All of Wedgewood Hills Park should be mowed on a regular basis by the city.

The city has informed us, only after we inquired about why the green space wasn't mowed for several weeks, that they decided to turn it into a "natural grassland". This decision was made without any prior notification or input from members of the community whose properties border this area, live near the area, and/or utilize the area.  There was also no utilization review performed to survey whether this area was frequently used by local residents for healthy community building activities.

The City Park Board and the Park Director have made it clear that the only way this decision of natural grassland at our park will change is if there are enough complaints.  They think if they don't hear from us, then we agree with their decision.  Now is our time to unite and make our voices heard.  By signing the petition we force them to acknowledge that citizens do not want natural grassland in their backyards and parks where their children play.

Several reasons/excuses were given by the park and recreation department as to why the decision was made. Our responses to these reasons/excuses are as follows:

1. People like variety in landscape. While variety is nice, we do not like natural prairie grass bordering our back yard and parks where our children routinely play. We have access to variety and natural grassland very near to us at the Douglas trails and 50th Avenue. We can enjoy the beauty of it during walks without worry of our children playing in it and increased pests so close to our backyard and park.

2. Budget Cuts.  We were informed this was a way to save resources. This seems very short sighted.  While at Wedgewood Hills Park this might at most save an hour's worth of time of mowing which would equate to $15/hour a week of savings.  While you don’t have to mow natural grassland it does require other maintenance: burning, removing unwanted weeds, trash removal. We do question if when you account for the other maintenance if there is any cost savings at all.  As home owners we already have had a 20% increase in our property taxes but now we will see increased cost of pest control and insect control.  We also worry about decreased property value with the unkempt appearance of the natural grassland.  There has to be a better place to save money that doesn’t directly affect children and land that was actually being used for that purpose.  We do not feel that budgeting and staffing issues are more important than the health and well-being of this in the community these decisions effect. Could these issues be addressed in a manner other than not mowing spaces frequently used by the community?

3. People don’t like change and we will get used to it.  While change is hard we have to argue that there needs to be a good reason for change.  When we bought our houses, we were told the city would maintain our park and mow it.  We enjoyed being able to let our children play outside without worry of increase exposure to ticks and mosquitoes.  This natural grassland is in between our houses and the park.  Our school age children often go to the park unsupervised to play.  It is currently a problem that they are playing in the natural grassland which is apparent from the grasses getting trampled.  Clearly this land is/was being used by the children.

4. Environmental benefits.  While having more natural grassland would benefit the birds, prevent erosion, and reduce the use of weed killer, it also increases pests: rodents, snakes, ticks, mosquitoes.  Currently our parks, are not being treated to prevent weeds so this is a non-issue.  Our park didn’t have issues with erosion, too steep to mow or too wet to mow so this wasn’t an issue.  Since Wedgewood Hills Park natural prairie grass is done in strips it is unclear what actual positive environmental benefits there would be.  When we asked what kind of habitat would be able to be formed in such small areas we were told something is better than nothing.  It is unclear if this has actually been studied. In fact, increased rodent population not controlled by the birds has been proven in other cities in Minnesota where their city has tried to save money by allowing the grass to grow longer near homes. Information provided by pest control companies indicates that mowing a border between the overgrown grass and the homes is useless in terms of preventing the increased numbers of pests which in turn negatively impacts homeowners. The annual cost per home for necessary pest control in other towns has been approximately $400 per home/year for the homes bordering "natural grassland".

5.) A statement that was given about focusing resources on areas that "should be" more neatly manicured sends the message that our area of town, and the health and well-being of those
that live in our area, is less important. Parks and Recreation want some parts of town to look neater and "more manicured."  As a result, we no longer have the same amount of safe, pest free, grassy area directly behind our homes that was frequently utilized for healthy community building activities.  That is not acceptable.

Other concerns we have are:
1. The tick population nationwide has been on an upswing over the last 3-5 years. The Center for Disease Control found that 95% of confirmed Lyme disease cases were reported in 14 states
including Minnesota. (CDC, 2016). It is a well-known fact that ticks thrive in longer grass. If the green space remains un-mowed the tick populations will most likely increase, which will also increase the risk of tick-borne illness to individuals in the surrounding area. This is a major public health concern, especially given the fact that yet another new tick-borne disease has been discovered in the state of Minnesota. Not to mention the fact that the mosquito population will also increase with the tall wet grass and pose a public health risk for diseases carried by mosquitos. It concerns be that parents will not be aware that their kids were in tall grass and then not do a tick check.

2) The occurrences of wild parsnip and hemlock in the un-mowed area is also concerning.

3) The trash accumulation and unkempt appearance, decreased health benefits and potential increased risk for crime due to unkempt appearing neighborhoods. The park department was notified a week ago about the trash accumulation. They spoke to the news about how they have volunteers who take care of this but to date this continues to not be fixed. In an article by Lee, Jordan and Horsley (2015) they state, there is direct health benefit in providing urban residents spaces for physical activity, social interaction, and allowing psychological restoration to take place. They further state that neighborhood environmental decay negatively affects residents’ sense of security and potentially increases the incidence of crime. (Lee, Jordan, Horsley, 2015)
The points that we bring up may not be applicable to all green
spaces in the city that are currently not being mowed, but they do speak accurately about the area we are requesting be mowed.

References

Center for Disease
Control Prevention. (2016). Lyme disease data and statistics. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/

Lee, A. C., Jordan, H. C., & Horsley, J. (2015, August 27). Value of urban green spaces in promoting healthy living and well-being prospects for planning. Risk Manag Healthcare Policy, 8, 131-137. http://dx.doi.org/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4556255/