Charles,

So, if there was a complainant, you don't know what problems to address
to satisfy him. You seem eager to believe that there is no complainant but
in the absence of a complainant the ticket writer is the complainant. You
need to figure out what is causing these complaints.
I don't understand the point your pictures are intended to make. They
show a poorly maintained side walk/right of way and a retaining wall that is
leaning into the right of way. The vegetation above the retaining wall is
not encroaching into the right of way but still this is not a picture you
want to produce in court. This picture speaks of long term neglect.
Since you've now received multiple tickets you should try to do what is
necessary to prevent a city work crew from trimming your land at your
expense. Perhaps you should get a landscaper in if you don't know what to
do.

Dave M.

David Martel wrote:
Charles,

So, if there was a complainant, you don't know what problems to address
to satisfy him. You seem eager to believe that there is no complainant but
in the absence of a complainant the ticket writer is the complainant. You
need to figure out what is causing these complaints.
I don't understand the point your pictures are intended to make. They
show a poorly maintained side walk/right of way and a retaining wall that is
leaning into the right of way. The vegetation above the retaining wall is
not encroaching into the right of way but still this is not a picture you
want to produce in court. This picture speaks of long term neglect.
Since you've now received multiple tickets you should try to do what is
necessary to prevent a city work crew from trimming your land at your
expense. Perhaps you should get a landscaper in if you don't know what to
do.

Dave M.



I hate to say it, but I agree. This yard looks virtually abandoned from
the street level (picture a3). I much prefer the natural look, but this
does not quite cut it. Natural is not the same as overgrown.

One quick task that will make the property look better it to remove the
weeds at the base of the walls. The vines draped over the wall do
soften the edges, but they are also drawing attention to the base weeds.
These plants are probably contributing to the weakness in the
retaining wall as well by breaking the bricks with their roots.

Next, selective thinning of the vines would be in order to make the
upper parts of the garden look more tamed.

Lastly, changing the vegetation of the devil strip from grass to a low
maintenance, low growing groundcover will leave little maintenance. Or,
get a reel mower and make mowing a 5 minute ritual on the weekends.

-matt

wrote:.

This is the same implication that I expected
the inspector might make at the hearing, so
I was prepared with a clarifying photo:
http://cpacker.org/a4.jpg


I've seen sidewalks narrow, and occasionally curve. But that curve as it
narrows in the middle of a slab, with no difference in the apparent vintage
of the concrete very much looks like it's not the pavement that narrows, but
the vegetation that's overgrowing unevenly. There also appears to be a
plethora of noxious weeds mixed in there, too.

This picture may put the rest into better context, but I'm afraid not in a
favorable light for you. It also highlights the disrepair of the retaining
wall. Lush vegetation, ala cottage garden, is one thing. But this last
picture pretty much clears-up that this isn't lush vegetation, but an
unmaintained and unmanaged yard.

The more you tell us, the more it's looking like you're not just an innocent
victim with an alternative landscape plan, but someone who has let the weeds
take over, and the retaining wall deteriorate. If you're going to bring in
pictures to defend your yard care aesthetics, you could at least have
swept-up the dead leaves, and pulled a few of the more obvious weeds before
taking the pictures!

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Have an outdoor project? Get a Black & Decker power tool::
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/blackanddecker/

In article , "Warren"
wrote:

wrote:.

This is the same implication that I expected
the inspector might make at the hearing, so
I was prepared with a clarifying photo:
http://cpacker.org/a4.jpg


I've seen sidewalks narrow, and occasionally curve. But that curve as it
narrows in the middle of a slab, with no difference in the apparent vintage
of the concrete very much looks like it's not the pavement that narrows, but
the vegetation that's overgrowing unevenly. There also appears to be a
plethora of noxious weeds mixed in there, too.

This picture may put the rest into better context, but I'm afraid not in a
favorable light for you. It also highlights the disrepair of the retaining
wall. Lush vegetation, ala cottage garden, is one thing. But this last
picture pretty much clears-up that this isn't lush vegetation, but an
unmaintained and unmanaged yard.

The more you tell us, the more it's looking like you're not just an innocent
victim with an alternative landscape plan, but someone who has let the weeds
take over, and the retaining wall deteriorate. If you're going to bring in
pictures to defend your yard care aesthetics, you could at least have
swept-up the dead leaves, and pulled a few of the more obvious weeds before
taking the pictures!

Well I thought it looked nice.

-paggers
--
Get your Paghat the Ratgirl T-Shirt he
http://www.paghat.com/giftshop.html
"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to
liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot." -Thomas Jefferson

G Henslee wrote:
After reviewing the pics the officer probably figured that retaining
wall would be falling over in less than 6 mos anyway, and the overgrowth
would take care of itself.

Most of the houses older than 50 years around
here have tilted walls. I've been monitoring
mine for the 19 years since I've lived here
and it's added about an inch to its outward
tilt in that time.

Bringing the retaining wall into this shows
that you guys live in gated communities or
similar lala lands. You'd fear to come into
this part of town. Your standards are
irrelevant.

