Published on August 13, 2023 at 9:05 pm
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Q: James P., a Jacksonville Today newsletter reader, wonders what happened to the clean city streets he saw when he moved here 16 years ago.
“The roads were kept in good condition, and the thing that impressed me most were the streets and roads,” he wrote. “They were kept clear of debris in a timely manner.”
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Now, he feels like something has changed. As he drives around, he sees trash on the highways, while there is overgrown grass “and trash by the side of the road.”
“This wasn’t always the situation,” he says. “Yes, we are improving and updating our highway system to accommodate traffic and new traffic patterns,” he says —
“But shouldn’t the maintenance of trash and other objects that litter our streets and highways be included in this process?”
A: We posed James P.’s concern to city officials, who responded by saying first that the Mowing and Landscape Maintenance Division services the more than 840 square miles. That includes cleaning rights-of-way, city parks, cemeteries and other public lands. The division also helps clean up nuisance properties and helps ensure storm ditches and other infrastructure are properly maintained.
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“In addition, the city’s Solid Waste Division includes an internal team and a sub-contractor that assist in litter pickup along solid waste routes and at illegal dumping sites,” a city spokesperson writes.
Citing a “lack of investment” in roadway maintenance, the city spokesperson say newly elected Mayor Donna Deegan has proposed increasing the mowing and landscape budget by 95%, to $21.7 million.
The increase should increase staffing to keep up with litter and landscape maintenance. “Additionally, the city’s Mowing and Landscape Maintenance Division partners with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to maintain the litter and landscape along certain state roads and interchanges. Increased funding to the City’s Mowing and Landscape Maintenance Division will increase the city’s capacity to assist FDOT with maintaining state roads throughout the community.”
The spokesperson says the mayor’s administration is committed to “improving the upkeep and beauty of public property. Increased investment in our city’s infrastructure and Public Works Divisions is the first step to tackling this long-standing issue.”
Lead photo: Trash that was collected by JAXPORT employees along a two-mile stretch of Heckscher Drive on Earth Day 2023. | JAXPORT via Flickr
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