Woman Goes to Jail for Not Mowing Lawn

[Veliko]

The problem is that you guys think you should have all the "freedom" you want with NONE of the responsibility.

This is utterly meaningless.

What is really astonishing is that this person repeatedly defied orders to get the property in shape and then cries when the consequences are applied. I thought jail was a bit too much for her until I read that.

Your sense of entitlement when it comes to the value of your house and "living in a nice neighbourhood" is astonishing.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

This is utterly meaningless.

No, it isn't. I can draw the diagram with crayons if it will get the point across. People who think they're entitled (there's that word you like) to let their yard grow into a jungle and house fall apart use the argument "I can do whatever I want, it is mine!" all the time.

Your sense of entitlement when it comes to the value of your house and "living in a nice neighbourhood" is astonishing.

Your sense of entitlement when it comes to owning a house and letting the yard grow into a jungle or letting the house fall apart, without regard for your neighbors, is truly astonishing.

 

[Veliko]

Your sense of entitlement when it comes to owning a house and letting the yard grow into a jungle or letting the house fall apart, without regard for your neighbors, is truly astonishing.

No, it's perfectly normal.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

No, it's perfectly normal.

Thanks for admitting you have a sense of entitlement to the potential detriment of your neighbors.

Fortunately, the laws on the books in most towns disagree with you and thank god I don't have neighbors like you.

 

[Bitek]

This is utterly meaningless.



Your sense of entitlement when it comes to the value of your house and "living in a nice neighbourhood" is astonishing.

Entitlement implies we are getting something for free or otherwise have not worked for.

Sorry, we all pay for our houses, the taxes and the expenses to maintain them. We spend the time, $, and energy to keep them neat, orderly and not a public nuisance.

This isn't even an idea that is exclusively American or modern. Nobody likes to live in trash.

When I was looking for my current house, I knew I didn't want an hoa as I don't like the micro-mgmt and bland uniformity that tends to go with them. So I didn't buy in one.

If you want to live in a shitheap, go buy somewhere where you won't bother the others around you. If you want to live around others, you need to learn to play nice, or at least plan for the expense of paying someone to do it for you.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I did some searching and it appears that the lawn was not in that horrible of a condition however the yard did appear to have some downed trees and large branches littered around the yard. I agree that she & family are assholes not to clean it up, the town has sent at least one citation that was ignored then the town was forced to act. Again jail time seems a bit extreme.
There were some mentions about access to the home in the event of a fire, one picture appeared to have a very large branch on the ground going into the road or sidewalk. I'm not 100% sure this picture was from her home though. I was on a work PC so I do not have the links handy .

 

[dmcowen674]

We have a problem property across the street from us. She hardly ever mows... has Virginia Creeper growing all over her house and up to the roof... Poison Summac has taken over... The side walk is nearly taken over by weeds and there are pricker bushes growing into the walk. A couple of times neighbors have cleared the tree branches and pricker bushes from the walk and she called the police. That is the sort of asshole she is.

When she does mow, it is only under threat from local code enforcement. She then leaves all the cuttings in the street side gutter to rot away and clog the rain water sewer.

It has been going like this for ten years.

The people in the ops article are not just recently neglecting their property, but have been doing so for a long time. If you can't afford the house or the time to maintain it, then you should be renting an apartment somewhere or owning a townhouse.

If you buy a house in a nice neighborhood you should expect others to keep up their houses appearance/maintenance. It is understandable that sudden unemployment, death or disability can cause a neighbor to not maintain the basics, but long term there needs to be a plan.

My neighbor was served foreclosure last year and somehow managed to avoid it... I hate to say this, but I'm hoping she gets served again and we are rid of her. I hate to see what the inside of that house looks like.

Go to your local authorities and get her locked up like the lady in this OP.

 

[Victorian Gray]

It's astonishing how this justification is so freely and openly being used to rationalise putting someone in jail.

The US is a country where 6 year old elementary school children are arrested for being disruptive in class and you are surprised by this?

 

[bradley]

The US is a country where 6 year old elementary school children are arrested for being disruptive in class and you are surprised by this?

And Canada is a utopia. But yeah, anyone who warrants the abuse of criminal charges in order to remedy civil matters deserves to live in a police/prison state.

I did some searching and it appears that the lawn was not in that horrible of a condition however the yard did appear to have some downed trees and large branches littered around the yard. I agree that she & family are assholes not to clean it up, the town has sent at least one citation that was ignored then the town was forced to act. Again jail time seems a bit extreme.

