In more than 70 neighborhoods across Dallas , keeping up street medians means more than just mowing the grass.

 

 

Groups and individuals in those neighborhoods are dedicated to keeping up their own medians, triangles, traffic circles and curb extensions though a partnership with the City of Dallas called the MOWmentum program.

 

 

“The city just doesn’t have what it takes to keep them mowed,” says Ann Drees with the Russwood Acres Neighborhood Association. “At this time of year, if they didn’t get any help, they’d look pretty bad.”

 

 

The association hires a lawn maintenance company to mow and clean medians along Inwood between Northaven and Royal and along Royal between Inwood and the Dallas North Tollway.

 

 

The MOWmentum program, with an annual budget of $125,000, helps both the city and residents by combining efforts to keep right-of-ways and neighborhoods clean and beautiful, says project coordinator Yvette Holley.

 

 

“It’s an enhancement for the neighborhood,” she says.

 

 

Groups or individuals can adopt locations, but they must commit to maintain them for at least two years. Some projects may require commitments up to 10 years.

 

 

Drawings of landscaping plans must be submitted for approval by city engineers, but they do not need to be professionally prepared. Signs, walls or anything that causes visual obstructions are not allowed.

 

 

One-time city grants are available for projects, but Russwood Acres did not accept any money from the program. Residents simply like having control over how the neighborhood looks, Drees says.

 

 

“It just makes your neighborhood look crummy when you’ve got weeds out there,” she says. “This way we can keep to our specifications rather than waiting for the city.”

 

 

The Holiday Park Homeowner’s Association in North Dallas partnered with the Shelton School and the Prestonwood 1A homeowner’s association to adopt six medians along Arapaho between

Meandering Way

and

Hillcrest Road

.

 

and .

 

Each of the partners chipped in $4,000 for the project, and the city matched their contributions with another $12,000, association member Matt Bach says. The money paid for landscaping, sprinkler systems and tress for the six medians.

 

 

Bach says the project spurred his neighborhood association to look at other ways residents can improve the area.

 

 

“It does require the homeowners to be involved, to take ownership,” he says. “But good things happen when you start looking at it as if it’s yours and not somebody else’s to worry about.”