ELMIRA, NY (WENY) -- A letter on behalf of the Friends of the Chemung River Watershed (FCRW) gained a lot of social media attention over the weekend. Elizabeth Zilinski, the Executive Director of the FCRW said she wrote the letter, which was later posted to Facebook by the founder of the River Friends, to bring attention to parts of the city that needed to be cleaned, maintained, or picked up.

"This letter started way before it was written with the problems this organization has seen in downtown Elmira. We do cleanups all over the watershed, but for the progress we've made here in Elmira and the progress the city has made over the past few decades, it's extremely slow and it could be a lot better," said Zilinski.

Elmira Mayor Dan Mandell said he, the city manager, and the city council received the letter last week. He said it included some unflattering things that were said about the city that they know about.

"[We are] dealing with our un-sheltered population [who] are non-compliant, [who] don't want to find housing. She's pointing out the parking garage which is a continuous battle for us and we continue to work on it. Certain areas of the city [where there are people] under the bridge that we're aware of, but they're particular areas. It's not the entire city," said Mayor Mandell.

Mayor Mandell said this wasn't the best way to go about it by posting the letter to social media, as the city is aware of these issues and is willing to work with the organization to make the city a better place.

"The best way to go about it [is to] send us an email [and] point out what the concerns are. Don't sit there [and] bash the city, and then send it out on social media... One thing she did put in there that was a positive thing is that she could get some volunteers to help with cleanup. We're more than willing to do that," said Mayor Mandell.

Zilinski said a couple of months ago, the FCRW had a meeting with a representative from the Master Watershed organization. She said the meeting would be a couple of hours long and told the man to park at the Centertown parking garage because metered street parking was limited to two hours (until you had to pay again.)

"He [parked] in the parking garage and when he came to our office he said, 'Have you ever parked there? ... Well you should know that the elevators are broken (this is something we knew) and the stairwells have human feces in them. I had to walk through and around human feces to get to your office,'" said Zilinski.

She added this isn't just a problem for her office, but for other downtown business owners as well. She said after posting the letter, the elevator does work, it has water dripping through it. Zilinski said the gentleman followed up afterward with an email describing what happened when he left the parking garage.

"At the end of our meeting, we invited him to come with us to downtown Elmira to have lunch at one of our local eateries. We were really excited to show him around town so we could get that impression out of his head. He declined. He wanted to get his car out of that parking garage as quickly as possible and head back to Pennsylvania. He said he had snacks in his car [and] he was good. [He said] on his way out of the parking garage, there wasn't an attendant and there were cones blocking the exit. So, he had to go around to the monthly exit where there was also no attendant, but he got to go out without paying which was good because it wasn't worth paying any money. That was his impression of Elmira," said Zilinski.

At Riverfront Park on East Water Street on Monday, some garbage could be seen, and in places the park is overgrown with weeds. Zilinski said part of her job with the River Friends is to promote the area, but it's hard if it's not taken care of.

"In order to promote Elmira, I need Riverfront Park to be a place where people can come and feel safe. You see the view we have of the river is a dirty concrete wall covered in graffiti. How am I supposed to promote tourism among the Chemung River here in Elmira, when this is the view people have? When this is what they take away when they come to visit?" said Zilinski.

Mayor Mandell said it's the city's responsibility to take care of Riverfront Park, but the dyke wall is the responsibility of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and underneath the Clemens Center Bridge on Water Street is a New York State Department of Transportation issue. Zilinski explained with the River Friends host a cleanup event, there is a fee when the organization applies for a permit for the event. Mayor Mandell said he's willing to waive that fee.

"We're always looking for people to partner with us because we only have so much staff that can maintain our 30 or so parks. So, anybody that wishes to step up and volunteer, we're all open arms about that... Usually, when you do an event, there's usually a $50 event fee. I have to look into [why there was a $50 fee for the FCRW] and if that's the case, we'd look to getting that fee waived because [we're] not going to charge people [who] are trying to help you out," said Mayor Mandell.

Zilinski said she's more than willing to work with the city to help clean up places like Riverfront Park. Mayor Mandell said they would have to sit down and figure out how to move forward.

"Going forward, that's something that we would love to have a discussion [about]. If they want to step up and start helping with some of the problems, we're a willing partner," said Mayor Mandell.

To read the letter sent to the city of Elmira, click here.