=> home => native_suburbia => 20100930_squeaky_wheel_gets_the_grease

Categories:

 

September 30, 2010

Squeaky Wheel Gets The Grease

Another month has gone by, but the Village of Bartlett did not mow the parkway. I am almost a little disappointed because I want them to take responsibility for the decision they have made. They decided to reinforce that old saying "the squeaky wheel gets the grease". So my neighbors convinced Bartlett to mow the parkway and now I guess it is their chore to maintain it.

If my defeated attitude is a surprise to you, I will explain. A few weeks ago I met with the mayor/president of Bartlett, Mike Kelly. He came to my home and took a brief tour of my yard. It was raining on that particular day in September and not the best time to show off the merits of Native Suburbia, but I greatly appreciated that he took the time to visit. During our conversation, I explained our dedication to native plants and the efforts we take to maintain our landscaping. I pointed out that the only significant weeds were in the parkway where they have been mowing. I also mentioned my confusion over the Bartlett's refusal to discuss the matter further before mowing considering the compromise that was reached last year. Mr. Kelly listened to my concerns, but in the end he felt that there were more appropriate personnel from the Village that I should work with. He suggested that I get in touch with Paula Schumacher, whom I had worked with previously. He did say that what I did with the rest of the yard, besides the parkway, was up to me. He shared some concerns that people might be afraid of what could be hiding in my landscaping, but I think his up close tour showed him that those fears are unfounded. He also indicated that he would not support the growing of anything "tall" in the parkway for safety reasons.

An interesting side note is that my neighbor, the squeaky wheel herself, came out and stood close to the property line to listen to my conversation with the mayor. She must have been so proud of herself for getting my plants mowed. As the mayor was leaving, she ran down her driveway to intercept him, but he was running late for another appointment and suggested that she call him on Monday. I would have liked to hear their conversation.

A few days later I called Paula Schumacher. She was a completely different person than the one that I had spoken to last October. She indicated that the compromise we had reached did not placate the neighbors and therefore the Village was left with no choice but to mow the parkway. In her opinion, we had reached the end of any need to discuss the issue. The squeaky wheel had been greased and they would continue to do so. She made it clear that the parkway belonged to the Village and they had the right to mow it. It did not matter to her that other homeowners plant flowers on the parkway without Village harassment. It did not matter to her that the native plants provided water management benefits. It did not matter to her whether any municipal codes were being violated. All that mattered was 5 people complained and they outnumbered me.

I asked Paula who these 5 people were so that I could face my accusers, but she indicated that she could not reveal their names for their own protection. (Of course, I know who one of them is, but I am curious about the others.) So they are protected from me, but the Village attacks me on their behalf. Since the Village has taken the role of middle man in this case, I asked what had been done to present my concerns to the complainers. If the Village will fight on their behalf, then is it not reasonable to expect that they would represent the interests of all residents? Of course that is not the case and Paula became frustrated when I suggested it. She was done talking about this situation and there is nothing more that I can do at this time.

So for now I play the waiting game. Perhaps someday my ignorant neighbors will learn to appreciate a different aesthetic. I know that next year I will be faced with the same disappointment as the plants in the parkway grow beautifully in the summer sun until the wheel squeaks again.

/native_suburbia | Permalink (5 comments)

Comments


Bluestem wrote at 2010-10-04 19:48:

Are you familiar with fogfruit, Phyla lanceolata? It is a flowering groundcover native to Illinois. It could be the perfect plant for your parkway and should stay below the mowing height. http://www.inhs.illinois.edu/animals_plants/plants/ilgallery/ThePlants/PGenera/PhyLan/PhyLan.html

We have a related species in Texas called frogfruit, Phyla nodiflora. It can take wet or dry soil, blooms all summer and attracts buterflies and bees. I grow it in one of my rain gardens and I am thinking about putting some in my parkway next year. It grows fast too.

Don wrote at 2010-10-08 07:34:

Thanks for thinking of us Bluestem. I had not heard of fogfruit before, but I did a little research. It appears to be a pioneer plant that shows up in disturbed areas like ditches and railroads. I would not recommend a monoculture of any plant even if I could establish only fogfruit in the parkway. If that was my goal, I could also try filling it with prairie smoke. But I have much taller plants just a couple of feet away that like to seed themselves in the parkway. I originally tried to limit the parkway planting to under 2 feet, but nature did not like that.

Angry Bartlett Tax Payer wrote at 2010-11-18 22:57:

The officials in the Village of Bartlett suck. Most of the people I've talked to in office are worthless. Our taxes are extremely high and for what?? Oh like we needed to buy Villa Olivia - YES, our taxes are being increased again for this purchase - Let's get these fools out of office!!!

ellen ley wrote at 2010-11-19 15:55:

Wow, just wow. I have been reading this for the past hour, and just want to cry nooooo!!......how can city officials treat their constituents so badly? For growing native gardens?? We too were called on for our 'weeds' by the old biddies(sorry, I actually adore most old people:) that run neighborhood assoc. It so happened that we were at an assoc. meeting and the issue came up about problem neighbors, and our property was a target of their wrath. They even had a weed violation ordinance sign ready to go, and stick on our lot. Boy, we lit into those closed minded, old stick-in-the-muds, and tried to educate. It stopped the sign from going up, but did not stop other neighbors from calling city code enforcers on us. City code officer was alright, he is an ethno-botanist so he knew right away what we are growing. This year we planted sweet potatoes in the hell-strip and didn't receive any complaints, maybe because the plants are not tall. We do grow a lot of veggies, fruits, herbs amongst all our natives, maybe that keeps the authorities at bay. What can they say when we are growing food for ourselves? Just saw a Golden- crowned Kinglet this morning, so that brings close to 50 species of birds, and growing, that visit our 1/2 acre wildlife habitat, along with the hummers, insects, etc.. Please do not give up, the fight is worth it, nature, wildlife depend on us to beat the status quo, speak up, because they have no choice, or voice.

ellen wrote at 2010-11-19 17:23:

We do love the way your native plantings are growing, especially along the sidewalk. Could you not keep the hell-strip at 8-10" tall? The plants would thrive, flower, albeit shorter. I have also planted western primroses there as a low ground cover. The back also looks like our back property, lots of wildlife, nature, spite the squeaky wheels.

Submit a comment

Comments are closed for this story.