DURHAM - The first time James Johnson complained about the trash and overgrowth in the creek running across the back of his Lincoln Street home, it was 1986.

Fast-forward 22 years, and the situation has gotten worse, not better, he said.

So Johnson, 77, some of his neighbors and a grass-roots group held a media event Friday to try to pressure city officials into action.

"Every now and then we call and complain," Johnson said Friday, showing a tree from the other side of the creek that recently fell into and crushed a portion of his chain-link fence.

"But the man from the city called me back and said they turned it over to somebody else. That's been their thing since 1986, since I started going to meetings about this."

City spokeswoman Beverly B. Thompson said a city inspector went to Johnson's property Thursday and took photos.

It was determined that the creek is actually on Johnson's property, so it's his responsibility to maintain it.

But Johnson's neighbor, Patricia White, said the city built a retaining wall several years ago in the creek that ran across her property.

Thompson was asked whether that means the city does, or at least used to, maintain the creek. She said she didn't know, but, "We're going to look into it."

Avery Scott is an organizer with the Durham branch of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, which helped organize Friday's demonstration.

He said Johnson has heard "we'll look into it" before. "We're not particularly confident that's going to result in action given that he's been hearing that for about 22 years," Scott said.

White shares Johnson's concerns about the debris in the creek. She points to a city trash can in the creek for a long time.

Another tree recently fell onto her property from the other side of the creek.

"I called them to come remove it," White said. "They never did."

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