Your view: Clean the ditch

Dear City Council:

I am a very concerned citizen living on the ditch between Pam and Crowe streets in Sikeston. We have waited patiently for at least 15 years for someone to do something about this very nasty situation.

The ditch doesn't even drain. It sits covered in green slime for the snakes and mosquitoes to breed. We're in danger of the West Nile virus and who knows what else. Only a couple of years ago it overflowed and an oily residue killed all our grass. It sat in our yards and under our home for more than a month. We had to use a sump pump all that time to keep the water from flooding all our homes. Why wasn't our ditch the first one cleared and cleaned up? We have a lot more people and children on our ditch than either of the two other ditches they have taken care of. When will our stinky, molded-over non-draining ditch be cleared?

It will probably take a lawsuit against the city or someone will get sick and then let's see how fast you scramble to get this situation taken care of. If you people use the money we have been granted with like they are supposed to, we should have a much safer and sanitary place to live. I'll bet none of you live in or around it, or we would have already been taken care of.

The citizens of this hard working area deserve to have lawns that they and their children can be safe in.

Pam and Crowe street taxpayers