By Amy Gardner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 29, 2007; B01
"This is simply unacceptable," proclaimed Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
"It gives people the impression that their government isn't doing its job and doesn't care," added Supervisor Sharon S. Bulova (D-Braddock).
Chimed in Supervisor Linda Q. Smyth (D-Providence): "This is really getting to be a matter of public safety."
One might think the county's top elected officials were talking about ending poverty or stemming a tide of crime. But something far more insidious is plaguing Fairfax County's suburban stretches: unmowed grass on public roadside land.
Along sidewalks and medians across the county, the grass is, er, growing. And growing. Surely supervisors know that this is generally the natural course of events in a suburb such as theirs. But it is an election year, after all. And with hundreds of complaints pouring into supervisors' offices, that translates into one unified message: Something must be done!
"This is all people are talking about," said Bulova, who agreed to traipse through waist-high grass in the median of Braddock Road on a recent weekday to demonstrate the problem. "It is so awful. It is unsafe. It is unsightly."
Plus, Bulova said half-jokingly, if the grass isn't mowed by September, it'll obscure everybody's campaign signs.
In fairness to Bulova and the other supervisors, mowing the medians is not the county's job. The responsibility belongs to the Virginia Department of Transportation, a point that is lost on most county residents. A recent survey revealed that more than 90 percent of residents believe that mowing is the county's responsibility, County Executive Anthony H. Griffin told supervisors last week.
That makes getting the grass cut all the more urgent for supervisors seeking to appear responsive to their constituents, they said.
Offered Griffin: "We need to put out a press release."
But VDOT is in the midst of a transportation funding crisis. Every year, the agency has had less money for road maintenance -- including mowing -- even as costs and responsibility for new roads increase.
Last year, VDOT decreased the number of mowings in Northern Virginia to three for the entire season. This year, it will do the same, said Renee Hamilton, assistant district engineer in the agency's Northern Virginia office. The first round of mowing began last week, she said. But with about 33,000 acres of grassy right-of-way to mow across Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties, the agency's contractors will need about six weeks to complete the cycle, she said.
"Some citizens would like us to mow 10 times a year," Hamilton said. "Our budget cannot support that."
Mowing is more than an aesthetic issue, the supervisors said. At some busy intersections, the grass is so high that it is obscuring visibility for drivers.
"You can't see!" exclaimed Smyth, whose district includes long stretches of such thoroughfares as Gallows Road and Route 50. "The sightlines are not good. At what point does the state assume liability?"
"They don't," answered Griffin, who has become so frustrated with the tall grass in the VDOT right-of-way near the county Government Center that he ordered county crews to mow it.
VDOT will, however, mow more frequently in locations where safety is an issue, Hamilton said. "We encourage our citizens, if they see a spot like that, to contact us, and we will take care of that," she said.
In addition, at Bulova's urging, VDOT has agreed to allow the county sheriff's department to mow along a portion of Braddock Road. With county labor, Bulova said, perhaps the median can be mowed more frequently but not at higher cost. If the pilot is successful, it could be expanded elsewhere in the county, she said.
In the meantime, supervisors say they expect more complaints from residents. And as election year wears on, the public can probably expect more hand-wringing from supervisors.
"A stern letter will be drafted from my signature," Connolly said.
Added a more lighthearted T. Dana Kauffman (D-Lee), who, perhaps coincidentally, is not seeking reelection this year: "There has to be a solution other than winter. Amber waves of grain are not patriotic in the median."
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