Posted on 02/09/2010 5:56:50 PM PST by MountainLoop
LYNNWOOD — Lawns with grass taller than 8 inches are now illegal in this city. Placing the restriction on unsightly yards was one of several steps the City Council took on Monday to tighten up its nuisance ordinance.
Provisions also were added to rules governing overnight parking of trucks in residential areas and “mother-in-law” apartments.
“It is unfortunate that this ordinance has been tagged as the ‘grass ordinance,’ since there is only a couple of lines in the whole ordinance addressing lawns,” Councilman Loren Simmonds said. “This is not government weighing in on little people. We are simply trying to encourage property owners to take pride in their property.”
Two people spoke on the yard maintenance issue at a meeting Monday,both in favor. A public hearing on the issue was held last month.
The new ordinance cites “lack of yard maintenance” as the litmus test spurring code enforcement. Over the course of discussion a residence with blackberry brambles growing over the house and encroaching on a neighbor’s property was cited as an example of what city officials want to halt.
“People are tired of slipping property values because their neighbors have no pride of ownership,” Councilwoman Kerri Lonergan said. “I reluctantly support this ordinance because of what I heard while doorbelling this summer. It is a number one concern of residents.”
(Excerpt) Read more at heraldnet.com ...
New jobs! Workers to go forth with rulers and clean up the earth.
More jobs for goons.
What if it grows say 24” long but lies down kinda like a crop circle?
News flash for the moonbats:
Real estate values are going down down down no matter what byzantine rules you impose on the surfs.
The tall grass is there for a reason. To hide all the empty budweiser cans from the metalhead parties. Yes, I know heavy metal kind of went out with the 80’s, but for Lynnwood, every day is 1987 again. Rock on Lynnwood.
So what happens if I am a great fan of Pampas grass?
So isn’t cutting the grass more often less environmentally friendly according to the environmental goon police?
and I hope the Everett politico was not singling out people of shorter stature in his statement?
“This is not government weighing in on little people....”
Geezzz...that's a coin flip.
Hmmmm....limit on grass: 8 inches.
NO height limit, BUT four hour limit on Viagra.
Decisions, Decisions......
“Councilman Loren Simmonds said. “This is not government weighing in on little people. We are simply trying to encourage property owners to take pride in their property.”
Wrong, Simmonds. This IS government ruling over little people.
That’s Ok but don’t park your UFO in the front yard.
Gee; they missed that one in the Audi ad. . .could have had the ‘green team’ with rulers. ..and then. . .Well, the picture all to clear, really. Will give new meaning, however, to ‘watching the grass grow’ per some new Gov. jobs.
The grass police busts your door down while taking a flame thrower to your yard.
Crop circles are Chuck Norris’s way of showing the world that sometimes grass needs to lie down.
They could put those on Gov. ‘unemployment’ and/or those on welfare to work, mowing these lawns. Refreshing to stretch that tax dollar; most likely the taxes the homeowner has already paid.
Since when?
I have moss
That would require a closed door meeting of the city council to determine if grass that lays down horizontally, but exceeds current vertical restrictions, is in violation of local government ordinance.
Green Police Alert
That's not why property values are falling, idiot. They're falling because you and they bought into a real estate bubble and it's bursting.
Grass Police, Lawn Nazis, Loony, Liberal, Leftist, Meglomaniacal, Control Freeaks is what they are.
What if I just rototill my yard once a month? Will that make you feel better? Now that’s a yard to take pride in!
What happened in 1987?
Here in the People’s Republic of St. Louis, they automatically mow your yard and bill you for the service if the grass gets too high.
Our church got a bill one day for such a mowing for our vacant lot across the street, even though one gentleman mows it every Saturday.
My feeling is that some union worker decided to take the day off and just listed vacant lots that “needed mowing.” City Hall wouldn’t listen to our testimony that it had already been mowed BY US.
8 inches, that’s what she said.
“So what happens if I am a great fan of Pampas grass?”
Plant that stuff on every square inch of your glorious, naked lawn. I’d like to see the city of Lynnwood come and try to cut it down. They’ll be at it for days and days!
http://www.allaboutlawns.com/grass-types/beware-of-pampas-grass.php
Beware of Pampas Grass
Pampas grass grows quickly and flowers nicely, but despite its convenience, pampas can aggressively take over your garden. If you can, it’s probably best to live without it.
A large perennial grass, native to South America, pampas grass grows in large clumps eight to ten feet high. In the summer it can bear silvery-white or pinkish silken plumes that grow up to 12 feet high.
If dry sunny conditions are common, pampas grass grows like no other grass type. In a very short time a whole house can go from being totally exposed to cozily secluded.
But the pampas grass tide is hard to turn back. With plants that produce millions of seeds, pampas grass has a remarkable ability to reach distant open spaces and blanket them with very rapid growth. Lawns and flowerbeds are quickly overcome.
And problems don’t stop there. Pampas’s leaves are notoriously sharp. If you must plant pampas grass, avoid planting near walkways where blades will cut the innocent passers-by. And be warned: sometimes its dense impenetrable bushes provide habitat for rats and mice.
