‘This goes into the no good deed’ file

Atlanta resident Joshua Pechter thought he was doing a good thing when he joined neighbors to spruce up a nearby park.

The city rewarded his efforts Wednesday with not a plaque, but a ticket.

Pechter and others wanted to lay down mulch in Mayson Ravine Park in Brookhaven. A city worker saw the mulch piled up in one spot and told Pechter it had to be moved.

“Stockpiling mulch in right of way without a permit,” the citation reads. He goes to court May 6.

“This goes into the no good deed goes unpunished file,” said Pechter, 34.

Atlanta Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Commissioner Dianne Harnell Cohen said her department has an agreement that requires residents to alert the city before they do any work in a park. The city wasn’t notified.

“This matter is clearly a misunderstanding with [the residents],” the commissioner said in a statement.

Located just north of the Capital City Club golf course, Mayson Ravine Park is a tree-lined, passive 3 acres that provides scenery to joggers and walkers. Pechter and his neighbors decided recently to improve its look and raised about $1,800 toward the effort, he said.

The homeowners began removing weeds and trash about two weeks ago. Pechter said he did not know he had to contact the city.

A spokeswoman for Atlanta Parks said she could not say whether Pechter must still go to court because the city’s Public Works Department issued the citation.

In the meantime, the residents did the mulching.

“We just kept going,” Pechter said.