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Post by autumnmist on Jan 31, 2020 8:05:42 GMT -8
hikerjer , I wouldn't consider monitoring and enforcing restrictions on the issues you mentioned to be undue diligence on the code level, but the ones that are especially targeted in my area are the lawn heights. Six inches is the max; anything over and a citation is issued. How do code enforcers know? They measure. I haven't seen this, but neighbors have told me they've seen code enforcement people with rulers, measuring lawns. They dubbed them the "Lawn Nazis." To me, that's ridiculous and overdoing code monitoring and enforcement. One inch isn't going to make that much of a difference. The callousness of city officials was demonstrated during one hearing in which residents raised various issues and concerns. One very well groomed elderly woman (probably in her 80's), addressed the difficulty of finding reliable lawn contractors. City officials were not sympathetic and responded with "suggestions" which anyone who's worked with the agencies suggested knows aren't workable. They just weren't willing to consider the implications for an elderly person trying but encountering difficulty in finding a reliable, reasonably priced lawn contractor. At one point ALL code enforcement citations were published online. I noticed that my neighbor, whose lawn and yard are impeccable, was cited b/c his trash was put out before noon, one time only. That also is ridiculous. And it's a waste of money for a small city with limited funding sources. The real issues that do need attention aren't ones that are addressed w/o citizen intervention, and this is where the flippers come in. While the house next to me was vacant, grass grew to 18" (I measured) and the walks weren't cleared during the several winters. Another house on the opposite side of the street was worse. A couple of guys from a local community decided to be flippers and then landlords. In their "renovation", they dumped unfaced fiberglass insulation in the back yard. There were more violations, but I think that was the worse, and the most dangerous, especially on windy days. Neighbors called, but the one who complained the most was also hassled by CE b/c she was unable to maintain her house and yard (she was epileptic). She was harrassed more than the absentee landlords. These are the kinds of abuses to which I refer.
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Hungry Jack
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Living and dying in 3/4 time...
Posts: 3,809
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Post by Hungry Jack on Jan 31, 2020 8:29:34 GMT -8
I get irritated when homeowners in Chicago don't shovel their sidewalks after a snowfall (we have a code requirements for this).
But lawn height Nazis? Trash out too early? WTH?
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Jan 31, 2020 8:39:16 GMT -8
I get irritated when homeowners in Chicago don't shovel their sidewalks after a snowfall (we have a code requirements for this). But lawn height Nazis? Trash out too early? WTH? It’s my view when people benefit from the alleged higher resale value of a property in a neighborhood where such standards are enforced such as no weed overgrown front lawns (not something I’d seek but many do value such) then they’ve no real cause for complaint. There’s endless places without such restrictions. Some with front yards full of dead cars... colorful in their way. Trash out too early is likely an effort to hinder marauding raccoons etc. which can make an incredible mess of strewn garbage given enough time out of just about any portable container. My aunt in Florida lost that battle at least once a week: the challenge bring a container the trash people could easily open as they tried to rapidly and efficiently do their rounds, while preventing endlessly persistent raccoons from making a mess.
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Hungry Jack
Trail Wise!
Living and dying in 3/4 time...
Posts: 3,809
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Post by Hungry Jack on Jan 31, 2020 8:50:30 GMT -8
Being an urbanite, overgrown lawns and garbage cans being emptied by cunning raccoons and hungry bears are foreign to me.
However, dog poop left unscooped becomes rat food. That gets my blood pressure up.
As part of this park project, we built a "dog spot" in front of it in the parkway section (our liability insurance policy for the park space precludes dogs, water features, playground equipment). It already was a dog toilet, but now it's a really nice one with decorative iron fence, pea gravel, and a bag dispenser I refill regularly. However, I did have to post a sign that reads "Please don't feed the rats." For the most part, these wishes are honored.
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Post by autumnmist on Jan 31, 2020 9:56:07 GMT -8
High Sierra Fan , I think you're summarized the situation well. Cars on the lawns aren't a problem here, but they certainly would be a legitimate concern for residents and code enforcement people. I wouldn't want to see them either. I think the city has a split vision of itself, a suburb of Detroit, but also a thriving City in the suburbs independent of Detroit. That's my take from what little I can tolerate to listen of the public hearings and one of the talkative city officials who seems to enjoy giving interviews that are broadcast on the city channel. Hungry Jack , if I can find them, I'll dig out my photos of 3 baby racoons frollicking on my roof. They really are cute. But when they climbed down the chimney and tried to get into the furnace, they weren't so cute. One of the neighbors said that they knew exactly when garbage day was, as they raided the garbage pails the night before. So even with not setting out the trash before noon, the raccoons just rearranged their schedule and spent the evening restaurant hopping from one residence to another.
