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Bad mowing at Chimborazo Park
The Friends of Chimborazo Park are trying to get some attention put to how badly the city has been mowing the grass at the park:
In the past year hundreds if not thousands of volunteer man hours and thousands of private dollars have gone into improving Chimborazo park. Yet the city still fails to manage this property properly.
The Department of Public Works mowing crews have done an atrocious mowing job that makes the park resemble a badly mowed hayfield instead of a well maintained city park. The grass is cut way too short and the clippings are left lying in the park in huge clumps. Together these two factors will most likely kill off significant amounts of grass. This is not an isolated incident either, but is more the norm and it needs to stop now.
The federal portion of the park is on roughly the same mowing schedule and looks far better. Because their mowing crews mow with care. They go slow, allowing time for the grass to properly mulch. And they set their mower deck heights properly so as to not sheer the grass off at ground level.
As neighbors and frequent users of the park, we have the right to expect better. After all, most other city parks are better maintained. I am contacting the city about this issue. Please join me in raising your voices. Otherwise our park will probably slip back into a state of disrepair. Below are some contact numbers you can use.
Ask public works http://eservices.ci.richmond.va.us/applications/RichmondGovContactUs/ContactUs.aspx?ID=34
DPW’s phone number: ( 804) 646-7000
James A. Jackson – Director DPW Jacqueline.Howie@RichmondGov.com
Councilwoman Cynthia Newbille: Cynthia.Newbille@Richmondgov.com or email Sam.Patterson@Richmondgov.com
FYI: there are rumors that the city is going to test a herd of goats as lawn/weed maintenance at Chimborazo Park.
TAGGED: Chimborazo Park
The Director of Public Works email is james.a.jackson@richmondgov.com and his direct number is 646-3702. It’s not just Chimborazo Park. Mowing city-wide has been atrocious this year.
I will second that- They haven’t even been mowing in some parts of southside.
The goats would be much better than the city workers. The city maintenance all around has been shit this year. The hill up 24th street behind Bellevue school is my nominee for worst groundskeeping but there are many worth candidates.
um, leaving clippings is green manure. and seriously, you’re more bothered by this than the fact than one of your neighbors owns dogs that could and probabaly will kill a child? good priorities!
This issue has been something that I’ve had to revisit *annually* with regards to Jefferson Park. They have set their blades so low as to actually grind/chip off the edges of the concrete sidewalks as they pass over. I wish you good luck, as the DPW folks are 4+ weeks behind in their various tasks, and dealing with them (& The City) requires more than a modecam of patience & faith.
I completely agree with the mowing of our neighborhood parks in general. It’s shameful really. I was at the park behind Richmond Hill recently — Taylor Run Park, I believe its called — and was mystified as to what they are doing to maintain that place. We really do enjoy our green spaces up here, and the City has an obligation to keep them usable for everyone. I am going to call on Monday. Thanks for posting.
I think the city is in a financial crunch and what we’re seeing with the lack of mowing is a symptom of that. Areas throughout the city haven’t been touched all summer. The bottom of Chimborazo at Main has grass overflowing the curb and growing into the street. And the tree branches on Government Road coming into Church Hill are starting to force larger cars and trucks to split the lane to avoid getting raked by the branches…
Also, while the See Click Fix site used to get a pretty fast turnaround with bulk pickups and such, it has now dwindled in its effectiveness. In Fulton, they’d have a turnaround of a couple of weeks for bulk pickups and illegal dumping earlier in the year. Now it’s more than a month, if at all.
In regard to goats, DC used some recently to clean up an old cemetary in the city.
http://tinyurl.com/lqrunqf
Gosh I hope the rumor about goats is true. A herd of goats would be useful on all the steep hillsides in our parks/public green spaces. Goats would gobble up all that stuff and have no problem navigating the slopes. Bring em!
