HAZLETON -- The James Street playground in Hazleton used to be a nice place to hang out. At least, that's what people who live there say.
Recently, neighbors say the park is filthy.
You can see some of the trash, but people say this is clean compared to most days.
"We were cleaning the park up and everyone thought it was good because we were cleaning it up. Then we stopped and it became a pig sty," said James Tolerico who has lived near James Street for 27 years.
People who live near the park say it's not the playground that's the problem. Instead, they're finding all of that trash on the basketball courts and now the mayor is saying the people who use the courts better clean up their act or he's going to take down the hoops.
"If it keeps continuing like this, by December we'll take the baskets down and make it a play area. We'll make the whole play area elementary," Hazleton Mayor Joe Yannuzzi said.
The mayor says the playground is usually fine and he thinks that's because parents bring their kids there and they tidy up when they leave.
Neighbors say it's teenagers, with no supervision, using the basketball court that's the problem. They think the teens have no respect for public property.
The kids who use the courts say they do care and don't want to lose the hoops.
"I like playing ball every day. To take this park away, we've been playing ball here since mad long," said Kadies Murdaugh of Hazleton.
The mayor says it's crazy, considering all the trash is right near the garbage cans.
"What kind of basketball players can they be if they can't get the garbage in that big basket?"
"Might as well just throw it in the garbage if you're going to throw it on the floor," Shamel Elisa of Hazleton said.
Even though there are these "litterbug" signs around the city, the mayor plans to put even more specific signs at the James Street playground.