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Win!

For the past three years, my next door neighbor has been actively harassing me for petty and perceived violations. The City requires that you mow a minimum of once every two weeks (and they cannot require more) and your grass must stay under seven inches. When it rains here in the Midwest, it can grow pretty fast, jump from three to 7 inches in a couple of days (and of course, there are always weeds that will suddenly put up twelve inch flower heads overnight). as soon as it hit 15 days, if there was one clump of grass or weed that tops 7 inches, I got cited last year for high grass. Last year I got monthly notices for this.

This neighbor also decided last year to report me to the safety inspector for storing "junk" in my yard- when I called the inspector to ask about the violation, He apologized, saying that because he had a complaint he had to inspect and write a citation. He asked me to verify that the "rusty metal thing" was indeed sculpture, and told me that he had looked over at the neighbors yard ornamentation and thought "what the hell's the difference?" Towards the end of the season, I was cited for high weeds and weed trees in my back yard. although I cut down the overgrown wildflowers in my backyard,I received a visit from the abatement crew who mistakenly cut down all my forsythia as "weed trees".An appeal to a neighborhood organization for mediation between myself, the city and my neighbor did not yield any results last year

For years this neighbor has tried to advise me on how to landscape my yard, and has gone over the top with his own: terracing, carefully placed plantings, concrete lion sculptures in the easement, and ornamental lighting. (most people dont have this much lighting at christmas) I like plants that you can plant, they grow to a given height, and need no pruning. they may flower, they crowd together, rub elbow to elbow and cover up the dirt, thus keeping the hillside from eroding onto the sidewalk. I am not the only person in the neighborhood who intentionally plants tall wild looking plants, but the others have not been cited- I've asked them. . This year I have been very careful to keep the grass mowed, and when I received the "High weeds in front of property" citation. I decided to try to find the right City employee and make amends.

A meeting with this person today was quite fruitful. He acknowledged I had the right to grow what I choose (that are not weeds). He acknowledged the similarity of my Indian coralberry in height and growth pattern to the sage up the street. He requested that I just keep them trimmed at the sidewalk, so they did not look overgrown. A neat edge will give the appearance of being "intentional". No problem!


I was going to load pics, but apparently photobucket didnt receive my mobile messages and wont let me upload today, for some reason.
Perhaps another day.
 
I wish you luck Celeste. It sucks having a bad/busybody neighbor. There's one of them near me too. Some people just need to get a life.
 
I wish you luck Celeste. It sucks having a bad/busybody neighbor. There's one of them near me too. Some people just need to get a life.

Hey....I'm busy here! What is this life you speak of? On sale at Wally World? BTW....Jay your dog pooped on my lawn. Clean it up! :rofl:
 
Citizens have a right to complain, as long as it is a legitimate complaint and if you are not breaking any laws then the constant complaint becomes harassment. City employees are the worst, they think they have to act on every complaint and really don't think for themselves and rarely know city bylaws (yes, I expect a flood of negative replies on my comments). But, just because someone complains doesn't mean they are right, it just means they complained and you being the recipient of the complaint can say "have I broken any laws, yes or no, of course the city worker can only say "dah, but a complaint was filed"".
 
Sounds like a jungle though... 7" ?? I get po'd when my son doesnt mow my lawn @ 4 -- are your houses close together? In my neighborhood we are app. 25ft from house to house and yes we called the Health Inspector on our neighbors too. Between the scum in the pool and the garbage piled on the side it was a matter of time before rodents and mosquitoes were investing the area.
Im not saying that it is you Celeste just an outside opinion on something I havent seen. Ones perception can be skewed when its one of your own. My .02
 
two commments....

one is this is exactly the reason I did not join the neigoborhood association...hell, my yard looks better than 98% of the others in our neighborhood...

two is Fort Worth city limits has enough laws for property owners and I dang sure was not going to voluntarily submit to petty rules the association has...

good luck with your A-hole neighbor Celeste...
 
Personally I can't stand cowardly snitches. I remember the days when people would discuss their differences face to face and rats got what they deserved
 
Yep, you wouldnt like me in your neighborhood-luckydog I like a jungly yard. If I lived in one of those flat, suburban, every yard looks like a green carpet neighborhoods, I would definitely be the nuisance-but I would probably comply more to local standards, were that the case. I dont. I live in a lower middle class urban community where people grow everything from vegatables to herbs to wild flowers to native plants in their yards. which are tiny- and the houses are close enough there is not any "yard" between us- just gangways. Most of the folk on my block happened to not be very interested in landscaping, and those that do can afford the terracing of the ridiculous hill we live on, or some previous owner could. I moved into a house that had a few sorry clumps of grass and plaintains in the yard on a hill too steep to mow or even weedwhack. The front yard was eroding onto the sidewalk. I did research and bought erosion control plants, ones that are used in similar circumstances at the local Botanical Garden, and made things grow on that hillside. I've lived here twelve years, its only just the last three that he started reporting me regularly. I planted that stuff ten years ago.

I think previously he had other fish to fry- he's actually annoyed just about everybody in the neighborhood-He was kicked out of being block captain- he thought he could tell people where to park- others neighbors stop by and give me sympathy for having to live next door to him- people drive by our street and slow down to look at his landscaping- and drive away laughing. His yard ornamentation is such that it would suit a million dollar home in the suburbs, stone lions that you might put on either side of your half mile long driveway entrance- sit in the easement- he has spot lights on them and on other features to the front of his house as though it were a public display home.This is a modest two-family (I think in other parts of the country they call it a duplex) that he's converted, in a working class 'hood- there is still govt assisted housing on my street.

