The web is flooded with outrage over the alleged prosecution of home owner Julie Brass in Oak Park, MI, because she grows veggies in her front yard.
It is hard to believe that Julie Bass is facing three months in jail over this BEAUTIFUL front yard.
I did a little research on the web and found a post urging readers to contact the Oak Park Director/City Planner Kevin Rulkowski at krulkowski@ci.oak-park.mi.us. Here is my email:
Dear Mr. Rulkowski:
You’re probably aware of the many blogs claiming that Oak Park won’t allow residents to grow veggies in their front yards.
I find this hard to believe, especially considering that the nation is in a depression (44 MILLION people on food stamps!!!) and our food supply has been poisoned with genetically modified organisms, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and toxic ingredients such as aspartame and MSG.
Home owner Julie Bass deserves nothing but PRAISE for her beautiful front yard, not only because she’s growing healthy food, but because she sets an example for the entire neighborhood!
I sure hope that your response will make it clear that all these internet posts claiming that Julie Bass is prosecuted for growing vegetables in her front yard are based on a hoax.
Thanks,
Christine Baker
c: posted at https://highdesertpermaculture.org
I’ll update with the response.
UPDATE: No response from Mr. Rulkowski yet, but I found a “real” article about this dispute and apparently there will be a JURY TRIAL!
Details are at Oak Park battles city over vegetable garden in their front yard – watch the video!
I’ll post more details in a new entry later. Have to plant some veggies now 🙂
http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/oakland_county/oak-park-battles-city-over-vegetable-garden-in-their-front-yard
Please help Julie by signing her petition..
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/oak-park-hates-veggies/
Stunning. I found his number and email after reading about this on tumblr and included it on my blog. For a brief moment I felt bad putting it up there, but seriously, threatening someone with jail because her lawn isn’t “common”? That’s just stupid. I do hope though that anyone that does decided to contact him via e-mail or by phone is polite while making their feelings known.
I hope you didn’t consider my email to Rulkowski to be rude. I didn’t get an answer from him and didn’t expect one.
And thanks for the link to the petition. I signed it right away and I just posted an update in a new post.
This is about a lot more than a few veggies in a front yard.