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Time to call off the lawn police

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published June 2, 2007

Here's a suggestion on how the city of St. Petersburg can trim its budget. Call off the lawn police. A city code enforcer drove through Lakewood Estates recently identifying houses that would be sent a violation notice for having too much dirt where there should be grass.

Mitchell Bryant, who lives on Alcazar Way and admits his lawn is a little sparse, got one of the notices in the mail. "You'd think they'd be more sensitive to the atmospheric conditions and hold off on the letters," said Bryant, referring to the Tampa Bay area's extended drought. "You're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place."

Bryant has a point. The "rock" is the threat from code enforcers that he'd better start watering his lawn, and the "hard place" is the threat from the city's Water Resources Department that it will fine anyone who waters too much.

In fact, the city says you can water only one day per week if you use potable water or a private well. That's not enough to keep grass alive in Florida's sandy soil during a drought. And should we be using drinking water for that purpose, anyway? If you violate the water restrictions, the penalty is severe: a $175 fine plus court costs.

Todd Yost, assistant director of St. Petersburg's Code Compliance Assistance office, said the city wasn't intending to fine people for having dying lawns. "In a tough time like this, with the drought, we really, truly do try to work with residents," Yost said. In fact, the city will give those violating the lawn code a brochure on how to grow drought-resistant ground cover.

That's helpful, but nothing grows well in a drought. Mayor Rick Baker should call off the lawn police, at least until it starts raining regularly. It makes little sense for code enforcers to waste city gasoline driving around looking for dead grass. In case the city hasn't noticed, there is also a gasoline supply problem that has raised prices to $3 a gallon.

The message the city should be sending residents is that we should all be conserving water and gasoline, even if that means dead grass and less cruising for code violations.

[Last modified June 1, 2007, 21:55:14]