It seemed for a long time that there was a sense of community pride in Magee that was directly related to having a nice, clean environment here.
For whatever reason, though, it now appears that at least in Magee property maintenance and cleanup aren’t given the same priority as in the past.
Of course, there are some reasons that property maintenance may have slipped. For example, this past year our above average rainfall prevented grass on city right of way from being cut regularly. Another item that played a significant role was the loss of the city’s labor force of inmate workers. We simply don’t have enough personnel to maintain city spaces.
So there are reasons that cleaning and maintenance went undone, but excuses do not solve the problem.
Look at the streets in downtown. They used to be cleaned with the street sweeper. That is not the case anymore. Debris from the Christmas parade was left in the streets for weeks. Santa’s candy should not be a problem at the parade, but because the wrappers were not cleaned up after the event, it became a problem.
Some properties in the city have grown up so much that you could hunt on them. As a case in point, deer regularly appear now in downtown Magee because property is not maintained.
Look beside the old Williams Chevrolet. It is now home to opossums, racoons and other animals, as well as being a junk yard.
The city has insisted that owners of other property in the city limits be cleaned, but nothing has been done.
The property beside our railroad right of way is not maintained as it is in other communities, but that does not seem to be a priority in Magee.
McNair Springs park looks like abandoned inner city property. Yet the city is attempting to get more property for parks--that doesn’t make good sense. If you can’t take care of what you have, how can you justify more property to maintain?
In some cases, residents are attempting to follow guidelines to dispose of their trash, but debris still lines our streets. What we have been told is that we must call the city and make provisions for materials to be picked up. However, if the sanitation crews ride by it every day without picking it up, that should be an indicator of a problem.
Our city leaders are trying to decide how to improve the issues, for example by publishing information about trash separation in future editions of the paper and in Magee News.
But, some of this is just common sense.
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Regarding resolutions--in order to accomplish goals you must be accountable. Mine was to lose weight and get into better shape. Thus far weight loss is between 10 and 15 pounds. I have started walking in the mornings and it is making a difference. A resolution doesn’t lead to a solution unless you put some action behind it.
