This week’s story in the Kingston Times about the City of Kingston’s budget offered a sober view of what department heads face in the coming year.
Reporter Jesse Smith quoted parks and recreation head Kevin Gilfeather as saying his department will “still be able to pick up the trash and do all of the regularly-scheduled maintenance, it’s the extras we won’t be able to do anymore.” Gilfeather went on to say that his department be might resort to cutting “the grass [in city parks] every eight or 10 days instead of every five or six.”
On the Ward 9 website, Bill Berardi speculated that “city trash will be left” curbside on the weekends and the grass will be “unmowed — nice attraction to tourists,” he wrote.
Bill’s got a point. Unmowed grass in a park is not a pretty sight. I wonder if the city could get a little bit creative here.
Maybe certain, street-adjacent areas of our parks can be mowed while letting larger swaths grow out with some planted wildflower seeds? Imagine a variety of wildflowers growing in the parks, adding color and beauty. Doing so would not only save money on mowing, but would be better for the soil and would attract wildlife.
Just a thought.
— Arthur Zaczkiewicz