(The following story by Kathy Steele appeared on the Tampa Tribune website on July 22, 2009.)
EAST TAMPA, Fla. CSX officials are promising relief to neighbors who say work is overdue in cleaning and cutting back overgrowth along the railroad track's right of way.
Scattered glass, bottles, rotted wood, clothing and trash lie amid weeds and vegetation along Eastern Avenue at Chelsea Street, northeast of 40th Street.
Samuel Mobley said he sometimes spots snakes in the tall grass.
He repeatedly has asked city and CSX railroad officials to do something about the eyesore.
Last week Mobley, who heads his neighborhood's crime watch group, brought his complaint to the East Tampa Community Revitalization Partnership's monthly meeting.
He received a response he didn't like.
The city would like to clear away the overgrowth but CSX says no, and the railroad is in control.
The last time CSX cleaned up the area, generally from Chelsea to Hillsborough Avenue, was about six months ago, said Cal Worthington of the city's Clean City Division.
"It's a safety issue," he said. And CSX officials have said city workers, or anyone else, would be trespassing and subject to arrest if they get within 25 feet of the tracks, Worthington said.
That didn't sound right to Mobley. He said often sees people walking on and crossing over the tracks, which run through the neighborhood of about 40 residences. There are no "No Trespassing" signs in sight.
"There's no way you can tell me we have to live in these conditions," Mobley said.
CSX officials say the area's project manager has been asked to visit the area to decide whether maintenance is needed. The area should have been cut back once or twice since recent heavy rain, said CSX spokesman Gary Sease.
But safety is the paramount issue.
"We work very hard to discourage people from using our tracks as a pathway," Sease said. Vegetation is one way of doing that.
And Sease said the company also takes a hard stance on trespassing. People don't know when a train might come by. "It's a very heavy weight and cannot stop quickly," he said.
CSX cuts back overgrowth several times a year and meets federal and city standards, Sease said, though "it's a bit of a subjective thing sometimes."
On another issue raised by residents, Worthington said he would ask CSX to see what can be done about racial epithets residents say they see on passing trains.
Sease said it is a recurring problem because CSX has about 21,000 miles of track, 100,000 railroad cars and 4,000 locomotives. Complaints can be made at the company's Web site, www.csx.com. It helps if the train car's number can be provided because that is used to track the car's destination.
CSX also can be contacted at a toll-free number, 1-877-835-5279.
