Julie Bass is facing a misdemeanor charge in Oak Park, Michigan. Her crime? Planting vegetables in her own front yard. It is the latest example of the criminalization of American society.
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
Why are you all whining about this? When we are going to be forced to purchase health care from a single source.
Worried about taking some one’s freedom to plant vegetables in their front yard but couldn’t give 2 cents for making someone buy something they don’t want.
“You can’t make this stuff up,” Radner said. (Radner is the Bass’ attorney)
I hope Oak Park’s Planning and Technology director Kevin Rulkowski plans to serve his entire career there ’cause nobody in their right mind is going to hire him to do to their town, publicity-wise, what he has done to Oak Park.
The couple we bought from were the original owners and they were in their 70s. I think the Bennetts were just waiting for the place to change hands and as soon as it did they began their “taking in steps”. The first step was to put a fence up 60 feet from their property line. Then they bombarded our house with $10,000 of aerial fireworks. These were set off downhill from our property and only 75 feet from our property even though international safety requirements require a 150 foot unoccupied radius. The assistant fire chief said that the city council said they would cut their budget if they didn’t approve the fireworks permit and then the council all went to the big party. When we objected to the pieces of fireworks all over our land, they said we had a feud and that was why the city code inspector couldn’t inspect the extra buildings they built after they got possession of the land for $1, based on the pending criminal charge for unauthorized trimming of the tree hanging over the drive.
The other question is whether there was drug dealing in the old stable. There was a lot of traffic to it, which I noticed because it was right across from my living room and because the traffic usually turned around in my drive, shining lights into our windows and waking up our dog. Various people told me he was a drug dealer but when I wrote to the police and told them that they didn’t acknowledge my letters.
Real true misery in what was supposed to be a great family home in my husband’s home town. This place was not cheap either and is currently for sale for $1.4 Million.
Kay,
I actually meant the story the post is about.
@ Mike; actually the neighbors on the corner did convert their entire front yard to pavement and that was OK because they worked for the city council president.
@ Gyges, actually I think the whole matter was about money and land from beginning to end. The city council president’s place was built before zoning and was close to the street, because of both the work of snow shoveling and the slope. The stable he converted to a guest cottage was only 5 feet from the front property line and was a nonconforming unregistered structure that was not supposed to be improved and was supposed to be phased out. When our house was built it had the standard 25 foot setback and a circular drive. So apparently the tenants there started turning around in the circular drive in our house. Reportedly, the old man who owned our house used to put boards with nails in them under their tires.
Seems mildly relevant
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPJuOCL76tk&w=640&h=390]
Every time I see these stories I wonder what’d she do to piss of the local tyrant on the city council.
My Italian relatives have done this for over a century. No Italian would waste good arable land on grass-vegetables, fruit, and a couple of shrines to saints– a very homey feeling to the neighborhood. Mass emigration from America is starting to sound very enticing, but to where?
Actually this is an old trend dating from the suburban boom post WWII. I can remember a news story on CBS Nightly News when I was about ten. Some man in a Cleveland Subdivision had cemented his front yard and painted it green, because he didn’t want to take care of a lawn. He was harassed by the local authorities and the charge was “non-conformity.” The charges stuck and he was forced to remove the cement and plant a lawn. Some totalitarian minds need to ensure we all conform to their way of life.
Sound familiar, look around.
Actually most municipalities define terms. For instance, in Steamboat Springs CO the definition of a garage is a room used for the parking of automobiles. However they then tried to claim that a detached two story building over 2000 square feet with central heating, hot water and plumbing was a two story garage. Of course that building at 701 Princeton Ave belongs to Kevin Bennett, the convicted drug dealer, and he was getting special treatment because he was the city council president. Routt County lists the building as attached, but the photos, plans, and applications don’t show it as attached.
It can actually be difficult to find city ordinances. Many cities don’t publish them on their extensive websites. Some third party websites have them.
In Toronto Canada there is a neighborhood called “cabbage town” referring to the practice of growing cabbages in one’s front yard. When I was there in 2006, I didn’t see any vegetable gardens in the front yards; that was more of a depression era practice that is now coming back as more people seek to supplement their income with home grown vegetables. In fact, in some areas people are renting their yards to “urban farmers”. You can get a big yield from small vegetable patches and ones near homes have easy water access.
In Verona Wi where I live now, I was ordered to move a 6 by 6 foot plastic greenhouse I had been using to grow tomatoes because it was in the side yard not the back yard. The problem with the back yard is that it was shady and root bound. The little plastic greenhouse was a frame covered by clear plastic. I guess it must have increased the temperature a few degrees. Actually the yield from the little greenhouse was amazing.
In some areas they recommend “rain gardens”. These are supposed to be perennials that absorb the rain and reduce run off into the street, the gutters, and the lakes. They are supposed to be environmentally friendly. Personally I like to see the flowers close up to the street and the sidewalks. A lot of people put the flowers between the curb and the sidewalk. That helps also to keep people from loitering there, throwing trash, and using it as a doggy bathroom.
