Grass clippings in the street and storm sewers being replaced

[MyDogHunts]

  I last lived in Denver and this was not an issue there.  Since being here I have seen lots of storm sewers being replaced.  As the Summer passed I noticed that people were not mowing out to the street curb & they were not keeping the street curbs clean of cut grass or tree leaves/twigs.  In fact, some neighbors here let all kinds of crap gather along their curb.

  I understand the problem with rental property and the difference in neighborhoods.  I hope the new Mayor wants to make citizens keep our streets and our storm sewers clean.  Replacing storm sewers may not totally be because of this, but I see too much crap in the drains.

  Ticket lawn maintenance that do not clean their work from the street.  What is the ordinance about maintenance of lawn up to the curb (where there is sidewalks...)?

[sgrizzle]

Sidewalks are not an indicator of city property. The lawn on both sides of the sidewalk and the sidewalk itself are the homeowner's property and the homeowner's responsibility. Because of this, I don't know that there is a specific rule saying you have to mow on both sides of a sidewalk.

[heironymouspasparagus]

 I last lived in Denver and this was not an issue there.  Since being here I have seen lots of storm sewers being replaced.  As the Summer passed I noticed that people were not mowing out to the street curb & they were not keeping the street curbs clean of cut grass or tree leaves/twigs.  In fact, some neighbors here let all kinds of crap gather along their curb.

  I understand the problem with rental property and the difference in neighborhoods.  I hope the new Mayor wants to make citizens keep our streets and our storm sewers clean.  Replacing storm sewers may not totally be because of this, but I see too much crap in the drains.

  Ticket lawn maintenance that do not clean their work from the street.  What is the ordinance about maintenance of lawn up to the curb (where there is sidewalks...)?

By far and away, the biggest cause of the storm drain replacement is that they are WAY past any reasonable expectation of a service life - by decades in most cases.  This is an artifact of Tulsa and Oklahoma life in general that you are gonna run into shortly, if you stay for any length of time - the odd inconsistencies in how we deal with infrastructure.  Just like the Showtime Grill - "Set it and forget it" - is the main approach.  Plus residents that don't understand the benefit to their lawn of keeping those clippings on the yard!!

Run down the turnpike to OKC sometime.  It is a perpetual employment program for the contractors who are granted the work from the OK turnpike authority - one of the largest, most visible political patronage systems we have (well, except for the tag agencies...)  County Commissioners are at least as large, but are better at 'hiding' the corruption.

Right now - even as we speak - the turnpike authority has literally torn up miles of the road, down to the earth substrate (in the 190 mile marker area).  And then has proceeded to put in a decent rock base - starting out very good!  Then, slobbered about a foot of asphalt on top....when they could have taken this opportunity to start the process of building the road correctly - concrete!  But remember, this is an oil state!  So, we mix a little oil with some gravel and pour it on the ground.  Regardless of it's lack of suitability for satisfying the needs of the tax payer related to simple little things like performance and cost....

We even do that in residential neighborhoods - and then add speed bumps to calm traffic!!!  When a properly built (oops, there's that pesky reality thing again) brick road would provide very, very long term usage with minimal maintenance and provide inherent, built in traffic calming.  But that would mean no ongoing patronage employment plan for the elected officials.

[Conan71]

 I last lived in Denver and this was not an issue there.  Since being here I have seen lots of storm sewers being replaced.  As the Summer passed I noticed that people were not mowing out to the street curb & they were not keeping the street curbs clean of cut grass or tree leaves/twigs.  In fact, some neighbors here let all kinds of crap gather along their curb.

  I understand the problem with rental property and the difference in neighborhoods.  I hope the new Mayor wants to make citizens keep our streets and our storm sewers clean.  Replacing storm sewers may not totally be because of this, but I see too much crap in the drains.

  Ticket lawn maintenance that do not clean their work from the street.  What is the ordinance about maintenance of lawn up to the curb (where there is sidewalks...)?

A lot of this is being done prior to street renovation.  The square mile from Lewis to Harvard and 21st to 31st has been getting new drain boxes and piping ahead of completely re-paving the entire neighborhood.  Existing systems are +/- 65 years old.

I agree with your point though that a lot of people are sloppy lawn keepers and it's a pet peeve of mine.  They are usually the ones who also use the street as a parking lot for their disabled vehicles, or for their live ones if they keep the dead ones in the driveway.

