Citizens Karen Mills and Gretchen Reeh-Robinson were encouraging the city to lift bans on enforcement of mowing through the month of May.
Mills explained she took part in No Mow May last year, and had complaints from people who did not appreciate allowing her lawn to grow.
For Mills, with Mount Vernon being a Bee City, this is an effort to help with sustainability and help early pollinators and other insects that utilize these habitats get a firm footing before lawns are disrupted with mowing.
“We should do better as a Bee City to help these pollinators,” Mills said.
Mills noted that in larger cities like Los Angeles, the amount of carbon spent just on mowing in a month is 22 tons of emissions, and this is a way to curb that as well.
“It might also encourage more bio diversity in our community’s plant life,” Mills said. “So much of traditional lawns are a monoculture.”
Mills said that she would like to see the city not enforce mowing mandates until the first weekend in June.
Reeh-Robinson spoke about the potential impact of herbicides and pesticides in lawns. Her dog walking business is impacted by the use of chemicals, and she said people may not know all the harm pesticides can impact the environment.
Both spoke during the citizens’ opportunity to address the council on items not on the agenda, so no council comment was made on the matter.
Citizens encourage city to consider No Mow May
February 16, 2023
About the Contributor
Nathan Countryman, Editor
Nathan Countryman is the Editor of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun.