A Lubbock man is speaking out about a trailer park near his house he said looks more like the dump than part of the city. But, he’s not alone.
“I am very concerned as are the other individuals here at the city,” said district 2 city councilwoman Shelia Patterson-Harris.
The mess is masked by spring growth.
“When the trees are not in foliage, you can see through over there and you can see the piles and piles of garbage that are just laying all around over there on avenue P,” said the neighbor who asked to remain anonymous.
The mess on the property is something you can can even see on satellite images on the city of Lubbock GIS and data service website.
But, even those images don’t show the several other trailers at the Applegate trailer park waiting to be torn down.
“There’s a lot of kids around here, there’s a school just down the street a little bit, and these people are right across the alley from it,” said the neighbor.
This isn’t the first trash problem the man has brought to the city’s attention.
“Last summer, over in this part of the acreage here, there was a big huge pile of wood and limbs piling up,” the neighbor explained.
While the trash is an eyesore its what comes with it that really has him concerned.
“With all the nasty viruses and everything they have going around now, the Zika virus and predators, the skunks and rats and everything else, that’s just a playground for them and it just concerns me and I think somebody needs to do something about it,” he said.
We tried to talk to the owners of the park but our calls have not been returned. We took the issue to the Lubbock City Codes Department and to the councilwoman over the area, Sheila Patterson-Harris.
“Wow, and wow backwards. Wow. I am very concerned as are the other individuals here at the city. Any time there is something there that could potentially cause issues for others around them I get concerned about it. I know there is an issue there,” Patterson-Harris said after seeing the mess.
Patterson-Harris said this isn’t an overnight fix. According to city ordinances the property owner, in this case the Applegate Trailer Park, are the ones responsible to clean up the mess.
But, Harris said she is working with the city codes department to find the best solution that will get the mess cleaned up.