I think almost all of the city’s attention goes elsewhere. I work in the Carytown area and I walk around the neighborhood a lot. The sidewalks are well maintained. I’ve seen city crews fixing potholes in the freaking ALLEYS. Trees get trimmed routinely. Up here, we are forgotten, even by our city council rep. Our sidewalks, alleys, parks, trees are left to us to maintain pretty much on our own. Good luck getting any help from DPW or Cynthia Newbille (just email Sam Patterson because that’s who will reply, if you do get a reply at all). Is anyone else worried about the off lead dogs if there were goats? And where is this potential killer dog located so I can avoid that area?
@Elaine
I agree Ma’am! Perhaps the goats could be fitted with “GoPro” (GoatPro?) head cam’s enabling them to act as our “eye’s in the Park” to catch vandals, drunkards and etc.??
I’ll volunteer my time as herder for a six pack of Shiner Octoberfest.
@7 – I suspect you may be right about the financial causes of this. If this is the case, it should a sign that Richmond has too many properties to maintain (which they do). The city’s like one of those tv hoarders living in a filthy mess because they never take the trash out.
Add in all the mowing the city does for absentee landlords and something’s got to give. Raise the fines for code violation work, sell off any non core (I.e. not public use) properties and get back to focusing on doing the job right.
Only downside with goats – who’s going to clean up after them? There’s already enough animal crap in that park as it is. Add in goat waste and no matter how good the grass looks it won’t be usable.
I emailed first thing Thursday and have yet to hear back from anyone. This is the third time I have emailed Cynthia Newbille’s office over issues in our neighborhood and so far, her office is 0 for three in responses.
#firstworldproblems
@14–Get used to it. It takes several follow-up e-mails to get a response from her. And as #10 said, it usually comes from her assistant, Sam. I really wish she was more responsive. An answered e-mail goes a long way!
I spent hours on the phone with Public Works and Parks and Rec regarding the grass cutting on Libby Hill this year. You have to stay on them and don’t back down.
Start here:
Mike Barbour 646-1216 spoke 6/26
Mike Evins 646-5391 spoke 6/26
Arthur Brown Libby Hill Park supervisor 646-1215
Arthur Brown? He’s a credit to no one. Basically told me to eff off. After I told him that I would contact my friends at the paper and on TV and use his quote, he calmed down a bit.
They still aren’t mowing the cobblestones in the park yet, but I guess they will get to it next year.
Funny thing. Now that I live on Brown’s Island, you can see what a great job they do there of mowing the side slopes. No problem whatsoever.
They do a better job at Fulton as well. I just wish all the Church Hill NIMBY’s spent as much time demanding basis services like grass cutting as they did fighting other things.
@15 – long grass may be a “first world problem” but it’s symptomatic of a city government that can’t do shit right, which is a real concern. It’s a lot easier to measure the height of the weeds than some of the other things Richmond touches but they all seem to be about the same level of quality – roads, schools, honest and accountable officials, etc., etc.
The long grass is also like a broken window syndrome, making it that much easier to not care about throwing out trash or removing trash from full cans. Oh, this place is already unkempt, why should I bother?
If the city weren’t able to afford mow crews I could understand. However, they can and do employ mowing crews. Extremely negligent ones. They have mowed over the dog park fence on multiple times.
If the crews mowed slightly slower and with a modicum of care, there would be no issues.
Could we start a neighborhood coalition to get some attention up here from the city? Maybe we should do it as part of the CHA? Our city council rep is uninterested and unresponsive, IMO. SeeClickFix is not the solution – the city “warriors” close issues and requests of any real relevance. From where I live (Chimbo area), our sidewalks are crumbling, buckling and overgrown, we desperately need trash cans and our parks are not maintained. I would absolutely volunteer my time to work with neighbors to get some of these issues resolved. Anyone interested?
