Improving blight means tackling invasive weeds, too

Iwish to compliment the city of Santa Fe for its efforts, under the leadership of Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth, to eliminate the blight of abandoned vehicles. This nicely complements the city’s effort to keep ahead of weeds in the city’s landscape-divided thoroughfares. It looks as if headway is being made in that regard, and it makes a huge difference.

Furthermore, I am in complete accord with letters you have printed concerning the lack of weed control on other public lands. I have seen multiple examples of weeds obscuring stop signs at intersections. This looks like a hazard and liability issue to me.

But what about the lackadaisical care of highly visible areas that seem to be no-man’s-land outside the fences and walls of private property? Right now, the weeds in these areas seem to be jarringly out of control and now going to seed; it is kind of late to discourage their returning next year. I’m all for Santa Fe’s semi-bohemian ethos, but these scraggly conditions just portray us as irresponsible rubes. Where is the civic ethic for pride and care of the commons?

I wish the civic leaders would work with the city government — and the county when applicable — to address this problem. It would be worth the effort to sponsor a program of incentives for property owners to maintain highly visible areas and take responsible action to control weeds — weeds, but not welltended native vegetation. It’s high time for the city to enforce and perhaps strengthen its existing weed ordinance.