Civil Disobedience and the Right to Garden

[digitS']

Ah but Ridgerunner, you are still acting with some restraints. Let's say you wanted to burn off your back forty in August --- Think the authorities would look the other way? No, it wouldn't be courteous to risk burning your neighbors out of house and home but it goes beyond being polite. Some folks are so bull-headed that they don't want any restraints. Renegades could be an okay term but it brings to mind people who were very competent living in a manner that changed around them and adapting was difficult or impossible.

One of the most helpful neighbors nearby is a young guy named "Rebel." When the deaf lady who lives next door told me that is his actual given name I made her laugh by saying, "Oh, those rebels are all alike." I was very pleased with myself. Timing is everything when you are trying to use comedy with a deaf person.

Anyway, whenever there seems that something should be done for the deaf grandmother, Rebel shows up and does it. He is a renter with the property management people taking care of his own lawn so I was the 1 out there mowing her grass after she had shoulder surgery last year. Rebel ran her mower until it broke down, tho'.

Now neighbors Pat & Mike present an interesting contrast. (I am NOT kidding about their names .) One knows everybody's business and isn't at all concerned about calling in law enforcement if something isn't to his liking. He is something of the neighborhood watchdog and I kind of appreciate him. The other guy wouldn't give you the time of day if you both worked at the watch factory. They don't talk to each other, Pat & Mike. The anti-social one buried another neighbor's car with snow he shoveled out of his driveway the other day. She had the unmitigated nerve to park in front of his place. Works out tho', because he obviously just doesn't want to be inconvenienced.

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

Ah but Ridgerunner, you are still acting with some restraints.
Steve

You are exactly right. I'm using common courtesy and acting the way I consider responsible. When (not if, but when) one of their calves or horses gets out and onto my property, I don't shoot it. I don't call the law about their animal trespassing. I try to get it back up where it belongs. If I can't get it back up I'll let them know it is out, can you use some help getting it back up?

Just because I choose to live where I have more freedom of action does not mean I'm not civilized or neighborly. When I lived in suburbia I knew I had certain restraints there. I kept my boat back beside the house where it was legal, not out front like some people on the street did, which was illegal. I control what I do and don't try to control what other people do as long as they don't try to get into my business.

 

[OldGuy43]

I take exception to the generalizations about renters. I rent by preference. I have owned two homes, and prefer, when something goes wrong calling the landlord and telling him, "Your water heater quit working!" I try to keep the place looking as nice as I can, which is more than I can say for most landlords. Is it my fault that the house hasn't been painted in the 15 years we've lived here? I'm not responsible for the faux shutters that are falling off the walls or the gutters that are sagging, or the rotting wood or the worn carpet that was old when we moved in. I like my landlord, but he feels he should just make money, not spend any on repairs or upkeep. Why do I stay? Because we lke the area, the rent is reasonable and moving is such a pain. Okay, so we've paid over $125,000.00 in rent over the years. I still like it here.

Civil Disobedience has a long and proud history here in the United States, by the way.

 

[so lucky]

I take exception to the generalizations about renters. I rent by preference. I have owned two homes, and prefer, when something goes wrong calling the landlord and telling him, "Your water heater quit working!" I try to keep the place looking as nice as I can, which is more than I can say for most landlords. Is it my fault that the house hasn't been painted in the 15 years we've lived here? I'm not responsible for the faux shutters that are falling off the walls or the gutters that are sagging, or the rotting wood or the worn carpet that was old when we moved in. I like my landlord, but he feels he should just make money, not spend any on repairs or upkeep. Why do I stay? Because we lke the area, the rent is reasonable and moving is such a pain. Okay, so we've paid over $125,000.00 in rent over the years. I still like it here.

Civil Disobedience has a long and proud history here in the United States, by the way.

Your post just enforces the fact that often rental property brings down the value of the neighborhood, by way of the owner him/herself. If your landlord lived in that house he is renting to you, I bet he would be doing the cosmetic things needed to keep it looking nice. But he is renting it out, probably doesn't have to look at it everyday, so it doesn't bother him if the shutters are falling off. Shame on him!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I take exception to the generalizations about renters.

Remind me of a story. A guy built two doubles on two adjacent lots as rental property in the New Orleans suburbs and sold one. The guy that bought the one asked the builder's wife (who was handling the renters part) to send any extras to him. She held out for the married people, the ones that were supposed to be more stable and sent her undesirables to the young guy. We were two young guys fresh out of college and looking to rent. Totally undesireable. We got the front. The back half went to a couple of unmarried sisters with very young kids. Extremely undesireable. We both lasted many years and took really good care of the place. Paid rent on time too.

The other place where the lady was very careful who she rented to had constant turnover with people that would leave unannounced. They were constantly fixing that place up.

Renters have a certain reputation because of some of them. But I find anytime you generalize about any group, whether it is lawyers, teachers, doctors, policemen, or even renters, you probably just made a mistake. They are all individuals.

 

[ducks4you]

One of the many reasons I hope my "someday farm" is far from civilization!

THAT is exactly why I live 30 minutes away from town. I got spooked a long time ago looking for horse property that wouldn't get rezoned by a housing development. People can be downright ruthless about what they don't like about your property. In my little "Town that Time Forgot", they just want you to mow the lawn. Yeah, I can't keep 20 horses on 5 acres, but I only own 3, and I'm careful about where the manure goes.
I hoping to win a big lottery, then stay put. NOBODY would ever think a rich person lives at my place.

