City Of Tulsa Begins Mowing City Parks

By Emory Bryan, The News on 6

TULSA, OK -- The City of Tulsa has been busy, mowing at a number of city parks. 

The City of Tulsa Parks Department hires private contractors for mowing and they began work Monday in all areas of the city, with mowing currently scheduled for two week cycles, which was the same schedule last year. Though contractors are told to plan on mowing at the same frequency throughout the summer, that could change after the start of a new city budget year on July 1.

The City of Tulsa will not mow other public areas as often, such as medians and right-of-ways, which will be mowed only once before July 1, because of the budget.

In many parks, weeds are already more than a foot tall, which for homeowners, would be a violation of city ordinances.

Read the city's nuisance ordinance.

Tulsa pays contractors $35 an acre to mow about 1,400 acres of parkland -- some more, some less than others.

"It costs us about $35,000 per cycle, so every two weeks, it costs us $35,000 to mow," said Bob Bledsoe, City of Tulsa.

A few parks are in better shape than most. Braden Park is just one of three Tulsa parks that's been adopted by Lawn America. Last year, the company offered to treat the parks with weed killer and fertilizer for two years.

"They just didn't look good, so we decided well let's do our thing, do our service and donate that to the cities, because even at that time they were in a budget crunch," said Brad Johnson, Lawn America.

Because of budget cuts, the city did not spray the parks with a pre-emergent herbicide, as was the practice in years past.

Last week, Mayor Dewey Bartlett asked neighborhood associations to volunteer to mow what they could, including right-of-ways and parks.

Several neighborhoods have agreed to mow entire parks for the summer.

Related Story: 4/15/2010 Mayor Dewey Bartlett: City of Tulsa Needs Volunteers

Among the parks scheduled for mowing Monday are: Wright, Norberg, Hicks, Rose Dew, Chamberlin, Berry, Hawthorne, Lakeview and Williams.

Woodward Park has already been mowed once because it attracts large crowds in early spring when the azaleas are blooming. Some sports fields have already been mowed as well.

The City of Tulsa has 130 parks covering approximately 6,000 acres.

For now, the city is planning to mow just as often as last year.