I fought the lawn and the lawn won

[vovat]

While it might not sound like it from the subject matter, the Bullshit! episode about lawns was actually pretty good. They focused largely on how some neighborhoods insist that everyone's lawn look a certain way, which is something I've always objected to. Even if you know what you're getting into by buying a house in a place with a neighborhood association (and some people probably don't have much of a choice when buying a home, even if free market fanboys like Penn and Teller might not want to acknowledge this), there's always the possibility that your lawn will die no matter how much work you put into it. To my mind, the whole idea of neighborhood regulations regarding appearance is pretty much stifling free expression, and forcing unnecessary work upon quite possibly busy residents. Of course, the reason usually provided for why other people's houses and yards have to meet some arbitrary standards is because of property values. Unfortunately, they're probably right, at least as far as some home-buyers go. I'm not sure why we as a society should be catering to the "I don't want to buy this property because the guy three doors down has brown grass!" crowd, but I'm no realtor.

Comments

[brostron.livejournal.com]

Isn't a lawn a pretty wasteful concept, especially in arid and semi-arid areas? Just go natural.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Pretty much, yeah.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I work three jobs; if living here depended on how my lawn looked, I'd be sleeping in a carboard box down at the park.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Or in jail, like the one guy mentioned on the show whose lawn didn't meet neighborhood standards.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I'm way too close to being a libertarian to be anything but enraged by that kind of crap.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

That's our problem too. Well, HE works three jobs and I can't handle too much yardwork in the hilly, close-to-street front yard with two small children. About once a year we get an Official Warning from the lady who apparently drives around town looking for yards that aren't up to standard (no kidding), but usually manage to fix things by then. Luckily your yard can be as dry or dead as you want, you just can't have anything that is not a tree or shrub growing in it taller than so many inches.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

About once a year we get an Official Warning from the lady who apparently drives around town looking for yards that aren't up to standard (no kidding)

Yeah, they featured a guy who did that on the show, and he admitted that nobody likes him.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a waste of resources, driving around measuring shrubs.