"Oak Park Woman Faces 93-Days in Jail For Planting Vegetable Garden"

[MoonOwl]

Here's a long bit:


"OAK PARK, Mich. (WJBK) - "The price of organic food is kind of through the roof," said Julie Bass. So, why not grow your own? However, Bass' garden is a little unique because it's in her front yard.

"We thought it'd be really cool to do it so the neighbors could see. The kids love it. The kids from the neighborhood all come and help," she said.

Bass' cool garden has landed her in hot water with the City of Oak Park. Code enforcement gave her a warning, then a ticket and now she's been charged with a misdemeanor.

"I think it's sad that the City of Oak Park that's already strapped for cash is paying a lot of money to have a prosecutor bothering us," Bass told FOX 2's Alexis Wiley.

"That's not what we want to see in a front yard," said Oak Park City Planner Kevin Rulkowski.
Why? The city is pointing to a code that says a front yard has to have suitable, live, plant material. The big question is what's "suitable?"

We asked Bass whether she thinks she has suitable, live, plant material in her front yard.
"It's definitely live. It's definitely plant. It's definitely material. We think it's suitable," she said.

So, we asked Rulkowski why it's not suitable.

"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," he said.

But when you look at front yards that are unsightly and overgrown, is Bass' vegetable garden really worth the city's time and money?""


http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/new...nor-charge-for-vegetable-garden-20110630-wpms


Thoughts?
MO

 

[Kyle B]

Local codes like this are ridiculous. She should have the right to do whatever she wants on her front lawn. The prosecutor should spend his time and effort going after real criminals.

 

[Darrell]

What a fucking joke. Plain and simple.

 

[Panacea]

I was thinking "Not Oak Park Michiga....oh fuck."

Siiiigggghhhhhhh

*For the record I live within a stone's toss of Oak Park. What I find ironic is that the city's name itself basically says "hey! we like horticulture!".

 

[CityGirl]

Only in the freest nation in the world.

 

[boombala]

I'll bet someone complained. Nutz!

 

[Peter Parka]

As stupid as it is, cant help wondering why she planted it out the front. I'd plant vegetables round the back so there was less chance of them getting pinched.

 

[Panacea]

As stupid as it is, cant help wondering why she planted it out the front. I'd plant vegetables round the back so there was less chance of them getting pinched.

She probably did want to make a spectacle of it, and I'm guessing that's why someone complained to the city, it was cramping their style. Dumb though.

 

[skyblue]

with thought a veg garden can be easily as colourful as a flower garden

 

[Niamh]

that's crazy.

 

[Panacea]

We are pretty curmudgeonly in Michigan, pretty much everything gets someone's knickers in a twist. It's the economy, and there are more uptight assholes here than I can count.

So the city gets involved about a garden, here's to hoping their crime rate is under control and the schools are functioning well.

 

[hart]

We don't have a back yard-it's an alley so we couldn't plant a garden in the back, only in the front. I wouldn't but that would be the only option if we wanted to, the side is concrete.

I think a garden meets the definition of live plant material and they should bug off.

 

[Alien Allen]

I work in this city and this is the first I have heard of this.

If I lived in a nice neighborhood I would not appreciate seeing garden unless it is really well kept and orderly.

Otherwise it would be an eyesore. There are plenty of restrictions on property rights and while I usually am all for them I think if this was in my back yard as the saying goes I would be against this one.

 

[CRZY72004]

She should plant some "real herbs" and lets see what happens then