CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A few weeks ago, 3NEWS was in Mathis talking about the city's efforts to try and clean up the town. The city manager now tells us that story really paid off for them in a big way.
"People started complying when they saw that story,” said Mathis City Manager Cedric Davis.
City Manager Davis was talking about our story back on October 1, where we went around town with code enforcement officer Dorin Walker. He showed us some of the properties where tall grass and weeds were not being taken care of by property owners. Also, there were plenty of structures that needed to be boarded up or demolished. The city manager said since that story aired, 60 percent of the properties have now been cleaned up by their owners.
The story also caught the attention of the Director of Community and Neighborhood Services up in Round Rock.
"It was your original story that led me to hear about Mathis’ new program and their new initiative so, it was as simple as taking one minute out of my day to shoot him an email and say, "Hey we have been doing this for years, we would be happy to help if there’s anything we can do?" So, thanks so much for the work that you do,” said Director Of Community and Neighborhood Services Joseph Brehm from the City of Round Rock.
The Mathis City Manager appreciated the offer.
"He was willing to share all his information on code compliance things, even offered if I wanted to send my guy down for a day or two to see what they do and how they do it,” said Davis.
Folks like Nick Resio are happy to see the cleanup efforts going on here. Matter of fact, he’s helping out by painting murals around town. He’s starting at the EDC building on San Patricio Avenue.
"Mathis is getting fixed up. I mean the EDC put in the new sidewalks and they’re looking really nice and the Main Street is looking way cleaner and way nicer.” said Mathis muralist Nick Resio.
The cleanup effort is going to keep Resio busy for months, painting even more murals because he said a number of businesses have contacted him to help beautify their part of town.