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November 13, 2008

Port Arthur to enforce driveway, sign ordinances

By Sherry Koonce



By Sherry Koonce

The News staff writer

In an effort to beautify Port Arthur, cars parked in yards and signs posted along roadways will no longer be tolerated.

City officials and police are planning to patrol city streets in a couple of weeks, looking for violations of ordinances that have long been on the books, but not enforced, said Lawrence Baker, director of community services in Port Arthur.

“The aesthetics of the city is one of our biggest concerns in Port Arthur right now,” Baker said.

According to the ordinance, vehicles should not be parked in driveways, not yards. If a home has too many cars to park in the drive, the overflow should be parked adjacent to the curb in the roadway.

Residences should also have drives that meet city specifications. Drives should be constructed to asphalt, shell material or concrete. Dirt drives are prohibited.

Baker said the city, especially since Hurricane Ike, has been inundated with illegal signs popping up along city streets and esplanades.

“We’ve got a lot of signs advertising a business, computer classes, language courses such as ‘Speak Spanish in a Weekend,’ those type signs,” Baker said.

Signs should not be posted on telephone poles either, including garage sale notices.

The illegal signs are not only ugly, they are nuisance, Baker said.

Violators of either ordinance could be fined up to $2,000 for the misdemeanor infraction.

Baker said the city planned to work with people, taking into consideration roads that are too narrow. Residents with substandard driveways will be given ample time to bring them up to city standards.

“Each case is going to be different. We realize there are some streets where the only place to park is in the yard,” Baker said. “Most people right now are able to comply, they just don’t want to.”

Port Arthur Beautification Commission president Aletha Kirkwood said enforcing the ordinances was a step in the right direction.

“We all know that people are attracted to attractive cities. When you have signs posted all over the place, and cars parked up in the yards, and on esplanades, it just detracts from the appearance of the city,” Kirkwood said.

Beautification efforts lately have taken center stage in Port Arthur. Two weeks ago on Make A Difference Day, the committee spearheaded a drive to clean debris and unsightly vegetation from certain areas of town.

Kirkwood said there is an effort to continue that work, and to get residents more involved in keeping up their neighborhoods.

“We’ve lost a lot of residents who were tired of their neighbors not keeping up their homes. We’re trying to keep our residents, while attracting new ones,” Kirkwood said.

skoonce@panews.com



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