News

**ULP UNKNOWN LUNATIC POSTER**

This is getting as bad as Germany in WW II Read the following story:

Mow Your Lawn or Go to Jail, Warns One Long Island Village

An unkempt lawn could do more than irritate your neighbors in one Long Island, N.Y., village -- it could land you in jail.

The Massapequa Park village board unanimously passed a law imposing fines and even jail time on homeowners who don't keep up their properties, Massapequa Patch reports. Aside from not mowing the lawn, eyesores including full dumpsters, broken gutters, excessive litter, boarded-up doors and windows, unattended shopping carts and graffiti can land homeowners in hot water.

The owners -- including banks that have foreclosed properties -- have 10 days to comply with a village order to clean up their premises before stiff penalties are imposed. The first offense carries a penalty of up to $1,000, but subsequent offenses can carry jail time and even heavier fines. Three offenses within five years can bring up to 15 days in jail and as much as a $10,000 fine.

"People take great pride in this village and they take great pride in their property," Massapequa Park Mayor James Altadonna said at the village board meeting. "There's a few landowners who don't feel the same way as the rest of us and we've really tried to work with them."

Altadonna also proposed a law that would charge banks $500 every time village employees have to clean up their foreclosed properties.

Read more about Massapequa Parks new property regulations on Massapequa Patch.

Massapequa Park isn't the first town to force its residents to mow their lawns. A woman from Mount Pleasant, S.C., spent six days in jail for refusing to mow and declutter her yard earlier this year. She recently made headlines again after harassing an officer who arrived to check on further complaints.

Abandoned and foreclosed properties, meanwhile, increasingly pose problems across the U.S. A recent study suggested that banks tend to ignore foreclosed properties in minority areas. And in Chicago, banks walked away from underwater properties, leaving them completely abandoned.

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/06/1...latestnews

**Dire_effects** lop guest User ID: 99789 06-14-2012 04:42 AM

Thy can do that to rental properties.

Don't rent.

**czygyny**

Don't buy a house in an area that you have these sort of rules to keep, if you want to be lazy and not keep up your property.

I'm serious.

Many people take a lot of pride in their homes and nothing irritates them more than a slovenly/noisy/inconsiderate neighbor, not to mention it drags down their property values.

Buy a house in an unrestricted subdivision. Live amongst the others who hold the same values as you do and you'll all be happy.

Of course it is ridiculous to jail someone over an unkempt lawn or overflowing trash (until it gets to be a health hazard!) but homeowners in communities like this usually have to agree to the rules before they're accepted into the fold.

Believe it or not, community means consideration for others.

**LoP Guest** lop guest User ID: 102318 06-14-2012 05:06 AM

Sounds like a fun opportunity to visit the village, spread the seeds of some incredibly invasive species, and where we don't do that, write nasty things on peoples' lawns with roundup or other strong herbicide.

Who's with me?

**LoP Guest** lop guest User ID: 102318 06-14-2012 05:07 AM

Why would anyone want high property values? so they can pay higher taxes?

Never understood that. A house is a place to live not an investment. Equities and PM's don't have property tax nor upkeep.

czygyny Wrote:

Don't buy a house in an area that you have these sort of rules to keep, if you want to be lazy and not keep up your property.

I'm serious.

Many people take a lot of pride in their homes and nothing irritates them more than a slovenly/noisy/inconsiderate neighbor, not to mention it drags down their property values.

Buy a house in an unrestricted subdivision. Live amongst the others who hold the same values as you do and you'll all be happy.

Of course it is ridiculous to jail someone over an unkempt lawn or overflowing trash (until it gets to be a health hazard!) but homeowners in communities like this usually have to agree to the rules before they're accepted into the fold.

Believe it or not, community means consideration for others.

**Stormson**

Like I said in a previous post, we are ALL slaves, and NONE of us are allowed to own property... You may THINK its yours, but try doing what you want with it or refusing to pay your rent (taxes) on this "owned" property and see how that works out..

**Fred** lop guest User ID: 102229 06-14-2012 05:48 AM

Unless your a banker. Then its fine, let your foreclosures rot with no action, certainly not arrest.

**Balls Deep**

No soda, popcorn, long grass...

What the f*ck is going on over there?????

**czygyny**

LoP Guest Wrote:

Why would anyone want high property values? so they can pay higher taxes?

Never understood that. A house is a place to live not an investment. Equities and PM's don't have property tax nor upkeep.

Once upon a time it was every bit worth the property taxes and upkeep.

Until the housing bubble burst, real estate was indeed a good investment. I know of a few people who were savvy enough to make a really good living at buying and selling their homes and undeveloped property.

When it comes to selling your house, you bet you want it to have a higher value than when you purchased it. Millions of homeowners knew that for decades, well-kept property would always become more valuable, but of course we saw that they played the game too far and too long and they're now 'underwater' with no way to sell their house to break even, but would sell at a painful loss.

Having a run down house next door also is a put-off for prospective buyers in a market that is very tough for sellers these days.

I don't (and would never) live in an area that has any rules or regulations, but I've always kept my abodes, rented or owned, beautiful, because I cared for my neighbors, kept my landlords happy and I enjoy a well-kept yard. Actually knock-out showpiece yards, but it's not that hard to keep a presentable yard.

GREY LENSMAN · **GLNLI** lop guest User ID: 97360 06-14-2012 06:46 AM

GARDEN

A YARD IS A HARD SURFACE AREA TO STORE THINGS

GL

Pi Infinity User ID: 3.14159265 06-14-2012 06:48 AM

How do you mow your lawn when you are in jail?

**kittykat**

Balls Deep Wrote:

No soda, popcorn, long grass...

What the f*ck is going on over there?????

its terrible ,, I just cant even believe what is going on

control control control

those people are going to put decent people, probably older Srs out of their home

whatever happened to helping your neighbor not turning them in so they can pay a fine and go to jail?

**kittykat**

Pi Wrote:

How do you mow your lawn when you are in jail?

im sure they mow it for you and send you a bill for 1000

its a great way for the city to earn revenue

they are all looking for ways to screw us out of ours

**008** · (This post was last modified: 06-14-2012 07:14 AM by 008.)

Pi Wrote:

How do you mow your lawn when you are in jail?

Inmates on work release do it.

**LoP Guest** lop guest User ID: 101090 06-14-2012 07:36 AM

czygyny Wrote:

Believe it or not, community means consideration for others.

That can be considered a form of "local fascism" in the wrong light there czygyny ...

I mean if one must "conform" to a community or risk being ostracized by the community, then that is really a breach of individual rights "Constitutionally"...

If a house has grass longer then another, and is not kept up to a virtual standard set by a community, and the "penalty" is to encroach upon the individuals rights... Thats wrong plain and simple..

Communities are a sham, when they expect everyone to "conform" to a plan, and if that person wants to live there, then their is very little one should be able to do about it (even if it does bring down "monetary concerns over human issues"..

I find it rather funny (even somewhat comical) that home owners are so proud of a piece of material called a house, and then expect by their "grace", others to follow lock step and barrel with their unique complexities, and heaven help you if you even stray to your own unique preferences in that community, because the first thing everyone is concerned with is "appearances" and then the very next thing they think about is "money" as pertaining to "property values", instead of working with the people if they are just too busy to get it done..

Ever hear of walking with a gallon of gas, a lawn mower, and offering to mow it for them for a few buck?.. I used to make a killing doing that growing up..

Communities are NOT about conformity, they are about individuality, and "support" of each unique differences, even if they grate against you (nobody says you have to be friends or invite them over to your house, but to shun them is to ignore the issue allowing to fester and grow, while to force them to conform, is localized Fascism)