Two things amaze me.
I am amazed at all the natural beauty we can find in the City of Lakewood if we take time to notice what is around us. Many good Lakewood residents work hard in their yards and in our community to provide beauty for everyone to enjoy. Good citizens make our world a better place.
Japanese Maple displays its glorious fall color.I am also amazed at the ugliness some Lakewood neighbors can bring into our lives with no thought of the negative impact their inconsiderate behavior has on others.
Photo: A total of five evergreen plants are no longer green. These plants have been dead for months. They make our world an ugly place.Brush and tree fires have been raging across the country. People are dying. Brush fires have burned homes to the ground.
At one time in the recent past, we had a Lakewood a serial arsonist setting fire to shrubs and plants like these. We can only hope the arsonist does not discover these dead bushes.
It will be sad if an innocent Lakewood citizen is harmed or killed because of a property owner’s refusal to solve an obvious problem that is both a visual blight and a risk to others.
Reminds me of Clint Eastwood’s The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.
I wonder if our fire department can solve this problem before a predictable brush fire victimizes innocent neighbors.
I wonder if standing dead vegetation might be considered a solid waste violation under a City of Lakewood property maintenance ordinance.
Is there a solution or is this simply the pain of living in a free society?
When driving around Lakewood, see if you observe what I am describing; The Good, Bad & the Ugly.
If you have a solution, please share your idea with me and our The Suburban Times readers.
Joe, I think you should re-title your piece: The Planted Dead. I know exactly what you are talking about and the problem goes well beyond Lakewood. Over our latest long, hot summer I’ve watched juniper tams turn brown along with other evergreens. I’ve begun to see southwestern plants growing heartily here in Pierce County.
My wife got on my case about a Mountain Ash in our yard. She wanted me to water the tree. I thought she was crazy . . . I mean I thought this was beyond all . . . well . . . I reminded her of what we already knew from a client. The tree only has a few years to go. Peg didn’t care. She wanted the tree watered. So, against my better male judgement I read up about watering trees. The tree is on a slight slope. You need to water out as far as the branches extend. I bought some extension hoses and an inexpensive sprinkler that gave me the right pattern for under the tree sprinkling and began soaking that area. Happy wife, happy life . . . she saw the tree perk up. She was thrilled . . . I’m a hero for a couple of ours work and about $40.
I think we are going to see more of our local plants and even our larger evergreens begin to die if we have a similar summer in 2018. Anyway, I think I just wrote an article here . . . I’ll throw in some photos and give you credit.
I remember that time of the fires in my neighborhood during the early 1990s. Several homes were hit on the block to the south of mine. I wondered if we would be next since we had an RV parked next to dried bushes on the neighbors property to the side of us. Across the street the neighbors house was hit but the vegetation wasn’t dry. The accelerant was able to ignite it though and next the fence went up in flames igniting the garage. They were a year out of their home while repairs were done.
Now I have a homes on both sides with dried vegetation, one from deliberate neglect and the other from inability at this time to cope.
It’s a constant consternation given the dry hot summers we’ve had lately. It wouldn’t take much to have a fire start accidentally.
Unfortunately I have no suggestions and wouldn’t want to see another city inspection task force such as the RIP unless it’s really serious and a derelict property. Other than a public campaign recognizing beautiful properties and slogans like Keep (insert neighborhood) Beautiful.
Perhaps this issue would be better solved as a community service undertaken by a local Scout Troop. Homeowners could be contacted to see if they would like some help; many times our elderly citizens can no longer do “what they used to” in keeping up their homes.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Ms. Rawlings. Often you might well be right, but not in this particular case.
These particular people are big Boy Scout adult leaders. They are not old. They are not low income.
They are simply blind to what their property looks like, cheap, insensitive, do not care about others, and are simply trashing what was at one time a beautiful property.
Joseph Boyle
I think the Lakewood City Council should start a a new safety program: Remove Incendiary Plants (RIP).
I think it should be at least part of the Lakewood Rental Housing Safety Inspection Program.
Serious.