The Covington Digital News Digital Edition June 12, 2015 | Page 5

IN DEPTH

Friday, June 12, 2015

TRASH IN THE CITY
BY BRYAN FAZIO

The problem
The Covington Square has been revitalized
and beautified with hundreds of visitors a week
coming through the iconic Covington location.
The blooming magnolias, friendly store owners
and well-manicured park show off Covington as a
city of excellence.
However, just blocks off the famed Square lies
overgrown properties, old sofas, broken bottles,
discarded tires and other refuse.
Covington City Councilwoman Ocie Franklin
drives her district regularly and at the June 1 city
council meeting had enough. She told the council
that people were dumping their trash in lots of
vacant and abandoned buildings on streets that
were known as The Bottom to “In the Heat of the
Night Fans”.
During a ride through her district, Franklin
showed The News areas where people are
dumping garbage rather than calling the city to
pick it up (for a fee) or taking it to the Newton
County landfill or one of several convenience
centers throughout the county.
Possible solutions
The Covington City Council has discussed the
problem of dumping and overgrown landscapes
several times in the hopes of coming up with
solutions.
Some of the properties are still owned with no
one living in the apartments or houses. Some of
the owners are renting their buildings and provide
the zoning department with difficulty in locating
the owner.
The zoning department has been looking for
tools such as tax liens and fees to issue the land
owners.
Another possible solution brought up at the
June 1 council meeting was putting trail cameras
at locations where dumping is known to occur.
The posted cameras would work as a way of
identifying the litterers, as well as a deterrent.