The victim here is a friend of mine. She was given NO notice from Birmingham they'd be coming to do this. Several years of planting her garden...Gone. Rhe mayor's assistant's apology is halfhearted and flippant at best. The crew and Lupo need to have their sorry asses fired. This BS is typical of the incompetence and arrogance that swells its city hall.
WBRC : Avondale homeowner upset after garden damaged by city maintenance
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Avondale homeowner upset after garden damaged by city maintenance
Lydia Hu
Jan 15, 2016 09:42 PM
BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) - “I would rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my fingers,” said Lindsey Sherrill.
To the Avondale homeowner loves gardening would be an understatement.
Sherrill bought her Avondale home eight years ago specifically because it offered an extra lot next door that for a garden. Her journal contains sketches of the plots she would dedicate to the rose bushes, gladiolas, and the lilies transplanted from her great-grandmother’s yard. Sherrill came home from work on Thursday to find the garden, her labor of love, gone.
"I sat in the middle of it and cried,” said Sherrill.
After calling city officials, she learned that her garden was mowed by the Department of Public Works.
“Spring is coming and we’ve got to get a head start and when we run across areas that are overgrown, we’re going to cut. And in this case, we cut Ms. Sherrill’s grass,” said Don Lupo of the Mayor’s Office of Citizen outreach.
Lupo said that state law mandates grass be cut to 10 inches or shorter at all times. If it grows taller than that, Lupo says the Department of Public Works can cut the grass, after it gives notice to the homeowner. Though she admits her grass was tall, Sherrill says she never received notice that her grass would be cut by the city.
“The moral to the story is that people need to know that the city is going to aggressively go after these overgrown properties,” said Lupo.
A member of the Department contacted Sherrill today. The city will offer Sherrill any plants it has in its nursery to replace the plants that were lost.
“We will make certain that the garden is put back in good order,” said Lupo. “For those memories and that love and affection that she’s got tied up in that piece of property, I’m not sure we can replace that, but we will make the garden pretty.”
It's small consolation to Sherrill.
“I have a house on this street that has had a dumpster in front of it since January 2009 that they’ve done nothing about but they come and mow a lawn that’s already maintained,” Sherrill said. “I think we need to look at where the real problems are because my rose bushes weren’t it.”
