People living along Swan Creek want the city’s sandbags that have been in place for more than 16 years removed

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – Jesus Amaya has lived on Crawford Avenue in Toledo for most of his life and he remembers years ago when the city of Toledo was fixing the Swan Creek pump.

Amaya said the city placed the sandbags around the creek and said they would be temporary, but 16 years later they are still there.

“In 2006 we had a flood, and they said they were going to have them as a temporary fix until they did the piping because I guess the piping collapsed,” Amaya said.

Over the years the bags have collapsed and damaged the lots.

“As you can see the bags are falling apart, there’s not much you can do, you can’t move them. And now you have a lot of blooms,” Amaya said.

Amaya added that he continues to call the city to inquire about a resolution.

“Every year, I call every year, saying ‘hey, you go get the sandbags. They always tell me no, it’s not our responsibility now, it’s yours,” Amaya said.

13abc contacted the city of Toledo and a spokesperson said it was “very strange” that the bags were still there.

The spokesperson said Department of Sewers and Drainage crews would address the issue immediately.

Amaya said he would have taken care of the issues years ago, but it is costly to remove the bags.

“It’s expensive, because they’re going to have to bring dumpsters here, bulldozers to bring it up. Because you can’t just dig it up, there are so many bags,” he said.

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