Has Landscape Maintenance Stopped? (Dunwoody, Chamblee: university, budget, money)

[City Fanatic]

Everywhere I go, along interstates and primary highways, I'm seeing the same thing: Tall, nearly waste-high weeds.

In the past, it was common to see the roads kept up every three weeks or so. I'm now seeing roadsides go several months without a mowing job. What is going on? Were these jobs slashed by tight budgets as unnecessary, or are the local governments, along with the state government, mowing at a much lower frequency in order to save money in a tight economy?

[brettk]

I've noticed that too. I saw some inmates cutting the grass on the corner of 316 and 20 (I believe it was 20, may have been Collins Hill) this morning. Maybe we should get more low-risk inmates out there.

[BobKovacs]

There were budget cuts that cancelled all cutting/maintenance along the highways until July 1st, so they've been back at it for a few weeks now, but it'll take a little while to get things cleaned up.

[SleeplessnATL]

We noticed the same thing too. . .and contacted Dekalb county about it. They told us that budget issues were the reason. Also, they stated that July 1 was the beginning of their fiscal period and planned to begin regular maintenance.

Oh well, that time has come and gone with very little change.

[Mattie]

I wish GA would just follow the lead of the Carolinas. Just throw down wildflower seeds along the highways, and forget the mowing.

[jhtrico1850]

Highway shoulders shaggy as states cut back mowing - Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Highway-shoulders-shaggy-as-apf-2881786942.html?x=0&.v=1 - broken link)

Shame. Mattie, great idea. We need some vision here.

[atlantagreg30127]

I wonder why they just don't use free labor (State prisoners) to clean the roadsides? Surely there are plenty of people in prison to do the work now.

[waronxmas]

Ok, has everyone forgotten that we just came out of a nearly decade long drought? Rain + Sun = plants growing really really fast.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by Mattie

I wish GA would just follow the lead of the Carolinas. Just throw down wildflower seeds along the highways, and forget the mowing.

I like this idea, and there are few spots like this around town. One funny story I can tell though is that it doesn't translate into them not getting mowed down. There is a stretch of intentionally planted wildflowers on Peachtree Industrial just past Olgethorpe University and before Chamblee-Dunwoody Road next to the MARTA tracks. A few weeks ago I was driving along and saw a sign that read "Wildflowers: DO NOT MOW". Last week there was a bare patch of recently mowed wildflowers where that sign used to be. LOL

[Shagbark Hickory]

Wildflower seed is very expensive!