I welcome creative suggestions for my site
that involve trimming or selective removal,

--
(Charles Packer)
ungoogled: mailboxATSIGNcpacker.org
http://cpacker.org/whatnews

"Warren" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Bringing the retaining wall into this shows
that you guys live in gated communities or
similar lala lands. You'd fear to come into
this part of town. Your standards are
irrelevant.


That's an awfully prejudicial remark.


It always comes down to this. I'm surprised that the thread lasted this
long without personal insults or the inclusion of the term "Mc Mansion."

Vox Humana wrote:
"Warren" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Bringing the retaining wall into this shows
that you guys live in gated communities or
similar lala lands. You'd fear to come into
this part of town. Your standards are
irrelevant.


That's an awfully prejudicial remark.


It always comes down to this. I'm surprised that the thread lasted this
long without personal insults or the inclusion of the term "Mc Mansion."

On reconsideration, I would have removed
the reference to gated communities, but I
was in a rush to log off and get to the
office, so I didn't have time to reread
and reflect. However, my remark about
inapplicable standards would stand.

Indeed, had the government appeared at
the hearing, one of my tactics would have
been to ask if the inspector lived
anywhere nearby, after establishing
that there was no citizen complainant.

Anyway, I see this thread _is_ on the
way to a common Usenet demise...

--
(Charles Packer)
ungoogled: mailboxATSIGNcpacker.org
http://cpacker.org/whatnews

wrote in message
oups.com...


Indeed, had the government appeared at
the hearing, one of my tactics would have
been to ask if the inspector lived
anywhere nearby, after establishing
that there was no citizen complainant.


I don't follow that logic. Does the code state that a citizen complaint is
required to initiate an investigation? Does your code enforcement agency
accept anonymous complaints? The problem with enforcement of such codes is
that they generally lack an objective standard. Therefore, the conversation
is subvert to subtopics such as whether the code should exist or if people
on one side of the argument or the other are "bad" people. As you can see,
when you post pictures you will get as many opinions as there are
respondents. If you posted pictures of Longwood Gardens, some would say
that it was the most hideous place they had ever seen and declare it's
occupants anal-retentive, obsessive-compulsive, Eurocentric control freaks
who have raped the environment to build a Mc Mansion and who's goal is to
poison the environment and release non-native plants into a fragile
ecosystem.

Vox Humana wrote:
"Warren" wrote in message
...

wrote:

Bringing the retaining wall into this shows
that you guys live in gated communities or
similar lala lands. You'd fear to come into
this part of town. Your standards are
irrelevant.


That's an awfully prejudicial remark.



It always comes down to this. I'm surprised that the thread lasted this
long without personal insults or the inclusion of the term "Mc Mansion."

But looking at the photo at http://cpacker.org/a3.jpg I would have to
say that it does look about half reverted to the wild. Then again, I'm
pretty old-school northern-euro in my aesthetics of a "well kept yard".


http://www.earthops.net/now/now-west.jpg (realtime) would give you an
ideal of the general aesthetic in my own neighborhood.


--
The incapacity of a weak and distracted government may
often assume the appearance, and produce the effects,
of a treasonable correspondence with the public enemy.
--Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"
================================================== ================
"Sometimes, Evil drives a mini-van."
--Desperate Housewives

Tiny Human Ferret wrote:
Vox Humana wrote:

"Warren" wrote in message
...

wrote:

Bringing the retaining wall into this shows
that you guys live in gated communities or
similar lala lands. You'd fear to come into
this part of town. Your standards are
irrelevant.



That's an awfully prejudicial remark.




It always comes down to this. I'm surprised that the thread lasted this
long without personal insults or the inclusion of the term "Mc Mansion."


But looking at the photo at http://cpacker.org/a3.jpg I would have to
say that it does look about half reverted to the wild. Then again, I'm
pretty old-school northern-euro in my aesthetics of a "well kept yard".


http://www.earthops.net/now/now-west.jpg (realtime) would give you an
ideal of the general aesthetic in my own neighborhood.



In other words somewhat neat and trimmed. Unlike that overgrown unkept
vegetation and retaining wall of Packer's.

wrote:
On reconsideration, I would have removed
the reference to gated communities, but I
was in a rush to log off and get to the
office, so I didn't have time to reread
and reflect. However, my remark about
inapplicable standards would stand.


Picking a few of the obvious weeds and sweeping the sidewalk before taking a
picture is an inapplicable standard?

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Have an outdoor project? Get a Black & Decker power tool::
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/blackanddecker/

Warren wrote:
wrote:

On reconsideration, I would have removed
the reference to gated communities, but I
was in a rush to log off and get to the
office, so I didn't have time to reread
and reflect. However, my remark about
inapplicable standards would stand.



Picking a few of the obvious weeds and sweeping the sidewalk before taking a
picture is an inapplicable standard?


This guy's property looks like crap. Period. I bet his neighbors just
love him. So much they called in a complaint to the city about him.
http://cpacker.org/a4.jpg

ps. He better fix that retaining wall he's so proud of before it falls
over. Maybe if it did he'd finally clean that jungle.