© Julie BassVegetable boxes in the front yard of Michigan home.
Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan -- a mother of 6, law-abiding citizen, and gardener -- is facing 93 days in jail after being charged with a misdemeanor.
Her crime? Planting a vegetable garden in the front yard.
Bass says that she planted the garden after her front yard was torn up for some sewer repairs. Rather than wasting the opportunity to start with a clean slate by planting a lawn, she decided to really put the area to use, and plant a vegetable garden.
Her garden consists of 5 raised beds, where she grows a mix of squashes, corn, tomatoes, flowers, and other veggies. Bass received a warning from the city telling her to remove the vegetable garden, because it doesn't adhere to city ordinances (more on that later.) When she refused, she was ticketed and charged with a misdemeanor. Her trial, before a jury, is set to begin on July 26th. If she is found guilty, she can be sentenced to up to 93 days in jail.
About the City Ordinance
Supposedly, Bass is in noncompliance with a city ordinance that states that only "suitable" plant material is allowed on the lawn area of residences. When local media asked city planner Kevin Rulkowski what that meant, he said suitable means "common:" lawn, nice shrubs, and flowers. However, the city ordinance does not specifically state that those are the only allowed plant materials.
About Oak Park
This is not some gated community with HOA regulations. This is an ordinary, working class neighborhood in Oakland County, Michigan. Like nearly every other city in my home state right now, Oak Park is facing financial issues. Here at home, people are amazed that a cash-strapped city has the resources to investigate, charge, and prosecute a resident for something as innocuous as planting a vegetable garden.
What's Being Done
This story is gaining traction all over the web. Gawker covered it this morning. There are Facebook pages devoted to supporting Mrs. Bass and her family during this ordeal. Will social media help change the city's mind? That's what many of us are hoping. Local television affiliates for ABC and Fox news have already covered the story, and media attention continues to grow.
How to Help
If you want to help support a gardener's right to grow food for her family (even if it is -- gasp -- in the front yard!) there are several things you can do:
What do you think? Should a front yard vegetable garden be a crime?
- Email or call officials for the city of Oak Park. Mrs. Bass has listed contact information for the mayor, city manager, and other city officials in the sidebar of her blog.
- "Like" the Oak Park Hates Veggies Facebook Page.
- Spread the word via Facebook and Twitter. By gaining attention to this particular issue, with this particular homeowner, the hope is that other cities will reconsider before they harass another homeowner for something like this.
And from The Agitator:
Does Michelle Obama Know About This?
Their front yard was torn up after replacing a sewer line, so instead of replacing the dirt with grass, one Oak Park woman put in a vegetable garden and now the city is seeing green.
The list goes on: fresh basil, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, cumbers and more all filling five large planter boxes that fill the Bass family's front yard.
Julie Bass says, "We thought we're minding our own business, doing something not ostentatious and certainly not obnoxious or nothing that is a blight on the neighborhood, so we didn't think people would care very much."
But some cared very much and called the city. The city then sent out code enforcement.
"They warned us at first that we had to move the vegetables from the front, that no vegetables were allowed in the front yard. We didn't move them because we didn't think we were doing anything wrong, even according to city code we didn't think we were doing anything wrong. So they ticketed us and charged me with a misdemeanor," Bass said . . .
City code says that all unpaved portions of the site shall be planted with grass or ground cover or shrubbery or other suitable live plant material. Tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are what Basses see as suitable.
However, Oak Park's Planning and Technology Director Kevin Rulkowski says the city disagrees. He says, "If you look at the dictionary, suitable means common. You can look all throughout the city and you'll never find another vegetable garden that consumes the entire front yard."
So what is suitable? From another local news report:
. . . we asked Rulkowski why it's not suitable.
"If you look at the definition of what suitable is in Webster's dictionary, it will say common. So, if you look around and you look in any other community, what's common to a front yard is a nice, grass yard with beautiful trees and bushes and flowers," he said.
God forbid your yard doesn't include beautiful trees, bushes and flowers. It's your job, Oak Park citizens, to give Kevin Rulkowski pretty things to look at. According to Bass's blog, she's demanding her right to a jury trial. So the city plans to throw the book at her.
Our attorney spoke to the prosecutor today. (for the record, my crush on him is totally finished after today.) His position, they are going to take this all the way. Officially, this means I am facing 93 days in jail if they win. No joke.
This is a criminal act from the goverment, its our human rights to grow your own food. This is not Auswitz or a getto like in Berlin in 1940-1945. This is slavery!
Time for revolution world wide!