It was disappointing and sad to read about the plight of the Brooklawn Avenue neighbors who are trying to keep their property values from falling. It is little comfort to them that others are in the same boat. One needs only to drive through the West Side (Winthrop, Summer, Elm, Winter, Sewall streets) and Ganneston Drive to see more.

To say that nothing can be done is poppycock. Family members who live in Illinois, Florida and Pennsylvania live with some restrictions about cleanliness and safety on their streets and neighborhoods and are grateful for them. Their well-kept properties bring in more tax dollars, which helps everyone. How can that be a bad thing?

The City Council, in my opinion, should do all it can to assist city homeowners. They are not asking for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, just that lawns be mowed, trash picked up, and/or permission to do the job themselves without threat of being arrested for trespassing by some out-of-state bank or mortgage company.

Augusta residents may remember the long, hard struggle some decades ago to have zoning voted in. The creep of commercialization on Western Avenue resulted in the major loss of long-established homesteads. Let us not delay doing something now.

Rosalyn Hinckley

Augusta