Mark- The city government is archaic, but the people in it for the most part care about doing their jobs. They have to inspect and make a citation for new complaints- its what their job is, and it keeps the city habitable. They hate the harrassment calls as much as anyone. They know whats going on. It is their unfortunate job to figure out which residents are truly neglectful, lazy, or just have different tastes that dont agree with their neighbors. Last year when I called the safety inspector and talked to him about the sculpture, he apologized for having to send the letter. He made an official note that it was sculpture so future complaints would not result in a citation. He thanked me for not retaliating by making complaints in kind. He and the Forestry Inspector said every neighborhood has one of these, and told me it was my yard and I had the right to do what I wanted with it.

A pleasant attitude and a willingness to cooperate does go a long, long way.
 
Ha! got photobucket to work!

My house, In the Middle of my street!

myhouse.jpg


The left side, a hill covered in violets:

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The right side, a hill dominated by Indian coral berry, with a few flowers:

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A close up of the flowers at sidewalk level:

flowers.jpg
 
Celeste ..... first I don't have dawg in your fight , second I think your greenery looks ok. I know how hard it is to work with a hill like you have.

Now I'm a Texan , we like to give each other space. Unless what you do effects others ..... I took this picture this morning. It's doesn't look as bad because of the rain we've been getting. And there's two houses like this in my block. And yes I do live in the suburbs. Usually there is dozen of newspapers in yard in their bright orange plastic wrappers. Guess the guy next door picked them up..... These people mow their yards twice a year if they need it or not. So they grow weeds and let them get big enough they start to go to seed. Well the wind here blows those seeds into everyone else's yards and then we've got weeds to. Weeds ... not something we're wanting in our flat yards.

This person also has two large dogs that she'd let walk down to my yard to take a dump !! Guess they didn't want to get their butts pricked in her yard. I started taking those back to her house and leaving them on the porch. She caught me doing it and came unglued. No need to repeat what I had to say. So I started letting my big dawgs out when I saw her's in yard .... she didn't like that either.

If I'm an ass ..... that's fine. I feel better after this venting ..... Sometimes you just can't talk to guy down the street.

Peace,
P. Dreadie

DSCF2751.jpg


One of my Dawgs ....

Zebb.jpg
 
+1 more for a picture of the neighbor's lions-

Bummer you have to deal with the jerk. Sounds like the kind of person who will beech about everything and for whatever reason has now latched on to you.
 
I didnt mean to appear unsympathetic and after seeing your pictures its actually very nice and considering the front hill it looks great. Sometimes people dont know what a sh@t hole is even if they were sitting in the middle of it. We are far from the stereo typical suburbia in CT that may be portrayed on t.v. but as long as things are up kept its whats expected. We had spoken to our neighbors and had no results so no cowardly acts here Im a big guy and outspoken but not to the point of being a jerk.
so :cheers:

and +1 for a lion pic
 
well, I am not the neatest yard keeper in the world. The pic above is just after I trimmed it up, so the edges arent overhanging the sidewalk, as requested. I dont get to it sometimes, when ts been really really hot or raining for days on end. Thats the point though, neither does anybody else. I once got cited when my other neighbors grass was two inches higher than mine- and they didnt (I checked). Thats the point. He's decided I'm the thorn in his side. He really started in on me when it looked just exactly like this, threatened to sue me if he couldnt sell his house because of the state of my yard. When I moved into the 'hood, most of the neighbors got around to mowing their yards once a month- a few kept theirs trimmed always. my house in fact, had the second neatest yard on the block, for a while (just like it is, now) I talked to all the neighbors before I bought the house- there was kids my kids age, they played in everybodies yards, and folk were polite on the street and minded their own business. Till he moved in, and decided his personal duty to society was to raise the standards, by behaving as though he lived in one of those gated communities and trying to get everyone to do what he did.

P. Dreadie- I am not the neighbor who never picks up their papers and lets their dogs poop in your yard- I dont like those folk, either. Dont think you're the ass at all, and I would definately let my dogs out when they let theirs out were I in your shoes. I had those nieghbors, they lived where my pesky neighbor does now. oh, their dog bit me too, and they had trash all over their back yard. He owned the house then-and rented it out- to his sister.

I'll try to get a picture when I know he's not home. God knows what he'd do if he saw me taking a pic of his house!
 
dont you just love meddling friggin neighbors who can't keep their friggin nose out of every one elses business?!?!!? I have aa couple of these stupid egotistical A-Holes that live around me!!! I scared the one so damn bad that he built a 7' privacy fence across the back of my yard so he didn't have to deal with me anymore!!! LOL!! (sorry he pissed me off one time too many) LMAO!!!
 
Damn, I love living in Africa at times like these...

Due to business pressures my front lawn grew to around 7' recently and stayed that way until we got around to cutting it!

On the other side of the coin, however, if you have a legitimate issue that requires intervention or mediation it's almost impossible to find the right govt official to sort it out. We moved from our warehouse recently and after a month still cannot find the person /department to cut the power and sign up the new tenant, so I'm still paying!

Tarantulas and chillis are more reliable than people...
 
Well I can't see anything wrong with your frontage no matter how hard I look, and the colour and scent when plants is better than plain grass.

Oh yea BRING ON THE LIONS I can only imagine what a tacky monstrosity it looks like!!

Can't you get together with a few neighbours and get someone (official looking with a clipboard) to walk along your street making notes (pretend) when you know this dickend neighbour will see them, and then hand out 'best kept yard' awards to everyone but him!!!!!!!!! Sort of a candid camera show without cameras!!!!
 
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