Jamestown’s Development Department isn’t wrong to use social media to warn city residents about quality of life tickets for those who let their grass get too high.

High grass is the top complaint the department hears once we hit the spring and summer months. Some lawns can look more like a hayfield than a city lawn, and Crystal Surdyk, city development director, makes a good point about grass and shrubs at some intersections being tall enough near curbs and intersections to make it difficult to see traffic.

But the department’s May 31 message posted on the Development Department’s Facebook struck the wrong type of nerve with some city residents judging by the 103 times the message was shared – that’s a lot more shares than most of the department’s Facebook posts get. The post included a graphic and the text, “Hope you all cut your grass today! We’ll be back in the office tomorrow morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to serve YOU (tall grass QOLs).” City officials aren’t rushing out the door to write tickets for those whose yard work got cut short by rainstorms or had to be pushed a few days because of kids’ sporting events or end-of-year school activities. The city is trying to motivate those whose front yard looks like it has yet to see a lawnmower – or a goat – since the snow melted.

“It was just a reminder,” Surdyk said during a recent City Council Housing Committee meeting. “I’m sorry people took offense to it, or don’t like it, or think we have better things to do. Believe me, we’re focusing on the better things to do. We’re just reminding you to take on your own responsibility as a property owner and a resident, and cut your grass.”

It turns out quality of life tickets aren’t a laughing matter for some. Consider the hubbub the result of what happens when an attempt at humor falls flat. There were few complaints when the Jamestown Police Department turned its Facebook page worthy of an exhibit at the National Comedy Center a couple of years ago. The department cranked out posts that were often cheeky and laden with tongue-in-cheek jokes that made a point while making one smile. People can disagree with the post’s tone, and we have a feeling cheekiness may be less prevalent in future social media posts from the Development Department.

A drive around the city, though, shows the department’s high grass reminder was necessary, albeit in a more bland tone.