uReport

City of Bloomington, Indiana

closed: Resolved #183617

Trails:

Other: Leaf blowing riding-mower abuse. The riding mower, attached with a leaf blower, driven by a city employee, Wednesday April 26 at 12:30pm, was being used to abuse the soil and surrounding greenspace. The shoulder of the west spur trail, at the southern end of the Switchyard Trail, was being subjected to harsh blower force and hostile behaviour. This force and speed created a billowing soil-cloud that rose 50ft above the trail and continued to float towards the creek 300 ft in an east direction. This environmental abuse was viewed from the Bloomington Rail Trail parking lot and witnessed by two city employees and five volunteers. From this vantage point we were able to see the leaf blower mechanism had a diameter of 12-18". The speed and noise of the mower drew our attention. The previous day, I had conducted a survey and recorded invasive plants along this portion of the trail. This slender strip of greenspace did not have leaves to be cleared from the trail, nor did it need to be mown. In addition, I observed the ground cover habitat being used by a pileated woodpecker as it foraged for food. Treating habitat in this way destroys important food sources, is a breathing health-hazard, is abusive, and demonstrates hostile behaviour.

History

4/29/2023 19:19:37 Closed by Tim Street

Thanks for the report - we will review best practices with staff regarding this.

Sent notification to Anonymous, Anonymous
https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=183617 Closed by Tim Street Thanks for the report - we will review best practices with staff regarding this.

4/28/2023 08:10:54 Anonymous assigned this case to Anonymous

Sent notification to Anonymous, Anonymous
https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=183617 Anonymous assigned this case to Paula McDevitt You can use the link to follow progress on this case.

4/28/2023 08:10:54 Opened by Anonymous