In the past I've written about the scourge sent upon the Earth that is Homeowner's Associations. The fact people willingly sign these bullshit covenants makes it even worse. Although, the amount of non-HOA homes are becoming fewer & fewer. Almost every new neighborhood development has an HOA. A significant amount of the population, & some of the same people who are the first to scream socialism at any mention of Universal Health Care, basically live in communes that dictate the color of paint for a house or the type of mailbox they're allowed to have. And if the jag-off neighbor next door complains about something they interpret to be in non-compliance with the "CC&Rs", the HOA can start fining & then put a lien against your property.
At least with an HOA someone was dumb enough to enter into the contract. Well what happens when a city government starts using the "dickish" tactics of an HOA board?
In the city of Orange, California, a couple is being summoned to court because they decided to replace their conventional grass lawn with a drought-tolerant garden filled with lavender, rosemary and native wildflower seeds.
From the LA Times:
In what sounds eerily similar to the "yard cop" stories Steve Lopez has reported in the past, Quan and Angelina Han have been going back and forth with the city for more than a year about their lack of lawn. Prompted by one neighbor’s anonymous complaint, the Hans were cited for not having 40% of their yard landscaped, per city law.
The couple were contacted after they tore out their lawn and left the yard bare. They have since planted drought-tolerant landscaping, including some lavender, rosemary and native wildflower seeds, which they say are germinating under wood chips... The Hans have been summoned to court on Tuesday. The maximum penalty: six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Here's a news report on this story from KTLA:
There's a funny thing about California government. You can drive past graffiti that's been on public property for years, or abandoned tires & junk near a road that have been at the spot forever, and there seems to be no urgency to deal with it. But by God if there's a chance the city or state can fine your ass over a chickenshit ordinance, they'll hop to with urgency & have authorities out for a ticket writing party.
And this is not the first time something like this has happened in Orange, California. The very same Orange city attorney quoted in the KTLA report, Wayne Winthers, took a 77-year-old woman living off $1,200 a month in Social Security benefits to criminal court over code violations with her home. The problems dealt with two rooms that were added onto the house before the woman bought it with her husband nearly 40 years ago, and were only cited after police officers came to the house for a probation check on her son.