Fight the blight!

West Memphis continuing never-ending battle against illegal tire dumping

By Don Wilburn

news@theeveningtimes.com

It’s a tale as old as time… the City of West Memphis versus urban blight — unkempt properties, closed and dilapidated buildings, trash and illegal dumping, especially old tires.

At the March 2 meeting of the West Memphis City Council, Mayor Marco McClendon spoke on the issue.

McClendon said the city sanitation department has been doing a “great job in removing litter and debris and removing tires.”

The battle against blight, he said, is constant.

McClendon said was “amazed” by the fact that city sanitation crews empty the trailers full of tires and “within a day it is filled back up.”

The mayor asked the Council to propose legislation to get control of the situation and investigate who is disposing of so many tires.

“I would hate to believe that tire shops have made some type of deal to use the city trailer to dispose of a mass amount of tires at the city’s expense,” McClendon said, adding that he has placed a camera at the shop and plans to investigate in order to get to the bottom of the issue.

The mayor was asked if city officials had looked at Ward 2 in the 20th Street block and McClendon said he had and that there were “over 1,000 tires” dumped in that area.

McClendon said he wanted to bring the matter to the full council's attention, because when he begins to address the issue, he wants the council to be aware of his intentions.

The City Council was presented for the first time the reading for the updating a slate of city codes and ordinances, including:

•The 2018 Arkansas Plumbing Code

• The 2018 Arkansas Fuel Gas Code

• The 2021 International Building Code

See BLIGHT, page A3 BLIGHT

From page A1

• The 2023 National Electrical Code

• The 2021 National Mechanical Code Another first-time ordinance was also read to rezone the properties located at the Taylor-Hemenway Subdivision on North 7th from an Industrial Light Core District to a Suburban Commercial District allowing open display. All of these ordinances will be placed on the agenda for a second and third reading at future city council meetings and debated before being placed up for a vote by the council.

City council will meet again at 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 6. The public is invited to attend.

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