woman possibly facing jail for front yard garden

WendyGR

I can't believe this is happening in my state :-( 

She DID check with local laws and since it wasn't forbidden she went ahead with a front yard garden.

Here's info from the petition:

"As health and environmental concerns rise, so does the popularity of urban homesteading. While growing your own carrots may seem like a harmless enough practice, Oak Park resident Julie Bass now faces serious charges for setting up a vegetable garden in her front yard. 

Bass set up her garden in the hope that she and her family could eat organic without having to buy from expensive grocery stores. The garden has become a community favorite as neighborhood children are encouraged to help her maintain the garden and eat from it. 

However, the City of Oak Park is now charging her with a misdemeanor for not having a "suitable" lawn in accordance with city code. The city prosecutor is pursuing a full trial against Mrs. Bass bringing charges against her that could carry a 93 day jail sentence. 

Protect residents' rights to urban homesteading and demand that the ridiculous charges brought against Julie Bass be dropped." 

Here's a link to her petition/info: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/oak-park-hates-veggies/

SuperGreen

Oh that is ridiculous!  As long as the front yard garden is attractive and well-kept, what's the harm?  Maybe it's full of weeds and unruley plants though.  I could see the city being upset about that.

sunshine_day_dreams

Totally ridiculous.  What a waste of a trial.  I agree if the garden is taken care of and not overgrown, who cares?!

onceuponadisaster

As if MI has enough surplus $ in the budget to take this to trial. 

For crying out loud!!!!!!!!!!!

derky17

Yowzer!  That's so sad.  I want to know who, in the local government had the time or energy to actually investigate, and hopefully the judge this appears before will throw it out as frivolous.

Honestly, the beds in our garden are HUGE so yeah, not all of the beds look stellar--but then again, you can't see mine from the road, but the neighbors across the pond sometimes have better views than others.  But I'm proud that the neighborhood next to ours has several front yard gardens.

WendyGR

I've been reading the news stories and updates. Sounds like the town isn't backing down at all, despite getting international hate mail, phone calls, and emails. Interesting.

consciousbuyer

I've actually read up on this and am so surprised. The garden isn't unattractive. I think, in fact that it's a nice little addition to the yard. I'm so confused on why the township is still pursuing this. They say it's because it's a vegetable garden. The judge sympathizes, but it is actually in the code. They were told however, by a city planner that it wasn't. It would, in fact, appear that Oak Park does hate vegetables. Why, is a curious other matter, entirely. So sad, because in addition to it's being good for everyone, it really is a cute little planter.

pamelagreen79

If this is not called lobbying for big companies I don?t know what is this called. There should be some reform in the laws. If she is not harming anybody, why is she being criminalized? Either they do something about rising prices or they allow people growing vegetables in their garden