Last Monday, the coalition agreement between the National Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) and the Freedom Party faction signed by the Vilnius City Council envisages solving the issue of mowing the meadows vulnerable to the city of Vilnius. According to Vilnius city municipalities member, TS-LKD representative Adam Bužinskas, residents lacked clearer communication on this topic last year, so the new council will try to involve citizens in the processes of shaping its environment.
According to A. Bužinskas, last year's intensively discussed grass cutting policy worked only in some parts of the city, so this year it is planned to divide the city into mowing zones.
"Although there are some environmental reasons from a natural point of view that it's important not to mow, from the bees to the insects that live there. The rest of the world also came up with such a practice "out of the blue". Natural grasslands bring down the overall temperature on summer days, and aesthetically it is beautiful, some see a great added value to the ecosystem. We can certainly find those arguments in this place.
But we tend to abandon certain natural places, if it is generally detrimental to both traffic and other safety. We would write down the criteria more clearly, where, say, we leave the slopes uncut and let them bloom, and where we cut that grass for certain aesthetic considerations, traffic safety considerations and other things," A. Bužinskas told Tvaria Lietuvai.
The biggest gap in communication with residents
"Last year, the big problem was that the population was not informed. Part was angry not because it was being cut or not, but because it did not know whether it would be cut or not, why it would be so and so on. Since Vilnius has a fairly well-developed map system maps.vilnius.lt, we plan to create a sub-page there, which will indicate mowing and non-mowing zones. We will create a tool that, in principle, already exists - the residents themselves will be able to report if necessary," the politician shared his plans.
According to him, the city from its side really doesn't see everything, so such interactive platforms as "Kuriu Vilnių", where the residents themselves can report the relevance of mowing, will help the municipality to better know where the inaccuracies of the planned grass cutting system are and to replace one mowing zone with another.
A. Bužinskas emphasizes that the process of determining the initial zones is currently being managed by the Department of Urban Management and Environmental Protection, there is communication with urban landscape specialists, and it is planned to include representatives of the townships.
"It is important to include the wards, which are closest to the population and know their habits best and in detail. It is natural that some kind of common solution would be born after including all these groups. I think that a similar mechanism worked before, but we want to improve that process," said a member of the Vilnius City Municipality.
ELTA reminds that last year's sustainable mowing policy of the capital municipality caused a wave of negative reactions among residents. Representatives of the urban landscape department said that the less frequent mowing regime is intended to ensure greater biodiversity, protect the city from overheating and pollution in the summer.
Miglė Vasiliauskaitė (ELTA)
