The City of Edmonton has decided to cut costs by not cutting its grass as much.
The decision has resulted in grass owned by the city becoming long, and often filled with dandelions. In some parks, the grass is longer than 16 inches.
City crews are cutting grass on a 21-day cycle, but for some residents, that’s too long of a wait. On Sunday, four people from the Glengarry neighbourhood decided to fire up their own lawn mowers and cut some grass.
Twelve-year-old Daimen Rawluk was one of the first to get out there to help. He said it was getting hard to play with his friends in the tall grass.
“I thought it would be nice for other kids my age and younger to play. I thought it would be nice for other people,” Rawluk said.
The four volunteers cut a portion of the grass and shortly after a water fight was started and kids were playing in the freshly mowed area.
“It’s not as mosquito infested, so we won’t get eaten alive,” Rawluk said.
“The neighbours were really nice, and we worked together as a team,” said Camilo Castaneda, another resident who was helping.
Castaneda said the long grass isn’t good.
“[I’m] a little bit disappointed, but that’s why we are trying to do this right now. Because unfortunately, the city can’t afford this, but that is why we are trying to do this.”
Premier sports fields and the city’s main green spaces like Hawrelak Park will stay on the standard seven-day cycle.
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“We’ve used our resources to meet the demands of providing services and the reduced frequency on cutting is a budgetary decision,” interim city manager Adam Laughlin said Thursday.
For district parks and fields, mowing is now on a 21-day cycle — normally it’s seven days.
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