COLISEUM NEIGHBORHOOD MAY START CLEANUP EFFORT
Byline: By Laura Plachecki, Staff writer
Almost every neighborhood has at least one ugly vacant lot sporting an assortment of
rocks, trash, weeds and wild grasses.
A central city neighborhood hopes to turn its empty lot into something just a bit nicer, a move similar to one made 20 years ago by another group of residents. The lesson? Don't wait for government.
''It would be a miracle for the city do anything with it,'' said Richard Fox, a neighborhood leader in the Fairview Place Citizens Association. The association is made up of residents of an area near the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, bounded roughly by 15th and 17th avenues, McDowell Road and Encanto Boulevard.
Fox is trying to drum up interest among his neighbors to take over the lot at the southeast corner of 16th Avenue and Encanto.
Some residents wanted to put a recycling center on the property, but neighbors close to the lot rejected that idea.
Now there's talk about killing the weeds and planting flowers, vegetables, shrubs or trees in their place. Or perhaps the neighborhood could put in crushed granite or gravel to keep it neat.
It even has been suggested that residents plant a tree to hold a plaque honoring original Fairview residents who have died.
Fox is surveying residents to find out how they would like the lot transformed and how much interest there is in maintaining any changes.
He's received about 20 responses. He's hoping more will come in.
''If no more respond, it's a message to me that no one is interested in doing anything with the lot,'' he said. He said he expects to know by mid-September whether the neighborhood actually will do something with the lot.
The biggest concern, Fox said, is who will be responsible for maintaining the lot, which is owned by the city.
The Streets Transportation Department is responsible for it.
Several residents believe if they dig up the money to landscape the lot, the city should help maintain it. Fox said he hopes the city could provide the water for the plants.
It's more likely that the residents would have to invest sweat equity. At least one city official said if area residents want to improve the lot, they are responsible for its maintenance.
''We would be more than happy to let them use the lot for anything like this,'' said Jim Matteson, director of the city's Streets Transportation Department. ''We're not going to incur public cost for something that might be for private benefit. We do not intend to go in and do the work.''
Still, the neighborhood plan is a good one, Matteson said.
''It's a great idea,'' he said, adding that for decades neighborhood groups have taken the initiative to beautify city-owned vacant land in their communities.
During the 1970s a neighborhood near Butler Drive between 27th and 35th avenues pitched in to landscape a wide median that was used to cover street drainage pipes.
They gained support from a law firm, which paid for the costs, and the residents took over the chore of watering the median, Matteson said.
''If public property is available and the neighborhood wants to do something to make it nicer, more power to them,'' Matteson said.
Fox said he hopes more neighborhoods will find similar projects to take on.
''We need to take more responsibility for ourselves,'' he said. ''We expect government to do too much.''