The City of Erie Bureau of Code Enforcement is continuing targeted sweeps throughout the city, to crack down on excessive garbage and debris.

Over the past two weeks, code enforcement officers have handed out more than 100 courtesy notices to property owners, giving them 14 days to remove unsightly trash from their yards.

On Friday, property inspectors conducted follow up checks on those properties, to see if any action was taken.

"We're at the point where we are circling back around to the areas that we checked," said City of Erie Director of Offices and Services Chris Groner. "We are checking on the properties that were given notice to see if they responded and cleaned their properties."

According to Groner, in the next couple of weeks, those who are still in violation will face a fine of over $1,400, if the city has to clean up their properties.

"Just driving around, we can tell that a lot of them have responded," said Groner. "A lot of properties are being cleaned up. There will probably be some that maybe don't follow through, and that's when you'll see city crews picking that up and of course, there will be an abatement fee of over $1,400 that will go on their water and sewer bill."

While a majority of the people who received a notice have been compliant, Groner encourages those who are still in violation to clean their properties to avoid a fine.

"We're still hopeful that a vast majority of property owners are going to respond, take responsibility for their properties, do the right thing and clean those messes up," said Groner. "Early on, we're seeing a lot of these properties getting cleaned up, so that's a promising sign."

Code enforcement officers will spend the next couple of months inspecting each property throughout the city.

In the coming days, they will be targeting the area of 12th Street to the Bayfront, from Parade Street to East Avenue.