Dear Editor,
Re: “Where are the city’s lawn mowers?” Letters, July 7.
Just this week, on Monday, if I remember correctly, I remarked to a close friend that I was thinking of writing to the Richmond News with a letter of praise for the City of Richmond.
As you know, procrastination gets the better of the best of us, and I hadn’t done that yet.
Until I saw Bruce Neil’s letter to the editor complaining about the “lack” of lawn mowing!
My letter was going to be (and is) praise for the city in restraining themselves from clear-cutting our city.
I don’t know where Mr. Neil lives (“throughout Richmond,” according to him), but on my regular walking routes along the west and south dykes (and areas of Steveston in between, which includes a school and residential areas), I am absolutely loving the fact that most of the grass is being allowed to grow.
I really started to notice this at the beginning of the pandemic, but that may be me trying to make connections that aren’t really there.
I don’t know what the science and economics are behind municipal mowing schedules, but I just love nature being left to its own devices.
I’m not suggesting that the city sell off all of its mowers and fire the staff, and I am aware that some areas need maintenance more than others, but every last blade of grass and tree branch doesn’t have to be cut to within a millimetre of its life.
That kind of “landscaping” is what I notice is quite prominent in American cities, and it’s not what I believe Canadians — and Richmondites — really want.
Craig Hartnett
RICHMOND
