In 2012 A Resident Had To Fight With Ferguson Officials To Keep His Front Yard Vegetable Garden
The post is a repeat of my post A Front Yard Vegetable Garden In Ferguson Missouri from August 2012:
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In July one modest house in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson got the attention of many:
A Ferguson resident has won a battle with city officials that could be considered a matter of taste.
The resident, Karl Tricamo, had been feuding with the city for months over the vegetable garden he had planted in front of his house in the 300 block of Louisa Avenue.
The city saw the garden as a blot on the landscape and issued Tricamo a citation demanding he uproot the corn, tomatoes, sorghum, peppers and other crops sprouting there and, instead, seed the yard for grass. The garden measures 35 feet by 25 feet. (stltoday.com)
Other resources:
- Treehugger.com: Stay-at-Home Dad Wins Right to Front Yard Vegetable Garden
- Riverfront Times: Ferguson Man Fights to Grow Veggies in Front Yard
- Owner’s blog: Vegetable Garden in Ferguson, Mo.
Numerous pictures were circulated on Facebook & Twitter as front yard gardening advocates celebrated this victory. But all the pictures concentrated tightly on the garden, I wanted to understand the context. I went to Google Maps but no streetview was available just an aerial.
I knew I wanted to see the garden and street in person but it’s a 12+ mile drive — and I don’t have a car. So I caught a bus at the North Hanley MetroLink station and I was within blocks.
In an older neighborhood with mature trees locations for a vegetable garden are often limited, most vegetables need full sun. I applaud Tricamo for fighting the City of Ferguson so he could grow food for his family.
— Steve Patterson
And what does this have to do with the recent events in Ferguson?! (I’m assuming that you’re expecting us to draw some sort of conclusion.) The tension between a homeowner wanting to do non-traditional lawn maintenance and local government is/was not unique to Ferguson – it happens anyplace you have engaged residents and a responsive government, you’ll never be able to keep everyone happy. It doesn’t matter if it’s Ferguson, Webster Groves or Oakville.
Other than being in the same small municipality, it nothing to do with the recent events.
As with most matters of personal taste as it relates to public interaction/viewing, I go back to the rules on the books. What laws has Ferguson enacted on the matter of appropriate/allowable street-facing lawnscaping? My guess is its vague enough that there’s no direct mention of vegetable gardens, but does have some max vegetation height.