The Weeds and Litter Division of the Omaha Parks and Recreation has been unable to clean up city and private property on the north side of Levi Carter Park.
Despite two known visits for trash removal the items shown in the following pictures remain, the first two showing the city property and the others, stuff on the private property. All of this material has been present for months.
Pictures of the remaining trash were sent to the mayor of Omaha and interim director of Parks and Recreation, yet no reply was received.
It is obvious that the crew sent to remove the trash has serious challenges as they have been unable to get the job done right. Perhaps if the crew could actually get out of their trucks to look around to see everything that should be removed, or to pick up items, the result would be much more satisfactory!
Upon calling Weeds and Litter the 13th and 14th to indicate the need for further cleanup, a supervisor was finally reached. When asked why the trash remains, he indicated that the trash still there was the result of people continuing to dump additional material. This was a mantra also heard earlier by the Weeds and Litter crew. When told that the trash had been there all along he immediately got defensive. He then resorted to a personal attack on my integrity, saying that perhaps there should be a charge of trespassing for being on private property. When told they knew about my being there, he then resorted to another threat. this time: "maybe you should be cited for littering."
This were two unacceptable comments by a city official trying to blame the messenger rather than accepting the message.
If the job would be done right, there would be no issue to even discuss, but the inept effort means that the trash remains.
After being informed of the trash on the city property, the former director Melinda Pearson indicated that her maintenance staff would take care of the problem.
A first visit occurred where trash was removed from the city property. At this time, Weeds and Litter determined there was also trash on the adjacent private property, so they were subsequently cited. A second visit occurred on January 31st.
The situation is certainly not being helped by the paper stock business on the north side of the area. There are piles of trash, and items such as plastic bags are being blown off their property to hither and yon.
They should address the situation or get cited for littering.
Adjacent Private Property
The following items are on private property adjacent to the city property. These items have all been present for months, and were not removed when Weeds and Litter took away other trash and rubble on January 31st. The city had to send the cleanup bill to a billion-dollar corporation in Omaha, that could not take care of the problem themselves.
There is the carcass of a deer on the right side of the photo.
These pictures have been sent to a company representative, but no reply has been received, nor is one expected.
There is some progress, but when the place will be trash free is unknown, and may never reach that basic goal?