Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: [permaculture] [PPG list] Oak Park City goes after woman for front yard garden

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Jocelyn Campbell <jocecampbell@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] [PPG list] Oak Park City goes after woman for front yard garden
  • Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2011 10:06:31 -0700

On Sun, Jul 10, 2011 at 9:23 AM, Rev Dele
<wearenaturesfriends@gmail.com>wrote:

> Thanks so much for the opportunity to support urban permaculture!
>
> You're welcome! :-) Speaking of the word permaculture - this front yard has
tidy, mulched raised beds, cleanly mulched between, without a dandelion,
plantain or nettle or other beneficial wildcraft plant/"weed" in sight. And
still someone complained because it wasn't a lawn.

Imagine if it was a permaculture cacophony of growth on its way to a wild
and wooly food forest. The complaints could have been 10-fold.

Hopefully, Julie Bass wins her case for this more mainstream acceptable
garden and then I also hope that gradually, with education and exposure,
more folks will start to understand the value of more verdant, permaculture
systems.



> On Sat, Jul 9, 2011 at 5:31 PM, Jocelyn Campbell <jocecampbell@gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > Thanks for the link, Anne - also sending to the big permaculture list.
> > Besides writing the mayor, this is also a petition at
> > http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/oak-park-hates-veggies/ which says it
> > will
> > go to Oak Park’s Planning and Technology Director Kevin Rulkowski. 8,900+
> > signatures so far with a goal of 10,000.
> >
> > Jocelyn
> > (in WA, but I like to know what Portland, OR permies are up to!)
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 10:44 PM, A. Trudeau <annet934@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > > I thought this story form Oak Park, just outside Detroit, Michigan was
> > > notable. The mayor of Oak Park should look at all the beautiful gardens
> > in
> > > Detroit as something to aspire to. If you want to take action my friend
> > > suggests this:
> > > Please phone, write, or e-mail the Oak Park Mayor, Gerald Naftaly,
> > > gnaftaly@att.net, 248-691-7410, 13600 Oak Park Bvd., Oak Park, MI
> > > 48237-2090. Anne
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/oakland_county/oak-park-battles-city-over-vegetable-garden-in-their-front-yard
> > > \
> >
> > > Oak Park battles city over vegetable garden in their front yard
> > >
> > >
> > > OAK PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) - Their front yard was torn up after replacing a
> > > sewer line, so instead of replacing the dirt with grass, one Oak Park
> > woman
> > > put in a vegetable garden and now the city is seeing green.
> > >
> > > The list goes on: fresh basil, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, cumbers and
> > more
> > > all filling five large planter boxes that fill the Bass family’s front
> > yard.
> > >
> > > Julie Bass says, “We thought we’re minding our own business, doing
> > > something not ostentatious and certainly not obnoxious or nothing that
> is
> > a
> > > blight on the neighborhood, so we didn't think people would care very
> > much.”
> > >
> > > But some cared very much and called the city. The city then sent out
> code
> > > enforcement.
> > >
> > > “They warned us at first that we had to move the vegetables from the
> > front,
> > > that no vegetables were allowed in the front yard. We didn't move them
> > > because we didn't think we were doing anything wrong, even according to
> > city
> > > code we didn’t think we were doing anything wrong. So they ticketed us
> > and
> > > charged me with a misdemeanor,” Bass said.
> > >
> > > Julie even has an upcoming jury trial.
> > >
> > > City code says that all unpaved portions of the site shall be planted
> > with
> > > grass or ground cover or shrubbery or other suitable live plant
> material.
> > > Tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are what Basses see as suitable.
> > >
> > > However, Oak Park’s Planning and Technology Director Kevin Rulkowski
> says
> > > the city disagrees. He says, “If you look at the dictionary, suitable
> > means
> > > common. You can look all throughout the city and you'll never find
> > another
> > > vegetable garden that consumes the entire front yard.”
> > >
> > > Rulkowski spoke to Julie Bass in April when she first called to see if
> it
> > > would be okay and since then it has been a growing concern.
> > >
> > > He says, “I told her don't do it, and she went ahead and did it
> anyway.“
> > >
> > > Jason Bass says, “The city is so strapped for cash right now that they
> > have
> > > gone from a five-day work week to a four-day work week. They’ve
> canceled
> > the
> > > fireworks to save money. City resources are really strapped and now we
> > want
> > > to go on a jury trial for our vegetables in our front yard.”
> > >
> > > Rulkowski says, “She is the one who has asked for a jury trial. So, I
> > don't
> > > know what to say about that, but we'll let the legal system work its
> way
> > > through the process and hopefully we'll get a good result.”
> > >
> > > Julie has even created a web site called
> > oakparkhatesveggies.wordpress.comwhere she is blogging about all of all
> of
> > this.
> > > Her pretrial hearing is July 26.
> > >
>
> >
> >
>




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page