Umbilo residents are restoring ‘lawn’ and order
Long grass raised health and safety concerns for Umbilo residents.
AS a last resort, fed up Umbilo residents took matters into their own hands, and tackled the overgrown grass at a park on Bedford Gardens Road.
“This park is another example of slack maintenance. The park had become a jungle with overgrowth that was waist high in some parts. This is also a health hazard as its a great place for rats and snakes to hide in the overgrowth,” said resident Nicole Klette.
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What’s more, Klette said two of the light posts at the park have been broken for months due to cable theft. Overgrown foliage combined with bad lighting raised safety concerns for resident who, as a final course of action, decided to pay a private company to cut the grass.
“(Municipal) contractors who are paid to maintain the park are obviously not cutting the grass. It has been overgrown for about four months. Before that, in September, a resident paid for the grass to be cut privately and now they have paid for it to be cut again. We also make a contribution to help pay for the grass to be cut,” said Klette.
The park, which is surrounded by residential properties, is a community hub, said Jasmine Adam, another concerned resident.
“It’s a park where we socialise and walk our dogs, its a community, we have been using this park for the last few years,” she said.
Resident, Clive Greenstone, shares the same sentiments adding the long grass leads to health and safety concerns.
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“My concern with the long grass is what you find in it, including human faeces. Some dogs roll in it,” he said.
Greenstone’s son, Lorkin Erwin echoes these concerns.
“We usually come here every evening. When the grass is long, there’s nowhere to sit and its worrying because sometimes there’s broken glass in the grass and the dogs get cut,” he said.
The eThekwinin Municipality was not available for comment by the time this article was published.
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