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City mows prairie grass, bills owner $140
upi. ^ | June 4, 2010

Posted on 06/04/2010 12:51:57 PM PDT by JoeProBono

MINNEAPOLIS, - A Minneapolis man says the city mowed down the prairie grass he spent three years cultivating and stuck him with the $140 bill for the job.

Environmentally conscious Michael Anschel said he planted the prairie grass three years ago as a no-water, no-mow alternative to his previous lawn and the city sent him a notice May 17 informing him the seed stalks that sprouted a few weeks ago and the length of the grass, more than 8 inches, violated city ordinances, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Friday.

Anschel said he left a message with inspectors explaining that mowing would ruin the grass and he hoped the city would give him more time. However, he said he returned home from work Tuesday and found the grass had been mowed by city workers.

"It would kind of be as if somebody came and cut down your rose bushes after you'd spent the last three years trying to get them to bloom right," Anschel said.

He said the mowing seemed "counterintuitive" for a city that stresses environmentally progressive goals.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Gardening; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: gottapostapicture; jojogunn; jpb; prairiegrass
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Prairie Grass Landscaping


1 posted on 06/04/2010 12:51:57 PM PDT by JoeProBono
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To: JoeProBono

Why we can’t rely on government to protect us from trouble and provide for us, exhibit # 990,000,435,786.


2 posted on 06/04/2010 12:53:38 PM PDT by emax
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To: JoeProBono

You liberals love busybodies. Color me unsympathetic when the gears of bloated govt crush you as well.


3 posted on 06/04/2010 12:54:19 PM PDT by Sir Gawain
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To: JoeProBono

This guy clearly doesn’t realize that he is, at best, a vassal of the city and likely actually a slave to same.


4 posted on 06/04/2010 12:55:23 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: JoeProBono

That’s because the goal isn’t environmentalism. it’s about control of the populace.


5 posted on 06/04/2010 12:56:32 PM PDT by christx30
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To: JoeProBono
Native prairie grass is beautiful. People here in SW Pennsylvania use it for screens like bushes. An 8" diameter pot of just the young blooms will set you back $18 or so at the local garden center.

I sure wish the owner luck collecting from these fascist sonzabitches.

Corn is a grass as well. I suppose these little nazis would do the same to someone planting corn in their backyard garden.

6 posted on 06/04/2010 12:56:37 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: JoeProBono

What’s he complaining about?

He hasn’t had to mow in 3 years. Or pay someone to mow.

So the city did it for him. For $140.00.

Cool.

I wish I was him.


7 posted on 06/04/2010 12:59:01 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (PALIN/MCCAIN IN 2012 - barf alert? sarc tag? -- can't decide)
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To: christx30

Why can’t people just mind their own f’n business?


8 posted on 06/04/2010 12:59:36 PM PDT by donhunt (I used to have a US senator who lived in a compound. He's dead now.)
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To: christx30

It is about control.
And someone directly involved in this situation should make that argument.
The man should have been consulted.
The prairie grass should have been left alone.
When are people going to be given credit for what they know instead of imposed upon.
The bill should go unpaid.


9 posted on 06/04/2010 1:03:04 PM PDT by cephalopod1
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To: cephalopod1
The bill should go unpaid.

Then the city will confiscate his home.

10 posted on 06/04/2010 1:04:14 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (Build a man a fire; he'll be warm for a night. Set a man on fire; he'll be warm the rest of his life)
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To: Paladin2
This guy clearly doesn’t realize that he is, at best, a vassal of the city and likely actually a slave to same.

Seems that he fell into line right off pretty well:

Anschel said he has regarded the city as environmentally progressive, particularly with widespread prairie restorations on its own properties. He called the city's mowing "counterintuitive" and probably an example of policy goals not having been communicated to inspectors working the streets and neighborhoods. He said he'd like an apology from the city, but that seems unlikely.

http://www.startribune.com/local/95583274.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUr&elr=KArksc8P:Pc:Ug8P:Pc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUHDYaGEP7eyckcUX

11 posted on 06/04/2010 1:05:06 PM PDT by frithguild (I gave to Joe Wilson the day after, to Scott Brown seven days before and next to JD Hayworth.)
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To: cephalopod1

I oppose all these ordinances, i.e., what you can have in your yard, how well painted you have to be, whether you can have a commercial truck or park in your own driveway, etc.

Myself, I think the only reasonable ordinances are those that affect health and safety, for instance, pick up your dog’s leavings and keep the noise level under certain decibels.

Perhaps tall grass next to residences could be a fire hazard. I could see that, at least in hot and dry California. If it really is a fire hazard, I could see that.


12 posted on 06/04/2010 1:06:29 PM PDT by Persevero (If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?)
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To: JoeProBono
Miami did this to my wife decades ago when she replaced our half dead lawn with wild flowers. Bylaw enforcement called them out of control weeds and mowed them down.

I am amazed she didn't camp out in the yard with a shotgun after that.

13 posted on 06/04/2010 1:12:08 PM PDT by WalterSobchak2012
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To: JoeProBono

Is that the yard that was mowed??? I think it’s pretty the way it is.


14 posted on 06/04/2010 1:16:04 PM PDT by MissTed
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To: JoeProBono

City Council isn’t outlawing front-yard gardens after all
http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2010/06/city_council_isnt_outlawing_fr.php


15 posted on 06/04/2010 1:23:43 PM PDT by Lorianne
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To: JoeProBono

Environmentally conscious(hippy) Michael Anschel


16 posted on 06/04/2010 1:24:35 PM PDT by Grunthor
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To: Vigilanteman
Corn is a grass as well.

I wonder what they'd do if here were in an environment that can grow bamboo, another famous grass. He wouldn't have to wait three years either, as they could hit several feet tall soon after planting.

17 posted on 06/04/2010 1:25:35 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: Cyber Liberty

And that’ll show him who is the real owner of the property.


18 posted on 06/04/2010 1:29:42 PM PDT by cydcharisse (`)
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To: antiRepublicrat
The key is common sense, which this idiot city obviously lacks. I suppose the guy could technically be in compliance by planting his yard into stinging nettle or poison ivy because their taxonomic classification is not grasses.

Neither, for that matter, are more common weeds such as Canadian thistle or English plantain.

Maybe a Freeper botanist can correct me, but I believe the capability to reproduce by rhizomes is a prerequisite for a plant to join the grass family.

19 posted on 06/04/2010 1:35:08 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: JoeProBono
Easy one drive in steel stakes re-bar is cheap.
20 posted on 06/04/2010 1:39:40 PM PDT by Cheetahcat (Zero the Wright kind of Racist! We are in a state of War with Democrats)
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