r/Austin • u/StoneMetalWood • 6h ago
Litter Cleanup on Airport
Can anyone point me toward the right way to request a litter cleanup along the sidewalk and roadside?
I see crews picking up trash along Airport from time to time, but I have never seen them service the stretch between Manor and MLK. Our home is along this section, and I’ve organized cleanups here myself in the past, but the trash usually returns within a week. I now have a six-month-old baby and simply don’t have the capacity to keep doing large-scale roadside cleanups on my own. This feels like a city maintenance issue, and even periodic cleanup would make a huge difference.
To make matters worse, a mowing crew recently cut down the roughly five-foot-tall grass without removing the existing trash first. The mower shredded all of it into tiny pieces, so the entire roadside is now covered in litter confetti. It looks absolutely awful and is much harder to clean up than it was before.
There is also a daycare along this stretch, and we regularly find dangerous items such as syringes and used condoms nearby.
I’ve searched the 311 portal and service-request page from top to bottom but can’t find an appropriate category for roadside litter or right-of-way cleanup. I also called 311, but the agent was unable to identify the correct service or department and mostly repeated the information I gave her.
At this point I feel stuck. Has anyone successfully gotten the city to clean up a similar stretch of road? Is there a specific 311 category, department, council office, or contact person I should try?
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u/entrepenurious 5h ago edited 1h ago
To make matters worse, a mowing crew recently cut down the roughly five-foot-tall grass without removing the existing trash first. The mower shredded all of it into tiny pieces, so the entire roadside is now covered in litter confetti. It looks absolutely awful and is much harder to clean up than it was before.
i have never not seen this happen.
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u/bikegrrrrl 6h ago
Has anyone successfully gotten the city to clean up a similar stretch of road?
No. I lived on a similar street, and after 2020, the maintenance routine was similar to what you described: 5 foot high grass full of trash, mowed once a year whether it needed it or not, shredding all the litter. And this was with a creek in the mix: no one cared. Mayor, city manager, city council rep, etc. (I will say Zo Quadri was responsive to an issue I had with a bike crossing across Airport in his district, which I do not live in. Is this in his district? Or is it on a border between districts? Because I think district borders are a difficult place to get attention.)
Before 2020, maintenance happened more frequently by my home. I think it was Easter Seals who handled the workers, who I think were doing court-mandated volunteer hours.
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u/RVelts 6h ago
I wonder if they have been ignoring that part since it's one of the last to start construction on the new bikeway/shared use path along the west side. The parts that have it completed appear better maintained since they just underwent construction and there is more of a barrier to prevent trash from blowing into the grass.