*The photos are from June 2008. No need for updated pics just imagine more graffiti and more trash amongst a backdrop of leaves - nothing was resolved.*

July 29, 2008

Good Morning Director Howland,

Some of our members had the pleasure of seeing you on the news yesterday in regards to the public recycling pilot program that is being rolled out downtown. It was very nice to see that progress is in the works for other parts of the city. We wish everyone the best of success with the public recycling program. We hope to see such efforts here in Ward 8 soon.With that in mind we wanted to follow up on your June 24th email.

It has been over 35 days since your 6/24 email were you indicated that you would 1) have staff reevaluate the area for litter cans [installation] and 2) have the graffiti cleaned that was not cleaned on May 28th (and which was requested again in early June). In response to our July 7th follow up email regarding outstanding issues (which was addressed to both you and Ms Latterner) Ms. Latterner indicated that the Mayor's Office would look into the "Deaf Pedestrian" sign (which after 6 months of service requests and calls is still laying on the sidewalk) and the request to have sod and/or grass seed planted in the grass strips in our community.To date NONE of these issues have been resolved.The graffiti is still there, there are still no litter cans and the litter problem has worsened, the Deaf Pedestrian sign is still lying on the sidewalk on the corner of Orange Street and Oakwood St and the grass strips are still bare of grass.This is very distressing not only because we live here but because we have done what we were supposed to do. We open service request tickets, we call 311, we send emails to DPW and the Mayor's office and yet our concerns and requests appear to fall on deaf ears. This lack of action and follow up only enforce the perception by some in Ward 8 that our needs are not important. That our community is not important.The one bright spot in all of this is that I had the pleasure of meeting Inspector Beckham and he has been professional, proactive and has kept us in the loop in regards to our sanitation enforcement requests. We only wish that there were more Inspector Beckhams and that he was given the full support and resources of DPW to service our community so that we too could have those bright moments of seeing our new trash cans installed, the graffiti removed from our streets and alleyways and the sidewalks and grass strips clean and inviting.Despite being very frustrated and disappointed we are not going to give up advocating for our community.

Can we please get these issues resolved and quickly? I am attaching photos taken today of the trash and graffiti problem. We need litter cans installed ASAP on the corner of 2nd Street SE and Newcomb, we need at least 2 litter cans installed on Mellon Street SE, a litter can on the 500 b/o Malcolm X and a litter can installed on the corner of Newcomb and Malcolm.Please, please, please help us or let us know who can. We don't need apologizes or false promises we just need real results.

Best regards,

The Concerned Citizens of Oakwood Street
citizensofoakwoodst@gmail.com