 

[catjac1975]

Though sometimes renters do mistreat a property it is exactly what you describe that devalues a property. I did not mean to imply that renters themselves ruin a property.

I take exception to the generalizations about renters. I rent by preference. I have owned two homes, and prefer, when something goes wrong calling the landlord and telling him, "Your water heater quit working!" I try to keep the place looking as nice as I can, which is more than I can say for most landlords. Is it my fault that the house hasn't been painted in the 15 years we've lived here? I'm not responsible for the faux shutters that are falling off the walls or the gutters that are sagging, or the rotting wood or the worn carpet that was old when we moved in. I like my landlord, but he feels he should just make money, not spend any on repairs or upkeep. Why do I stay? Because we lke the area, the rent is reasonable and moving is such a pain. Okay, so we've paid over $125,000.00 in rent over the years. I still like it here.

Civil Disobedience has a long and proud history here in the United States, by the way.

 

[journey11]

Whoops...yeah, whole other can of worms. No, you can't say ALL renters don't take care of the property or ALL landlords either for that matter. I was just saying "statistically"...which is why there are security deposits, lease contracts, credit checks, etc. I've rented 3 places...can't say I was a very good renter either, particularly when I was young. The comparison I'm making is between renters and resident homeowners. Everybody should be responsible and respectful, but not everyone is, particularly where things are temporary in nature. If I mess up my house now, I'm stuck with it.

What struck me as ridiculous in the case presented in that article was that the only person complaining about her garden is an absentee landlord who lives overseas. His property would be more likely to cause problems than the folks with the tidy little garden.

This reminded me of something that happened to my mom, which is very similar to the situation in the article. The place she rented before where she lives now was owned by a very kind, 90-something widow. They really liked each other, got along well and often spent time visiting together. My mom's landlady told her she could plant flowers and a garden, paint the walls, whatever she wanted to do to spruce it up. And so she did. She rented that place for about 10 years. Eventually the elderly landlady passed away. Her daughter took over her estate and decided that she no longer wanted to rent, but sell the property and gave my mom notice. All fine and well, but after my mom moved out, the daughter came to look at the place and threw a fit. She took my mom to court claiming that she had done damage to the property, citing particularly the small garden plot, the flowerbeds, the painted walls and even stuck her with damage supposedly done to the 70's era carpeting in the place. My mom and her previous landlady had nothing in writing and the daughter won the case, wringing $3000 in damages out of my mom. There was black mold in the basement and in the ductwork (because it was an old house), but my mom never made a fuss about that or anything else that needed repair...so go figure. The woman didn't try for very long to get the house sold and ended up renting it anyway, to new people who totally trashed it after all that. My mom's flowerbeds were beautiful and made the house look loved as well as lived in. I have pictures of them. She is quite the green thumb. Her new landlady lets her plant flowers too, but there is an agreement this time.

Being a gardener makes it really hard for me to understand how someone can look at flowers and veggies and call it trashy. I really don't get that. The place in the article was very well maintained. I can see if it had been neglected and weedy or some invasive species of plant, but it was not.

 

[Southern Gardener]

I only wish my neighbors lot looks like the one in the picture! the idiots that live behind me rent, and they have totally trashed the place. they don't have trash pickup, so they burn any and everything they can haul out of that dump. When the wind blows all their trash blows on my property. The son had built a lean-to shed that fell and blew into my yard - he didn't pick it up so I had to haul it back to their dump. And don't get me started on their dog they keep chained to a tree! They are lazy white trash pigs - I'd love to have neighbors that garden.

 

[vfem]

C'mon my fellow gardeners. Let's look at this with some common sense. The article says that there is a city ordinance against this type of front yard. There must have been some kind of reason, regardless how ridiculous it may be, for a law to be made against it. If you lived on a street that had a speed limit of 5 MPH do you think you should drive at 50 MPH just because you want to? Change the law, don't break it. We're supposed to be a civil society with rules to make it acceptable for everyone.

I agree that it's a silly thing to make someone get rid of their front yard garden but the home owner should have checked the laws first. Heck, there are some of those terrible home owner's associations that only allow two colors to paint your house and then they have to vote on the shade of those two colors before you can use it. The human being is a very strange creature.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

You are correct. Don't like it but you are correct.....

What I caught about the article was the ordinance doesn't say "NO veggies gardens in the front yard" It has a list of approved and disapproved ground covers/trees/shrubs and flowers that were ok because they were not invasive. No mention of not having the veggie garden. They said the ordinance was put in place to keep people from planting invasive species. Its like those chicken ordinances. Some towns have no ordinance at all, but they say NO chickens because a home isn't zoned as agricultural. Its just a twist on a vague law, so to be safe... they say no!

And sorry for my outburst... I'm just very upset with this constant need for control of everything on everyone by some extreme. Left wing, right wing, political, religious, government. I just want to get up, have some coffee, work in my yard and have peace. I pay to live a peaceful life. I'm running out of patience and funds. :/

Ok, in a few hours I will be relaxing on the plane.... "Ooooooooooooooooooohm!"