Operation T-BONE Focuses on Highland and Stoner Hill Areas

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Shreveport's Property Standards inspectors make a sweep through District B, the Highland and Stoner Hill areas, today. It's part of Operation T-BONE, or Take Back Our Neighborhoods Everyday. Property Standards Director Dorothy Farnell tells KEEL news they'll be looking for a number of things.

"Violations we're going to be looking for today are inoperable vehicles. We have a lot of those," Farnell says. "There will also be houses that may be unsecured, trash, debris, basketball goals that may be sitting out in the street. We'll also be looking at tires that citizens may have that need to be picked up."

To help, dumpsters have been set up in neighborhoods, so people can drop off tires or large debris they may have in their yards. This is being done to remove blight from the area, and give residents a chance to comply with city ordinances before they can be cited for any violations.
Inspectors will also be checking for unmowed yards. Farnell says the grass shouldn't be longer than 12 inches. No, they don't actually go out with a ruler and measure each yard...unless they absolutely have to.

"The inspectors know what 12 inches look like. So, no, we don't have to use a ruler," Farnell says. "But when citizens have disagreed with us, we've had to come back and prove to them. That's why anytime we cite a violation, we take pictures. So we always have evidence to prove, yes, a violation did exist when we actually cited that individual."

City Councilman Jeff Everson says this program has been extremely successful in the past. "Every time we end up doing one of these, we end up getting, it feels like, six months of work done in a day," Everson says. "It really is a great opportunity to find these violations, cite them, and begin the process of clearing them up and getting the citizens that live in those areas back up to the expectation level that they deserve."