Thank goodness the Ray's Lawn Care / Ken Svoboda median mess is over. Well, pretty much over, anyway. Ray's is out a couple tens of thousands of dollars and they've taken a heck of a P.R. hit, but at least this can all be put behind us now. I hope.
We Lincolnites need to ask ourselves if it's really worth the trouble to keep trying to have pretty medians. How many plants can actually survive among the poor soil and pollution present in a median? And of those that can survive, how many are actually pretty enough that we want them there?
Personally, I very strongly prefer planted medians over concrete medians. Concrete is ugly. Concrete buckles and cracks. Concrete is boring.
Here's my plan for the city's plantable medians: they should be put up for adoption. I propose a program not unlike the Adopt-a-Road and Adopt-a-Trail programs we are all familiar with. Anybody -- a business, an individual, a club, a neighborhood association -- can "adopt" a segment of median, from one block up to as much as they can reasonably handle. Any applicant would have to explain their plan for the median, and they would have to prove their ability to keep the median in good shape. Applicants could plant flowers or grass; they could plant trees (where appropriate); they could put up sculptures (assuming they are safe); or they could even arrange rocks and other items in artsy or geometric patterns. Signage would clearly indicate each segment's maintainer(s). Thus, businesses and groups could use the program as a P.R. booster. And if their median is ugly and ill-maintained? Those signs suddenly cause people to say, "Boy, Business X sure doesn't care about our community!".
One problem: there would have to be rules governing the sorts of messages that could be conveyed in the medians. Can a business advertise in the median? Can the churches along Church Row on 84th Street litter the entire stretch with messages like "JESUS SAVES!"? Can a political party decorate the medians with elephants or donkeys? The rules would probably have to prohibit words. What about logos? I suppose this sounds like a complicated problem, but I think a reasonable policy could be constructed if you sat a group of Lincolnites around a table for an hour or two and let them hash it out.
Another alternative -- a simpler alternative -- is to just pave over all the medians around town. Blah. I hope we don't have to do that.
Comments
See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.
How about just grass? Something like zoysia (spelling?) that thrives in droughts and won’t get tall and will, in a few years, kill all the weeds in its path? That would be low maintenance - only needs mowing a couple times a year, methinks. It also won’t get so tall that it inhibits the view. Hope this mess is behind us, and I hope that future city office holders and wannabe’s remember this whole mess and think about conflicts or potential conflicts or messes well in advance.
You know I remember living in Grand Island and they had an idea for some of their medians… They made them slightly higher (a few inches) made them with a cement die of green and made them so they would make noise if you drove over them. This also made it easier when the snow plows came through… there was no need to determine where the median was, just drive/plow over it.
Maybe it’s just that one company shouldn’t be handling all the medians. Perhaps a few smaller companies would be better…
The buffalo grass they’ve put in is a hearty, drought-resistant grass that should perform as well as zoysia.
An equally troubling issue for me is the medians themselves. Lincoln seems to have a median fetish and there are certain intersections where it’s almost impossible to get where you want to go without shooting past your destination, turning around and approaching from another direction. Do we really need all these medians?
I think there are more safety issues with volunteers working in the medians. Maybe the city should bite the bullet and xeriscape its medians like Denver has done.
Maybe the city should bite the bullet and xeriscape its medians like Denver has done.
Definition here.
Maybe the alternative is hiring a company that will actually WORK on the medians.
I don’t mind the medians with the red bricks in them like they have on O st. We could have a bunch of different colors and they could form designs. The designs could be submitted by Lincoln residents could vote for their favorites on the internets.
I think Gene’s idea is a good one, as are many on here. I think that, politics or not, the contracts should be spread amongst several local companies and not just one or two. I think brick pavers would add a distinctive flair in many areas. And certain grasses that are drought tolerant, won’t need irrigation, and can live without being mowed often are a great solution as well.
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