In more than 70 neighborhoods throughout
Groups and individuals in those neighborhoods have dedicated themselves to keeping up their own medians, triangles, traffic circles and curb extensions though a partnership with the City of
The Lake Highlands North Neighborhood Association used the project to craft a formal entry point at White Rock Trail and
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“Certainly everybody in our neighborhood has been happy with what’s down there,” association member Sara Fagan says. “They feel good about having something down there that’s attractive.”
The MOWmentum program, with an annual budget of $125,000, helps both the city and residents by combining efforts to keep right-of-ways and neighborhoods clean and beautiful, says project coordinator Yvette Holley.
“It’s an enhancement for the neighborhood,” she says.
The program offers grants for improvement projects. Groups or individuals can adopt locations, but they must commit to maintain them for at least two years. Some projects may require commitments up to 10 years.
Drawings of landscaping plans must be submitted for approval by city engineers, but they don’t need to be professionally prepared. Signs, walls or anything that causes visual obstructions aren’t allowed.
The corner rehabilitated by Lake Highlands North was overrun with weeds, and an existing stone wall sat in crumbling disrepair. The group started work about three years ago, adding plants and trees and coaxing ivy to grow over the wall. They installed a sprinkler system and recently erected a flagpole.
Although the association relied on city officials in the MOWmentum program for guidance, members opted to use their own money for the projects, Fagan says.
“We decided not to take the city’s money,” she says. “We thought that if we left money in the MOWmentum fund, there were other areas that maybe couldn’t afford to do anything that could use it.”
She says her group’s project has united neighborhood residents.
“It gives people an investment in the area besides their homes,” she says. “I think what really makes a city attractive is that attention to detail; it makes it look friendlier somehow.”
