Thank you.

I clean that New Bern Ave median, from the Neuse River to I-440 about 24 times a year, and absolutely totally agree with the person who subbmitted this request. That road is known as Business 64. The landscaping on Bus-64 in Knightdale (East of the Neuse River) looks beautiful. But the stretch from the Neuse to I-440 looks horrible, terrible, ugly, ... (how many more ways can I say it??)

In many (most/) places the grass has worn down to either weeds or mud. The bushes are massively overgrown, or intermittently run down by traffic, or overtaken by weeds and vines and trees shooting up through the bushes, etc. In many places the growth of the bushes has been kept in check only by the traffic itself (brushing up against the bushes).

I do my best to keep it "looking nice" by picking up trash (about 800 bags a year, just from New Bern Ave), but even when all the trash is gone (for a day or two until it again accumulates) you can't ever really say it looks "nice". In truth it looks .... awful!!!

If this were Cary, or North Raleigh, where rich folks live, there would be a huge outcry and all the rich and influentual folks would contact... people with power,,,, and next thing you know, there would be a landscaping renewal project. But along this stretch of New Bern, there just aren't enough rich, powerful and influential people, so... it looks like crap!

Please... please, please... let's do some major landscaping work along that stretch.
I'm aware that this is a state road, and this see-click-fix is a city service, but can't the city put some kind of pressure on the state to get this done?

Gus, I’ve seen you out there and you have been an absolute saint. It would be FAR and away so much WORSE if not for your work. We are very lucky to have such a selfless neighbor. I try and clean around the main streets of Hedingham but have had a problem with my Achilles since October that makes it difficult for me to walk far. Thank you for your comment and thanks again for everything you’ve done.

The problem that was reported is in an NCDOT right of way, as such the City does not have the authority to make corrective actions. NCDOT issues can be reported here, https://www.ncdot.gov/contact/Pages/default.aspx

OK. I understand that BUS-64 is a state road, and that as such, it is the state DOT that needs to pay for landscaping issues in the median of that road.

But... simply because it's the DOT that should pay for it doesn't mean that it's not a CITY problem! Since the problem occurs INSIDE CITY LIMITS, it IS a city problem. And it ought to be the city's responsibility to see that the problem gets resolved. And so, the RIGHT THING TO DO for the city employees handling this SeeClickFix (notice the last part of that is "FIX") issue is for THEM to contact the NC DOT and pass this issue along to them.... RIGHT?

Three possible responses from the City:

1) Take NO responsibility whatsoever: Totally ignore it and just close it without anything getting done! This option would only be appropriate if the site were called SeeClickGetIgnored .

2) Do the right thing! Once it's understood that the NC DOT needs to handle the issue, then immediately contact the NC DOT and pass the issue to them, asking them for a response, then use the SeeClickFix issue to keep the responsible city resident who took the time and trouble to report the issue to begin with informed, telling them that "It's a state problem, we've notified the state, and here's what the state's response was". Now THAT's the appropriate way to handle a SeeClickFix issue

3) Pass the problem back to the responsible city resident who already took the time and trouble to report the issue, and tell that person... "It's a state problem... Here's the web site... now YOU deal with it" This would be appropriate if the site were called "SeeClickAndGetTheResponsibilyForGettingItFixedPushedRightBackAtYou". Basically, even though the problem is within city limits, the city is saying "YOU go fix it!"

Option 3 "YOU deal with it" is how the city chose to respond to this issue. It's not as bad as option 1, the "just ignore it" option, but it's certainly not the service-oriented response that any civic-minded responsible person who takes the time to report on SeeClickFix deserves.

Come on city! You can do better. We deserve better!