Caring about southwest side means cleaning it

With the election coming up soon, I was under the impression that the person elected by the citizens would be proud to represent the southwest side. By the looks of it, I was wrong. Why?

1.) The junk yard by Prairie Creek.

2.) The retention pond east of Miller Avenue, which has bottles, cans, furniture and a great place to raise mosquitoes.

3.) The businesses that have their product scattered all over the property, tall weeds, etc.

4.) Tall weeds and junk in the ditches and surrounding areas.

It is time to clean up these areas. If some of these businesses are living under the grandfather clause, it's time to rescind them, put into place new ordinances to cover these areas. If they are already in place, then it's time for code enforcement to do their job.

It is no wonder we lost IBM. It is time for our city fathers to open their eyes and look at the whole picture. Maybe it is time to grade the people we elected to the city council.

Robert Sweet

Cedar Rapids