Yep. I posted a Googlemaps view of her property; the images go all the way back to 2007; I expected far worse based on the severity of the charges, 5 days in jail, reduced down to 5 hours.

Front of the property:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.784...sqIIo2zh86SlV613JTz2JpA!2e0!5s2014-03!6m1!1e1

Side of the property:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.784...s4kidrm7IqWnxC0i5Jlv8WA!2e0!5s2014-03!6m1!1e1

Back of the property:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.784...sG-RkOorFQKpIYmhgsCp0og!2e0!5s2014-03!6m1!1e1

In fact, I will take this woman all day over the community nuisances created by: house flippers, illegal multiple-family conversions and other flagrant/shady zoning violations. The house to the left of this woman is WAY closer to condemnable condition.

 

[dainthomas]

And Canada is a utopia. But yeah, anyone who warrants the abuse of criminal charges in order to remedy civil matters deserves to live in a police/prison state.




Yep. I posted a Googlemaps view of her property; the images go all the way back to 2007; I expected far worse based on the severity of the charges, 5 days in jail, reduced down to 5 hours.

Front of the property:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.784...sqIIo2zh86SlV613JTz2JpA!2e0!5s2014-03!6m1!1e1

Side of the property:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.784...s4kidrm7IqWnxC0i5Jlv8WA!2e0!5s2014-03!6m1!1e1

Back of the property:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.784...sG-RkOorFQKpIYmhgsCp0og!2e0!5s2014-03!6m1!1e1

In fact, I will take this woman all day over the community nuisances created by: house flippers, illegal multiple-family conversions and other flagrant/shady zoning violations. The house to the left of this woman is WAY closer to condemnable condition.

They should bulldoze that whole street and put everyone in jail. Every house looks like a craphole.

 

[WackyDan]

It's astonishing how this justification is so freely and openly being used to rationalise putting someone in jail.

Except most communities have code enforcement that defines what is acceptable.

Here is a clue... It has nothing to do with the HOA. In my town, codes define what is a nuisance property and the town manages the fine and or fee for services. They do this to true nuisance properties... Not the guy that went on vacation for three weeks and forgot to pay his lawn service. They go after the properties that have been slowly degrading for years.

My neighbor's house is like that. She has been fined multiple times. Her yard and property is a haven for rodents and copperheads love her yard - which because she has bushes and shrubs over grown right up next to the sidewalk creates a danger for other residents. She also has a hole on her roof which I've been waiting for the bats to find. Once she has bats int he attic she is absolutely fucked as the county health department comes down hard on that.... It will cost her a small fortune to deal with and that should seal the deal of her not being able to justify keeping the house any longer so we can get someone who wants a fix it upper and bring the house back up to snuff.

 

[WackyDan]

Go to your local authorities and get her locked up like the lady in this OP.

They have mowed her lawn and fined her multiple times... They won't jail her nor will we ever see that from our town... That to me is a bit extreme.

 

[dmcowen674]

They have mowed her lawn and fined her multiple times... They won't jail her nor will we ever see that from our town... That to me is a bit extreme.

Sounds like a pretty crappy town then.

 

[WackyDan]

And Canada is a utopia. But yeah, anyone who warrants the abuse of criminal charges in order to remedy civil matters deserves to live in a police/prison state.




Yep. I posted a Googlemaps view of her property; the images go all the way back to 2007; I expected far worse based on the severity of the charges, 5 days in jail, reduced down to 5 hours.

Front of the property:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.784...sqIIo2zh86SlV613JTz2JpA!2e0!5s2014-03!6m1!1e1

Side of the property:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.784...s4kidrm7IqWnxC0i5Jlv8WA!2e0!5s2014-03!6m1!1e1

Back of the property:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.784...sG-RkOorFQKpIYmhgsCp0og!2e0!5s2014-03!6m1!1e1

In fact, I will take this woman all day over the community nuisances created by: house flippers, illegal multiple-family conversions and other flagrant/shady zoning violations. The house to the left of this woman is WAY closer to condemnable condition.

We don't know what the property looks like in the growing season though. We also don't know what the town determines as "setback", but it is usually from the front edge of the dwelling/structure. They also have what looks like an old wash machine on the front porch, etc.

This isn't a fairly new neighborhood either... These are older homes... Surprised they locked her up. Gotta be more to the story.

 

[Paratus]

Since you basically can't buy a house without agreeing to the terms of the HOA or local ordinances, why do our resident libertopians think the rules and impacts they freely signed up for don't apply them?

