WM store conditions a litter nuisance, says city

WM store conditions a litter nuisance, says city

Officials threaten lien for cleanup at East Broadway Family Dollar

news@theeveningtimes.com

West Memphis City Council considered steps last week toward resolving an East Broadway business’s status as a litter nuisance.

Citizens had long complained about litter, debris and an overall unkempt look of the Family Dollar at the south end of Ingram Boulevard. The city sent a letter to the landlord stating it would clean the lot and put a lien on the property if the store continued to fail to police its outside storage and trash disposal.

“This has really been a thorn in our side,” Mayor Bill Johnson told the council. “Anyone that takes a look will see why.”

The threat of putting a lien on the property prompted an e-mail to the mayor and the city planning director promising action from the property owner, Saig Company.

“We’ll see if they’ll follow through on what they say they’ll do by tomorrow,” said City Planner Paul Luker.

Ward 4 Councilwoman and Keep West Memphis Beautiful Commission executive director Lorraine Robinson said her constituency shops at the store. She expressed skepticism, citing the long-standing mess at the location.

“Even though they are trying to clean it, it always just piles right back up,” said Robinson.

City council discussed passing the lien, ultimately deciding to take a wait-andsee stance to evaluate what the dollar store would do during a grace period despite Luker’s description of the problem as “chronic.”

“They have 10 days from the notice,” said Luker, “but this has been an ongoing issue with their daily operation. We’ve gotten them to clean it up in the past and then it happens again. As time has gone by, we’ve gotten less and less results out of them to clean up on a spot basis.”

The overflowing trash problem was compounded by the store’s location at a major intersection in the city.

“We’d rather them handle their own trash,” said Luker. “It doesn’t need to stay like that, because it is very visible from both Broadway and Ingram.”

The council passed resolution to give the owners 10 days. After the grace period,

if satisfaction with the site isn’t found, the city will be enacting the lien on the property.

By John Rech