Six months ago, we covered a walking tour in South Park led by neighbor Jeff Hayes, showing ongoing trouble spots to a city delegation including Councilmember Lisa Herbold and representatives of various departments. It was illustrative not just for people in or interested in South Park, but anywhere in the city, West Seattle included, where there are trouble spots for which neighbors are trying to get city help. In Hayes’ neighborhood, some situations have improved – we reported in January about the new ownership for vacant commercial spaces – and some are still problems, like the one the city “abated” again today.

This house is next to Hayes, at 1037 South Cloverdale, and he says this is the third time in six months that crews have been sent in to clean up. Much of the work had been done before we got there this afternoon, but they were impounding a vehicle (top photo) and a pickup truck bed that had been turned into a trailer (photo above this paragraph) – Southwest Precinct Community Police Team Officer Todd Wiebke told us at the scene that it had stolen tabs. He also told us two more houses in the area have abatement set for later this week.

We asked one of the agencies involved in the cleanup today, the city Department of Construction and Inspections, for details, and spokesperson Wendy Shark replied, before the cleanup: “We have an abatement order to remove outdoor junk and other miscellaneous items from this property … The conservation corps will be assisting us with the clean-up, Bio-Clean will assist us with the removal of any hazardous waste on the property and SPD will be there as well.” The line item on the SDCI website traces back to a complaint originally made in January, one of many involving this address over the years. (The backstory of the house and its owner was told in this radio report last year.)