Overgrown grass along roads and in cemeteries has some Columbus residents upset

The Chattahoochee Valley has enjoyed a rainy year so far but residents aren’t happy what it has left behind in some of the most established neighborhoods in Columbus.

Near J.R. Allen Parkway along Schomburg Road, a Bridlewood resident wants to know who maintains the right-of-way that’s suddenly filled with overgrown grass and bushes while a 65-year-old woman is waiting until grass is cut before she attempts to place flowers on relatives graves in Porterdale and East Porterdale cemeteries.

“The weeds are hanging into the street and one large bush is pushing traffic towards the double-yellow line when entering the subdivision,” the Bridlewood resident said.

The Columbus woman said she’s been placing flowers on relatives graves for more than 50 years but she noticed something different this year. “This is the first year I have seen it like this,” she said. “I have never seen it this bad.”

As a matter of record, we are talking about city owned property. Columbus council accepted most streets in Bridlewood in 1987, according to city records. East Porterdale, Porterdale, Linwood and Riverdale are the four historic cemeteries owned by the city.

When it comes to cutting grass, Pat Biegler, director of Public Works for the Consolidated Government, said crews, whether they are contracted or city workers, are running behind during the rainy year.

At major intersections where there are Gateways, Biegler said those areas are on a two-week cycle for mowing while city crews take care of the more rural areas on four-week cycles. If the crews have any buffer between the cycles, it disappears with a lot of rain.

“If we have a little bit of buffer for rain, if we have a lot of rain and we just get further and further behind,” Biegler said. “It grows faster and when it gets taller, it takes longer to mow because we have to make several passes.”

The city doesn’t have a lot of resources for mowing. “The bottom line is these are the resources we have and I don’t have guys standing around with mowers and operators waiting to step in because we have had rainy months,” she said.

To keep the grass cutting on schedule, crews stay on the same route. Skipping over one to take care of another area will put a crew further behind when they do arrive.

When asked how far the crews are behind, Biegler said crews were about two weeks behind on the four-week cycle and about a week behind on two-week cycle for the contracted crews. It may be more in some areas.

Schomburg Road and the Bridlewood subdivision are on the cycle for mowing. “You stick to the route,” she said.

In the cemeteries, the city uses people assigned to community service, but they are getting fewer from the courts to do the work. Some crews that do right-of-way work are so far behind, they won’t be moved back to the cemeteries.

“We are basically suffering from the same thing,” Biegler said.

While the city works to cover overgrown grass in neighborhoods, Biegler said the city appreciates people who mow the frontage at their home. If there are 30 days out of the month and it rains 17 of them, people are just going to have to be patient.

“You can do your front yard and sneak it in between rains, storms or whatever,” she said. “We have guys out there trying to make progress. We are talking miles and miles.”

If you live in the city and want to make things easier for the grass cutting crews, Biegler asks people to “Please don’t litter.” Have you seen what happens when a mower blade hits a bag of tossed fast-food wrappers?

“We try to pick up before we try to go and mow,” Biegler said. “And sometimes, they are in a rush and keep going. If they have to stop and do all the litter pickup, that slows them down.”

When crews get back to Porterdale Cemetery, make sure the grave of blues pioneer Gertrude “Ma” Rainey gets some attention. I’ve heard that people visit Columbus just to see her final resting place.

If you’ve seen something that needs attention, give me a call at 706-571-8576.

This story was originally published August 20, 2018 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Overgrown grass along roads and in cemeteries has some Columbus residents upset."