Dear Editor,
South Bend is a little town on the north-western border of Indiana, just about a 10 minute drive from Michigan. It is very clean and immaculately well kept. My family and I moved there while I was pursuing my Master of Divinity at the Andrews University, in Michigan.
South Bend (the name is derived from the bend of the river that runs through the city), is kept clean by some very simple laws enforced by the city administrators. Here’s a few of those laws: your grass cannot be more than one foot high, you cannot leave a disabled vehicle on the roadway for more than four weeks, your garbage for collection must be placed in a garbage bag and then in a bin with a lid.
There are paid code enforcement officers who traverse the city to monitor these things. However, if they miss anything any citizen can call and give the address of the code violators.
The violators are served with citations for immediate correction of the problem/s. Failing that, the city comes in and corrects the problem (weeds the grass, removes the trash, tows the vehicle, etc), then sends a bill to the owners of the property. The city charges significantly more for the work than would be charged by an average hire. Additionally, a substantial interest is incurred on the unpaid balance.
When the unpaid amount reaches a certain figure (I don’t quite remember the amount), the property is gazetted for sale and placed on the market at a public action. The bidding for the respective properties begins at the amount owed to the city.
One could well imagine the kind of effort put forward by property owners to keep their surroundings clean and their broken vehicles off the public roadways.
As the local M&CC moves ahead with the restoration and beautification of Georgetown, maybe some semblance of those South Bend code enforcement laws could be copied.
Yours faithfully,
Pastor W P Jeffrey
