Edible Landscape? City Wants You To Rip It Out
Because Los Angeles has no problems whatsoever but how to push around law-abiding citizens, the Bureau of Street Services has taken time off from ignoring potholes to going after citizens who have planted vegetables in parkways.
Here in my neighborhood, we have Mari, who has taken to beautifying the fence around the home of two guys who live near us. You know what we say to her? "Thank you so much! That looks really nice!"
In the LA Times, Steve Lopez writes:
South L.A. resident Teger's run-in with the bureaucracy began last week, with a visit from a tree surgeon with the Bureau of Street Services."I was ready to leave, and a city truck pulled up behind and was kind of aggressively honking. He said he'd been getting complaints from our neighbors," said Teger. She found that hard to believe, considering all the support she's gotten from neighbors. The garden has become a neighborhood magnet, she said, with kids and adults coming by to watch plants grow and share the harvest.
Teger said she was told to remove the parkway plants within 48 hours, and she was flabbergasted. She'd worked hard on that garden, building it with help from Finley and Florence Nishida, cofounders of L.A. Green Grounds, which has been helping homeowners build gardens in South L.A. and elsewhere.
The part of the garden that's outside Teger's front door is fine under city guidelines. But she was told that five fruit trees, several herbs and a couple of squash plants on the parkway violate city code and have to be removed immediately.
"This is ludicrous," said Finley, who thinks the city could find better things to do, especially since negotiations are underway to relax parkway gardening restrictions. He's now generating support for edible gardens in a Facebook campaign and told me he's contacted City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, asking him to help move things along.
"If you go to Brentwood," said Nishida, "do you think those people have permits" for their overgrown rosebushes, bougainvillea and other plants on parkway strips?
Even in Teger's neighborhood, numerous violations of the parkway code, with nonedible plants and trees, could be seen on nearby properties.
Check out the dangerous-looking lemon tree-let she's admiring in the photo at the link. Do you think it sneaks out of the soil and robs homes in the wee hours?
Actually, all of these require constant attention to avoid the production of rotted fruits and vegetables. Citrus especially - some varieties put forth fruit three or four times a season.
That would smell bad, and the city would be on the hook. They would also attract wildlife. Can't have that.
Radwaste at August 1, 2013 2:37 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/08/edible-landscap.html#comment-3831497">comment from RadwasteThe city isn't "on the hook" for potholes so big you could lose a Great Dane in them.
In further idiocy, they made my landlord "fix" all these things that weren't broken, costing him thousands of dollars. One of them was redoing some plug for the garbage disposal under my sink so it was more hidden or something. Um, I'm not doing yoga under my sink. None of these "improvements" improved my life in any way. What they did is cause interruptions in my life.
Oh, and the most hilarious one is the city regulation that there has to be a smoke alarm in "sleeping areas" wired to the one in the other part of the house. I live in a tiny one-bedroom house. So, they uglied up the ceiling here by putting a smoke alarm in the front room and another two feet away from it in my bedroom. If the smoke alarm goes off in my front room, you will not only hear it in my bedroom, you will hear it down the block in my neighbors' bedroom.
Amy Alkon
at August 1, 2013 6:08 AM
I have no problem if people want to self-organize into HOAs that have strict landscaping requirements. I just move somewhere else. But when a city does it (aside from necessary regulations like roadway and signage blockage) I get angry. It's particularly annoying when the city says it owns the hellstrips but requires the homeowners to maintain them. As the article notes, city employees will often target residents while ignoring the safety and code violations on city-maintained land.
Astra at August 1, 2013 6:09 AM
plants on the parkway violate city code
What is this parkway? are we talking about the median strip? in which case, that belongs to the city, and what makes people think they can farm property they neither own or lease?
I R A Darth Aggie at August 1, 2013 6:53 AM
What is this parkway? are we talking about the median strip? in which case, that belongs to the city, and what makes people think they can farm property they neither own or lease?
From the way the article is written, this is referring to what one of my favorite garden writers calls "hellstrips", the swath of land between the sidewalk and the street. In many places, the city owns that space but requires homeowners to keep it up. That is, they reserve the right to cite you for weeds and also for a vegetable garden.
Astra at August 1, 2013 7:34 AM
Run. Run fast, run far from the West coast.
Stinky the Clown at August 1, 2013 7:37 AM
When we rebuilt part of our little historic house (which has since been devoured by a bizarre "house eating fungus") we did everything with permits and inspections. This resulted in us having four smoke detectors within about a ten foot radius. And yet no smoke detector was required in the kitchen, the place where a fire would most likely start.
Judy Moore at August 1, 2013 7:55 AM
I'm all for planting trees and flowering plants in those areas - as long as the homeowner keeps them off the sidewalks with regular pruning.
Trees (like the lemon trees in the accompanying photograph) add shade.
If the city has an issue with roots destroying sidewalks, it can specify what types of trees are allowed (e.g., varieties with tap roots or smaller trees) or charge the homeowner for the repairs (specifying in law that anyone who subsequently purchases the house accepts the responsibility for the trees).
If the concern is visibility for law enforcement, the height and/or density of shrubs can be restricted (San Francisco has that issue with bus stops - the advertising company paid for them and now criminals are using the large advertising posters to hide their criminal activity).
Vegetable gardens may be a little bit odd in that space, but if well kept, should not be a public safety issue (until the corn gets as high as an elephant's eye).
Conan the Grammarian at August 1, 2013 9:43 AM
Conan, I wish I could "like" your last sentence...
Sabrina at August 1, 2013 10:36 AM
Corn - knee high by the fourth of July. That I've seen.
But, corn as high as an elephant's eye, Conan. That I would love to see. I guess everything's bigger in SoCal?!
Charles at August 1, 2013 2:34 PM
According to Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, the tall corn's to be found in Oklahoma.
Or in genetically-modified crops.
http://www.thefieldposition.com/2012/07/todays-corn-is-as-high-as-an-elephants-eye/
It might be. I've only been there a few times and each time I got in and out as quickly as I could.
The traffic jams certainly seemed bigger; and I live in the Bay Area, so I know traffic jams.
Conan the Grammarian at August 1, 2013 3:21 PM
"The city isn't "on the hook" for potholes so big you could lose a Great Dane in them."
Not the same thing. Focus.
Radwaste at August 1, 2013 4:09 PM
What is this parkway? are we talking about the median strip? in which case, that belongs to the city, and what makes people think they can farm property they neither own or lease?
All those taxes they paid maybe?
I'd rather peopple were growing something edible than waste water on grass that no one but maintenece men spend time on
lujlp at August 2, 2013 11:59 AM
It's the strip between sidewalk and the curb.
L.A. is how deep in debt? And they're worried about people growing food?
I wonder what happens when Detroiters start using the empty lots as gardens?
Jim P. at August 3, 2013 8:48 AM
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