The city of Fayetteville and a case of poison ivy
Recently, I got notice from the post office I had a letter from the city of Fayetteville I had to sign for to receive. I thought it might be my business license I recently applied for, but no. It was a Notice of Code Violation letter.
The violation was for not maintaining the sidewalk on the south side of my property. The sidewalk is not my property; it is the property of the citizens of Fayetteville. The letter threatened a lien on my house and possible criminal charges for letting vines and grass grow across the sidewalk. So, for the betterment of the community, I got out early in the morning in full-length sleeves and long pants and attacked the sidewalk with vigor, even though I am not God and do not control where plants roam. I am also highly allergic to poison ivy, poison oak and any other vine that causes blisters on the skin. It only took me four hours in the heat to clear the sidewalk which, by the way, is not ADA compliant as there is not a curb cut at the end by the stop sign, so if you were to be in a wheelchair you would have no place to dismount the curb.
Fayetteville purports to be an environmentally conscious city, however, I have noticed the sidewalks in nearby Walker Park are grass free and appear to have been dosed with a noxious chemical grass killer. I am very conscious of not using pesticides as they run off into the streams that run into the rivers. However, upon the receipt of the nasty letter from the City, I did consider using weed and brush killer. The weed and brush killer would have been especially useful in the four-foot ditch on the north side of my property, which is also city property. It turns out I am responsible for the ditch also. There shall be no tall grass or brush in the four-foot deep ditch, according to the Notice of Code Violation.
Now, I should tell you that I am an old woman and mowing the four-foot deep ditch is dangerous. I fell the last time I attempted to mow the ditch. Luckily I didn’t break a hip.
I pay my taxes on time every year and while most of the money goes to schools, even though I don’t have children and am less a burden on society, I expect to get a little something back for paying my taxes. I have been told that paying my money for other people’s children to go to school is a good thing, but I often wonder if I am getting my money’s worth on that front (insert old person’s rant on children these days).
So, yes, I don’t think it is my responsibility to take care of city property. I especially don’t like being threatened with a lien or the possibility of going to criminal court just because I own property next to city-owned property.
Now, I have poison ivy on my face. Thank you to the city of Fayetteville.
LISA MEEKS
Fayetteville