Bartow plans to make neighborhoods safer by cracking down on code violations

BARTOW, Fla. — Bartow city leaders want to make the city safer and cleaner, so they are focusing on eliminating blight.

Tray Towles recently became Bartow Police Department’s code enforcement manager and he is hitting the ground running.

“I’ve only been over code enforcement for three months. We're out trying to get things cleaned up,” said Towles.

He said in the past the City has been lax about code enforcement intervention.

“Bartow has gone so long without any proactive enforcement. It's time to get it where it needs to be,” said Towles.

The City of Bartow is now cleaning up its act. During a city-wide survey leaders identified 592 properties with at least one code violation. The most common type of violation is sanitation, inoperable vehicles and overgrown grass.

A new code enforcement initiative called the Capital City Clean-up is cracking down on violations.

“We’ll take about three days, and we will go on every street, look at every property. We’ll clean up any alleys that are overgrown, clean up any trees in the right of way. Anything the City can address we’re going to address,” Towles said.

The City will also provide dumpsters within various communities so people can dispose of their trash and debris. Letters will soon go out to residents about the code enforcement initiative.

“I feel like we could do a better job as a community but there’s only so much you can do to get everybody to join in,” said Priscilla Housand.

Leaders hope these cleanups will increase property values and make neighborhoods safer.

“If you look at studies that have been done, there is a direct correlation between code violations and crime in communities. So, it’s a two-part thing for us. We want to clean up the community and reduce crime at the same time,” Towles said.