So, the television stations in my area have all been covering the stories of people beginning to openly protest against the city ordinances that keep their lawns, driveways, and personal properties clean. Lawns cannot be overgrowing, trash must be kept neatly in the receptacles, broken down cars must be concealed from view. Failure to keep your viewable personal property neat results in a fine. I'm not sure how much the fine is, since one station said $150 and another said "up to $500". My guess is that it varies depending on which area you live in and how many times you've had to be told to "clean up your act" sort of speak.
Well, apparantly, people have had enough of the city telling them where to put their garbage. One guy complained that a broken down car, sitting up on bricks in his front driveway for over two weeks, was impounded by the city. The owner of one apartment building was fined because of grafitti that was painted on one of the dumpsters, one that was viewable from the street. And one woman was warned about letting her children draw on the sidewalks in front of her house with sidewalk chalk; she had not washed it off and the art was left for over a week.
Yesterday my husband and I were driving home from work and this story was going through my mind. Looking at the city, it's quite remarkable. We are a large city in the middle of a desert surrounded by mountains. It's absolutely beautiful. One oddity - there is no "ghetto". Even the few apartments and housing areas that are considered to be "low income" housing are spread out through the city rather than clumped together into one area and are neat and clean.
As we drove, I saw teams of people, all wearing brightly colored vests that read "Clean Up El Paso", sweeping - with brooms - the sides of the highways; those little embankments that go up along the sides of an underpass? Actual push brooms! At first I thought maybe they were prison workers, after all there is a new prison just outside of city limits. But when I checked with the city's registrar, they said no. There is a department within El Paso's city construction company that specializes only in cleaning public properties, such as the sides of highways, the highways themselves, smaller roads, and parks.
So again today, on my way into work, I took a closer look at the city. NO garbage anywhere, no litter, people sweeping rocks off the sidewalks and back into their rock beds, no grafitti but for a couple of dumpsters and the occasional van that read "Wash Me".
And I thought to myself, this city has gone through a lot of time and expense to make sure the city stays clean no matter the area. Why is it, then, the people who live in a city that cares this much about them are not willing to help clean up their own yards?
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I think that it is an issue of the people. They have many laws in place here also that ask peopl to pick up trash and clean up. It is just a matter of respect.
I will give an example: When I was younger, and I would go to the grocery store, i would put things that I did not want to buy anywhere, i told my self, that's their job, they get paid to do it. That was until I got my first job in a grocery store and had to do some reshop. I had to put like 10 baskets of stuff back in its place due to people that felt just like me. So now, when I go in a store, if I dont want it, I put it where it belongs as common courtesy.
I think that people feel that there are people that get paid to do it, so they need to earn their money. I had to correct my husband on the same thing. We as Americans are lazy, and we know that for everything that is to be done, there is someone that can be paid to do it.
So to answer your question, people dont clean up their own front lawns because they feel that there is someone that is getting paid by the city to do it. And, they probably arent clean people in the first place.
I've gotten laughed at, on more than one occasion, for going out of my way to make sure I place my cart neatly into one of those cart corrals at almost every store. It actually bothers me when I see people just leave them out in the parking lot, especially if they're close to a corral.
And my first inclination is that you're right, people think it's someone else's job, and that this someone else gets paid to do it; a lot of people are lazy and will only do what they absolutely have to do and not an ounce more.
So, whatever happened to being proactive, or taking initiative? Have these virtues gone out the window?
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"Dream as though you'll live forever, but live as though there's no tomorrow" --James Dean
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/fanaile-essence
I believe that a person can choose how to maintain his or her own property, and states cannot infringe on that choice. I know that I wouldn't want my next door neighbors have grass that is 3 feet tall, but I am just saying that we cannot infringe on people's liberties by telling them what they must do with what they own, as long as this does not physically harm other people.
I can see how telling someone where to keep their broken down car or truck would infringe on his or her rights; even telling someone to clean up their child's artwork from the sidewalk. No one was getting hurt - it just looked bad and so people found it offensive.
