As to why he has it in this space instead of on his property, perhaps his yard is heavily shaded?

Sounds like he overstepped a bit. Sounds like his neighbor is a controlling asshat. Sounds like the city is overreacting. Business as usual all around. Compromise? Commonsense? Reasonable Response? What planet are you people on, and when was the last time you saw a reasonable response to ANYTHING from any local or federal gov’t, from the TSA to a school board.

We’ve embraced a lot of things that don’t make me particularly proud to be an American: conspicuous consumption for one thing, and now aggressive stupidity.

This little tale is just a typical suburban scenario. I just loathe suburbia. I hate the waste of resources, the lack of community, the lack of imagination, the sheep-like behavior of the residents.

Few things represent all that is wrong with the American suburban lifestyle as clearly as lawns and the obsession with lawn care.

It puts me in mind of Dune, of that ritual in which a cup of water was spilled on the floor. People starve, yet we grow these pointless swathes of grass around our homes. It makes me think of those statues on Easter Island, and a culture so obsessed that they destroyed their world’s ecosystem.

Obviously, lawns are not the root of all evil, they are a small evil. But they represent, in many small ways, stupidity, greed, ego, selfishness and a total lack of imagination and vision.

At its best, a lawn is a pleasant green space for people to use, to walk on and play on and to sit out in and enjoy the out of doors, but that is not what we see happening in suburbia. Most people who have homes with lawns barely set foot on them. Lawns are symbolic of success, of cleanliness, of conformity.

The amount of energy wasted, the fertilizers and poisons spread, the water wasted, the air and noise pollution generated by mowers and leaf blowers, boggles the mind. That branch of agribiz devoted to lawns has upped the ante and now nothing but a deep green monoculture will suffice.

And the suckers fall for it. Uptight suburbanites fearful of being judged as lacking, frantic to keep pace with their neighbors or, I dunno, compensating for their extremely small genitalia, strive for those perfect lawns. They buy whatever product is offered: chemicals, ride-on mowers, automatic sprinkling systems, service contracts from lawncare companies.

And anything remotely sensible, a yard allowed to become a thicket that might provide an oasis of wildlife habitat, a garden with any sort of planting outside of those landscape plants approved by the neighborhood association, a flock of chickens (Yes, chickens! Heaven forfend!), or something as simple, sensible and green as a clothesline is not to be tolerated. Not on your yard or on your neighbors. A lack of conformity will not be tolerated.

But all of this will coming crashing down, and sooner than you think. Energy costs and food prices are going to go right through the roof. Oh yes, we will see vegetable gardens return, and clothes lines and maybe even chickens.

Even the crabby neighbor hiding behind her living room curtains who called the cops on this guy, he or she is going to change her mind a few years from now.

She’s going to be hungry.

Oh no, the man forcing him to have trellises less than (or equal to) two and a half feet tall! The humanity!

As for Colorado Springs, I am a native, removed now some ten years. In that time, the city has ballooned and sprawled with little regard for true city planning. The only place I recall having strict rules and covenants are the more upscale areas, like Briargate, Mountain Shadows, and the historic district downtown. I feel the area around Colorado College is suffering the same fate as Boulder, and that makes me very sad.

@53 Noise reduction, but not from the mowers and blowers. An acre of yard, or two or three won’t stop that noise that will penetrate like a jackhammer. Better to reduce the lawns, to use brooms and rakes for the tidy up. Sheep maybe.

Suburbanites are big on their privacy. Personally I think it is overrated. More isolation than privacy. All the better to beat your wife? All the better to incest your kid? Just do it behind closed doors. And don’t make too much noise (except for lawn mowers and leaf blowers, there’s no decibel limits there, but let a rooster crow and the sky will fall). Don’t do anything interesting. Don’t make art projects outside either.

It’s your property. You own it, own it, own it. This piece of the planet stolen, now bought and paid for, propery, all important to the American dream. It’s yours, just so long as you keep the lawn green and don’t paint your house in colors that are too wild.

Live in your silent misery behind closed doors, out of your neighbor’s sight. Roll out to the mall and buy stuff and bring it home, drag it inside, shut the door. Toss back that scotch. Watch your billboard-sized television. The good life, the American life. Sign me up?

Not.

Anyway – this is the future. More urban producer gardening.

Why hate on hippies so much? They seem like an easy target for bullying to me. Not very inclusive, but I’m sure you have your (valid, and in no way personal) reasons.

I’d much rather deal with these “clowns” than that sort of vacant anger.

Crazy facts mentioned BLATANTLY in the article:

- The issue at hand is ‘right-of-way’ and public use/access to that strip, which is what must be maintained. They liken this to restaurants who do sidewalk seating – which is strictly regulated.

- The city is actually SUPPORTIVE of the garden. Not against it. He doesn’t have a permit to occupy the right of way, and constructed obstacles in it.

- The city is trying to compromise and find a way to make the garden work LEGALLY. Their issue isn’t with the garden, its with the fencing and trellises.

I suggest the 51 of you above who didnt bother clicking the link actually click it and read the article.

If the guy in the video had made a garden with lower plants, with no fences, trellises, etc. it would be more attractive and I doubt if the neighbor would have complained. Any well kept garden would be more attractive than a patch of lawn.

If you have an attractive nuisance on your land, and something horrible happens, the liability could utterly ruin you. You can mitigate your liability by purchasing more insurance — but it’s really expensive, and it’s still not a guaranteed get-out-of-jail card.

It’s awful and stupid and it sucks. But that’s simply the way things are sometimes. Maybe some guerilla lawyers and urban planners would be willing to help this gardener work out something legal.

In Portland I own the entire lot from the curb to the backyard fence. The city has the legal authority to create an easement for a pedestrian sidewalk; even so, if the sidewalk cracks and poses a problem it’s my responsibility to fix it. Anyway, what I was getting at is – the sidewalk is the public right of way; the parking strip is not, unless Boulder just has a really unusual law.

There’s also the issue of visibility for people trying to get out of driveways. It sure sounds like he’s got a fairly large complex setup. (trellises, etc.) I can see something like that being a real hassle for his neighbors.

Not to mention stuff like buried utility lines, sewer lines, etc. etc.

Look, I’m all for personal freedom. I even think you should be allowed to grow your own weed, but not on the strip between the street and the sidewalk. If you want a garden, live someplace with space for one.