It's time Miranda Miller got some satisfaction.

Not later this month. Not eventually, after further study and deliberation. But right away. Send in a crew with weed whackers or scythes, gravel or dirt. And get the BCK lot cleaned up.

Monday night, visitors in the gallery at Owen Sound City Hall were treated to the unusual spectacle of seeing one councillor after another first apologize to Miller, then thank her.

This came after the mother of two presented a painstakingly researched and illustrated account of the frustrations and delays she has encountered in trying to prod the city into cleaning up the overgrown Black, Clawson Kennedy lot, which sits in the middle of a residential neighbourhood, and the city's downtown, and across from her home.

The lot, council was told this evening by Police Chief Bill Sornberger, whose department is charged with bylaw enforcement, has been in violation of city bylaws since May 16. The reason a large section of marshy reeds in the centre of the lot hasn't yet been cleaned up, Sornberger told council, is that geese were found to have nested there in the spring. The geese have since hatched. Therefore the lot will now be cleaned up, he said.

Sornberger promised to report back to council on Sept. 18. He said his enforcement officers are on the case, working with the owners, and intent on obtaining compliance with city bylaws.

With all due respect, neither apologies, thank-yous or promises of further investigation and reporting are really adequate, at this juncture. Nor is this problem Sornberger's to bear. As Miller made amply clear, council has been kept in the loop for months on end. It is only a political issue now because Miller refused to give up.

She has spearheaded the effort to get the BCK lot cleaned up. But she is by no means the only area resident concerned about its sorry state.

Council heard that there have been complaints dating back a decade or more. That's probably because the property is so central. Indeed, visitors to any number of major tourist events through the summer – from Summerfolk, to the Salmon derby, to the upcoming Concours D'Elegance car show at Cobble Beach, and Ribfest – must drive past bedraggled, scruffy BCK to reach their destinations.

The city's tourism office, no less, is directly opposite the lot. What a message that sends!

The BCK lot is an eyesore. A majority of city councillors are now on record acknowledging it as such, and also that the city has let residents down in allowing it to remain untended for so long.

The property owner, Hansa Financial, in partnership with Jamesway Construction, is aware of the problem, and also of the degree to which it has become an irritant. We know this because Al Way, a principal in the company, attended a meeting with local residents on Aug. 13th, to discuss it.

Meantime, Owen Sounders find themselves observing a municipal election campaign in which the dominant issue, thus far, has been the state of an empty lot. It would be in the candidates' interests to move past this, surely? The only way to do that is to redress the situation.

The matter has been sent to the city's bylaw committee. Councillor Ian Boddy, one of three candidates for mayor, along with incumbent Deb Haswell and former mayor Ruth Lovell Stanners, said at Monday's meeting that the time for further study has passed. What's needed, he said, is a weed whacker. He's right.

The swamp should be drained, the lot leveled, the grass cut, and the dilapidated fence replaced with a uniform, proper enclosure or, better yet, removed entirely.

The property owner has had ample time to clean up BCK. The city should act, as it has the power to do.

- Michael Den Tandt, Publisher, Owensoundhub.org.