New York: 60 Days in Jail for Un-mowed Lawn

[public servant]

Interesting they have the jail space for this sort of thing.

It's like Jello. There's always room for Jello.

I'm curious however... How many people would be ranting and raving if they had to live next door to a yard with weeds and grass in excess of 6' tall?

What do you do? Move because your neighbor is too lazy to at least attempt to live like something other than the slob they apparently are?

If you want to live in the woods...move to the woods.

I'm not convinced jail time is the answer. But after you give them several warnings...what do you do? If they've refused to keep it at least looking half-way decent...they likely won't bother to pay the bill.

Why should your being a lazy ass lower the value of my property?

These people that feel they should be allowed to do whatever they want kill me.

 

[Expat]

I'm not convinced jail time is the answer. But after you give them several warnings...what do you do? If they've refused to keep it at least looking half-way decent...they likely won't bother to pay the bill.

That is where I think we need to come up with some punishment other than jail time for a wide class of minor infractions. We used to put people in stocks and the locals could come out and torment them a little bit. I liked the idea of caning when that American got sentenced to that down in Indonesia or Malaysia several years back.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

It's like Jello. There's always room for Jello.

I'm curious however... How many people would be ranting and raving if they had to live next door to a yard with weeds and grass in excess of 6' tall?

What do you do? Move because your neighbor is too lazy to at least attempt to live like something other than the slob they apparently are?

If you want to live in the woods...move to the woods.

I'm not convinced jail time is the answer. But after you give them several warnings...what do you do? If they've refused to keep it at least looking half-way decent...they likely won't bother to pay the bill.

Why should your being a lazy ass lower the value of my property?

These people that feel they should be allowed to do whatever they want kill me.

OK. Say you are tasked with proving, in a court of law, what quantifiable damage this lazy bum has done to your neighborhood. How do you prove this? Having proven it, what is a reasonable restitution for him to make the neighborhood in order to atone for his actions?

 

[Kirk Freeman]

How many people would be ranting and raving if they had to live next door to a yard with weeds and grass in excess of 6' tall?

*Raises hand*

My neighbors, like me, are on a 20 to 30 year debt wheel. They work way too hard to have me letting my yard look like that.

Whatever happened to respect for the property rights of others?

What do you do?

If I knew them, if they were my immediate neighbors, I'd talk to them see if they needed help.

Next, call the City Engineer and complain. Send them a cell phone pick.

Call the Neighborhood Association. Next, call the Mayor. Make noise as silence equals consent.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Having proven it, what is a reasonable restitution for him to make the neighborhood in order to atone for his actions?

Enforce the ordinance (specific performance and/or a fine usually). It usually just a fine, but sounds like this guy ran into contempt of court when ordered to cut it.

Courts are usually hesitant to jail people over stuff like this allowing plenty of time for their orders to be obeyed.

 

[Fletch]

How many people would be ranting and raving if they had to live next door to a yard with weeds and grass in excess of 6' tall?

For most of this summer, my next-door-neighbor did not cut his lawn. The weeds were literally reaching the edge of his roof.

I also happen to know, based on real estate records, that my house is among the highest-valued in the neighborhood, if not the highest. So it's not like he was making my 70's-era trailer home look bad.

Bottom line for me: his land, his business.

Going back a bit, my first house was right next door to a house with an automobile graveyard right up next to the fence, right where it could be seen from the front door.

Bottom line for me: his land, his business.

When I decide to do something to my property, like build the biggest dog run I can afford, or convert a tool shed into a dog house, or put in a pool or an adult-sized jungle gym, I expect the same courtesy. My land, my business.

That's the way things work in a civil society.

 

[SavageEagle]

Some of you worry me.

If I want to grow my own little jungle on my property whether in town or in a subdivision, so what? You're going to give me a criminal record because you don't like what I'm doing with my lawn? Seriously? How about you get a criminal record because your apple tree is dropping apples on my lawn?

What someone wants to do with their property, their business.

 

[Vasili]

i don't care if I let my lawn become the new breeding ground for ebola, someone takes me to jail for not mowing MY OWN PROPERTY and when I get out, they're going to have bigger problems than tall blades of grass, i tell you what.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Some of you worry me.

If I want to grow my own little jungle on my property whether in town or in a subdivision, so what? You're going to give me a criminal record because you don't like what I'm doing with my lawn? Seriously? How about you get a criminal record because your apple tree is dropping apples on my lawn?

What someone wants to do with their property, their business.

OK, do you have any responsibility to your neighbors at all? If one of your neighbors is trying to refinance his house and when the bank has his property assessed, the state of your lawn lowers the value of his house, have you wronged him? Just asking for your views.

