Woman is facing a jury trial for having a vegetable garden in her front yard.

[swissair81]

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news...-20110630-wpms

Apparently, the city has no bigger problems and feels the need to spend taxpayer money prosecuting this. Would you be upset if this woman lived next to you? Or do you think the city is being unreasonable?

[bubbaray]

Contrast that with the City of Vancouver, they have started a pilot project to pay residents to grow WHEAT in their front yards. Yes, wheat. And in the City of Vancouver, yards (including front yards) are postage-stamp sized in comparison to yards in the US. Its stupid. Not to mention that surely the city has better things to spend their money on rather than to PAY people to grow wheat. They can't even sell the wheat, as its a regulated commodity.

[Giantbear]

I would only mind if it was tomatoes as tomatoes are dangerous.

But seriously, this seems silly since it rests on an ambiguous key word in the law. Were the law to state that gardens were not allowed, then i would agree with the municipality, but to rest your case that a garden is not suitable....well, that is a subjective phrase. I think the city would be better off changing the code to be more precise than to prosecute someone on the definition of a word.

[BabyDahl]

If several supportive neighbors planted vegetables in their front yard, would it then become "suitable" (i.e. "common")?

This story is why so many people dislike local (or national, for that matter) governments ... many lack the ability to prioritize.

[ashleybama24]

I would rather live next door to this lady than someone who let their grass get overgrown (feet high) and was an eyesore. She has everything well contained and obviously wants neighbors around her to be learn about gardening. Such a shame with all the criminals out there they are wasting their time on such a silly issue.

[MamaSnoo]

This is pathetic. The guy from the city with his definition of "suitable" sounds riduculous.

Let the lady have her garden. It appears to extremely well kept. Fewer weeds tham my front yard

[DietCokeLover]

How absurd.

I know the city of Detroit has much bigger issues they should be dealing with than a lady growing a vegetable garden in her front yard.

Job loss in Michigan, Detroit specifically anyone?

[swissair81]

Oak Park is not the same city as Detroit. Detroit is much bigger and much worse off. (But it's still ridiculous.)

[kijip]

Originally Posted by Giantbear

Were the law to state that gardens were not allowed, then i would agree with the municipality, but to rest your case that a garden is not suitable....well, that is a subjective phrase. I think the city would be better off changing the code to be more precise than to prosecute someone on the definition of a word.

I think that a law banning front yard veggie gardens would be ridiculously overreaching and just out of step with American values, more so during a long economic crisis where some families garden to have fresh veggies at all.

[TwoBees]

How ridiculous. Do people honestly have nothing better to do than to bother others who are trying to do something good? If it isn't attracting animals that are a nusiance to the neighborhood, why should the city care? I'd certainly rather look at a vegetable garden than an overgrown or trash-filled lawn.