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Officials Sue Couple Who Removed Their Lawn
Hugh Pickens writes "The LA Times reports that Orange County officials are locked in a legal battle with a couple accused of violating city ordinances for replacing the grass on their lawn with wood chips and drought-tolerant plants, reducing their water usage from 299,221 gallons in 2007 to 58,348 gallons in 2009. The dispute began two years ago, when Quan and Angelina Ha tore out the grass in their front yard. In drought-plagued Southern California, the couple said, the lush grass had been soaking up tens of thousands of gallons of water — and hundreds of dollars — each year. 'We've got a newborn, so we want to start worrying about her future,' said Quan Ha, an information technology manager for Kelley Blue Book. But city officials told the Has they were violating several city laws that require that 40% of residential yards to be landscaped predominantly with live plants. Last summer, the couple tried to appease the city by building a fence around the yard and planting drought-tolerant greenery — lavender, rosemary, horsetail, and pittosporum, among others. But according to the city, their landscaping still did not comply with city standards. At the end of January, the Has received a letter saying they had been charged with a misdemeanor violation and must appear in court. The couple could face a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for their grass-free, eco-friendly landscaping scheme. 'It's just funny that we pay our taxes to the city and the city is now prosecuting us with our own money,' says Quan Ha."
Well, it's nice to know that the city of Orange won't let residents save water while the rest of the towns on the same water system are offering bumper stickers that say "I killed my lawn.. ask me how"
I see you've never been to Orange county, home to such places as Irvine where it is illegal to leave your garage door open.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
LA Offers upto a $2000 rebate for ripping up your lawn
Seems that in June of '09, LA wanted to try to catch up with LasVegas who is paying people to rip up their lawns as well.
the intent of the cash-for-grass program is to reduce the 50 to 90 inches of water routinely applied to turf every year. Drought-tolerant substitutes may require just 15 -- in keeping with L.A.'s average annual rainfall.
For information on the L.A. Department of Water and Power program, call the regional water agency rebate hotline at ..... The recording will say funding for regionwide programs is exhausted, but keep listening. DWP customers can press 3 for more details on their rebate.
Also, here's the link to the SoCal Turf Removal Program.
Also America isn't a Democracy. It is a Constitutional Federal Republic.
It's still a democracy. Any country where people have a say in how it's run - whether directly, or via representatives - is called a democracy; check any English dictionary. "Republic" just means that there's no hereditary monarch, really.
This word had the narrow meaning that you ascribe to it 1) only in US; 2) a long time ago.
While there are strong Democratic traditions, it was designed specifically so that there isn't a tyranny of the majority (at least hopefully not).
For the fun of it, I had once calculated just how many people would it take to pass a constitutional amendment in US (= can do anything, supercedes any law, no limits whatsoever), going by the existing rules. All you really need is the majority in 3/4 of all states (first to raise the issue, and then to get it passed in the parliament). Given that state population is very unequal, if small states gang up, it's actually possible to amend the constitution with only slightly less than 1/3 of all people in the country actually backing it - and it would be legally binding on the other 2/3.
I guess that makes it "tyranny of the minority"? ~
By not maintaining grass they are only worsening region's drough issues.
Importing water and evaporating it (which is what a lawn does) is an ineffective strategy in desert regions. The slightly more humid air will be blown away.
Besides the ocean is right next door in this case. Air humidity measured in g/m3 must be quite high, even though the relative humidity is low.
Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
I'm trying to figure out why they needed 58,000 gallons to water woodchips though.
I think that was their total water usage, inside the house and out.
After Somalia's former government collapsed, it didn't take long for warlords to consolidate power
sigh. You do realize that the worlds biggest warlord was behind the Somali gov "collapse" and for several years now has been illegally invading the country on the sly.
At first glance you may think that the US invasion will be a good thing for Somalia... but then the horrific details of the methods used might give pause to that romanticized "It'll be good for 'em" notion of war and invasion.
. Of course, It's all about oil, again. Won't someone invent a replacement already.
LA is solidly blue on a political demographic map. OC is bright red.
An infomercial to those inexperienced in USA politics: blue is to the left of red in the political palette (Democrats=blue vs. Republicans=red). And it's not because they place the communist party mirrored relative to the rest of the world ^_^
See also "Hey, it's the same guy controlling both the puppets!"
Homeowners care about their neighbors' home values because they greatly affect their own home's value. If your neighbor turns his once nice yard into a horror, the appraised value of every home in the area will decrease. People who intend to live in their homes until they die care the least, and at the opposite end of the spectrum speculators have conniption fits.
The idea is to plant drought resistant plants in the woodchips. They are definitely NOT a fire hazard, in fact they are just the opposite they prevent weeds and hold in moisture. Here in Australia the various authorities actually encourage the practice and levy hefty fines if you are caught watering your lawn from the mains when water restrictions are in force.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Outside the Anglo-Saxon world, liberal actually means right-wing. The economic and political doctrines are the same but the liberals don't care so much about religion and family values and advocate personal liberty on those matters.
And then there are the Communists, Socialists and Social Democrats that we consider left-wing, but those don't exist in the USA.
Since the Conservative Revolution in the 80s we've had most major political parties converting to liberalism in Europe. This means less regulations (for corporations), less taxation (for corporations), less government (translation: less social spending), privatisation of public services, etc.
In short, the common people pay more taxes and receive less from the State, the corporations and the ultra-rich are free to fuck everybody in the ass and make all the money they want.
Funny thing, everybody talks about the government expense these days. It's like the Devil itself. But the current free-market doctrine does nothing then making it worse and worse. As an example, the government builds a new public hospital, then gives it to a private corporation for management because "private is more efficient". The service is worse, the costs (supported by the State) are huge, but they move on as if this was a good idea. The same for everything you can imagine, from schools to public transportation, to roads. All the right wing pundits on TV and papers (they're all right wing, anyway) bitch and bitch and bitch about taxation and government spending, but they all defend this absurd model of the government handing millions to privates for (mis) managing public services and facilities. It's pretty clear to somebody owning a brain that this is a doomed model, but it's the standard in the Western world, nowadays.
I have problems with HOAs, but this isn't an HOA (which theoretically you voluntarily chose to join, you have to sign the HOA agreements as part of settlement), it is the local government.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
to the jury (I will not convict the white man for marrying a black woman no matter what the law says),
That's called Jury nullification, and jurors are rarely informed of their right not to convict. I've read about an instance or two where judges specifically inform juries that they cannot do this (although this is really, really illegal)
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)