PHILADELPHIA -
Pam Jones gets a scare every time she visits her mom's West Philly home on the 800 block of North 48th Street.
Next door to her 70-year-old, hearing-impaired mother's house, a jungle of weeds has overgrown the fence, providing the perfect cover for criminal activity.
"You can't see until you get to the top of the steps whether someone is lurking around the corner," said Jones.
The irony of the eyesore that's littered with trash and covering the sidewalk, the property is owned by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.
A quasi-governmental agency responsible for helping to revitalize and beautify Philadelphia.
FOX 29 has found this isn't the only lot tied to the city that's in bad shape.
"That's the odor of something dead that's laying back there," a frustrated Charles Crosland exclaimed.
The City of Philadelphia owns a forest full of trash and weeds on the 2800 block of Newkirk.
It's next door to a home residents are trying to get torn down.
Squatters live inside the home.
And dangerous animals are seeking shelter in the shrubs on the city's property.
"Possum and raccoons now are starting to come out during the day when kids are walking by and you might have a kid mistake it for a cat. Walk up on it and gets hurt."
The city says last fiscal year crews cleaned more than 10,000 lots.
That's still doesn't ease security concerns Jones and her mother have.
They've been trying to get the mess next door to their West Philly home mowed since June.
"It's a disgrace to the City of Philadelphia you talk about brotherly love and sisterly affection
where is it."
A city official responsible for clearing vacant lots says he'll notify the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.
The city has an entire department dedicated to clearing vacant lots.
They try to clear them by zip code.
They'll start cleaning the around Jones' mother's house in October.
They say they've already started around Newkirk in North Philly.
