{"id":13038,"date":"2011-07-11T12:25:36","date_gmt":"2011-07-11T18:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sustainablog.org\/?p=13038"},"modified":"2011-07-11T12:25:36","modified_gmt":"2011-07-11T18:25:36","slug":"definition-of-suitable-not-common","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/definition-of-suitable-not-common\/","title":{"rendered":"The Definition of Suitable: Not “common”"},"content":{"rendered":"
http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Q4E5Tg6elGw<\/p>\n
You may have read that title and thought “Uh, Jeff… did you mean to publish this post somewhere else? Some kind of dictionary blog?” Yes, definitions of words not related to sustainability might seem a bit outside of our purview… until you read the story of Julie Bass, and the legal battle she’s fighting with her city government<\/a>. After sewer repairs earlier this year resulted in a torn-up front yard, Julie decided not to replace her lawn, but to put in several raised beds for vegetable gardening. Seems innocuous enough, but Julie is now facing prosecution for her front yard garden… and that prosecution is largely based (you guessed it) on the definition of the word “suitable.”<\/p>\n According to Oak Park, Michigan’s city code, unpaved portions of front yards must be planted with grass, ground cover, trees, shrubs, or other “suitable live plant material.” Julie’s citations and prosecution are based on this part of the code; Technical and Planning Director Kevin Rulkowski argues that her gardens don’t conform to the code because the definition of “suitable” is “common.” Rulkowski cites “the dictionary<\/a>” in one article, and “Webster’s dictionary” in the video above as the source of this definition.<\/p>\n So, I put my former English professor hat on and did just a little digging… and can’t find any dictionary that defines the word suitable as “common” or anything remotely like it.<\/p>\n I’m still a bit aghast at this whole situation… as are others around the green blogosphere (see what Treehugger<\/a> and Grist<\/a>, for instance, had to say, as well as my post at SUNfiltered<\/a>)… but, if it goes to trial, I hope Julie’s lawyer calls a linguist to the stand.<\/p>\n Let us know what you think… is there any situation in which a vegetable garden would be unsuitable…?<\/p>\n UPDATE: <\/strong>If you’re interested in supporting Julie, you’ve got a number of options. She’s started a blog<\/a> about the legal battle over her garden, and a Facebook page<\/a> (both of which have become very popular), so let her know you support her. You can also sign Care2’s petition to Kevin Rulkowski<\/a>, or contact him directly<\/a> to express your displeasure with Oak Park’s choice to prosecute based on a non-existent definition of “suitable.” Finally, you can donate to her legal defense fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n Image credit: <\/strong>Ajith_chatie at Flickr<\/a> under a Creative Commons license<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Q4E5Tg6elGw You may have read that title and thought “Uh, Jeff… did you mean to publish this post somewhere else? Some kind of dictionary blog?” Yes, definitions of words not [ … ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":16809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1129,5121,23,5122,5123,5124,5125],"yoast_head":"\n\n