Neighbors in one central Lubbock neighborhood reached out to EverythingLubbock.com Thursday to complain about a house on the corner of Avenue S and 57th Street.
The home has overgrown weeds – some reaching higher than the roof. Some of the weeds have started impeding the sidewalk and parkway.
Neighbor Tonya Gooch said the yard is now a safety and health hazard.
“The overgrowth is causing a bunch of mosquitoes,” Gooch said. “It is a habitat for not only mosquitoes but bugs and vermin and they are going to migrate to their neighbors homes. The sidewalks are overgrown. Those are public sidewalks. People can not walk without walking through his overgrowth.”
Gooch said the yard is now attracting more than just animals but people too.
“I caught an intoxicated gentleman defecating in his yard, behind the bushes or the weeds,” Gooch said. “He didn’t think he was going to get caught. “
The homeowner, Jack Looney, explained why his yard is the way it is.
“I told you straight up,” Looney said, “if I want to cultivate plants that they don’t like that is perfectly OK according to the city ordinance.”
Stuart Walker, with the City Codes Department, said the homes is in violation of two city ordinances – namely trees invading the parkway and accumulation of unsightly or unsanitary rubbish.
Walker said the reason city workers have not already cut the yard down is because they have been fighting with Looney for six years about his yard. He said the city would get a conviction from the judge before they do anything else at the house.
Several neighbors, like Gooch, said they would like to know when Looney’s next court date will be, so they can say their peace to the judge.
