It’s time to mow down the real problems

http://www.limaohio.com/articles/grass_24583___article.html/jail_glenn.html

It’s time to mow down the real problems
June 23, 2008 - 4:28PM
David Trinko
The hardened criminal looks over at the new guy at the Allen County Jail.
"What're you in here for?" the career crook asks.
The new guy, serving his first term in the slammer, replies simply, "Grass."
"Oh yeah? How much?" responds the long-timer.
"Six inches," answers Mr. I Didn't Mow My Lawn.
This conversation could be coming to a jail cell near you, courtesy of Lima's 6th Ward councilor, Derry Glenn. Glenn announced Friday he wants Lima to adopt a law similar to one passed in Canton.
The Canton version makes a second violation of the city's high-grass ordinance a fourth-degree misdemeanor, carrying a $250 fine and up to 30 days in jail.
It's already a no-no to blow off cutting your lawn. After getting an initial warning, offenders get a fine from $50 to $350, plus the costs of inspection. That makes a grand total of about $500, not including the city paying someone to cut your grass.
Still, Glenn seems to be playing in the high grass here. If money isn't enough incentive to get property owners to whack their weeds, is jail time going to make that much of a difference? Or, to whip out bigger words, how does criminalizing a problem solve it when monetizing doesn't?
Glenn's idea is full of shortcomings. As Amy Odum, Lima's community development director, said, the hard part is finding absent homeowners to make them responsible.
The problem gets worse as there are more and more foreclosures. Odum estimated 65 percent of the homes where she's heard complaints were vacant or abandoned.
It's also nice to see a councilor focused on an issue when there's already a law addressing it. And, oh yeah, the law can send someone to jail if necessary.
Then there's the issue of putting extra burden on an already sluggish legal system. We don't really need to fill the Allen County Jail up with people who skipped a mowing. We ought to spend our efforts on people who sell grass, as in marijuana, than the ones who're sloppy about mowing schedules.
It's also hard to get behind Glenn in deciding what the standard should be. If a home is a man's castle, he should have some voice in how high the moat is.
I know I agitate my neighbors by cutting my grass with nearly the lowest setting on the lawnmower. My grass never looks as green or as full as theirs, but I can get away with a week and a half between mowings if I must.
Quite simply, we shouldn't trample over a property owner's right.
We keep dancing around the same problems over and over. Everyone wants to live in a utopia except for the people keeping it from being one.
We want fewer drugs on the street. We want safer neighborhoods. We want the grass mowed and a picket fence on every block.
By going after the people who poorly maintain their properties, Glenn's going after the symptom, not the disease.
To accomplish these things, we simply need to be better neighbors to one another.
We had some pretty bad neighbors for a few years as I grew up. At one point, they had nearly a foot of grass in their yard.
My dad's solution to this eyesore was simple: He told me to mow down our neighbor's yard, first with a weed-whacker and then the mower. Then he told me to stick a note on their front door: "If your mower's broke, feel free to borrow ours. Or we can mow it for you."
That grass never got higher than 4 inches again. We never had to get the authorities involved. We invoked something more powerful: Community pride.
When crimes occur in Lima, police ask the community to speak up to bring people to justice.
When people are in need here, friends and neighbors come together to help, be it financially or emotionally. On any given weekend you can find a benefit dinner or auction for someone going through a tough time.
There is no power greater here than the power of the community.