 

[Vasili]

*Raises hand*

My neighbors, like me, are on a 20 to 30 year debt wheel. They work way too hard to have me letting my yard look like that.

Whatever happened to respect for the property rights of others?



If I knew them, if they were my immediate neighbors, I'd talk to them see if they needed help.

Next, call the City Engineer and complain. Send them a cell phone pick.

Call the Neighborhood Association. Next, call the Mayor. Make noise as silence equals consent.

i don't give two nickels what my neighbors think or do. i do keep my yard mowed, but it's not my obligation in any shape, form or color to help them sell their house. if their house is on fire, i'll try to help them get out. if someone is breaking in, i'll call the cops for them. but this is a country of INDIVIDUAL rights, which i think a lot of people, especeially the welfare queens, have a hard time getting. YOU CAN'T FEED YOUR KIDS? sucks for you brother, but i'm not about to take food out of my wife's mouth because you're doing poorly, your own fault or, more likely, not. be prepared. but, if you're not prepared, don't then expect me to have prepared in your place for you. hell no. and no, i don't mean you you, i mean the general 'you.'

but you get my drift.

 

[SemperFiUSMC]

It's like Jello. There's always room for Jello.

I'm curious however... How many people would be ranting and raving if they had to live next door to a yard with weeds and grass in excess of 6' tall?

What do you do? Move because your neighbor is too lazy to at least attempt to live like something other than the slob they apparently are?

If you want to live in the woods...move to the woods.

I'm not convinced jail time is the answer. But after you give them several warnings...what do you do? If they've refused to keep it at least looking half-way decent...they likely won't bother to pay the bill.

Why should your being a lazy ass lower the value of my property?

These people that feel they should be allowed to do whatever they want kill me.

Assign him 200 hours of community service and make him mow highway medians.

How about that for irony?

 

[SavageEagle]

OK, do you have any responsibility to your neighbors at all? If one of your neighbors is trying to refinance his house and when the bank has his property assessed, the state of your lawn lowers the value of his house, have you wronged him? Just asking for your views.

Unfortunately things do work that way and that's part of what upsets me. What my neighbors do with their property shouldn't matter what my house is worth. I mean, if that's the case, then everything under the sun can change the value of your house in a second. That's just crazy.

If I build a house on some property and keep it up nice and clean and at that moment it's worth $150k, but some guy a couple streets over goes away on vacation for 3 months and his grass grow to, say, 3ft tall, it drops my property to $140K? It's BS.

It's a matter between neighbors, not neighbors and the courts. If people are so worried about what their neighbors do with their own property, move where you don't HAVE any neighbors. Problem solved.

 

[rambone]

Hmmm, what about the neighbors, ram? Are they not victims?

Are they not victimized by the slobbery next door? Were not the neighbor's property rights harmed by the unkempt yard. Does not that sloth endanger the lives of the neighbors (rats, strays, trash, etc.)?

Must not the use of property be usufruct, to paraphrase Jefferson?

Well, you taught me a new word Kirk..

Usufruct: a legal right to use and derive profit from property belonging to someone else provided that the property itself is not injured in any way.
​

If the man was dumping motor oil into the river, we have a case against him. However, a crime for letting his yard return to its natural state, on its own? Is it possible to be victimize someone without doing anything at all? Can a neighbor be victimized by natural looking grass? I see no way he is harming the land by not mowing it... Flat, 3" lawns do not occur in nature.

Deer come in my yard because they like the apples that grow here. Did I victimize my neighbor in any way by the animals that walk on my property? If my neighbor hits a deer down the street, can it be blamed on me?

That is where I think we need to come up with some punishment other than jail time for a wide class of minor infractions. We used to put people in stocks and the locals could come out and torment them a little bit. I liked the idea of caning when that American got sentenced to that down in Indonesia or Malaysia several years back.

As awesome and fun as that would be, the Founders created a constitutional amendment that prevents tyrants from torturing prisoners. Number 8. So I guess we'll just have to tuck our canes back under our beds until our next Malaysian vacation.

These people that feel they should be allowed to do whatever they want kill me.

More than begging for permission to do everything? Have you ever remodeled your home and had to get permits to do everything, use licensed contractors, etc? What a racket!

OK. Say you are tasked with proving, in a court of law, what quantifiable damage this lazy bum has done to your neighborhood. How do you prove this? Having proven it, what is a reasonable restitution for him to make the neighborhood in order to atone for his actions?