With all that required caution, the pampas grass fix seems hardly worth the trouble. In fact, if you search for pampas grass on the Internet, one of the first sites that pops up is the National Park Service web page, encouraging you not to grow it.
St. Paul, Minnesota, has the 8” rule and lawn police. I thought most would-be upscale locales had this.
What if you made your rocks more than 8 inches high? Will they come take them away?
Here in St. Louis, someone proposed a bill that would mandate those living in subsidized housing dedicate a small amount of time - an hour or two a month - to picking up trash, painting, raking, planting, etc.
The outcry was fierce - it was "putting people back into slavery again." I guess property OWNERS are treated somewhat differently.
I personally would tell them to f—k off and get the hell off my private property before they become extinct! Purchase the property or stay the hell off of it!
Probably only green rocks would be allowed.
Somehow, I can’t see them putting up sign that says”anything over 8 inches and your fined for it”
What about this poor fella—
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/08/landmark_commission_tells_man.php
What’s funny is they say the grass isn’t historical, 1900’s wouldn’t have had fake grass. Well, I doubt they would have had a plush lawn at all in the early 1900’s...patchy grass and dirt, mostly. What you can see of his neighbors house/lawn makes this even more stupid. Fake grass isn’t for me but hey, it looked tidy.
This war on drugs is really getting out of hand...
“Here in St. Louis, someone proposed a bill that would mandate those living in subsidized housing dedicate a small amount of time - an hour or two a month - to picking up trash, painting, raking, planting, etc.
The outcry was fierce - it was “putting people back into slavery again.” I guess property OWNERS are treated somewhat differently.”
You’re right about that. Property “owners” worked hard to get their home and should have the right to keep up their place, and park their vehicles, in any way they choose. Those who live in “subsidized housing” have the taxpayer to thank (taxpayer = “part-owner”) so they are beholden to those that helped pay for it.
I’m one of those blessed folks who live where freedoms still exist and I thank God for that.
Say WA? Evergreen State ping I get to hang-out with the masses in April. Should be fun...
I’m not saying it ever died. There was plenty of good metal thats been released since then.
I seem to recall a guy a bit east of Lynnwood - one of the small mountain towns (Concrete, Gold Bar, Etc.???) that had some local yokel inspector come onto his property to check for too much overgrowth (blackberries or something). The owner told the inspector to take a hike, and the inspector came back with the sherrif.
Somebody got shot (killed?) over it as I recall.
FOUND IT:
http://www.redcounty.com/was-daniel-wasilchen-murdered-snohomish-county
WAS DANIEL WASILCHEN MURDERED BY SNOHOMISH COUNTY?
By Bob Clark | 06/04/09
SCANDAL ERUPTS AFTER SHERIFF DEPUTIES SHOOT AND KILL PROPERTY OWNER OVER PROPERTY RIGHTS DISPUTE!
On Friday, May 29th Snohomish County Public Works Department bureaucrat H. F. “Sonny” Gohrman and a co-worker were doing what he has a reputation for doing and that is calling on property owners on the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River up near Verlot in North County.
Snohomish County Noxious Weed Control agent Sonny Gohrman and his co-worker were trying to obtain permission from property owners along the river to spray for the invasive Japanese Knotweed. Neighbors in the area say that Gohrman has a reputation for being confrontational and routinely threatens property owners with warrants, fines and other big government rhetoric if they don’t relent.
On this day Gohrman got into an argument with the wrong property owner, Boeing crane operator Daniel L. Wasilchen. Wasilchen was in no mood to deal with Gohrman’s officious demeanor and ordered him off the property. At that point this confrontation escalated into a full scale shouting match.
When Wasilchen threatened to get his gun unless Gohrman and his co-worker from the county left the property, Gohrman drove off to Granite Falls to find a cell phone reception area to call Snohomish County Sheriff Deputies.
Lynwood to me is one big shopping mall, but your quote make me think that it is filled with folks in Ed Hardy shirts with a secret (and in Washington State criminal) stash of hair spray.
********************
Well! That's reassuring!
To paraphrase Rush: Government is the power to arrest, the power to prosecute, the power to fine and the power to imprison.
Are you REALLY ready to have your neighbor arrested, prosecuted, fined and/or jailed because his YARD looks bad???
An elderly lady in Salt Lake City was arrested and JAILED for the similar "offense" of failing to water her grass in 2007. I don't think the voters had really contemplated the potential outcome of these sorts of laws.
"There oughta be a law!" ARE YOU SURE???
Whenever I have a discussion with someone about (IMHO) unconstitutional or bad laws. I sometimes use a rhetorical law about lawns.
I'd ask someone that if a law were passed making it a crime to allow ones lawn to grow over 6", would that be a constitutional or a good law? Of course not. Just because the government makes something a law doesn't make it right.
I can't believe it. What with gasoline being $2.75+ per gallon I usually cut it twice per month instead of once per week.
So according to this ignorant and totally ridiculous law I could be fined and or jailed?
I know I'm never going to move to Lynnwood Washinton. If a law like that ever gets proposed around here I'll challenge big time.
What's next, if you don't wash your car once a week you could be fined and or jailed?
The Edmonds city council better not try this on me!!!!
Pampas grass is a great place to set up an ambush.
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