Our Tax Dollars At Work, Part I

So, in the middle of a terrible drought, with Lake Okeechobee on fire, as well as many thousands of acres in the states of Georgia and Florida, meanwhile the city of St. Petersburg continues to send out code inspectors to warn people about having brown or bare lawns.

As Michael Kruse reports this morning, the city is sending out warning letters that say things like "the conditions," "the health and safety of residents," and making "our neighborhoods nice places to live." Such letters refer to "bare dirt areas" and cite Chapter 16, Sec. 16-1064 d (2). The code says the owners of one- and two-family properties must maintain a "herbaceous layer of sod" -- that means grass, Kruse notes wryly (or should that be rye-ly?) -- "or ground cover plant material."

Now, I have a helpful suggestion, since the government is about to engage in budget cuts. I propose that we combine the job of the guy who goes around telling people NOT to water their lawns because of the drought with the job of the guy warning them that their lawns are too brown or bare. In fact, the same guy can cite them for both at the same time.

Good God! Meanwhile, the local governments are threatening to punish the citizens by closing down all the parks if the Legislature dares to make them cut their budgets...

Comments

[TH]

I also have to wonder who is paying for the new cross walk signs that are going in throughout downtown St. Pete. Local funds or state funds?

It goes along with the new lights that were recently placed on the Pier to make it look better - geeze!

[20/20]

Perhaps a arguable analogy but… Taxes are a politician’s crack cocaine. Far too often we’re exposed to the reality that; a crack addict will do anything to feed his addition.

These recent threat/fear tactics used by local government hacks is despicable. Case in point; During the Penny for Pinellas campaign, local officials used the bully pulpit to scare people into voting in favor of the tax. Our Sheriff even hinted that if the Penny didn’t pass, we’d have to let criminals out of jail. Well, the Penny did pass, and we let people out of jail anyway.

The decline in the level of integrity, ethics, humility, and honor that is the responsibility of elected office – is truly heartbreaking to those of us who understand and cherish its value in a democratic society. It sickens me to listen to these puppets of politics espouse their rhetoric of “If you hold us accountable, we’ll make you pay.”

I find it extremely distasteful and dishonest. What disturbs me even more is the growing level of ignorance and apathy among those who CAN change the course… “those”, of course… being we the voters.

… But I will forever maintain hope, and until death… make an informed decision and vote.

[John Gibson]

Two things come to mind on this...

First, we have the government we asked for and voted for. If we don't like all these regulations and the way they are enforced, quit asking for them. I would wager that the current lawn enforcement efforts are the result of several complaints about brown lawns.

Second, do any of these conflicting regulations allow for the suspension of enforcement in times such as this?

Considering the lack of foresight of just about all politicians, except where their campaign coffers are concerned, I doubt it.

[Jennifer W]

Yes, I was handed this article by my spouse at 7am today before I had rightly entered the world of the living. See, this strikes a chord with me because I have been riding my bike on a meticulous path around my neighborhood EVERY DAY for the past 8 weeks, reporting people who are watering their lawns illegally. I send the addresses to the hotline daily and have seen a 90% reduction in the watering in my neighborhood. I have worked very hard, anonymously, to do this, and am pleased with every new patch of brown grass I see.

So this article made me hit the floor. Oh no, I thought, my neighbors are going to read this and go turn their sprinklers back ON because of the threat of a codes violation. All my hard work gone down the drain for nothing.

Being the educated citizen that I am, I decided to call the asst codes person mentioned in the article because we all know how you say one thing to a reporter and then when the article comes out...well who knows.

He called me back an hour later. He (Todd Yost) says that codes is in no way trying to encourage people to turn their sprinklers back on. He just wants people to maintain what they have by using the one day a week current watering allowances. He also talked about the options they educate homeowners about--mulch and other plants instead of St Augustine grass and so on. Very nice guy, I encourage anyone to call him and have a chat.