As far as hurting people, though, that was actually what started the whole thing. From what I have been able to find out, people were moving into a house and not taking care of their yard. Here in the desert, it's very dry. On average we get 7 inches of precipitation per year; so taking care of a yard is hard work - it can be done, but we don't exactly get a lot of help keeping the grass green from Mother Nature. That's a huge investment of time that many working families don't have (or don't take). So the grass grows, and with it, the weeds grow.
Well, another thing we have is rattle snakes and scorpions. For the most part, they stay out of the city - you really have to look to find one, and you really have to work at it to get them to build a nest in your yard or house. But soon after these people sold or left their house, sure enough, a nest would be built. A few months go by, and there are rattle snakes in the neighbors houses looking for food or shelter from the sun. While I haven't found a case yet of a death from one of the urban rattle snakes, I'm sure it raised concerns. Soon after the first infestation was found out to be caused by unkempt lawns, the first city ordinance passed.
After that, one thing led to another, I'm sure.
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"Dream as though you'll live forever, but live as though there's no tomorrow" --James Dean
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/fanaile-essence
I agree. I used to live next door to a crackhouse (lovely, right?) with grass about 5 feet tall. It was not unusual for me to see snakes when I came home from work around midnight. I wish that the lawn ordinance would have been enforced then!
Find out everything you need to know about poop here:
http://progressiveu.org/000701-everything-you-need-know-about-poop
I think personally that people do not want to clean up their own personal mess because they are being told they have to. People do not respond well when they are being forced to something. Yes they are being forced because they city is imposing fines of them if they do not. I think the effort the city is making is amazing, I just believe they should enforce it in other ways, which can be difficult. Yes the easy solution is just to fine people, but the city should think out side of the box.
Fining people does seem as though the city is taking the easy way out of enforcing it; but at the same time, the fines go to fund the city's cleaning crews.
What other ways, do you think, they could enforce the ordinances?
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"Dream as though you'll live forever, but live as though there's no tomorrow" --James Dean
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/fanaile-essence
If the community has city taxes, maybe tax breaks could be issued for keeping your property clean. I know this would take a lot of "auditors", but it could be done.
Now that does make sense; like a discount on your property taxes type of thing?
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"Dream as though you'll live forever, but live as though there's no tomorrow" --James Dean
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/fanaile-essence
Where I live, they make the suspects (that are already arrested) do community service to keep the city clean.
A lot of cities do it this way. Mine does as well. Inmates are also responsible for cleaning some of the government properties.
Find out everything you need to know about poop here:
http://progressiveu.org/000701-everything-you-need-know-about-poop
No one likes being told what to do. In many cases, people may even go so far as to "trash" the city just to rebel.
I don't think kids should have to wash off their chalk drawings right after creating them. As for the car, was the guy planning on fixing it? Two weeks really isn't that much time, especially if he planned to restore the vehicle. I'd be pissed if the city walked around deciding which decorations (flowers) were considered appropriate lawn decorations and which were "trash" (my kid's chalk drawings). Who is to judge what is considered neat and clean and what isn't? I guess I just see these types of laws getting too carried away.
For example, say I got an old bathtub to put in my front yard as a planter, but my flowers haven't started growing yet because I just planted the seeds. A city official could walk by and think it's garbage and take my "new" planter?
I don't see anything wrong with keeping a city clean, but when cleaning the city starts interrupting our freedom, then something is definitely wrong. Private property should be just that, private property. My yard is a reflection on ME, if it is a matter of public safety and I have waste in my yard or other dangerous chemicals, then the city can get involved, but to get involved over sidewalk chalk?!?!? And what about the people who are physically unable to work hard on their yards and can't afford for someone to do it for them, should they have to constantly pay fines simply because of a physical disability? The city can't tell them to move to an apartment if their home is paid off and they have lived there forever. What if they can't afford the monthly rent of an apartment? Why should they be forced to move or pay hefty fines when they may be suffering and unable to take care of their yard? Not everyone is the same.....