ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A St. Petersburg man is on notice from the city and is under fire from his neighbors to clean up his yard.
It’s not his lawn and shrubs that are the problem, it’s all the stuff he’s storing in his front yard.
What You Need To Know
- Jason Johns, a St. Petersburg resident, is facing up to $8,000 in fines and criticism from his neighbors due to the amount of junk in his yard
- The city is even seeking a court injunction to physically clean the property
- Johns believes the city cannot “dictate” what he can and can’t do on his property, though admits he does have a problem
Jason Johns says he likes to collect things, clean them up and repurpose them. “I want to be able to do my hobby on the side which is repurposing things,” he said. “But I don’t want it to get out of hand like it has, and I need to regulate myself properly.”
His front yard is filled with things he collects from everywhere. Chairs, shelves, even full bottles of beer he doesn’t drink.
Neighbors we talked with want to see him clean things up, but Andrew Watts says from what he sees, things have only gotten worse.
“It looks like a garbage heap,” Watts said. “(Jason) gets some friends to help him clean it up and then it looks a little better and then he brings more stuff as you can see it’s piled on top of his car.”
Calls to the city have led to code violations and fines totaling more than $8,000 so far. The city is even seeking a court injunction to physically clean the property.
In a statement to Spectrum Bay News 9, St. Petersburg Councilman Richie said, “The case for an injunction is currently being built. We are following due process, as the court will want to see that we have done everything we can to force a property owner to comply before they will grant us an injunction.”
Johns isn’t happy about that. “They think they can dictate to me what I can and cannot do on my property,” he said. “And that makes me very angry.”
Johns does admit things around his home need to change, “I do need some help. I really do.”