Comments cut deep
Dear editor:
At the July 8 meeting of the Whittington Valley Neighborhood Association, a good portion of our time was spent discussing comments recently made by the newly appointed District 1 City Director Erin Holliday. Holliday’s district includes the Whittington Valley.
In a front-page article in the July 7 edition of The Sentinel-Record entitled “Board Pulls Property Maintenance Ordinance,” Holliday voiced support for loosening the city’s current property maintenance regulations, specifically relaxing height limitations on unkempt grass. Holliday was quoted as saying, “On my side of town lots of people don’t have lawn mowers, or they don’t have the ability or time (to mow).” Holliday also said many of her constituents, which skew older, live in areas where topography and soil conditions frustrate yard maintenance.
Such statements by the person appointed to represent our interests was disheartening. First let one thing be clear: we have lawn mowers. We cut our lawns and maintain our yards, even if we might be, as Holliday said, “older” and the topography might be “challenging.” And if needed, we help our neighbors with yard work — that’s what good neighbors do. We may be “older” but we are working, talking and active people who are enthusiastically improving our neighborhood.
Holliday also claimed that “A lot of people who maintain their grass cut it to 5 inches.” This is not our experience. Most lawn mowers cannot be raised to leave the grass 5 inches tall. In fact, most people cut their grass when it reaches 5 or more inches.
The city’s Neighborhood Services personnel do their best to keep homes and property citywide in good and safe condition. The members of our association appreciate their hard work. They often go unsung in their efforts to improve our city and promote public safety.
Finally, we were left to wonder how residents in other areas of District 1 — including Park Avenue, downtown, parts of the Gateway Community, and the Bates Community — feel about Holliday’s characterization of the district as populated with “older” people “who don’t have lawn mowers.”
P.S. The members of the Association asked that I write this letter expressing our united viewpoint.