OFFICIAL: COJ can't afford to cut it's own grass

[Captain Zissou]

jacksonville--bring your own goats!!

I wish.  Too bad goats are illegal

[carpnter]

Brown, comparing the city to a lazy homeowner who gets complaints from neighbors for not mowing regularly, even suggested it might be time to tap the city’s emergency reserve to soften the blow of spending cuts on the Public Works Department.

“Let’s not do it on the back of the beautification of Jacksonville,” Brown said. “It’s not right."

Since when is mowing the grass something that we should consider using emergency funds on? 
Perhaps the mayor should do his frikkin job and propose a realistic budget instead of engaging in pissing contests with the sheriff and chief judge.

[jcjohnpaint]

Jacksonville is:  PROJECT TEAPARTY! 
Lets see where we end up in 10 years.  People will be fleeing to Detroit

[acme54321]

This is the kind of thing I wouldn't mind a slight tax increase to maintain.  This is reason enough to let the mobility fee moratorium expire.  Sprawl is killing us.

[chipwich]

Am I the only person who really doesn't see this as a big deal?

Granted the city will look embarrassing to outsiders, but in all fairness the City seems broke and I could care less that the grass in medians looks exceedingly overgrown during the summer months.  I think it is more environmentally friendly to not burn off hundred/ maybe thousands of gallons of gas mowing medians and surrounding vegetation each year trying to keep Jacksonville "Green".

I am totally with fineshoe in saying we should replant areas surrounding the roads with native, low growing vegetation.

Also, there is no way I can take a grass code violation seriously ever again. 

Hopefully, the City will have a little more money next year.  However considering the financial mess other municipalities across the country are facing, less landscaping seems like we are not doing too bad.  Seeing that property values have begun to stabilize, I hope the City budget begins to look a little brighter within the next year or two.

[vicupstate]

Finally!
The tea party wins.
Their no tax increases at any cost worked.
Good for us.
And good for everyone.
We have become a society that can shrink the government and save money. Maybe soon we can fix our own roads and cut our own grass and clean up the parks on weekends.
YEA!!!!!
Brown won because he promised he wouldn't raise taxes. That is the only way ANY candidate will win office in this city. And it worked.
And he stuck to his word.
You can't blame him.

And soon there will be Fortune 500 companies moving in by the truckload, all to take advantage of the low taxes !  Unemployment will plummet, and income will soar!  Jax will be a Teatopian wonderland.

Tall grass is a small price to pay for all that.

[jcjohnpaint]

I remember when I was living in Scranton PA, a similar situation happened.  The city brought in a CEO and his wife looking to bring a company to the region.  The wife took one look at the big coal piles all around the region and said she could never live in a place with these big ugly black mountains.  The company never ended up coming to the region.  For politicians that are so 'keen' on big business- you would think they would have some clue as to how all of this works. 
If Jacksonville continues to starve the city of proper infrastructure and the 'appearance' of the city as we are doing today, the city's business climate will suffer in the end. 
Yeah sprawl is bringing this city to it's knees.  I am just curious how long this kind of un nurtured growth will go on before we have to face the music.  We are already so broke we can't cut the grass.  I know it sounds like a small thing, but I believe it makes such larger problems surface. 
I guess the way of the moratorium will answer this question. 

[Lunican]

Wait, can't they just use all the profits from these roads to cut the grass?

I'd like to rewrite the headline as if this were about transit:

Money-losing Roadways Grass Cutting Subsidy to End

[avonjax]

Finally!
The tea party wins.
Their no tax increases at any cost worked.
Good for us.
And good for everyone.
We have become a society that can shrink the government and save money. Maybe soon we can fix our own roads and cut our own grass and clean up the parks on weekends.
YEA!!!!!
Brown won because he promised he wouldn't raise taxes. That is the only way ANY candidate will win office in this city. And it worked.
And he stuck to his word.
You can't blame him.

And soon there will be Fortune 500 companies moving in by the truckload, all to take advantage of the low taxes !  Unemployment will plummet, and income will soar!  Jax will be a Teatopian wonderland.

Tall grass is a small price to pay for all that.

Yeah.
Let me know when that happens.
If that is true than Jacksonville and the entire state should be swarming with corporations begging to come here.
We should have thousands and thousands of jobs being made.
Where are they?
Our Business Tax Climate Index for 2012 is the 5th best in the country.
So where are the businesses clamoring to be here?
Just curious.

