SAN ANTONIO – Residents in a Southwest Side neighborhood said tall grass hindered their view of oncoming traffic at a nearby intersection for months.
Neighbors in the Valley Forest neighborhood, including Paul Munoz, Lelani Gutierrez and Paul Wilburn, all described the grass to be around six feet tall near the stop sign on Yucca Valley Drive and called it a traffic safety issue.
Wilburn believed the tall grass hindered their view of oncoming traffic.
“I was worried about my wife because she drives the car here, and it’s a lot lower,” Wilburn said. “It was high enough and thick enough where you couldn’t even see the cars or the traffic that was coming.”
Gutierrez said that is what she experienced driving her small car and trying to get onto Medina Base Road.
“My mom has a Durango, and it’s high. You can actually see the top of the vehicles, but with my vehicle you can’t really see those unless they have a taller vehicle,” Gutierrez said.
As a result of the tall grass, neighbors said drivers did not stop at the stop sign, which is set about 10 feet from the actual threshold of the intersection.
Instead, drivers pulled further down, sometimes almost past the threshold so they could see oncoming traffic, the residents said.
“If I need to turn left, I can’t really see if those vehicles (are) coming until I’m in the middle of the street,” Gutierrez said.
On top of that, residents said they have to deal with speeding vehicles.
“The traffic is very fast, especially now with school starting,” Gutierrez said.
Someone in the area contacted KSAT about the issue, and we emailed San Antonio’s Public Works Department for answers.
An official said a crew had just mowed the tall grass the same day KSAT was contacted.
The email went on to state that the public works department mows that intersection four times a year, according to a set maintenance schedule, and that crews were already scheduled to mow that specific area this month.
The neighbors are relieved it is clear.
“When we got up, we went to church, and I noticed that the grass were cut,” Munoz said.
“It’s a lot easier now. I can breathe,” Wilburn said.
They all agreed that the last few months would have been a little less stressful when leaving the neighborhood if the grass had been cut sooner.
The public works official encourages city residents to call 311 or use the 311SA mobile app to report concerns about overgrown vegetation that hinders city rights-of-way or traffic areas. They added that staffers will expedite a response if the issue is found to be a safety hazard.
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