GRAND ISLAND N.Y. (WKBW) — Neighborhood concerns over ticks, mosquitoes and pests are growing on Grand Island. Community members say they are calling on the state to help cut the grass more within the Greenway.
Lyme disease is the most common illness spread by bugs like ticks and mosquitoes around the country. Recent estimates based on insurance records shows almost 476,000 people are diagnosed with it and treated each year.
In Erie county the number of diagnosed cases almost quadrupled from 2015 to 2017. Those number are something Patrick Finn and his dog are concerned about at the West River Greenway.
"Years ago they used to take better care of this area," he said.
His family is no stranger to the area.
"Yeah we moved here in 1968," Finn shared. "My grandparents used to bring us down and they used to park and we used to play games and watch the boats drive by."
He said he's concerned for rodents, mosquitoes and ticks to effect their community.
"That's become far more prevalent over the years than I've noticed before," Finn stated. "I grew up on Grand island and I've never had a tick before recently."
They Greenway stretches for eight miles along the West Niagara River. A chairman of the Grand Island Home Owners Association Joe Short. He said in 2016 New York State Parks took over maintenance of the Greenway adapting a high mow plan where they are allowed to let the grass grow up 24 inches.
"It creates a tick breeding ground...and rodents and mosquitoes," Short shared. "It's creating all sorts of problems in a residential area.
He said above all he is fearful of Lyme disease for those in his community.
"A tick breeding ground 50 feet from someone's house or 10 feet from a bike path is just not responsible and individuals who get Lyme disease have it the rest of their life," he stated.
The association, Short shared, has reached out to the state, yet they have not been very responsive. So they made an effort to call on the town at Mondays town board meeting.
After community members took the time to speak their minds, the board moved to support the association and will now be reaching out to the state together for answers.