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Post by hikingtiger on Jan 31, 2020 10:33:38 GMT -8
our next door neighbors had three yippy assed chihuahuas are there any other kinds of chihuahuas? lol <~~~~ used to have a Chihuahua
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Post by autumnmist on Jan 31, 2020 16:44:42 GMT -8
Chihuahuas - Some dog lovers, including those with chihuahuas, believe they suffer from "little dog syndrome." Makes sense to me.
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Post by johntpenca on Jan 31, 2020 18:42:00 GMT -8
Chihuahuas - Some dog lovers, including those with chihuahuas, believe they suffer from "little dog syndrome." Makes sense to me. The dogs (loosely applied in the case of chihuahuas) or the owners?
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Post by autumnmist on Feb 1, 2020 8:03:00 GMT -8
johntpenca, hmmmm..that's a good question! Seriously, I never thought of the relationship of a small dog to its owner.
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Post by bradmacmt on Feb 1, 2020 8:30:09 GMT -8
Well, the OP hasn't checked in for a while... like so many BPBC threads, it twists and turns and ends up in a discussion of small feral dogs
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Feb 1, 2020 10:50:20 GMT -8
Well, the OP hasn't checked in for a while... like so many BPBC threads, it twists and turns and ends up in a discussion of small feral dogs “not all those who wander are lost.” That Tolkien was a clever fellow.
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Post by catonsvillebill on Feb 2, 2020 10:57:05 GMT -8
My job ( Comcast) transferred from the DC area to the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. For me from suburban southwest Baltimore County it was now a 90 min to 2 hr commute. So I decided to move. Not a hard decision......it is a quieter life and slower pace than the Baltimore area.
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sarbar
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After being here since 2001...I couldn't say goodbye yet!
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Post by sarbar on Feb 4, 2020 11:43:05 GMT -8
In my past life I was the President of the HOA I lived in for a few years. I got on the board to put a choke chain on a few people, then took it over (HAHAHAHA!) I ran that HOA so laid back that after we moved the complaining went up rapidly. I left the board with nearly 3 years of dues in the bank and all projects done - and we lowered the dues as well. All I cared about was you couldn't be an ass to your neighbors, no cars on lawns. I once got into a near brawl with one of the cranks on the board who hated that a neighbor ran a FFL/fun shop out of his home. As we allowed business to run in home, it doesn't matter WHAT the business is, as long as it is legal and licensed - all we could tell him was to have clients park properly. I asked her is she wanted the Second Amendent Foundation to sue our HOA. Lol. Same when we had family doing a legal grow operation in their garage.
You make where you live what you can. Currently I live rural on an island and my "neighbor" down the street is a crazy fruit loop. To the point we have had to have the state patrol protect our bus stop for our kids (she harasses the children and adults, yelling at them, chasing school busses, taking photos of minors). But her crazy doesn't cause me to love living here less. Thankfully I only see her trailer once or twice a day, 5 days a week. And the school district just changed busses yesterday and the new bus has brakes you can hear 2 miles away. Lol. It's the little things in life. She was outside all angry yesterday.
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Post by autumnmist on Feb 4, 2020 12:07:46 GMT -8
sarbar , on the issue of home businesses...I learned yesterday from someone who has a cooking business in her home, state inspected and all that, that she lives in an area with zoning that allows those kinds of home businesses, w/i parameters. But it's a rural area in the northern section of the county. The city in which I live disallows that kind of home operation. Zoning is inflexible. One of my neighbors was even cited b/c his RV was 2 feet longer than allowed by code. Big deal. They were good people; what difference does the RV length make? The stress really caused the husband to suffer; I think it was a factor in his death w/i several months, but that's just speculation. That's not to say that things couldn't be made, carved or otherwise created in private and sold at crafts shows, but anything requiring inspections isn't allowed. You've lived in some interesting areas, one of the reasons I think smaller areas are more appealing and flexible.
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sarbar
Trail Wise!
After being here since 2001...I couldn't say goodbye yet!
Posts: 994
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Post by sarbar on Feb 4, 2020 12:22:24 GMT -8
Oh lord, yes. We moved partly as the zoning is a lot less strict here. King County in Washington State would look at sat photos to ensure people were not removing large evergreen trees without permission in the rural areas. Husband's friend had a tree come down in a storm (it was old growth size) and the county sent him a letter that summer after demanding why, with a large fine threatened. He had taken photos of the tree thankfully after it came down and used that to prove it wasn't him. We didn't want that. At our current place the county offers a free program for Fire Wise and brings out the DNR to walk your land. DNR signed off on our forest management, which involves severe thinning. I run a business on our land, and was happy our county only requires the standard state DOR license. In fact, in the county code agriculture ventures and forestry is protected under the business sections and the noise ordincaes. Pretty awesome.
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