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Politics & Government

Front Yard Garden Controversy Keeps Growing

An Oak Park woman might not face charges over her family's front yard vegtable garden, but it's unclear whether the city will change its ordinance to allow others to have similar gardens.

Oak Park officials are calling for a citywide review of the ordinance they had considered using to block resident .

But when the review will take place and whether it would ultimately preserve the Bass family garden – and allow others to have similar front yard vegetable gardens – is unclear.

One thing Mayor Gerald Naftaly made clear at Monday's City Council meeting is that the ordinance review will consider input from residents only.

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"In my opinion this is a community issue – the Oak Park community," Naftaly said.

The city's attempt to bring charges against Bass drew national attention and city officials admitted they were stung by the volume and tone of some of the comments. Oak Park was "maligned on the Internet" Councilman Paul Levine said, with comments coming from around the world in support of Bass.

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Bass wasn't present at Monday's meeting, but supporters called for changes in her favor in what they termed a vague city ordinance.

"There's brown lawns and there's garbage on lawns," Bass' neighbor Sarah Gray said. "She's trying to have a verdant vegetable garden and there's something wrong with that?"

Fellow neighbor Lebatya Schreiber said that, instead of encouraging grassy, chemically treated lawns, the city should encourage more gardens like Bass'. "," she said.  "Grass is an ecological disaster."

Levine said Bass should have contacted the city about her intent to plant a front yard garden. "She never even emailed us," he said, though Bass' half-dozen supporters in attendance said that wasn't the case.

"It isn't true," Schreiber called out from the audience.

One councilman seemed to indicate his mind was already made up against altering city ordinances to allow for front yard gardens. "If I wanted a rain forest, I'd move to South America," Mayor Pro Tem Michael Seligson said.

Naftaly said Berkley's ordinance wouldn't necessarily be used as a guide for Oak Park. 

He also said subsequent violations pending against Bass for having unlicensed dogs at her home weren't related to the vegetable garden issue.

"There's lots of misinformation," he said. "Those three tickets were issued at the same time. Oak Park doesnt't hate anything or anybody."

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