Why can't we get the city/state to mow ROW's?

[metro]

Seriously. We go through this every year, but this year it's far worse. I've seen numerous highway ROW's and city ROW's with grass in excess of 3 ft! Why can't we get the city and ODOT to enforce the contractors they hire to mow these things regularly. ODOT issues out MILLIONS in contracts for highway ROW mowing and yet we're lucky if they get mowed 3 times a year.

[blangtang]

eh, the grass will die before long

[Architect2010]

Technically, the grass here doesn't die. It "hibernates" during the winter. Much like the trees lose their leaves. ;] But it does seem unusually bad this year, I've also seen tons of overgrown grass across the city. It's embarassing that they cannot get grass mowed.

[Spartan]

In Tulsa they are not doing any ROW mowing all year long, since they completely took it out of the city budget. ROW maintenance has been left up to private citizens, who have done a good job in the better parts of town, even mowing large parks, and then in the bad parts of town, you would not believe how high the grass is..

I don't know what the frequency of ROW mowing will be in OKC, but if it's still a month or more out, you could always grab your own lawn mower and help out.

[SkyWestOKC]

With the amount of rain we've had, the grass has been growing unusually fast despite the higher temperatures. For example, my neighborhood mows every 2 weeks. By the end of the 2 weeks the grass next to my house but not on my property was 3 ft. tall and looked like it has been months since they mowed. I of course did mow some of it with my mower because it made my property look bad. But, sometimes the schedule they set out doesn't always work when the rainfall rates spike for a given period. Not really an excuse, I think they could do a better job. But that might be an explanation. I don't know what the rate of ROW mowing is for the city.

[Spartan]

I've had to mow my yard twice a week. I was in NY for a week and a half and came back to see nasty notices from the City of Norman threatening to mow my yard for me and fine me. I was shocked since I was only gone a week and a half..

[hipsterdoofus]

I've gone through a lot of states and I believe it was Georgia or someplace back east where instead of grass in the median of the interstate, they had some kind of hedge. It looked like it naturally grew to just 4 feet or so...IF that were the case, would sure be nice to get rid of some of that maintenance to have something like that in there.

[SkyWestOKC]

I've been on a 2x schedule also. Normally I only have to mow 1x weekly in the summer, and 2x weekly in the spring. It's drying out and slowing down though.

[CuatrodeMayo]

Mowing such an expanse of grass seems a vast waste of resources. Why can't we just plant native vegetation and let it do its thing? Much like Arizona and New Mexico does.

[SkyWestOKC]

Do they even have grass? I'm pretty sure the native vegetation is dirt around there...

[kevinpate]

I've had to mow my yard twice a week. I was in NY for a week and a half and came back to see nasty notices from the City of Norman threatening to mow my yard for me and fine me. I was shocked since I was only gone a week and a half..

Have you ticked off a neighbor (or someone else who knows where you live) recently. Norman's code folk are not real big on going out to look for tall grass (or other matters) to give out notices about. It's near on always done after a specific complaint rolls in.

[Mr T]

The City began a "pro-active" program last year in the central Norman area. They are enlarging it this year. Carol Dillingham wants the Transcript to report before it expands - it is in her ward. They are looking for all sorts of code problems, not just grass. Paint, clapboards, driveways, etc.

Maybe Spartan lives in one of the pro-active areas. We're thinking our neighborhood might be one of the next three. We are trying to be pro-active on this as well, and have already begun to paint the house. We live right down the street from the Mayor and we had the worlds' largest Ezell sign out front. We think she's mad - she glares at us in the evening. We hoist our beers on high but she never smiles. I'm expecting Code Enforcement just as soon as they approve the extension.

[Spartan]

Have you ticked off a neighbor (or someone else who knows where you live) recently. Norman's code folk are not real big on going out to look for tall grass (or other matters) to give out notices about. It's near on always done after a specific complaint rolls in.

Well, I'm just renting a place for the summer while I'm interning here, since I go to school so far away, and didn't want to crash at my parents' place. I think the people who lived here before me might have been running some kind of party house. That could very well explain it--the neighbors think they're bothering the people here before me. There was still two weeks left on the notice before I got any kind of fine (and I'd hate to see the grass in another 2 weeks), so it didn't really matter to me.

Although, I am pretty sure I'm in one of the proactive code enforcement areas as well. Considering it's walking distance to the municipal building, you wouldn't need a "proactive code enforcement" area in order for the city to get onto violations.

