Just when you think you are in-charge of your lawn and gardens this year…the clowns appear to decorate your street with flags.

Fiber Optics is coming and while I’m glad about the option of competitive services in our neighborhood -these projects always have the appearance that no one is in the overall impact to landscaping (not to mention the every 3 day required lawn mowing) and overall mess left when the contractors depart.  I’m guessing this is just the first set of flags marking water lines.  Soon another color will appear to mark phone, electric and whatever.  No flags to mark the invisible fences.  And if it was a few days between planting the flags and work commencing  homeowners could cut around the flags…but chances are good that the actual work is not scheduled for several weeks.

Add to the frustration level the low quality fill stone filled soil and grass seed used to “repair” the damage- it will take months for the street to return to it’s current lush green wave of green.  As far as heavy equipment damaging or cracking the sidewalks- no problem the tax paying homeowner is responsible for paying for replacement slabs.

Progress shouldn’t place a burden on homeowners!

Local governments need to have enforceable criteria on the books holding the project’s owner responsible for messes and damages their contractors leave behind.  Today ( at least where I live) the city does their best to help when replacement cables/lines are left unburied for months or invisible fence lines are cut- but the rubber often hits the road when you contact the cable, phone or utility company and they shrug and point a finger at their contractor who then sends you to a sub contractor who does not have a vested interest in the property and isn’t rewarded for returning to correct the problem.

Happy 4th of July!  In lieu of patriotic flags marking the holiday we have “clown alley” running all the way down the street.  I’m sure in 6 months, as we look out at the trench in the grass marking progress in our neighborhood, the mess will be worth the improvements…..maybe.

Feel free to submit your estimated completion date and I’ll post the name of the winner.