Because I am a purist, I did counter him and say that I would rather have dirt and dust blowing around AND have water coming out of my faucet for cooking and drinking. Call me what you want for that, but the sight of brown dying lawns makes me jump for joy right now.

He also said that most likely the codes enforcement was already at the property for some other reason, not just driving around looking for sandy lots. In addition, if someone complains about a yard for whatever reason, codes HAS to go and do something about it.

Also, and this was made clear in the article, there are no fines being handed out at this time, just warning letters. Mr. Yost told me that he hopes a follow up article will be written by the reporter Michael Kruse (I called him also, no response yet) that talks about options, education of the citizens, current watering rules,etc.

I don't want to see sprinklers turned back on, I want to see them continue to be turned off. Keeping up with the Jones' green grass just isn't worth it.

[Marie R]

The grass is certainly not greener for those of us who are unfortunate enough to own homes in deed-restricted communities, especially in these unneighborly and litigious times.

Green-and-pristine is written into the by-laws of the development where I own a home near the Clearwater-Largo airport. Because I live out of the country and visit only a few weeks twice a year, I am largely at the mercy of our renters' good will and the lawn guy's assurances that the automatic sprinklers are only set to water once a week and that the lawn is still a lovely shade of emerald.

Still, for two years now, I have been getting e-mails from the homeowners' association and the development's management company telling me my lawn is not up to community standards. And, having talked to my neighbors and others in similar communities, I am not alone.

Like the hysterical HOA president in the movie Over the Hedge, these folks grow apoplectic over brown spots and dollar weeds. They allow no leeway whatsoever despite the water restrictions and the fact that you're lucky to get anyone to call you back (ie. lawn people) to solve the problem. For me there is the added powerlessness of living 8,000 miles away.

We resodded last summer but the sod burned up ... though the dollar weeds proliferated happily. Xeriscaping, the logical choice, is not permitted. Mulch is fine until it gets too ratty-looking. Your typical Community Commando does not care. (Makes you wonder how THEY keep their lawns so perfect. Of course, they don't share any neighborly suggestions. the name of the game these days in Florida is sue first and introduce yourself later.) Instead, they have hinted at taking legal action against several residents in the neighborhood if we don't clear up those offensive dollar weeds and brown spots. Somehow, I think the law will be on our side if it escalates to that point. One can only hope!

[Jennifer W]

Marie: in your favor, your community CANNOT by law restrict you from xeriscaping or re-landscaping your yard with Florida native plants (plants that historically grew here, nothing exotic from other regions or countries).

Go to the state native plant society website and look up the statute. http://www.fnps.org

If needed, contact the president of the society, Shirley Denton, or the executive director, Karina Veaudry, and they will GLADLY help you overcome your HOA and green grass issues. They wrote it and remind us of the law every year at the state conference.

Take on the hysterical HOA president, you WILL win!

[Marie R]

Thank you, Jennifer. I thank you "publicly," not just because I can't do so in a more personal venue, but also because it's very reassuring to see us PC residents help one another! Will pass along the info to others in my situation. You're right ... we can have it both ways, green and lean ... if both sides are reasonable.

[Don Mott]

There is only one way to keep Staugustine sod green and that is a lot of water and fertilizer. Of course those who have emerald green lawns during a drought are obviously watering more than once a week and dumping fertilizer toxins into the ecosystem. Upon going to Fort Desoto last weekend I saw plenty of million dollar homes with bright green lawns, and large SUVs in the driveway while driving through Tierra Verde. The city could probably use some late night water police in neighborhoods like this instead of harassing the innocent folks who are trying to observe the law! In the future sod and sprinkler systems will become obsolete thanks to hogs who don't give a darn about anything but themselves and these are the people the city should be investigating not those of us who have brown lawns because we follow the law!

[Jennifer W]

Don: most, if not all of the homes/golf courses on Tierra Verde have reclaimed water. Up until last week they were not violating any watering restrictions because reclaimed users were only asked to voluntarily cut back.

