WHAS11 coverage

(WHAS11) - Some residents of the Newburg community say it's time the city steps up and starts taking care of abandoned property. They say dozens of overgrown yards are hurting their property values and even threatening their safety.

If you go down just about any street in the neighborhood, you can see rows of well-maintained lawns but plopped in between, you can also see yards belonging to abandoned houses condemned by the city which are not up kept.

Since neighbors say nobody is keeping them up, the neighborhood is starting to take matters into their own hands.

The tall grass and weeds kept choking out Chris Evans small push mower but he was determined to mow them down. It was the first mowing the yard has seen in months. Evans doesn't live here and he isn't getting paid to mow.

The house is one of several abandoned homes in the newburg community, most shut up by the city after owners didn't pay their tax bills.

But neighbors say the city is letting those properties threaten their quality of life saying that it can be an embarrassment when others see them.

One resident, Rose Robinson, says it's a problem that's been going on for years. Robinson says she constantly calls and e-mails city leaders about overgrown yards but rarely gets results.

The city ordinance says it's illegal to have weeds more than 10 inches high, but in one yard, WHAS11 found weeds more than 60 inches high.

And of course, there's also concern about snakes, mosquitoes and other vermin.

WHAS11 contacted IPL. Their spokesperson says the city is not responsible for the houses, since they are still privately owned, even though the city has liens against them.

Currently, there are more than 5,700 privately owned vacant structures in the city.

The number is growing as more properties are going into foreclosure.