$45k for the flower beds in our parks, another $45k for the plants in the road medians. None of them are pollinator plants and a fair number are tropical/temperate species we’re planting in the high desert. Those median plants generate 9500kg of green waste per year which we don’t have the facilities to compost. The teams required to service them probably cost $200/hr~. They require almost daily hand-watering using a heavy truck in a drought-stressed region. We can’t even propagate them because the cultivars are all patented. All so the public can look at some stupid purely ornamental bed and say “wowoo petunias” for three months.

Also our budget is being cut by 20%+ next year and half the workers don’t get benefits.

My hate is becoming pure enough to write theory.