It appears Linda Cappelletti isn’t the only Burnaby homeowner who’s fed up with raccoons tearing apart her lawn.
Leslie Madunic lives about six kilometres from Cappelletti, at North MacDonald Avenue and Eton Street, and said the raccoons have made a huge mess of the boulevard that runs in front of her house. The mess is so bad the loose lawn pieces have started clogging up the gutter, she added.
Madunic said she has phoned the city’s engineering department three times since Sept. 23 regarding the mess. The first time, she was put through to Tracey Tobin who is the environmental services officer in the city’s engineering department. She told Tobin about her problem with the raccoons and Tobin assured her she would send an assessment team out the following day – no team ever came by.
Madunic called back on Oct. 1 but was put right through to Tobin’s voicemail. On a third call, on Oct. 6, she managed to get Tobin on the phone but said that Tobin didn’t remember her and couldn’t recall their conversation.
“We already (cleaned) it in the spring time, we’re not doing it again,’ that’s what she said to me,” she said. “So I said, ‘If that’s the case then I’ll hire two young kids and I’ll have them rake in onto the road.”
According to Madunic, Tobin told her she couldn’t do that because it would cause problems for the sewer but again offered to no solution or help to clean up the mess.
Frustrated with the situation, Madunic threatened to bag up all the loose lawn scraps and deliver it straight to Mayor Derek Corrigan’s desk.
“All I want is for them to rake it off because I am unable to do it,” she said.
Madunic hopes the upcoming election will make the city reconsider cleaning up the mess left behind by the raccoons. After all, she said if people are upset enough maybe it’ll be represented at the polls come Nov. 15.
The NOW left repeated messages with Tobin but as of press deadlines had yet to hear back.
