Weeds and high grass

Surely there is something wrong with people who live in Ohio. Usually the winters are brutal, spring is either short, wet, or nonexistent. Then comes summer when you can have both your heat and air conditioning on in a single day's time. And we have mosquitoes big enough to carry away a small dog. Those nasty mosquitoes breed and thrive in tall grass and weeds.

Tall grass and weeds harbor all sort so strange, unusual and potentially dangerous substances and creatures. They can also cause impaired visibility at intersections, leading to traffic accidents. There just isn't much good to say about tall weeds and grass. They are also illegal in the City of Alliance. But being illegal doesn't mean the city can always correct the situation immediately.

The city's Zoning Inspector, Health department and the Mayor's office are all getting calls from irate citizens who live near high grass and weeds which aren't being cut. We would love to be able to send out mowing crews right away to manicure the offending property. However, that just isn't possible. We don't have any mowing crews except those provided to the city by Judge Lavery's community improvement program (CIP). The CIP workers, under the supervision of Ron Pisanello (Pizzy), mow grass all day long, every day. And they still can't keep up. And believe it or not, sometimes irate citizens aren't always nice to these folks when they are just out trying to do a job.

A situation, which looks simple and easy on the surface, isn't always what it seems. We have abandoned houses, abandoned lots, absentee owners, and those who just don't give a darn. Usually before the city takes on the job of mowing a lot, we try to find the rightful owner and have them take care of their own property. Sometimes that's almost impossible. No, these folks aren't hiding under rocks. Lots of times it's an out of town bank or mortgage company that owns the property. That mortgage company has sold the loan on that house ten times. We end up trying to follow the trail of ownership through several states. Remember the previous articles in this column on predatory lenders? Those are the culprits. They make the loan, then zip away with the speed of light.

When the zoning inspector or health department finally gives up finding the owner, they call Pizzy and ask him to put his crews on it. And eventually, Pizzy will get to the lot or yard in question. Please be patient. The city is not ignoring citizen complaints. We just have an over abundance of them at the moment. But there are some things you can do to help.

You can save the city some time by finding out yourself who owns the lot. You can go online at www.co.stark.oh.us to the Stark County web page. Then go to elected officials, Auditor's office, then to Real Estate, then to search property records. The instructions for researching a property are on the screen. After you have located the owner online, give that information to whomever you decide to call at the city. You could also be a good neighbor and mow it yourself until the city has time and resources to correct the situation. If you have questions, call Penny the zoning inspector at 330-823-5122 or the Health Department at 330-821-7373. But be nice. They're doing the best they can.