Having grown up next to house that wasn't maintained, with no HOA, it took 10 plus years to evict the guy living there. I'm not a fan of let your home go because.....

He was a compulsive hoarder who I'd see out late at night picking trash off the side of the road to take home. He let his house go so long that one of the two story columns supporting the roof collapsed. We were always having bug problems from the trash in this guys house.

It took 6 guys and multiple garbage trucks all day to clean out the trash and dead animals from the house.

 

[bradley]

We don't know what the property looks like in the growing season though.

In the right hand corner of Googlemaps, click on "street view." There are four different time periods from which to choose: March 2014, September 2011, October and September 2007.

I'd rather her than the new homeowner trend of illegal carport and curbcut constructions in densely packed cities. In other words, the front lawn is paved (the curb cut and lowered) in order to create a driveway with additional parking spaces. These curbcuts also illegally remove parking spots from the street.

In many states the problem is growing faster than those respective Building Departments can force compliance, therefore these illegal constructions often indefinitely remain.

An example...

 

[WackyDan]

In the right hand corner of Googlemaps, click on "street view." There are four different time periods from which to choose: March 2014, September 2011, October and September 2007.

Yeah... I see now. this has been a problem for years... the September 2007 picture is the best evidence of that. Small property too... Not like they have a large house or large lot to maintain. Just plain lazy. Even in poverty you could deal with that.

 

[Darwin333]

If you were my neighbor I'd stop cutting grass and just let you handle it.

Shrug, its rather relaxing for me. I can't hear or feel the damn cell phone so I have a perfectly good excuse not to answer it and jam out for a while. My mower is self propelled (with that "at your pace" thingy) so its not like its absurdly physically demanding. Edging I don't enjoy nearly as much.

 

[Veliko]

Since you basically can't buy a house without agreeing to the terms of the HOA or local ordinances, why do our resident libertopians think the rules and impacts they freely signed up for don't apply them?

Having grown up next to house that wasn't maintained, with no HOA, it took 10 plus years to evict the guy living there. I'm not a fan of let your home go because.....

He was a compulsive hoarder who I'd see out late at night picking trash off the side of the road to take home. He let his house go so long that one of the two story columns supporting the roof collapsed. We were always having bug problems from the trash in this guys house.

It took 6 guys and multiple garbage trucks all day to clean out the trash and dead animals from the house.

He was clearly mentally ill.

It's good to see that all his neighbours - who no doubt considered themselves to be good, wholesome people because they kept their lawns trimmed - were more interested in ganging up on this vulnerable person than getting him the help he so clearly needed.

"Good neighbourhoods" indeed.

 

[her209]

Oh look, another nonsense analogy!

Do you own a home?

Going to buy one here soon and I won't be bothering to look if I see the neighborhood is full of jalopies.

 

[her209]

Lol libertopian nutjubs with minimal education out in full force here.

Freedom and 'murica means i can do whatever I want and negative externalities be damned! I'm gonna build a nuclear reactor to power my house and shit in my front lawn to fertilize it, fuck all yall!

Be careful. You guys are starting to sound like dirty "libruls".

No soda over a certain size because its unhealthy for you and affects everyone else's health care premiums.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Going to buy one here soon and I won't be bothering to look if I see the neighborhood is full of jalopies.

That's good because neither did I. You'd be stupid, however, not to examine the condition of the neighborhood and especially your new neighbors' homes.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Going to buy one here soon and I won't be bothering to look if I see the neighborhood is full of jalopies.

A beat up car no problem, several beat up cars in various states of repair is a problem to me. It's not commercial property. Good luck making the biggest expense & investment in your life while not judging people who live near you.
To me its all about not being an asshole to the people you live near. Letting the yard slip a little or some music/work noise during the day is not a problem. Having constant messes or noise that's a problem because it effects me.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

A beat up car no problem, several beat up cars in various states of repair is a problem to me. It's not commercial property. Good luck making the biggest expense & investment in your life while not judging people who live near you.
To me its all about not being an asshole to the people you live near. Letting the yard slip a little or some music/work noise during the day is not a problem. Having constant messes or noise that's a problem because it effects me.

Well said.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Shrug, its rather relaxing for me. I can't hear or feel the damn cell phone so I have a perfectly good excuse not to answer it and jam out for a while. My mower is self propelled (with that "at your pace" thingy) so its not like its absurdly physically demanding. Edging I don't enjoy nearly as much.

I enjoy mowing the lawn the first few times of the year in the spring. It gets old really quickly but I'm too cheap to pay someone to do it when I can do it in 1.5-2 hours every week.