SPECIAL FEATURES:
Email
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
The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies with our Terms and Conditions, MNN is not responsible for the accuracy of any of their information.
You might also like:
Sign in with one of these accounts to add your comment.
EDITORS' PICKS
Advertisement
TODAY'S MOST POPULAR ON
- Man tattoos puppy, faces backlash
- Where have all the monarch butterflies gone?
- 9 habits that may do more harm than good
- 15 famous people who mysteriously disappeared
- 13 natural remedies for the ant invasion
- 10 false facts most people think are true
- What causes tornadoes?
- 'Gay' dog rescued from Tenn. animal shelter
- Caffeine addiction? How to break the habit
- 3 simple homemade toothpaste recipes
NEWSLETTER
ABOUT Matt Hickman
Eco-living expert blogs about best ways to go green at home.
Advertisement
Good luck finding castor bean seeds. Once common - and one of my favorite ornamentals - the seeds all but disappeared following 9/11 over fears that they would be used to manufacture poisons. You can get them through mail order, but several sites selling them state that purchases are monitored. I used to see them everywhere during the summer, but not for the last several years.
Don't forget Pete Seeger's version!
In my neighborhood in Eugene, Oregon, it is common to see front yards growing full of fruits and vegetables. I think it's wonderful, and much better than having a boring old lawn.
It would please me if everyone against this woman dies of starvation.
HOA's are really just a racket. Get rid of the HOA Nazis and grow your spinach. It is truly a shame that people have such shallow lives that they can enrich them only by denigrating the productive and creative efforts of others rather than find something creative and productive of their own.
As an avid gardener who has both a lawn and flower bed as well as a full kitchen garden...the people attempting to turn this into a criminal act need to mind their own business...it is a waste of money...a waste of the legal system's time...and totally ridiculous. Pulling for you, honey.
Here is an idea: Begin firing mindless bureaucrats and take them off tax money support. If there is no one to enforce idiotic rules and laws, there is no need to comply with them.
First, as a fellower avid gardener, Julie - your garden is BEAUTIFUL! Second, the raised beds are quite well done, and the haters can go pound sand! Best of luck with the court case, I am hoping common sense prevails.
Vegetables are dangerous to have growing in the front yard. They upset the 'norm' and are considered harmful to the looks that the neo-nazi organizations, also known as home owners associations deem proper. Good Gosh, who put these lunatics in charge. A bunch of low testosterone men and menopausal women making up stupid rules for other people. I hate these people as much as I hate , well, just them. They are the worse, besides murderers. Really, about the same.
Uh - this has nothing to do with HOAs. The charges were based on a city ordinance. Charges have since been dropped, almost certainly because the ordinance in question was hopelessly vague and unenforcable. But it had nothing at all to do with a homeowner's association.
If you are not like everyone else, we will trim and paint you until you match.
Front-yard gardens provide a multitude of benefits, not just nutritionally, but environmentally and socially. A Front-yard garden means eyes on the street, which keeps a neighborhood safe. It also means less mowing and so, less pollution. Also it may just get neighbors talking to each other which is a rare thing these days.
I was planning to have a few chickens for eggs in my fenced backyard, when I received a letter from the township telling me that farm animals were not aloowed, although many people have rabbits, and dogs that bark constatntlyin the township. It would cost me $400 to appeal, and the people hearing my appeal are the same that sent me the letter. So much for trying to be earth friendly and healthier for the family.
This seems incredibly misguided on the city's part. I could understand their position a little more if the yard were unkempt or an eyesore, but the photo shows a very tidy looking arrangement, with nice "beds" - so what if there are vegetables rather than flowers growing in them? And as for the definition of "proper"...well, Mr. Rulkowski either can't read or is being purposefully misleading. Merriam-Webster does not use the word "common" anywhere in its' definition of "proper".
cmon people, start doing this, make it common.
She would have the same problem with the gestapo known as a Home Owners' Association.
The Land of the Free???
What really? REALLLY?! There are raspist, thieve and murderers running about the place and you're throwing people in jail because of vegetables?! Is looking "good" that important to you?! REAAAALLLY? I actually cannot get my head around this! This is the stupidest thing I have heard in a long time. For feck sake police or whoever is in fecking charge, have a bit of bleedin' sense!
If the White House can have their vegetable garden in the front yard why can't she?
This women is using her time, money, and land to feed healthy food to her family. She is an inspiration to her community, who is unfortunately too stuck in their own narrow point of view, to see what is happening around the world.
One thing an employer would like from employees is common sense. Rulkowski is a damn fool for even suggesting wasting time and money on this, not to mention a future effort to imprison her. His supervisor should call him in for a little 'chat'.
We actually need to get away from what's "common" to most yards, because what's common are non-native plants and lawns that require fertilizer, insecticides, and non-seasonal watering, all of which are bad for our environment.
That aside, I would rather people used the city water supply to grow their own food than feed a lawn.
I cannot believe that she may face 93 days in jail simply because she is growing a garden in her front yard. That is ridiculous.
Pages