PEEVISH QUESTIONS!!!

 

          How many of you have noticed the landscaping that’s being done alongside the new light rail adjacent I-5? I have and am amazed at the waste of funds. I’ve watched them grade, add topsoil and/or compost and then install nice plants. In one case between Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood, they had to do it twice because it rained so hard gullies formed on the steep hillside.    It even appears as though there may be a sprinkler system unless those white pipes perform some other function.

          Now, don’t get me wrong, I love nice landscaping, but what makes me want to bang my head…or someone’s head…against the wall is the fact that adjacent these new plantings are areas, some of them large, full of weeds that have been growing there forever. How long before those weeds transplant themselves to the new planting areas, especially if there is a sprinkler system.

          How hard would it have been to plow up the entire area and eliminate those weeds? I’m sure that wasn’t in the scope of work which is why it didn’t get done. I’d also like to know how the sprinkler system, if there is one, is going to operate. From where will the system get the water? Who’s going to be responsible for turning it off and on and/or setting the timers so it happens. Finally, who is going to weed these huge areas of new plantings? 

          This also brings up another sort of peeve. Along Highway 99 in Snohomish County, they have installed planter barriers between the north and south lanes. These contain some lovely plants and are beautiful. Again, it looks as though there may be a sprinkler system for them, but it raises the same questions raised in the previous paragraph.

          There are other street plantings throughout King County and Seattle that were lovely when originally created. Unfortunately, they weren’t watered or weeded so now they are just unsightly concrete planters full of weeds. This makes me wonder if any of the planners for the light rail or Highway 99 looked around and saw what was created in the past. I seriously doubt they did so.

          At a time when funds are so badly needed for education and a wide variety of other necessities that would improve our society, city, county, state, country, world, it seems a huge waste of funding to build planters, install plantings in new areas only to leave them to deteriorate over time. And, yes, I know the plantings beside the light rail are undoubtedly there to help stabilize the hillside. Maybe the highway planters are to keep drivers from crossing and crashing.

          I don’t have any answers to my questions. I just know it bothers me enough to write this blog about the projects and my questions. Maybe, as I continue to age, I’m just getting more peevish about stuff or maybe it’s my wisdom kicking in.