey tone that forms over the years.