SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
War on Gardens: Orlando Man Fights City Over Front Yard Farm
Sustainability in the face of cookie cutter ordinances
Nov 08, 2012
Local news station reports on the battle waging in Orlando between the city and gardener resident Jason Helvingston.
Helvingston was ordered to dig up his front yard garden by Thursday; however, he remains defiant. "You'll take my house before you take my garden," he reportedly told city officials.
"There's nothing wrong here. There's nothing poisonous here. This is a sustainable plot of land," Helvingston said in an interview with local news station Channel 6. From his 25 x 25 foot front yard, Helvingston harvests vegetables including beans, radishes, kale and swiss chard.
According to the report, Helvingston's garden violates city code that requires front yards to be planted with ground cover, giving the appearance of uniformity which is supposedly good for property values.
"We are definitely not bothered by it," neighbors said of Helvingston's garden. "We love it."
Helvingston has collected 200 signatures from neighbors who support his garden in hopes of convincing the city to reconsider the code when he appears before the city board next month.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Local news station reports on the battle waging in Orlando between the city and gardener resident Jason Helvingston.
Helvingston was ordered to dig up his front yard garden by Thursday; however, he remains defiant. "You'll take my house before you take my garden," he reportedly told city officials.
"There's nothing wrong here. There's nothing poisonous here. This is a sustainable plot of land," Helvingston said in an interview with local news station Channel 6. From his 25 x 25 foot front yard, Helvingston harvests vegetables including beans, radishes, kale and swiss chard.
According to the report, Helvingston's garden violates city code that requires front yards to be planted with ground cover, giving the appearance of uniformity which is supposedly good for property values.
"We are definitely not bothered by it," neighbors said of Helvingston's garden. "We love it."
Helvingston has collected 200 signatures from neighbors who support his garden in hopes of convincing the city to reconsider the code when he appears before the city board next month.
Local news station reports on the battle waging in Orlando between the city and gardener resident Jason Helvingston.
Helvingston was ordered to dig up his front yard garden by Thursday; however, he remains defiant. "You'll take my house before you take my garden," he reportedly told city officials.
"There's nothing wrong here. There's nothing poisonous here. This is a sustainable plot of land," Helvingston said in an interview with local news station Channel 6. From his 25 x 25 foot front yard, Helvingston harvests vegetables including beans, radishes, kale and swiss chard.
According to the report, Helvingston's garden violates city code that requires front yards to be planted with ground cover, giving the appearance of uniformity which is supposedly good for property values.
"We are definitely not bothered by it," neighbors said of Helvingston's garden. "We love it."
Helvingston has collected 200 signatures from neighbors who support his garden in hopes of convincing the city to reconsider the code when he appears before the city board next month.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.