[vicupstate]

Finally!
The tea party wins.
Their no tax increases at any cost worked.
Good for us.
And good for everyone.
We have become a society that can shrink the government and save money. Maybe soon we can fix our own roads and cut our own grass and clean up the parks on weekends.
YEA!!!!!
Brown won because he promised he wouldn't raise taxes. That is the only way ANY candidate will win office in this city. And it worked.
And he stuck to his word.
You can't blame him.

And soon there will be Fortune 500 companies moving in by the truckload, all to take advantage of the low taxes !  Unemployment will plummet, and income will soar!  Jax will be a Teatopian wonderland.

Tall grass is a small price to pay for all that.

Yeah.
Let me know when that happens.
If that is true than Jacksonville and the entire state should be swarming with corporations begging to come here.
We should have thousands and thousands of jobs being made.
Where are they?
Our Business Tax Climate Index for 2012 is the 5th best in the country.
So where are the businesses clamoring to be here?
Just curious.

I think someone's been missing their daily dose of Tea-flavored Kool-aid.  We need Rick Scott, ASAP !  Phyllis Schafly will do in a pinch, though.   

[simms3]

jacksonville--bring your own goats!!

Funny you say that.  The City of Atlanta uses goats very effectively - cuts way down on costs, provides "entertainment", eliminates the use of fossil fuels, etc etc.

Trees Atlanta Employs Goats to Clean Up Kudzu

Sheep Brought in to Cut Grass at Hartsfield Jackson

Curbed Atlanta: Animals Increasingly Finding Work in Cities

No Kidding: Google Hires Goats to Mow Lawn

And Atlanta's own small business "Ewe-Niversally Green"

Before and Afters from the sight (note that these are tough jobs, but herds have been used to mow the lawns at Chastain Park and other parks)

[finehoe]

^^^Some of those 'after' pics the landscape looks more denuded than trimmed back.

[simms3]

I think the point of the pictures is really to advertise the "Kudzu Cutting" capabilities of the herds, but a herd is not going to reduce a lawn to an area of dirt.  Again, just something other cities and organizations and corporations such as Google are using to cut down on costs and greenhouse emissions.

I wouldn't expect Jacksonville to think outside the box like that, but others are.

[duvaldude08]

Am I the only person who really doesn't see this as a big deal?

Granted the city will look embarrassing to outsiders, but in all fairness the City seems broke and I could care less that the grass in medians looks exceedingly overgrown during the summer months.  I think it is more environmentally friendly to not burn off hundred/ maybe thousands of gallons of gas mowing medians and surrounding vegetation each year trying to keep Jacksonville "Green".

I am totally with fineshoe in saying we should replant areas surrounding the roads with native, low growing vegetation.

Also, there is no way I can take a grass code violation seriously ever again. 

Hopefully, the City will have a little more money next year.  However considering the financial mess other municipalities across the country are facing, less landscaping seems like we are not doing too bad.  Seeing that property values have begun to stabilize, I hope the City budget begins to look a little brighter within the next year or two.

The problem is that they already do a poor job now. To imagine it any worse is hard to stomach. As much as it rains here in the summer, and Jacksonville is full of woods, trees and vegetation, the city will look like an overgrown mess.

[simms3]

^^^Agreed.  The "general appearance" of the city has always been a hot mess.  As everyone knows I like to bitch and moan a lot on this forum, and one of my most frequent gripes is regarding the overall appearance of the city, whether it be downtown, the drive in from the airport, Riverside-Avondale even just on the other side of the Shoppes in some cases, Roosevelt Blvd can easily take the cake as the most ugly corridor around, Southside Blvd as featured in the article, etc etc.

Other more urban or "smaller land mass" cities do not have the same problem, or at least to the degree Jacksonville has.  Most of Jacksonville's roads are divided highways with plain grass medians.  Usually there is grass between the sidewalk and the road, if there is a sidewalk.  Generally there are ROWs along the sides of roads everywhere because there is no densityor regulation to pull anything up to the sidewalks/curbs.

Combine the overgrown grass and weeds everywhere with the complete lack of landscaping, the inexcusable condition of the roads for a region that experiences little fluctuation in temperature as compared to other regions (and no ice), the many decrepit buildings, the spotty "attractiveness" mixed in with the tattoo parlors and strip malls, the cracked concrete benches as bus stops, the ill-maintained and often trashy/littered parks and public space, and the obvious lack of design regulation and you have a nasty combination.  It's painful to return to Jacksonville, my hometown, from most anywhere else.