We live across from Chimbo Park and frequently witness city crews mowing. They race across the park at break-neck speeds as if they were trying to set a world’s land speed record…..for riding mowers! The mower blades are set practically at root level which leaves the park looking like it just hosted a running of the bulls. One can only assume they do this to either 1) prolong the time in between mowings and/or 2) hasten their lunch breaks or the end of their work day. Maybe these guys are being paid by the hour and not the job? The result is that the park is left dangerously shorn, susceptible to sun damage, filled with divots and covered in huge clumps of cut grass which DO NOT mulch, but serve to further damage the grass. Frankly, a prisoner detail could do a better job. What’s the point in allowing beautification projects such as tree and shrub plantings if the surrounding grass is dead? So much time and expense has been spent by countless volunteers and organizations in recent years to restore the park to its former glory. It would be nice if they City could just do its part.
Has anyone recieved any sort of response from the city? It has been a week and I have not recieved anything.
This is the third time our council woman has completely ignored my correspondence about issues in her district.
No response.
alex, dude, you know how steep that hill is in jeff pk? the one down to jeff ave and marshall? no one’s ever gonna get goat crap on their shoes there. only goats can navigate that hillside. a little goat crap (100% compostable manure) on that hillside will get covered up with fast growing grass (and the trash people pitch down the hill) in no time. still–it’s all better than 4-feet tall weeds on the hill. jus sayin’.
I love the goat idea, if only for the opportunity to go and watch them while they eat grass. I agree with Elaine – they can better navigate the hills and the manure problem would likely be negligible.
Elaine,
I was only referring to the flat part of Chimbo park. Hillsides, sure.
anyone thought of just mowing it yourself? Before moving into an apartment i owned a lawn mower. I had to mow several lots around me to keep them in check if i wanted it done, the city was no help time and time again. I agree that the city should be meeting its responsibilities with its citizens in regards to these things, but if you feel so strongly that something needs to be done, then do it yourself? get a few neighbors together, tackle the problem yourselves, get a feel good news clip/article going about it as some have mentioned and shame the city into doing something better for the neighborhood.
If someone can come up with a riding mower, I will GLADLY dedicate a few hours on a weekend now and again to mow parts of the park. Riding mowers are fun!
@28 – I generally agree with your sentiment but would recommend folks get this cleared by the city first. I could see the city maintenance crews getting protective once their job security is threatened and possibly trying to get folks fined for mowing city property. Granted I think there’s not a jury around that would convict but it’s probably a lot of hassle. If someone knows how to get it cleared first it’s a great idea.
Have you seen the size of Chimborazo park>?
I do lots of park maintenance myself, but mowing, even with a couple of standard sized riding mowers would take all day.
The city’s poor efforts make people like me rethink volunteering all of the time and money they have put into the park in the last few years.
And I am still outraged that not a single person I contacted in the mayors office, the DPW and our councilpersons office have bothered to respond to any emails about this issue. That just goes to show that they really don’t care about our issues. I am not asking for more money to be spent, just for work crews to give a damn about their quality of work.
Priorities for Chimborazo Park:
Stop creepy men from exposing themselves/making sickeningly suggestive comments to women walking in the park.
Stop idiots letting their huge, usually pit-something mixed dogs who have been cooped up all day in apartments and condos run loose, not attacking people (yet) but engaging other dogs in bloody fights.
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Start mowing the grass right.
Got it? Good.
I will throw out my suggestion again – those of us who live in the Chimbo area should unite and approach the city as a group to address ALL the issues: creeps, loose dogs, mowing, trash, crumbling sidewalks, etc.
Or we can continue to whine and complain here.
@Lucky Canine–I’m up for it!
Trish – email me. Sleekitdogs@aol.com. Who else is in?? C’mon Chimbo, Chimbo Neighbors, Alex, Neighbor, etc.
Anyone seen the job the city wrecking crew did on Libbie Hill yesterday? This time they didn’t even finish and there’s a spot that looks like they may have broken a mower blade. These guys have got to be drunk or blind. I took a couple of shots of it but don’t know how to upload them on here.
They also managed to shave off a few layers of topsoil on the hill up 24th by Bellevue. That damn grass won’t be troubling them anytime soon!