Neighbor seeks help from city leaders to cut tall grass

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Blight is taking over a neighborhood in Southwest Memphis as the grass is taller than a person and continues growing at one Fieldlark Drive home.

Dr. Dorothy Wesson tells WREG she has called 311 repeatedly but it has been a dead end.

“I told the lady from 311 and I told her all that and she was like whatever. Oh yeah, she got real smart she told me to go mow the yard myself,” Wesson said.

Which she has done but she says it’s getting out of hand and that the house has been vacant for 17 years.

“The last four years, it’s been getting uglier and uglier,” she said.

According to reports, the house was sold to someone for ten dollars in 2020.

“I got locusts. I have already killed two snakes so far this year,” Wesson said. “I have rats, I have bigger insect problems than I should.”

She says every year she has to deal with this problem, causing her and her neighbors to take matters into their own hands.

“I started this year again in April hoping that we can at least get one mow in,” she said. “I’ve called 311. I called the mayor’s office and I called code enforcement.”

Wesson says all she wants is some help.

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“I want it to be to the point where every year I don’t have to spend $90 to $100 to get all these weeds off my fence,” Wesson said.

The property at 3679 Fieldlark Drive has an active rehabilitation code enforcement case.

The city’s grounds services department will investigate the high grass complaint on Friday, notify the property owner, and provide a legal timeframe to comply. If the owner fails to address the issue within the legal timeframe, the city’s code enforcement will dispatch a contractor to mow the grass and bill the owner for the services rendered.

WREG learned that the property has been assigned to a vendor to be cut next week.

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