Nature Strip Constenation In The Burbs

A contested space in the Launceston burbs

On a verge somewhere in outer Launceston suburbia there is a story with a twist in its tail. The tellers of this story are few and within it there is this glimmer of hope.

The story goes that there is this woman who lives alone and that she has "issues in her life". One of these is her front verge. Its an issue that she's not kept to herself and its one, reportedly, that she has "maintained the rage" over for quite a long time – years in fact. 

Let's call her 'Miss Brown'! Well Miss Brown is of a certain age and she finds it difficult to maintain her little patch in the world in the way she wishes to become accustomed, as all kinds of people do. In order to achieve some perspective she has mentally stopped thinking about anything that's "not on her property".

This is the point where her 'verge', known in some circles as "the nature strip", becomes an all consuming issue. Why? Well it's at the edge of her world but its in that space beyond which she has drawn her line of responsibility and beyond which she has abdicated all responsibility. You see," it belongs to 'The Council' and they'll tell you so too ... and they can deal with it ... NO ... I'm not responsible in any way at all and that's that'. So here we go the battle lines are drawn and Miss Brown is a reasoning person.

Having established her position Miss Brown had no problem rationalising it because for all her working life she was a corporate secretary and she knew where and why lines of delineation get to be drawn and "deemed to be there and given the status of the operatives ... lines are not to be crossed". 

Lines drawn, Miss Brown calls 'The Council' to enlist its support in managing her corner of the world – namely by mowing their/her verge. "Council" here needs to be understood as that amorphous organisation to which one pays money for various services – verge mowing being one.

Clearly verge mowing is women's work!

Having navigated her way past the very helpful person on the reception desk at Council charged with keeping trivial matters away from those who 'deem things' in the cause good civil administration, she managed to get to speak to a functionary. Let's call this functionary Mr X. He explains to Miss Brown that 'the verge' is her problem  because she lives there. This starts a long community consultation process. Moreover there is a culture of verge mowing that people need to know about and participate in – and Mr X reminds her of all this.

Somewhat unhappy about the outcome of her phone call, and 'The Council's' apparent reluctance to assist her, or comprehend her problem, she attempts to speak to Ald. Y & Ald. G. It is only possible to leave a message on their mobiles and she is reluctant to do so. She did it once and for a plumber who'd done a poor job in the laundry and he never returned her call as he'd promised. So, speaking to an Alderman slips down the list on Miss Brown's list of promising strategies. 

Miss Brown does not have the Internet so she decides to write to 'The Council' setting out her concerns as clearly as she can in her neat and easily decipherable running print. She discovers if you do so, it takes time, and when you get a reply it comes after your letter has taken nearly two weeks, taking into accounts that it needs to be pondered over in regards to just who should respond. With only five working days in the average working week, and let's not think about the effective working hours per day ... things just take time.

These replies also typically take their time for two reasons. The first being it takes that long actually and the second being, when it does, the problem you are trying to solve often just goes away – typically that happens in three to five days depending upon what it is.

Clearly in the burbs lawn mowing is a
 casual activity, sexy and women's work!

Its a convention that Councils all over do not mow grassed footpaths and nature strips in front of private, commercial or industrial property, on the basis that owners and residents with civic pride undertake this activity as their contribution to the amenity of their residential precinct. Councils say that this allows them to direct our (ratepayer's!) resources to other services. It may be true.

Likewise, its a convention that Councils are committed to mowing nature strips and verges in front of residential properties only where the residents can claim genuine hardship based on medical evidence, financial constraints or for some other reason. This comes about due to the erroneous belief that lawn mowing is sexy. However, more to the point, the circumstantial evidence is heavily weighted to the contrary.

Typically, 'special case' applications need to be in writing and considered based on the provision of a medical certificate from a registered physician. This form must state that the applicant is unable to mow their nature strip area due to medical reasons. Otherwise, an application may be considered on the provision of a Statutory Declaration stating that the resident does not have the financial capacity to employ a contractor to perform the service, or alternatively, documentary support of their pensioner status, or advice that the topographical nature of their footpath prevents the applicants from mowing their(?) verge.