In Steamboat Springs, I lived on a corner and with my 3/4 acre lot had over 5,000 square feet, probably over 8,000 square feet, of city owned land / snow storage that I was required to maintain at my expense but as dictated by the city manager. The city council president tried to claim that the purpose was to allow off street parking on grass that other people, not the parkers’, were required to maintain. I took photos of him parking his truck, all four wheels, on vegetation I was required to maintain. I tried to develop a model code for landscaping in those areas, but no one wanted to have a hearing about it. One problem I had there was that a neighbor would run his dog up and down it. It wasn’t just the poop problem. My dog would be inside my fenced back yard and when his dog starting running up and down the fence, my dog would go crazy.
The whole Steamboat Springs homeowner experience was very expensive, very time consuming, and bad in every way except for the fact that my flowers were actually totally beautiful. But their beauty didn’t last for me, as I was forced by government harassment to leave.
I wonder if they would allow leeks, the food of the common folk, to be grown?
I’m impressed with yet another example of people making up their own definitions to words. Nicely done, City Planner Kevin Rulkowski. Is this a disturbing yet growing trend in our society or is it just my imagination? Speaking of growing, best of luck to the Bass family.
The Gardner’s definition of a “weed” is anything growing that you do not want to be there….A lot of citys etc…..have grass height growth requirement….
This is the one I like out of this story…..
“Michelle Obama plants vegetables on White House front lawn. I don’t think the jury is going to think that it’s suitable for the White House, but it’s not suitable for Oak Park,” said Bass’ attorney Solomon Radner.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/vegetable-garden-brings-criminal-charges-oak-park-michigan/story?id=14047214
Grow baby grow….I spent two years working in a commercial nursery…It was 75 Glass Houses….and I can grow most anything….
mespo&HenMan:
You both are sending this layman to bed this morning with a smile on my face.
I lived in Steamboat Springs Colorado. There was a lot of snow there and so the city owned strips averaging 18 feet wide between the pavement and the property lines. There were no sidewalks, no curbs, and the city did not mow these areas. If you didn’t mow them they would usually send you a letter and charge you to mow them. So the practice was for adjoining property owners to take care of the vegetation and many people installed sprinkler systems. The only request the city made was to keep landscaping rocks at least 6 feet from the pavement so they wouldn’t get sucked into the City’s snow blowers. The grass would not stay green without constant sprinkling so xeriscaping was recommended — ground covers and flowers
I lived across the street from a convicted drug dealer who was the president of the city council. He didn’t have a workable driveway so he used to instruct his many visitors to park on the grass in front of my home and to use our driveway to turn around in.
I planted a lot of daffodils and flowers in these areas. Then I got a letter from the assistant city attorney saying I had to have a gardening permit. No one else had to have a gardening permit, only me. There was no gardening permit form. The city attorney said I had to describe the flowers that I wanted to plant. I wrote to the city manager about my tulips and daffodils. He wrote back that I could plant them except on the last 50 feet of my property, where my neighbor was encroaching. I had a drive there. My landscaping guy trimmed a 50 year old willow tree that was hitting the top of my car. The same week my neighbor trimmed the same tree, plus other trees in a row of similar trees on city land between the pavement and my land. He trimmed them because he had converted the end of the street to a private parking lot for himself and his guests, instead of paving a drive on his own land. These old willow trees were everywhere and would grow if you just planted a fallen limb in wet soil.
I got a letter from the city attorney saying I was to be criminally charged in municipal court because my landscaper trimmed the tree blocking the entrance to my land and because I didn’t have a trimming permit. No one else had a trimming permit, even professionals who were cutting down whole trees. The municipal court was allowed to generate jail time up to 18 months with a jury of 3; the judge reported to the city council and the city attorney. The city attorney didn’t have a contract with the city and had a private local real estate practice where developers could consult and pay in private.
Attorneys working for the city said that I would be relieved of the criminal prosecution if and only if I came to an agreement with the city council president, Kevin Bennett. We had to sign an agreement to give up our rights to Princeton Ave and we had to sell him land for $1.
My husband wrote to the police and complained that this was criminal extortion. They consulted with the D.A. and he said it was “a civil matter”.
I hope some reader of this post will contact Julie Bass with the following suggestion. I looked at the photo of her place posted at MLive. Those raised beds of hers are pretty ugly. There’s a better way to do it. These books (listed at Amazon) could help:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_80?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=edible+front+yard+the+mow-less.+grow-more+plan+for+a+beautiful.+bountiful+garden&sprefix=edible+front+yard+the+mow-less.+grow-more+plan+for+a+beautiful.+bountiful+garden
A beautiful veggie garden would help her case two ways: first, if the neighbors aren’t ticked off, the town’s less likely to bother her. Second, it bolsters her contention that her plantings are “suitable” within the meaning of the ordinance. Make it pretty, Julie, and the trouble goes away.
Yeah, sure. Bad for the glass.
Mespo-
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t carrot all about this case, but I object to their casting asparagus on her choice of shrubbery. I’ll bet they pack the jury with vegetable-hating 3 year-olds just to get an easy conviction.
Well, actually, it should be criminal to plant the grass. Can I have that planner’s job?
this is too sad …I have no words except; Does Michelle Obama know about this?
What’s all the rhubarb about here? Lettuce understand she has nonion in her corner to defend her radish judgment in growing without a license. She needs to fork over some cabbage to her mouthpiece and make a beeline to the core-house and pea her case to the po-ten-tatoe on the garden bench. She’ll find a sympathetic caulifower ear, and her case will be summarily dispatched with a cel-utary effect for all.