Manicured grass not desired by all

To the editor:

I am responding to the brief in Tuesday June 14th Fairfield Ledger: ?Vegetables won?t be allowed in city right-of-way.?

This is the email that I sent to Ron Adam and the rest of our city council members.

  I agree that nothing should be growing in the right of way that would obstruct visibility for traffic and pedestrians, especially at corners.

However, I disagree that just because you (Mr. Adam) don?t want to see vegetable in your front yard; there are a lot of us who do.

With our economic times, cost of food rising and our community going toward sustainability; using our lawns, and gardens to produce more local food is becoming essential. Gone are the days (and I never thought them as beautiful) is the need to maintain a manicured lawn with just grass and the expense of upkeep. Think of the cost of gas! We need to redefine what we consider a well-kept yard. Planting prairie is one of the best ways to 1) alleviate annual maintenance; 2) increase water retention ? think of all the water that is flowing into our city streets, storm drains and sewers. However, most prairie grasses are taller than and don?t look as neat as a manicured grass.

We have had a very successful spring Backyard Conservation series (which includes front yards) this spring with a lot of good ideas regarding the Go Green initiative and reducing our water run off by 10 percent. A lot of these ideas would involve changing the use of our grass areas.

Finally, even a well-kept and maintained garden, to the uninitiated may look unkempt ? however it is what it is.

I believe we have our own responsibility to our own properties and just because someone else wants to have manicured grass doesn?t dictate that we all should.

I wish that you would reconsider this ordinance; preferable remove it completely and not create another law that would increase our (policing) costs. 

? Kerry Bell, Fairfield