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Cutting the Grass/Cleaning up Graffiti

Graffiti scribbled on the side of a building at the closed pool at Tulsa's Archer Park.
KWGS News Photo
Graffiti scribbled on the side of a building at the closed pool at Tulsa's Archer Park.

Tulsa, OK – At the mayor's request, additional funding is being transferred to bolster
right-of-way mowing and citywide graffiti removal.

The Tulsa Authority for the Recovery of Energy (TARE), the board which oversees the
city's refuse-collection and disposal services, has approved transferring surplus
funds to add seven additional mowing cycles on public rights-of-way and to bring
back a second graffiti removal crew that was eliminated several years ago because of
tightening budgets.

The board approved $854,640 for the mowing program which will allow contractors to
mow 13 times, or approximately every two weeks, throughout the growing season.
Prior to the additional funding, there was $540,000 from the general fund and
$275,000 from the stormwater managment fund for mowing.
Mowing had been reduced to six cycles per season because of budget constraints, but
with the additional funding there will be 13 mowings per season of all rights-of-way
on arterial streets.

"This enables us to mow twice as often and to remove grass and weeds that cause
visibility hazards near intersections," said Mayor Taylor. "It also will improve
aesthetics in many parts of Tulsa by removing unsightly overgrown areas along our
city's main thoroughfares."

The additional funding will also allow the treatment of rights-of-way with pre- and
post-emergent herbicides.

The graffiti-removal program was bolstered with an additional $116,500 transfer from
TARE surplus to hire an additional two-person crew and purchase needed supplies.
Most of the equipment needed by the second crew is already in the city's inventory.
There was $`153,667 in the budget for graffiti removal, chiefly from the general
fund, prior to the additional funding.

The budget amendments providing funds for these projects must be approved by the
City Council.