Growing Vegetables is a Crime in Oak Park, Mich.
Julie Bass, a resident of Oak Park, Mich., is considered a dangerous criminal by local authorities and may face over three months in jail for her heinous crime. The awful crime Bass committed was planting a vegetable garden in her front yard.
According to Care2, the story of Bass' assault against public order started when her yard was torn apart by the city to replace a sewer line. Instead of replacing the grass, Bass decided to put in a vegetable garden, growing basil, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers among other crops.
Bass has apparently run afoul of a local ordinance "which calls for all unpaved portions of a front yard to be covered with grass, ground cover or shrubbery or 'other suitable live plant material.'"
The problem appears to be what "other suitable live plant material" consists of. Bass believes that includes vegetables and most of her neighbors agree. The city, which like many communities in the current recession is hurting for cash, has seen fit to disagree and has descended upon Bass with all the might and majesty of the angry law.
A lot of people, this writer included, grow vegetables, usually in a side or back yard out of view of passersby. But one has to scratch ones head and wonder what is the big issue with growing food rather than decorative but relatively useless grass, flowers, and bushes?
Julie Bass's legal problems appear to be yet another example of a local government with far too much power and bureaucrats with too much time on their hands. There is no social or legal purpose for telling a homeowner what she can and cannot plant on her front yard, so long as the result is not an eyesore. It strains credulity that a vegetable garden somehow is a blight on the neighborhood.
The city fathers of Oak Park might be advised to avoid further embarrassment and condemnation by dropping the prosecution of Bass and issuing an apology for the bother they have put her through. And so that no further misunderstandings reoccur, the ordinance in question should be altered to include vegetables, fruit, and herbs.
Source: Mother Facing Jail For Growing Veggies, Jessica P., Care2, July 7, 2011
Published by Mark Whittington
Mark R. Whittington is a writer residing in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Last Moonwalker, Children of Apollo, Dark Sanction, and Nocturne. He has written numerous articles, some for the Washington... View profile
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2 Comments
Post a CommentWell put. You would think Michelle O. would jump at the chance to champion this woman's cause. Isn't that exactly what all the White House gardening is supposed to inspire, or is it just more pc fodder for photo ops?
We have a veg garden in our front yard simply because that's where the best sun for it is. I saw a photo of Julie Bass' front yard veg garden on Treehugger and it looks respectable.