Friday, February 03, 2006

Opinion ------

Lehigh dump

Re: "Cape streets look like dump," Bill Riehl, Jan. 27. Bill hasn't seen anything yet. He should take a ride to Lehigh Acres and see real dumps.

The streets bounded by S.R. 82, Colonial Boulevard to the north, Leonard Avenue and Gunnery to the south, make the slums of any major city look wonderful. There is garbage all over, abandoned cars, trash piled high next to buildings, shacks built in back of the properties, multiple families living in garages, Dumpsters used for dumping grounds, just a list a few.

Code enforcement and our county commission don't seem to care that they are creating blight areas. In addition, they keep allowing these duplexes to be built at a rapid rate with no apparent architectural code. There are gravel driveways, no garages, minimal landscaping with dead sod being installed. While property values seem to be going up in Florida, the prices in Lehigh are going down. The county commissioners and code enforcement should be ashamed of themselves.

ELAINE PAOLELLA, Lehigh Acres