Lafayette Residents Call Abandoned Tires a "Hazardous Eyesore"

A group looking to spruce up Lafayette has it's eye on an eyesore.
That eyesore, an old mechanic shop with hundreds of tires piled everywhere.
Baby Cajun Tire is on Moss Street, near the corner of Nova Scotia Drive.
One group looking to clean up the community says it's a setback for new business and development.
Baby Cajun Tires on Moss Street lies abandoned, and with it an estimated 1,200 old tires.
Robert Smith and Jarvis Malveaux with the Northeast Gateway Coterie says it's an eyesore.
"Our neighborhood Coterie is trying to clean up Moss Street. And when businesses do this to us it's doggone impossible to attract not only businesses but new homeowners", says Smith.
Malveaux agrees, saying, "The city needs to stay on top of this".
The group's turned to Mark Pope, LCG's Environmental Quality Manager.
Pope says they've ordered the old owner of Baby Cajun Tires to clean up the abandoned property.
"They are under the process of being notified. They'll have ten days to remove the tires. If the tires are not removed, "we" remove the tires. That's pending DEQ approval. We have to wait 3 or 4 weeks for the State Department of Environmental Quality to approve the removal of those tires", says Pope.
And the eyesore, which Pope says could also be hazardous to the community.
"The two strains of mosquitoes that are most likely to carry West Nile Virus do breed in tires so do not let tires lay around your house if you're a private property owner", says Pope.
If you have tires that need to be disposed of, there are two drop off locations for Lafayette Parish residents, where they are accepted free of charge.
Colt Inc (1223 Delhomme Avenue in Scott, Louisiana) and LCG's Public Works Yard in Youngsville (1017 Fortune Road) both accept five tires a day, both on and off the rim.
You'll need a state driver's license and license plate number in order to verify you live in Lafayette Parish.