WATERBURY, Conn. -- The city has been working hard to get rid of blight, officials said, and several new ordinances have helped stop illegal dumping.

Now Waterbury has passed another law, which officials said is aimed at getting people to take care of their property.

But officials said it may be difficult to enforce.

An all-too-familiar scene in downtown Waterbury is the shoddy-looking lawns, one police sergeant said.

"It looks bad," Police Sgt. Dan Lauer said. "It can harbor rodents and trash. It gives the area a negative connotation."

To get people to take care of their lawns, he said, police will now be giving out tickets to those who let their grass grow nine inches or higher.

"I think they should, because it depreciates everybody else's property on the street," Naugatuck resident Rhonda Guarini said.

But police said one problem is that most of the unkempt lawns are that way because the homes are abandoned or they're owned by absentee landlords.

"I would say 90 percent are the residents that live in Waterbury who care and want to keep their properties up," Lauer said. "It's people who live in New York or Florida who have investment property and don't take care of it."

One person who takes pride in his properties is Paul Lagasse, who owns several buildings in the downtown area.

"It would be nice if everyone pitched in, if we all got together to keep it clean," he said.

Police said the law may be tough to enforce, but that if you get tickets and don't pay, you will end up in court.

They said the fine will be $100 a day that a lawn violates the law.

The ordinance passed a few days ago. Police said they plan to start giving out tickets in a couple of weeks.