YOUNGSTOWN Crews are swamped as grass gets higher

The city will hire about 16 workers just to cut grass at abandoned homes.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Frustrations are growing as high as the subject: tall grass.
There's not much the city can do about wildly overgrown vacant lots and abandoned yards, Mayor George M. McKelvey said. First, it has to stop raining so the grass will stop growing and crews can get to cutting it, he told city council members Monday.
"Unless somebody has a procedure to stop the rain, the grass will continue to grow high. That's a fact," he said. "I don't have a remedy for a month of rain."
Indeed, last month was the second wettest May on record with 6.84 inches of rain at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna, according to the National Weather Service.
Last month it rained 3.32 inches more than a normal May, according to the weather service.
Meeting
Council members met with the park, street and community development departments to hash out what to do about tall grass plaguing much of the city.
The street department has been cutting grass all spring, especially around corner lots for traffic safety, said Joseph Mastropietro, the superintendent. Nonetheless, the rain made the grass keep growing and makes some of those corners look untouched, he said.
"I know it doesn't look like it's been cut, but it's been cut," Mastropietro said.
Repeated rainy days that hamper mowing haven't helped either, he said.
His department has 13 mowers for vacant lots, with drivers who cut an average of 12 lots a day. At that rate, the last of the vacant lots will have to wait until August for the first cut, Mastropietro said.
There is one crew dedicated to responding to complaints immediately. The other crews rotate so that each ward ends up with a mower in use every other day or so, he said.
"I don't care what system you use as long as we get the grass cut and the place doesn't look like a dump," said Artis Gillam Sr., D-1st.
Abandoned homes
Tall grass surrounding abandoned homes is another story.
Funding was cut from his 2003 proposed budget, so few of those have been cut, said Joseph McRae, city parks director. His department handled grass at vacant homes last year.
Parks workers have spent the spring cutting the department's 700 acres of grass and getting playgrounds ready for summer, he said.
McRae said he would hire about 16 workers -- a crew of four for each side of town -- as soon as early next week, if the city comes up with the money.
Jay Williams, director of the city Community Development Agency, said his office has $15,000 to $20,000 available. The money is savings gained by not filling a couple jobs for a few months, he said.
Billing owners
City officials launched into a renewed discussion about making property owners pay for mowing costs, which the city did a few years ago. The discussion was short-lived, however.
McKelvey cut off the program after a year, he said, for two reasons. First, mandatory legal notices led to 40-day delays in cutting the lots, which is too long, he said. Second, it cost more in staff time to run the program than the city was collecting, he said.
"It didn't make sense," McKelvey said.
rgsmith@vindy.com