Let's BEAUTIFY San Antonio (West, Westover Hills: landscaping, neighborhoods, gated)

[heimerswt]

Something that has always bothered me about San Antonio is the lack of "curb appeal" in the public areas of the city. City owned areas. This post inspired me to make a thread about it. I am not making this thread as a way to complain about San Antonio--it is meant to inspire and encourage beautification through awareness.

Every time I have a friend visit from out of town, they indicate that they like San Antonio and its charm, etc, but that it is either dirty or "not pretty" (excluding the Riverwalk).

WHAT CAN WE DO TO IMPROVE OUR CITY? Who do we need to talk to? I think this forum is a good place to start. Please feel free to add specific bad spots & locations to the list of areas that need improvement (or cleaning) in our city.

Things that in my opinion are the worst:
Street and highway medians
Sidewalks and street corners
Entrances to neighborhoods (non-gated, non-HOA neighborhoods)

MY personal beef with the city is the laziness that is evident with respect to the upkeep of our simple roadside landscaping. And I do mean simple. It is just grass. Whenever it is FINALLY mowed...the crew that comes to handle this apparently ALWAYS forgets to bring along their weed eaters. I am fairly certain--at least in the last 5 years--that the road signs along 281 North between Nakoma and 1604 have not had the weeds around them trimmed after the grass had been mowed.

There are so many examples that can be added here. Please add pics, if possible. Also, any info on who in the city we could send this thread to in order to get some changes made.

[Quattro72]

Not just laziness but the “don’t care” and a lack of $ issue.

[Readerfeeder]

I would be thrilled if they would just keep the grass MOWED and stop the litter/signage. If you think it's bad inside the city limits, take a drive outside in the county. There are places that get mowed once a summer if we are lucky.

[goodmanm]

IMHO because of the water issues we face here most of what you've highlighted shouldn't be done.

The mowing of the medians is everything to do with reducing the fire hazards, not appearances, so a few weeds growing around street signs isn't an issue. They are killed off when it freezes anyways.

Neighborhood entrances should be maintained by that neighborhood, not the city.

[SanAntonianByChoice]

I agree heimerswt!! I do my part by using designated trash cans instead of making the roadway my personal disposal unit. And I maintain lawn for curbside appeal i.e. taking a good ole-fashioned hoe and knocking out weeds bent on making me look bad. I don't have to mow as often since we're in a dry spell.

We can do this San Antonio!!!

[heimerswt]

Originally Posted by goodmanm

IMHO because of the water issues we face here most of what you've highlighted shouldn't be done.

The mowing of the medians is everything to do with reducing the fire hazards, not appearances, so a few weeds growing around street signs isn't an issue. They are killed off when it freezes anyways.

Neighborhood entrances should be maintained by that neighborhood, not the city.

Mowing of the median should be done whether it is for appearance OR fire issue. Not sure I understand your reason to differentiate the need for it to be done.

Since these areas are mowed by a large tractor, the "few weeds growing around the sign" isn't that at all. It's a large area around the sign (typically several feet wide by several feet long), and it looks laughably unkempt. Waiting for that one or two days in January for it to freeze off is dumb.

I meant neighborhood entrances (like mine) where there is no HOA. If there isn't an HOA, how is this the responsibility of the neighborhood, since it is city owned property? And I am not trying to limit this to what you would strictly call a "neighborhood entrance". My street comes directly off Jones-Maltsberger. There is no sign to my neighborhood on this street corner. Often times, weeds grow out of the sidewalk itself ON Jones-Maltsberger...and grow and grow and grow. I have walked down to the corner and tried killing them off with roundup on my own, which ended up being a waste of good weed killer, because those suckers were huge, just kept growing. It's also a fire hazard. Why aren't they cut? (It's also a traffic hazard--blocks the view of oncoming traffic when trying to pull out of my street).

As far as water issues....I am fine with getting rid of the grass, and xeriscaping along the roads. SOMETHING that at least looks nice and well cared for (which would be a step in a better direction than what we currently have)

[heimerswt]

My intent with this thread is not to debate on whether there needs to be a city wide beautification...it's to show examples of how widespread of a problem this is.

[Hedgehog_Mom]

On the north side, beautification might be the major issue. On the far west side, where I live, the streets need the potholes repaired, the sidewalks are all uneven (on the main roads, not in the neighborhoods), there are manholes that are higher than the streets, etc. There are basic repairs that need to be done before we can worry about making it pretty.

[heimerswt]

Originally Posted by Hedgehog_Mom

On the north side, beautification might be the major issue. On the far west side, where I live, the streets need the potholes repaired, the sidewalks are all uneven (on the main roads, not in the neighborhoods), there are manholes that are higher than the streets, etc. There are basic repairs that need to be done before we can worry about making it pretty.

That counts too. Take pics of specific problem spots and let's make people aware of these things.

[rynetwo]

Westover Hills, Lincoln Heights, and Westorver Hills all look really nice and manicured. I would start by finding out where or who is reasonable for that? Does the COSA landscape those areas, or does the neighborhood association, or the Stone Oak business association?