[blangtang]

If you rent in Norman and get the stake with the red sign telling you about your "noxious weeds and growth" nuisance, you can ignore it and the city will come mow it and send your landlord a bill for about $250. I get them pretty much every year, but i own the place and make sure to stick the sign back in the yard after i mow.

[dismayed]

I just assumed that due to the economy all the cities in the metro had reduced their maintenance budgets. It's not just OKC, it seems like they're all really letting the right of ways go. Also it seems like more trash is blowing around on the highways than in years past.

[Spartan]

Blangtang..didn't know the fee did not effect the renter. It's still pretty embarrassing to have it on your house.

I just assumed that due to the economy all the cities in the metro had reduced their maintenance budgets. It's not just OKC, it seems like they're all really letting the right of ways go. Also it seems like more trash is blowing around on the highways than in years past.

Now THAT could just be due to people getting trashier.

[kevinpate]

Well, unless one's landlord is responsible for keeping the grass trimmed (not always, or even usually, the case in free standing rental property), I'd expect any landlord so tagged to be looking to the tenant. Especially if the lease has some common language regarding who handles lawn care (typically the tenant in my past experiences.)

[metro]

In Tulsa they are not doing any ROW mowing all year long, since they completely took it out of the city budget. ROW maintenance has been left up to private citizens, who have done a good job in the better parts of town, even mowing large parks, and then in the bad parts of town, you would not believe how high the grass is..

I don't know what the frequency of ROW mowing will be in OKC, but if it's still a month or more out, you could always grab your own lawn mower and help out.

As I stated, on the highways, ODOT issues out multi-million dollar contracts specifying the frequency along the highways and ODOT controlled roads. If we're paying for it, they need to be enforcing it. The City on the other hand, I can see them letting go some during tough times, but we should still try to get an official answer from the City.

Spartan, sorry but I live in a midrise downtown and have no need for a lawnmower nor a place to store one.

Mowing such an expanse of grass seems a vast waste of resources. Why can't we just plant native vegetation and let it do its thing? Much like Arizona and New Mexico does.

Pretty sure most of Arizona and New Mexico highway is desert and dry vegetation that requires very little water, and much of it is dirt and/or gravel with scrub brush.

Do they even have grass? I'm pretty sure the native vegetation is dirt around there...

Exactly, apples and oranges. Lots easier when you are almost zero scaping versus grasses that literally grow like a weed, especially since we get a good amount of rain here.

[CuatrodeMayo]

Actually, the pictures you show are of the Phoenix area, a true desert.

I am refering to the high-elevation short-grass prairie areas that cover most of the route I-40 takes through both states. Those areas are not too different than western Oklahoma.

I propose allowing plants most associated with historical, natural vegetation of the area to repopulate the turf ROWs. A Xeriscape of sorts. in OKC, the result should be mixed-grass praire:



http://www.okatlas.org/okatlas/bioti...on/lenihan.htm

There are already places along our interstate ROWs that utilize this type of landscaping, namely, in the form of wildflower planting areas. Like this:



or this:

[Spartan]

We need to keep in mind that OKC is actually on the edge of a more temperate climate zone than the mixed grass prairie that receives more rainfall, so trees are actually somewhat native here..just as much as in Dallas or Wichita (possibly more so). One of our biggest needs as a community, as I've painfully realized during this stretch of extreme heat/humidity, is shade. It would even be nice to have shade on roads (ie, in Norman, Main, Flood, Boyd, etc)--planting trees in those medians and letting them grow out would be a great way of eliminating grass maintenance in the future, as well. In the meantime, during the years we're waiting for the trees to mature, it would be cool to plant some kind of bushes or tallgrass that would require less maintenance. I like the idea of short evergreen plants, such as in the median of Main Street by Sooner Mall, or in some Edmond medians I think. I think Tulsa just fills the median in 71st Street with wood chips, but I could be wrong..it does have some vegetation though.

[Platemaker]

Highway medians are the last bastion for the grasslands. No biome in the world is more threatened. Let is go natural... and burn it occasionally instead of mowing.

[Platemaker]

... and lots of rock.

[Platemaker]

... and redbuds!!! If we wanted to we could have a redbud display in OKC on par with Washington's cherries.

[rcjunkie]

The city of OKC is not responsible for mowing the right-of-ways within city limits, that's the property owner responsibility. The city wil come out mow/clear an intersection if theres a veiw obstruction.

[metro]

So property owners are responsible to mow medians down Classen, NW Expressway, NW 39th, etc? Get real, that's city property.