CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — City of Corpus Christi Code Enforcement officers are once again ticketing folks with tall weeds and grass on their property.
The ticket-writing effort had been on pause, but now violators could find themselves in Municipal Court answering to a judge for their eyesore yards.
On this day, it did not matter what side of town we were on -- someone's yard, or a company's property, seemed to be covered with tall weeds and grass; in violation of city code.
At one house on Josephine Street and Mussett, the tall grass and weeds are well over 6-feet high.
The city’s code states that grass or weeds higher than 12 inches are not allowed on any property.
This yard is just a few blocks away from City Hall and is one of many lots in the area in violation of that ordinance.
"Our goal is to educate and make contact in a professional way with that resident or business owner, and that's what we are doing,” said city manager Peter Zanoni. “As I mentioned, we did do a slight reprieve and focused on other code violations."
After August and September’s heavy rains, the city stopped handing out violations for tall grass and weeds, but when the rain slowed, the tickets ramped back up.
Some residents are hoping the city could help get overgrown properties mowed, such as one near Williams Street and Everhart Road.
"Across the street, you see over there, they don't cut it either, and sometimes those guys are coming around here and walking -- something like that, homeless," said Maria, an elderly woman who lives near that area.
She said the property behind Sam's Club is always overgrown and teeming with homeless people.
Two doors down from her home is this: A home for sale that is nearly swallowed up with high grass and weeds. The city has ticketed the property.
"Some folks might not know that they're out of compliance, and so what we're doing -- we're really switching into a more proactive and educational stance in terms of helping the public understand what the code compliance requirements are," said Neighborhood Services Director Linda Stewart.
If you would like to report a home or a property that you feel is in violation of city code you can simply call 311 to report it. If you aren't keeping up your property, you could still end up getting one of these citations if you don't get someone to cut it all down.