[RP TownTalk] Lawn regulations

[Nina Faye]

Zach, I am sorry this reply took awhile; work was taking precedence.  I was trying not to make any specific suggestions as I live in Hyattsville and not Riverdale Park.  This issue was a very controversial one when we addressed it, somewhat breaking down into the gardeners/ecologists vs. manicured lawn people.  I am in the first category, and we somewhat prevailed.  We had had a major tragedy with someone having spent a dozen years or so developing a backyard of all native plants with lots of birds and wildlife, being on an extended vacation, and coming home to a decimated yard and a large bill from the City to decimate the yard.  Personally I like to let part of our lawn go to seed once a year, rather than go out and buy seed.  I like to watch the process as a gardener, and I'm cheap.  Our Code Enforcement Advisory Committee on a number of occasions has urged public education and positive efforts to convince people to adhere to agreed upon
 community standards.  As already said, some folks will never fall into line.  We also tried to take into account that we have elderly residents, vagaries of weather, and residents who are having financial problems.  All of these factors can affect when and how a lawn gets cut.  Again, I was just trying to mention some of the factors we considered, since we spent a very long time hashing out our lawn and weed ordinance, which is available on the Hyattsville web site.  Good Luck, Nina
 
--- On Mon, 5/3/10, Zach Feris <zferis at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Zach Feris <zferis at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] Lawn regulations
To: "'TownTalk'" <TownTalk at riverdale-park.org>
Date: Monday, May 3, 2010, 12:52 PM








Hi all,
 
Nina and Alan – responses are requested below please…lest they get lost in the message.
 
Nina provides some intelligent and experienced perspective – the typical American front yard is “an ecological mess of herbicides, pesticides, and monoculture”. Not to mention, a huge waste of time and money. I’m curious – perhaps Alan can enlighten us – what provisions are made within Riverdale Park’s existing and proposed law which allow residents to pursue an alternate model to growing turfgrass? I ask, since this point seems to be one of Nina’s main critiques.
 
Nina, your arguments are strong, but your response doesn’t do much in the way of directly offering up alternate plans for resolving the very societal problems that this proposed amendment in code would attempt to rectify. I may be missing your point – and in all likelihood I am – but can you please clarify your suggestions? 
 
Very best,
Zach on Sheridan St
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