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Spinach or the slammer? Defiant front-yard gardener faces jail time
Julie Bass of Oak Park, Mich., battles officials over her decision to grow vegetables in her front yard, a space that, according to city ordinances, is reserved for 'suitable' things like trees, grass and shrubbery.
Wed, Jul 13 2011 at 9:00 AM
Photo: Snapshot from MyFoxDetroit video
Keeping with the beleaguered homeowner theme of my earlier post on a New Jersey homeowner whose private driveway, according to Google Maps, is the entrance to a nearby state park, here’s the just-as-irk-inducing story of Julie Bass, an Oak Park, Mich., resident who may face jail time — 93 days in the slammer to be exact — for her decision to landscape her front yard in a matter that Oak Park City Planner Kevin Rulkowski finds to be “uncommon.”
Although I’m reminded of “brazen eco-martyrs” Quan and Angelina Ha, a water-conscious couple who battled the city of Orange, Calif., over their drought-tolerant front yard, it’s not xeriscaping that has Bass in hot water with Oak Park brass — it’s the luscious legumes that this rebellious locavore is unabashedly growing out front.
Slapped with a misdemeanor charge after disregarding a city ordinance requiring front yards to have “suitable, live, plant material,” Bass believes her yard is filled with just that — “suitable, live plant material” — and that the fuss over her well-maintained, neighbor-approved edible garden is a waste of city money.
So what exactly are Oak Park officials looking for in a suitable front yard? Rulkowski, a man with entirely too much time on his hands, explains: "If you look at the definition of what suitable is in Webster's dictionary, it will say common. So, if you look around and you look in any other community, what's common to a front yard is a nice, grass yard with beautiful trees and bushes and flowers."
Ack. With green-thumbed renegade Bass not backing down anytime soon — “I could sell out and save my own self and just not have them bother me anymore, but then there's no telling what they're going to harass the next person about,” she tells MyFoxDetroit — the dispute will go to pretrial on July 26 and possibly a jury trial after that.
Have you ever gone head-to-head with officials in your community for growing a plot or two of veggies in your front yard?
Via [MyFoxDetroit] via [Curbed]
Also on MNN: Easy vegetables to grow in your yard
Video screenshot via MyFoxDetroit
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It is no secret that Kevin Rulkowski is an idiot who is using Republican tactics of fear mongering and intimidation in Oak Park. His goal is to get as much publicity as he can so he further his own career on the backs of citizens.
I'm a grower in Providence, RI. I hope it's true that the charges were dropped! Where's the common sense here? Emails have been making the rounds here and we ALL think it's ridiculous! SUPPORT FROM PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND!
the charges have been dropped. according to local news reports, the city of Oak Park was bombarded with emails and phone calls which lead to the dropped charges.
Good to hear the charges have been dropped. Although it was probably on advice from the city attorney, who realized that the ordinance is hopelessly vague and unenforceable.
Frankly, it's astonishing that charges were brought in the first place.
Uh - take a deep breath. Oak Park is in Michigan.
Where's the link to write this college educated, city employee planner, Kevin Rulkowlski? You wanna jail this woman for growing veggies in her front yard instead of a lawn? Your a$$ needs to be fired, and any court that wouldn't throw this out should be abolished. I love the looks of her front yard and wish she was one of our neighbors! Get a LIFE!
another example of the government going after the wrong things!
Well I looked up "suitable" on onelook.com and none of the definitionsw I found said it meant "common". I'd print out 10 different definitions and bring them to court to show the judge that there is no real definition of "suitable" - it's one of those things, like beauty, that is purely in the eye of the beholder. You can''t make a law out of something so subjective.
Texas gardeners have your back. No City orrdinance or HOA gonna tell us what to do or where we can grow.
Watering a well kept, edible garden instead of watering a lawn, which is edible only to animals (bunnies), a toilet to dogs (probably owned by the complainant), and non-eco friendly to maintain.
Your veggie garden looks beautiful. Two of my neighbors grow veggies and often share their harvest with my family, not out of need, but out of being neighborly. Have you had a freshly grown salad lately? You have to try it; it tastes like nothing you've had in awhile. It tastes scrumptious!
Mr Kulkowski is on the public dole and needs some looong time off.
And the solution is to never ever under any circumstances purchase property that is controlled by an HOA. An HOA is a liability, not an asset. They invariably devolve into micro poltics of personality and accomplish absolutely nothing.
you almost cannot buy a new house in Texas without an HOA. therefore no choice about the regs
Uh - this doesn't involve a HOA. The charges (which appear to have been dropped, BTW) are based on a city ordinance.
It says her neighbors approve. It doesn't say she is violating any HOA. It doesn't say she is even violating any city "rule." It's just one obnoxious overzealous city planner who has interpreted an ordnance to suit himself. Glad you aren't my neighbor.
This is a city ordinance not an HOA issue Sherlock.
This definitely holds true for HOA neighborhoods. In this case the woman in question ran into city ordinances, rather than HOA standards. Those would be the same city standards most places have where things like untended three foot grass and weeds get ticketed and pigs and goats can't live in the city limit.
This is a city ordinance issue, not an HOA issue. Your local HOA can do many things, but sentence you to jail time is not one of them.
HOAs in Texas can LEGALLY steal your home for planting a vegatable garden in your front yard.
When you "landscape" an area Especially an urban area You pretty much want to somewhat "conform" with the neighborhood
You can grow all that out front without that boxy ugly stuff (drop dead beautiful to me but keep boxes out back)
I have been gardening raised beds for decades and even out front too
Nothing says freedom liked forced conformity.
Detroit, the birthplace of the urbanfarming movement...
Mr. Bass should be ashamed of himself. Makes me want to move back to the area and take up the cause in Oak Park by planting a front yard full of caster bean plants. buaahaahaahaa
haha! I have a front yard flower garden (huge) and I DO have Castor Beans.... heh heh....
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