It's said to be rare but there are some known cases where "footpath profiles" are almost impossible to mow. So "Councillors With Special Authority" (CWSAs) get operational status to enter the scene and are granted 'delegated authority' to have some input into the  assessment processes.

Typically, CWSAs get involved in the periodical review of the regular nature strip mowing services. This is to  ensure 'special cases' remain eligible for their special service and to maintain the accuracy of Nature Strip Mowing Service (NSMS) records. In line with this, it appears that Councils require applications, including a medical certificate, to be updated and resubmitted during such reviews, typically annually. Usually in cases of confirmed permanent disability some latitude is recommended. Interestingly, in some local government areas applicants are allowed a two (2) month period to resubmit applications prior to any termination of services just in case the CWSAs get it wrong.

Sadly, very little of this has anything at all to do with effective management – or current scholarship to do with effective management. Rather it seems that it has a lot to do with rankism – and all too often, self serving rankism. The zaniness of all this is palpable.

.

Apparently this is the bureaucratic background to 'nature strip mowing' nation wide. If it looks petty and silly its probably because it is. However, in some places these nature strips, verges if you like, are being reimagined and especially so in larger cities.

They are being imagined a 'community food farms', 'recreational zones', 'micro climate mitigators' and 'precinct definers'. They are in some places being imagined as assets rather than liabilities but there is enormous resistance to all this in some Councils because its a game changer for bureaucratic functionaries. It might even call for retraining or transfers to other departments more dependent upon deeming and subjective assessments and very convenient interpretations.

The very idea of a nature strip needs to be seriously questioned if its a concept that causes so much anxiety. If a planner thinks something somewhere remote from where her/his concept it to be enshrined in regulations, then it deserves to be revisited at the very least if 'the locals resist'.

Placescaping is to do with planning! Its the primary business of Councils and its something that needs to be done very close to home. Moreover, it must involve the people who live there as they are all experts in regard to their expectations and aspirations.

But back to Miss Brown and her/Council's verge. She has been subjected to every imaginable aspect of the bureaucratic confrontationalism known about in Christendom, and then some. Arguably, that is all there by design. Moreover, with purpose and time on her side Miss Brown has proven to be a worthy combatant in this protracted bureaucratic tussle.

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The graphic above gives some indication of the tussle that's been going on for years and years now. The lines in the sand have been deeply drawn and it might be said that recalcitrance can be assigned to both sides.  There are big lessons to be learnt here. The bureaucratic triviality that seems to be evident in the LCC v Brown battle of the verge needs to be turned around.

Things came to a head recently when Miss Brown, exasperated and highly agitated, called out for more help. Over the years she had engaged with Council, and many others too, time and time again to no avail. She'd been advised to think outside the box and set fire to her grass to get someones attention somewhere but she wouldn't, indeed couldn't, do that. She'd notified the Postal Workers Union about the dangers of snakes in the grass only to have the delivery of her mail threatened, withdrawn even. She'd enlisted the support of ratepayers' advocacy groups and apart from very limited advice they were unable, or unwilling, to offer 'the solution' she was seeking. So what now?

Miss Brown was advised to "phone the Mayor" but despite her feistiness it was not anything she wanted to do – or would do. Not to be deterred, her adviser emails him, the Mayor that is, to explain the situation, despite it being a Saturday. Hopefully by doing so it would be possible to withdraw from this fruitless and pointless competition of wills.

The story goes that the Mayor upon receipt of the email, presumably received on his iPHONE, he got out his mower and piled it into his car with his daughter and headed off to Miss Brown's to mow her dam nature strip.

In one fell swoop he cut through all the bureaucratic bulldust and sorted it out all by himself. Job done! He's set an example to duck-shoving bureaucrats all over not to mention recalcitrant verge-owners(?) alike. So its 11 out of 10 to the Mayor for 'Civic Innovation'! As for Miss Brown, well the jury is still out and it'll be getting back to us soonish.

So what's the takeaway here? Let's just hope that Miss Brown can be memorialised with placemaking installations on verges all over that are anything but boring mown grass. Let's have some 'food farms', 'street gardens', 'flower beds', community orchards', 'street forests', whatever. Perhaps in time there'll be regulations against 'boring grass'– especially those that require mowing –  and inspectors can then be assigned to ensure their removal.

GOOD ONE ALBERT!

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