Dayton residents complain about 6-foot-tall weeds

Weeds on a vacant lot are unbearable to one Dayton senior, who says some are more than 6 feet tall and fill the neighborhood with an unpleasant odor.

Shirley Daughterty lives next door to the vacant property on Drummer Avenue. The widow in her 70s says she can’t mow the lot due to health issues, and she wants the vegetation cut.

“You walk outside and you can smell it. You can smell it in my house, too. Those big tall weeds out front there,” she said. “The city usually cuts it. We pay our taxes here and everything. I think they should help us.

“I would just like the city to come cut those weeds out so the smell will go away. It’s making me sick, I’m telling you,” Daugherty said.

The city mows more than 7,000 vacant properties, said Fred Stovall, director of public works. But rain has slowed progress.

“As of today, we’ve mowed about 4,000-plus lots of those 7,000, so we’re a little over halfway to get through what we call the first round,” Stovall said.

About 30 seasonal workers are using riding mowers to mow the vacant lots and remove trash. The plan is to hit each lot at least three times before October, but many still haven’t been mowed once.

“There’s no way we can get through 7,000 properties and the grass not be tall. It’s just not going to happen with the resources that we have,” he said.

The city is fining the property owner $225 each time it is mowed, but most of the properties are abandoned, so the money can only be assessed and collected once the property sells.

For now, the city is asking residents to be patient.

A list of where mowing crews are working is posted each week online at cityofdayton.org. To find out where crews are working or to report issues, call 937-333-4800.