[Gaspar]

A lot of this is being done prior to street renovation.  The square mile from Lewis to Harvard and 21st to 31st has been getting new drain boxes and piping ahead of completely re-paving the entire neighborhood.  Existing systems are +/- 65 years old.

I agree with your point though that a lot of people are sloppy lawn keepers and it's a pet peeve of mine.  They are usually the ones who also use the street as a parking lot for their disabled vehicles, or for their live ones if they keep the dead ones in the driveway.

Blow your grass into the street (or allow your lawn guy to do it) in my neighborhood and you are likely to get a stern talking to, or have the police called on you.  It's littering.

[nathanm]

They are usually the ones who also use the street as a parking lot

Why would I park in the driveway? It's farther from the door.

[RecycleMichael]

Blow your grass into the street (or allow your lawn guy to do it) in my neighborhood and you are likely to get a stern talking to, or have the police called on you.  It's littering.

It is also a violation of stormwater ordinances.

https://www.cityoftulsa.org/media/17773/Title11A_000.pdf

[heironymouspasparagus]

It is also a violation of stormwater ordinances.

https://www.cityoftulsa.org/media/17773/Title11A_000.pdf

Ok, so it looks like if I don't block the flow into the system and the grate is large enough, used motor oil is still good to go...  well, any amount over the 5 gallons I can recycle at the MET, anyway...

[RecycleMichael]

Ok, so it looks like if I don't block the flow into the system and the grate is large enough, used motor oil is still good to go...  well, any amount over the 5 gallons I can recycle at the MET, anyway...

One gallon of motor oil contaminates 1 million gallons of water.

[TeeDub]

One gallon of motor oil contaminates 1 million gallons of water.

If that was true, wouldn't the BP oil spill in the gulf have turned the whole ocean to crap?   Why do people make up "facts" to spout when it suits them.
(Well, 17% of the entire Atlantic anyway.)


The total discharge has been estimated at 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal.)
http://www.uscg.mil/foia/docs/dwh/fosc_dwh_report.pdf

There is (not approx) 17,543,940,979,332,434 gallons of water within the Atlantic Ocean region.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_gallons_of_water_is_in_the_Atlantic_Ocean#slide2

[Red Arrow]

If that was true, wouldn't the BP oil spill in the gulf have turned the whole ocean to crap?   

Containment efforts probably affected the oil's ability to reach its full polluting potential.

[Red Arrow]

If that was true, wouldn't the BP oil spill in the gulf have turned the whole ocean to crap?   Why do people make up "facts" to spout when it suits them.

I found this regarding the amount of oil to pollute water.  There are some other interesting items in the quiz.
 
http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/HCP-IQ-Test_with_credits_SHORT.pdf

[heironymouspasparagus]

If that was true, wouldn't the BP oil spill in the gulf have turned the whole ocean to crap?   Why do people make up "facts" to spout when it suits them.
(Well, 17% of the entire Atlantic anyway.)


The total discharge has been estimated at 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal.)
http://www.uscg.mil/foia/docs/dwh/fosc_dwh_report.pdf

There is (not approx) 17,543,940,979,332,434 gallons of water within the Atlantic Ocean region.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_gallons_of_water_is_in_the_Atlantic_Ocean#slide2

It IS true.  And it DID contaminate that much of the gulf.  This last little storm that came through last week washed up a lot of oil on the shores.  A lot of damage continues unseen.  Reality sucks, don't it?

And if you ever get a chance to go to Padre Island, take a shovel with you...they had a rig spill back in the late 60's way offshore.  Oil coated the outer beaches.  I went there regularly for over 15 years after that, and you could do just a little bit of digging in that beach and reach that layer of oil easily.  Which was putting a sheen on the water from time to time - usually after a storm - that was easily seen.  Haven't been there in about 8 years, but I bet you could still find that layer.

And oil still washes up from the Exxon Valdez.

Have you turned to Koch Brothers groupie recently??

[heironymouspasparagus]

One gallon of motor oil contaminates 1 million gallons of water.

Yeah.  I just had to tease you a little bit there... I bring the oil to the MET (even when I have to make two trips.)  I hope you make some money on that...do you?  Before that, I gave it to the auto parts stores....





In fairness, though, oil dumped into Tulsa storm drains just goes into the Arkansas....probably raises the quality level by 5 or 10%....  oil kills some bacteria, so will help "treat" some of that raw sewage in the water....  (sorry, couldn't help it... just kidding!!)