HOW DO I FIGHT CITY HALL?

As some of you know, there's a city ditch that runs behind my house,
about 6 ft from my house. Since April, I have been trying to get
them to clean it out. I've been given several stories, such as
we'll put you on the list. When I call back, I'm not on the list
because they don't know which ditch it is so it "MAY" not be their
responsibility. IT IS!! They've cleaned it out in the past, after
much pestering. Then they tell me they don't have an easement. They DO!!
Then they tell me the crews are all busy and they'll put me on the
list. Come to find out, I was never put on the list. Today, they
say they'll put me on the list. Oh, and get this. At one time,
someone told the mayor's office that they had been here in April and
cleaned the ditch out. WRONG!!! That's when I started calling and
they couldn't come out because it was too wet to get down the
easement!

For four months, I've been dealing with mosquitoes (west nile virus possibility), as the ditch is
holding about a foot of water currently (after a dry spell!). Often
when it rains, there is motor oil in the ditch, having come from all
the car lots on the highway. I'm on a well, so I fear my well water is soaking up contaminants. I will have it tested. We also now have copperheads, I've been
told. Now anytime we expect rain, I fear flooding as the ditch
doesn't drain properly and my house sits 6 ft away, flat on the ground.

I've spoken with the street dept AND the mayor's office with
absolutely NO results! So what's my next step? Who outranks
this bozos? Is there an Environmental Protection Agency I can sic
on these guys? Whose over their heads? Should I just head to the
newspaper office to tell my story?

N.

Basicly, the squeaking wheel gets the grease. Just keep squeaking. Go to the head of the department and keep going. Camp on your councilperson and the city council. That is especially productive when they are up for election. I f your newspaper is supportive get them to come out and take pictures, point out the mosquito damage and flooding danger. Ditto if you have a local television station.

Double ditto on the news media angle. Around here our local ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX news stations are always looking for these kinds of stories. And finding themselves the subject of a 6:00 news story will usually get a politician's attention.

Another one to contact is Tom Martino, who has a radio show: http://troubleshooter.com/

Quite often the health department will care about the mosquitoes and any other types of vermin and I agree that you should especially care if the ground water is being contaminated. It might be worth a shot to call them to find out to what extent they might become involved.

You could always fill it up so that it backs up into the street! I bet that would get their attention!

Little too much work just to make a point though.

Nicole

Around here, if you mention rats or poisonous snakes, that usually gets them out. Liability and personal safety reasons, perhaps.

Keep at it and good luck.

First, get a copy of your deed and ALL the easements. They are of public record at the courthouse. Maybe 50¢ a copy.

Then, armed with documanted FACTS, go in person to the appropriate city department. Have enough copies to give them one. Tell them the next step will by publicity!

They already know there is an easement on the property behind me. They've been out in previous years cleaning out the ditch. But I go thru this hassle every year because our city officials are lazy. I did inform them I was going to an environmental agency as well as the newspaper. They said ok.

One year I told them I was sick of talking to them on the phone so if my ditch wasn't cleaned out within two weeks, they'd be dealing with me DAILY IN PERSON and people generally make it a rule not to have to deal with me. LOL The next week, they were out here cleaning out the ditch. This time, I told them my whole neighborhood is mad and they'll be dealing with all of us. They said Ok.

They did tell me that they "would put me on the list". I should have been on the list back in April!!! I told them I've been waiting over 4 months! The assistant mayor said some people have been waiting 2 yrs. Can you believe that? I don't! If something is critical, people shouldn't have to wait two years.

N.

i have been tryinh for several years to get the highway dept in my town to repair all the broken curbs that are broken when the snowplows come down the street in the winter at about 50 miles an hour.

How about your State REp.....they usually know the in's and out's of local government....

Deann

I would say start bugging the councilmen and write an article for the paper....if that doesn't work then I would consider plugging off the ditch if it wasn't illegal to do so. :)

To bad you don't live in Utah and can get Gephart.....he is a news guy that goes around fixing peoples problems that can't seem to get anyone to help out...publicity seems to work wonders when they know they are going to be looking bad on the TV. lol.

Good luck....

Butterflychaser.......I went to your city website and copied this, not sure if you had seen this, but these are the guys you need to bug.....

Deann


City of Jonesboro
Code Enforcement

Code Enforcement, part of the Planning and Inspection Department (MAPC), is in charge of keeping grass mowed, weed violations, cleaning trash in yards/lots, etc. Some cases may warrent condemning old houses, removing nonworking vehicles, and removing obstructions from intersections.

staff address phone
Ron Shipley, Director 307 Vine St., Suite 201 (870) 932-0540
rshipley@jonesboro.org Jonesboro, AR 7240

Mike Daffron, code enforcement officer 307 Vine St., Suite 100 (870) 933-4658
mdaffron@jonesboro.org Jonesboro, AR 7240

Ronnie Shavers, code enforcement officer (870) 933-4658
rshavers@jonesboro.org

Floyd Walker, code enforcement officer
(870) 933-4658
fwalker@jonesboro.org

Deann,

Thanks for that info, but I don't want to contact those guys. They're in charge of making me clean MY lot. And right now, due to being very sick all last year, my daylily and iris field is completely overgrown with weeds as tall as I am. I have about 200 or so named daylilies, irises and cannas out there among the weeds. This summer, I've been slowly digging up my plants in the field and mowing as I go, but there is still about 75 x 200 ft of field left to go and with temps around 100, it's hard to work out there in the full sun. So I dont' wanna call those guys and they write me a ticket. I'm working as fast as I can.

And those guys are not in charge of the city drainage ditches as far as I can tell. The street dept is. And what is the street dept doing? They're finally building sidewalks that have been on their to-do list for 20 years.

I also have no way of filling up the ditch. It's about 10 ft wide and about 8 ft deep and it runs on forever, thru several subdivisions on my side of town. If I were to block it up behind my house, as the water rushes from the rest of the ditch, it would just flow over the banks and into my house.

My neighbors have agreed to sign a petition I draw up and even to talk to a reporter if I can get one out here. So I guess we'll have to go that route.

Oh that is frustrating. Hmmm.....

Have you sent certified letters? Attended council meetings? Take photos and document, document, document. I'd go to the Health Dept, the Visiting Nurse Assoc, and with the well and oil issue, try the EPA. Write a letter to the editor of your paper, and get that pettion signed by everyone you can. Neighbors banding together is news, get the newspaper and a film crew out there. Heck, get those neighbors together and stage a sit in, lol.

I'm sorry, {{{HUG?}}}

mg

Do you have a local college or High School with a club of some sort with a goal of cleaning up the area? I know that is a little vague but everyone calls their club a diff name... Anyway they can do sitins, get signatures, clog phone lines to offices with calls, send letters, get teachers to help find West Nile and copperheads, they can often also get radio stations who dont do most local little things involved (like we had a guy do his show live from some appartments untill the city got them fixed). Back in college I took part in a lot of these type things and still have been known to help out local now and then!

Mitch

A lot of service groups are looking for a project too.

One very important aspect of dealing with government is to document every conversation.Time, date, phone #, who you talked to and what the conversation involved. Having worked for city, county and state governments for over 45 years I've saved my b### many times by having good notes, and the same works for the public.As Darius said, copies of any easements will help too. Public employees don't like it when you can prove someone said they would do something and didn't do it, or that the ditch was cleaned on these dates, or they get copies of a letter CC'd to the media and various agencies. Perhaps a copy of a letter to an attorney asking for information on the towns liability and feasibility of litigation? Like farmerdill said, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Health and Safety issues and environmental conditions give you several agencies at various levels to contact. Good luck.