If you look at the photograph in the article below, Bass has arranged her garden in a neat grouping vegetable patches.
However, the city code limits a homeowner to “grass ground cover, shrubbery, or other suitable live plant material” in any unpaved portion of their yard. So, she could solve the problem by paving over her entire front yard? If she paves it over, can she put plants on the asphalt rather than a car?
City Planner Kevin Rulkowski insisted that “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.”
Here is the actual Webster definition of suitable:
“a : adapted to a use or purpose
b : satisfying propriety : proper
c : able, qualified <a suitable candidate for the job"
The dictionary lists as "obsolete" the meaning ": similar, matching."
Rulkowski's defense of the use of the criminal code to enforce his vision of "nice, grass yard[s] with beautiful trees and bushes and flowers" would not meet the definition of what is suitable for most citizens. Yet, it is part of a disturbing trend of criminalization in our society.
Bass now appears to need a “shrubber”:
Source: MLive as first seen on ABA Journal