COSTA MESA — In a surprise for many Westside residents during the last two weeks, contractors hired by the city were showing up at their homes in the morning, digging up the edges of their lawns and planting trees — without notifying them ahead of time.
Pete and Aline Brower, who live on Bernard Street, were surprised to wake up to crews digging up the grass next to their yard last week.
"If they had notified, it would've stopped some of the confusion," Pete Brower said. "It seemed sort of random, but I don't see it as a problem. Putting vegetation anywhere is a positive in my eyes."
Residents like the Browers are calling the project a "failure to communicate" because many were not notified about the work beforehand.
"We've never done a project like this, a wholesale planting of neighborhoods," said Bruce Hartley, Costa Mesa's maintenance services manager. "It's 654 people, so it was a little bit more of a challenge and, after the fact, well, we should've figured out a way to notify."