Abandoned buildings, blocked views at intersections and hard-to-find buildings are a few of the things that bug you.

I asked, last week, for people to send in their annoyances about the Mankato area — things that aren’t major problems and can be fixed.

Several people e-mailed about one issue — abandoned gas stations in Mankato and North Mankato. They’re shabby looking and bring down the neighborhood, they said. And a couple of people worried about the old gas tanks buried on the sites.

The number of gas stations that have gone out of business in recent years hasn’t been seen since the 1970s, when gas shortages, the advent of chain convenience stores and the shift of retail to the Madison Avenue hill took a heavy toll on the mom-and-pop stations, particularly in downtown Mankato.

The independent service stations are getting battered these days, in large part because they buy fuel on the open market, which is often higher priced than the supply chains can contract for.

The empty stations in the area include the former SuperAmerica atop the Madison Avenue hill, which has been closed for years, the BP station just down from the SA on Madison Avenue, the old Super Shop station across from West High School, and the former gas station on the corner of Webster Avenue in front of the Best Western Garden Inn in North Mankato.

Trudy Kunkel, with the Mankato fire department, says the city’s concern is with buried fuel tanks. Leaky old tanks have, in the past, caused big pollution problems around the state.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency requires that old tanks be removed if the gas station is abandoned for a year. Owners of the stations often aren’t eager to take the tanks out.

“It costs $85,000 to $100,000 to remove them,” Kunkel said. Environmental companies have to test soil for contaminants and soil often has to be removed and disposed of as hazardous waste.

Kunkel said the tanks can be left in the ground if extensive mitigation is done, including ensuring there are no leaks, the tanks are emptied and filled with sand and all pipes and hoses are dug up and removed.

Two of the closed stations — the BP and the Super Shop — still have tanks in the ground, but the state has flagged both for removal. (If the property owner can’t or won’t pay for removal, the job is done and the bill assessed to the property’s taxes.)

As for the boarded-up buildings being an eyesore, there isn’t much the city or anyone else can do. The property owners are trying to sell all of the closed stations, but until a buyer comes along who wants the property, the old stations will just be a visual reminder of the fallout in the fuel industry.

Stop once, look twice

A North Mankato resident complained about the intersection of Nicollet and Center in Lower North, saying there’s not a good view of traffic on Center when you stop on Nicollet.

Rich Peterson, the city’s public works director, said, “We try to keep things trimmed back around signs and at intersections, when it’s on our property.