Following Blight In The Bluff City
(Memphis) The photos viewers sent News Channel 3 are far from a brag book.
Residents are fed up with what sits right outside their door.
One viewer who lives on Dakar Street in Frayser said he has been looking at an eyesore for too long.
It’s a trashed out home that no longer even has walls.
From the piled up trash, it’s clear it has become a dumping ground.
“Anything can happen there. Anything. Gang people can go there. Anybody can set it on fire,” said a woman who lives in the neighborhood.
Another person sent us pictures of a Frayser home that can barely be seen thru the weeds.
Neighbors have to look at the home at Point Church and St. Elmo everyday.
Kamisha Jenkins said she has called the city and someone came out several months ago but not recently, “It’s busted windows, stuff thrown in the drive way, just a mess.”
Overgrown weeds, brush and grass that haven`t been cut are a thorn in the side for some neighbors in North Memphis.
A lot of these properties are in such bad shape, you can`t even find the address.
We tracked down their parcel numbers and checked them against property tax records.
We found all the properties are up for sale by the County because of non-payment of taxes.
The County doesn’t own them, and the property owners are still responsible for keeping them clean.
If they don’t, the city of Memphis can do the clean up and take the property owners to court.
Neighbors don’t care who does it, they just want something done.
“They don’t know where the owner is. I guess it is foreclosed. But they should still take care of it and make it look presentable to us who do stay right here,” said Jenkins.
We are letting the City of Memphis know about all of these blighted properties.
All of those properties are up for tax sale in September and December.
By the way, a committee of the Shelby County Commission this week voted to reduce the amount of time allotted before the ‘County’ can go onto overgrown properties, do the clean-up and then go after the property owner.