Obviously they didn't, which is why they turned off the reclaimed water to all customers during certain times of the day. There is a very small blurb in today's (Sunday) paper about it, only in the southern county neighborhood times section.

I WISH that this had been what the times reported on the front page yesterday for all subscribers to see, along side the article about codes giving letters to folks with brown lawns. We REALLY need an article about all the water abusers, they ARE getting fines and there are waaaaaay more than 608 homes getting these type of citations.

C'mon Mr. Kruse, where's that article???

I'm curious, Jennifer, what's on your front yard? Usually the people who go around reporting neighbors are the ones with the greenest lawns.

I have reclaimed water and my lawn is crunchy. I cut back way before we were asked too despite the fact for many, many years I've been paying a monthly fee, which has risen regularly, for a service I can not use. When I do try to use my reclaimed water, many times the pressure is so low, I can't get it to run properly. The reason for this is despite the City of St. Petersburg placing a moratorium on new hookups years ago, they CONTINUE to add large developments and condo complexes to a system that was overburdened 10 years ago. If St. Pete goes to mandatory 1 day/week use of reclaimed water, which for those of you unfamiliar with how it works, we pay for WHETHER WE USE IT OR NOT, unlike metered water, I am sorely tempted to start paying only 1/7 of my reclaimed water bill, and again, since I can only actually get meaningful use of it on rare days, paying for one day out of 7 is even overpaying.

Keep on building, Mayor Baker, just keep on building.

[Jennifer W]

Unidentified reclaimed user:

My entire yard is oak leaf mulch and 99% Florida native plants, trees, and shrubs. Not a blade of grass, I challenge anyone to come find one. We have spent the last five years getting our yard to be turf free, native plants only, self sustaining, and wildlife friendly. We have more songbirds and butterflies, snakes and pollinating insects, and 'coons and possums than anyone in the zip code. And we're darn proud of it. I report others because I'm sick of seeing MY drinking/ cooking/ toilet flushing/ clothes washing water being sent down the driveway and into the gutter unnecessarily. We have rain barrels set up to collect water off the roof and use this supply throughout the year to HAND water certain plants as needed. At times when those rain barrels are empty, we fill the watering can with the well water from the hose and walk it around the yard. None of this is easy, it has been five years of hard work and reprogramming of our habits and behaviors, but now it is all very rewarding. It's a choice we have made, something we have committed to following through with.

I understand that you do pay a fee for the reclaimed water, but I also believe that it is in your contract that the city/county has the right to turn it off at any time for reasons such as the present.

I do not have reclaimed water. I have city water and a private well, which may not be used for human consumption. Understanding also that we at my house are in the minority, I would like to point out that my husband and I also pay for water "whether we use it or not" as you say. See, we get charged a minimum also. I don't have our most recent bill in front of us so I may start quoting out my rear end, but my husband always gripes that we get charged for the first ..fill in the blank here.. gallons even though we didn't actually use that much. This charge also includes twice weekly garbage pick up, which we only take advantage of twice monthly (can we get that pro-rated??), so we pay for services we don't use also.

So we're getting stuck with the Mayor's hot poker too. Buy my water! Use my garbage service! Phooey on your recycling desires! By the way, show me your green grass!

Bottom line, the only way to change policy is to go to the people who make and/or vote on the policy and CONVINCE them to change it. City council, county commissioner, Mayor, Governor, etc. Write, write, write, call, call, call.

Jennifer is correct - the codes folks were likely there on other business, not trolling for dead lawns. Codes is not proactive, I'd argue 99% of the time they are responding to neighbor complaints. In regards to the yard in featured in the article I, in my limited knowledge, saw three other code violations in the picture alone(including the car parked on the "lawn").

My guess is the pastor's property looks like crap and is poorly maintained in general. So, his neighbors complained and codes cited him.

The rest of the bruhaha is cannon fodder for the TIMES.