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A woman in Michigan was threatened with jail time for a controversial garden. Suspect specimens include peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini.
Last month, as carrot tops emerged from new raised beds, a small suburb west of Detroit charged Julie Bass with a misdemeanor. Vegetables, Oak Park officials stated, were not suitable front yard plantings. If the garden wasn’t moved, Bass would be fined $100 and face 93 days behind bars.
The issue began innocently enough. Earlier this year, a broken sewer pipe forced the Bass family to dig up their front lawn. When repairs were completed, the yard was reduced to dirt. Faced with a clean slate, the family decided to put their land to good use.
Intent on following local regulations, Julie Bass called the Oak Park city planner to discuss her unorthodox idea—a front yard vegetable garden. Officials instructed her to restrict plantings to ordinance requirements specified as “suitable live plant material.” With no further instruction, Bass determined that vegetables met this definition and continued to pursue her vision.
As written, the Oak Park ordinance is certainly open to interpretation. But while officials maintain that “suitable” refers to a conventional front lawn of grass and shrubs, Bass says the city has never been able to produce a list of either acceptable or prohibited plants. The ordeal prompted several Facebook pages in support of the garden, and Bass’s own blog, “Oak Park Hates Veggies.”
Bass wrote, “93 days in jail over a vegetable garden, for a regular mom with several great children who has never been in trouble, who abides by the laws, who has no record, who has committed no crime, and who doesn’t cause trouble. I wanted to just put that in writing to see if it made any more sense. It doesn’t.”
The story quickly went viral, and support for Bass poured in from across the country. Oak Park officials were inundated with tens of thousands of complaints—even death threats. Hounded by the bad publicity, the city has reportedly dropped the case. But Bass isn’t convinced the attack is over.
“We weren’t actually cleared of any wrongdoing,” wrote Bass in her blog late last week. “The charges have not been settled in a way that gives us any assurance at all of them not coming back the second the media spotlight is off of Oak Park.”
Meanwhile, other residents have expressed concern that their yard may somehow be breaking the vague Oak Park ordinance. Is a potted tomato or basil plant permitted on front steps? Could a well-tended patch of lemon balm incur a fine? Oak Park prosecutor Eugene Lumberg has stated that he still needs time to “review the ordinance.”
Bass will still attend her previously scheduled pre-trial on July 26 but now it’s because of a new misdemeanor. When the city dismissed the vegetable case they immediately reinstated a dog licensing charge for a citation that records indicated Bass had taken care of over a month ago.While the dog licenses were out of date when the citation was served, Bass says that they have long been paid for (including late fees). The paperwork has been shown to appropriate officials, but the city still insists on taking Bass to court. No one ever said fighting city hall was easy.
