Bowling Green city commissioners and area residents look over a used car lot, Affordable Things Used Cars, that has been the subject of numerous complaints at the corner of Old Morgantown Road and Sharon Drive during the citys first Summer Stroll on Monday. Photo by Clinton Lewis

Charlotte Wiseman came to say goodbye. She arrived at the Bowling Green City Commissions first Summer Stroll of 2003 to tell city officials that she was moving from her longtime home on Lynnhurst Drive. Ive been over there for 38 years in that one house, and Im leaving it, Wiseman said. Elected officials and city staff gathered Monday evening at Tapps Broasted Chicken, 830 Old Morgantown Road, to hear from Wiseman and about 40 others from the surrounding area. They told of a neighborhood running down, lot by lot, where neatly kept, owner-occupied homes sit next to dowdy rental properties seldom-mowed yards, scattered trash and junk cars. Lounell Graham and her husband, Doug, Lynnhurst Drive residents, brought two posterboards with pictorial evidence of their complaints. This is what we have to look at every day, she said, indicating pictures of homes around hers with trash-covered porches, rusting, half-disassembled cars and knee-high grass. One picture was of a chained dog with its leash wrapped tightly around a free-standing antenna as it had been for days, Graham said. We called the Humane Society four times before they finally came out there to check on it, she said. Mayor Sandy Jones, commissioners Alan Palmer and Jim Bullington, City Manager Chuck Coates, Neighborhood Action Office Coordinator Karen Foley, all four members of the city code-enforcement office and various other city staff walked two routes, touring Old Morgantown Road, Virginia and Parkhurst drives, Dennis Way and South Forrest Drive. Warren County District 2 Magistrate Cedric Burnam, who represents the area, joined the walkers. You going to point out some of the things we need to fix? Palmer asked Old Morgantown Road resident Nadine Petty. As she started to answer, a car horn blared from the nearby corner of Parkside and Old Morgantown. Right theres one of them, Petty said heavy traffic, mostly in the mornings and afternoons when schools are starting or letting out. The loudest and most numerous complaints came in front of Affordable Things Used Cars at 757 Old Morgantown Road, where more than 60 vehicles, many of them rusting and missing parts, sit amid window-high weeds. Ive been filing complaints since 1998, and they have been ignored repeatedly, Old Morgantown Road resident Tom Carlyle said. He and other neighbors said they have complained to everyone they could think of, telling officials about rats and snakes infesting the weeds. Some cars sat in the public right-of-way. The lot has been like that for five or six years, said Sharon Drive resident Bob Tittle. The city says its the states responsibility, Carlyle said. The state says, no its not. Two or three years ago, the city got real tough on him. They fined him $20.The business cant be described as a legitimate car lot when its obvious many of the vehicles wont run, he said. Thats a mess, Bullington agreed. Linda Minton, who identified herself as the owner of the car lot, said that an occurrence of cancer in her family caused them to be running a little behind on cleanup. When asked by phone if residents claims that the lot had been in its current condition for several years were true, she replied, Oh, no way. Listen, I have to talk to my husband, she said, then abruptly hung up. The city will definitely send the owner a notice of violation for some of the things visible, city Code Enforcement Officer Julie Brown said. But most of the problems should be referred to the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County to see if they are in violation of the zoning ordinance. If the owner doesnt comply with the citys notices, the problems can go before the Code Enforcement Board, Brown said. At that point, the city could order its subcontractors to clean up the mess, and the board could impose a fine of $50 to $75. That fine is usually added to cleanup costs, she said; a per-day fine could also be assessed. If the bill is not paid, a lien would be placed on the property. Moving on to Virginia Drive, the walkers noticed a strong smell of natural gas. Foley called the Bowling Green Fire Department to report it, and a truck rumbled up to check it out before the group reached the end of the block. As the group continued, it passed many neatly kept homes with carefully trimmed lawns. But spotted among them were others with tall grass, piles of garbage and peeling paint. A lot of these houses are rental properties, and the landlords dont live anywhere near here, said area resident Matthew Sharber, standing by a half-boarded-up house on the corner of Strathmoor Way and Collegeview Drive. They get their (rent) check, and they dont care. Area homeowners appear to care and maintain their places, Bullington said; the problem seems to be with absentee landlords letting their rental units deteriorate. The other group of walkers saw similar sights, Coates and Jones said. Some land owned by Western Kentucky University and the trailer park site owned by Glenn Miller need mowing, she said. The city code-enforcement process now only reacts to complaints, since there are only four inspectors. The city expects to hire more, perhaps paid for by Bowling Greens recent half-percent occupational tax rate hike ideally, employing enough people to begin proactively inspecting neighborhoods block by block without waiting for complaints, he said. Kay Hayes, the citys chief of code enforcement, stayed at Tapps to hear from a few residents and collect cards of new complaints. She received about 10, some of which may be duplicates, she said. Each year we get the overgrown (lot) complaints, and the junk and trash, Hayes said. Its a never-ending problem, it seems like not only here, but in other parts of town. Right now we have somewhere around 100 or more open complaints, she said. Were responding to complaints in 60 days or under. Weve got maybe 40 complaints that are older than 60 days. The ones she just received should be handled within two months, Hayes said. Thats the goal that we try to achieve: 60 days, she said. Complaints are closed out by compliance or citation, she said. Once it reaches the code-enforcement board, her offices job is done. Petty said she and other residents who are organizing a neighborhood association called Burnam to help set up the stroll through their area. They tentatively plan to hold an organizational meeting at the Westside Fire Station on June 10 at 6 p.m. Foleys office, 393-3674, will be notified of any schedule changes.