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Dirty North Las Vegas park gets cleaned up again
North Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- Trash, graffiti and broken glass litter a North Las Vegas park where residents go to walk their dogs and play with their children and park goers say enough is enough for a second time.
It's a story you asked us to investigate last year and after the city came out and did a thorough clean, we are back to square one just a year later.
It was April of 2011 when Action News responded to a viewer email regarding the less than desirable park. City View Park near North Fifth and Cheyenne was a mess.
After we made several calls to the city, the parks department came out to inspect and did a thorough clean. Fast forward to June 2012 and it looks as though nothing has changed.
"We're past square one," said Cody White. White contacted Action News for our original story last year and after the park was cleaned up, he's watched it slowing return to its deplorable state.
When we arrived to check it out once again, the park was flooded. A broken sprinkler had been running for several days. Trash and glass littered the lawn and just about everywhere you looked graffiti.
The pond, which used to serve as a community fishing pool, is now only home to a few fish and ducks, but flies, floating trash, and a half sunken park bench.
"It is absolutely filthy. People don't clean it up. They continue to throw trash in it," said White.
Action News was told that the City of North Las Vegas currently only has 12 staff members to cover more than 560 acres of parks in the city.
Alfonso Noyola, Director of Administrative Services for the City of North Las Vega, says it really comes down to money or the lack of.
"Unfortunately because of the situation that we're in, we're not able to staff parks maintenance appropriately to be able to handle the large volume of usage that we have in all of our facilities."
But what Cody and other park goers are looking for is just a little consistency.
"I'm seriously hoping that they come in and clean it up, and are serious about keeping it clean and safe," said White.
Faced with a large budget deficit, the city says they're trying to get creative.
"Kind of like you have an Adopt-A-Highway program, you have an adopt-a-park program, where residents who typically utilize a particular park may join together in a group. They would come out and assist city staff in cleaning and maintaining the park," said Noyola.
While Action News was at the park, a clean-up crew emptied trash bins and picked up garbage. Maintenance staff took a look at the pond situation, fixed the broken sprinkler, and promised to get the water feature working once again.
Park goers hope these fixes will last and that we won't be back this time next year.
If you would like to join the park clean up program with the City of North Las Vegas, call their Community Outreach office at 702-633-5632.
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