You make a good point here. Not only is there no evidence for the harm caused to anyone else - other than the tears flowing from their eyes - but to attempt to prove so would be impossible. If people try to claim victim status and there is absolutely nothing they can do to prove it, then they aren't much of a victim. The criminal justice system is supposed to work based on actual evidence.

People simply do not have the right to have perfect scenery to appear out their windows. What if you don't like the color of your neighbor's house? What if your neighbor has too many dandelions growing in the yard? What if your neighbor is a professional clown and has all his clown friends over all the time? What ever shall we do? Build a fence, that's what you do.

 

[Cemetery-man]

here in cowtown, if neighbors repeatedly complain, the city will send you a few letters requesting you take care of the problem and give you so long to get it done. If after that time elapses, and nothing has been done, they will order town employees to take care of the problem and send you a bill for the man hours involved which can be a tidy sum if there is a lot of work to do.

The town doesn't enforce the ordinance much, usually only when neighbors are repeatedly demanding something be done.

OK, do you have any responsibility to your neighbors at all? If one of your neighbors is trying to refinance his house and when the bank has his property assessed, the state of your lawn lowers the value of his house,

When I had my house last assessed, the assessor and me discussed this very thing because my neighbors property was let's say "very untidy". He told me it usually will not instantly devalue my property but may make it harder to sell it when the time comes and the potential buyers see the mess next door.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

(snipped)




You make a good point here. Not only is there no evidence for the harm caused to anyone else - other than the tears flowing from their eyes - but to attempt to prove so would be impossible. If people try to claim victim status and there is absolutely nothing they can do to prove it, then they aren't much of a victim. The criminal justice system is supposed to work based on actual evidence.

People simply do not have the right to have perfect scenery to appear out their windows. What if you don't like the color of your neighbor's house? What if your neighbor has too many dandelions growing in the yard? What if your neighbor is a professional clown and has all his clown friends over all the time? What ever shall we do? Build a fence, that's what you do.

Actually, a homeowner or homeowners might be able to prove that a sufficiently run-down property would lower the property values of adjoining properties; especially if a neighbor was trying to sell his property and could prove, through realtor or prospective buyers' comments, that they weren't willing to buy because of the condition of the neighbor's property, or that they weren't willing to pay what the assessed value of the property was worth because they didn't think it would remain at that value.

 

[ATOMonkey]

If I could earn say, $10,000 mowing my neighbor's yard (through resale value) I'd probably just fire up the sears special and take care of it myself instead of whinning about it to someone.

I'm just a simpleton though.

 

[Ramen]

In my mind the neighbor choosing not to mow their lawn would be a good thing since it would lower the value of my property and thus my property tax.

If I wanted to sell my house I could just ask the neighbor if they minded if I mowed their lawn until my house sold.

But really I think the Government should be involved in every aspect my life and my neighbors. Since the government should own everything, including my body, I really just want to be told what I can and can't do with the Government's property.

 

[jbombelli]

If I was him I would kill off my lawn, and lay down purple and orange astroturf.

 

[hornadylnl]

This was the view from my front door for several months. They started tearing a trailer down and let it sit for months. We never called it in until the trash kept blowing in our yard. Bottom line, your property, your choice.

http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp59/hornadylnl/barn011.jpg

It's like Jello. There's always room for Jello.

I'm curious however... How many people would be ranting and raving if they had to live next door to a yard with weeds and grass in excess of 6' tall?

What do you do? Move because your neighbor is too lazy to at least attempt to live like something other than the slob they apparently are?

If you want to live in the woods...move to the woods.

I'm not convinced jail time is the answer. But after you give them several warnings...what do you do? If they've refused to keep it at least looking half-way decent...they likely won't bother to pay the bill.

Why should your being a lazy ass lower the value of my property?

These people that feel they should be allowed to do whatever they want kill me.

 

[rambone]

Actually, a homeowner or homeowners might be able to prove that a sufficiently run-down property would lower the property values of adjoining properties; especially if a neighbor was trying to sell his property and could prove, through realtor or prospective buyers' comments, that they weren't willing to buy because of the condition of the neighbor's property, or that they weren't willing to pay what the assessed value of the property was worth because they didn't think it would remain at that value.

A potential buyer won't buy the property, and you view his opinion as court evidence?

So I'd imagine there should be a lot of lawsuits going on right now. Plenty of houses won't sell and prices have fallen. All I have to do is get some schmuck to say that my neighbor's yard is ugly and apparently that is enough evidence to punish them, lock them up, maybe even win some money.

"Your honor, I present to you "Exhibit A," a picture of long grass. Let the court record show that the plaintiff said that the defendant's yard is ugly. The plaintiff's case rests."