I'm an Ordinance Breaking Criminal

[Joe Guy]

Redwood City has determined my junipers to be a hazard to my community. I received a notice from Code Enforcement that I will be fined $500.00 if I don't cut my hedges six inches back from the sidewalk before 8/14/2024.

When I questioned the Code Enforcement Officer about the situation I was told the hedges "block free movement of pedestrians across the width of the sidewalk". I was also told that the hedges make it difficult for someone on a wheelchair to use the sidewalk.

Here's a current photo of my criminal hedges...

Public Nuisance 14.72 e Municipal Code Redwood City

[BoSoxGal]

They do look pretty menacing to me.

[Burning Petard]

So you put up posts at each end, six inches back from the sidewalk, run string a 3 or four levels from post to post, and use them as guides to prune back the growth until it is a straight perpendicular organic wall, six inches back from the sidewalk.

This will reveal the bare ends of juniper plants,(which can be very sturdy) stripped of the leaves and revealing strong wooden stakes ready to do great damage to any person who happens to stubble into them. That would be a good time to talk to your home owner's insurance office and prepare them to have their lawyer on call.

Nobody really claims these public nuisance regulations actually make life safer for anybody. They are part of the general job-making environment for public employees.

snailgate.

[liberty]

Redwood City has determined my junipers to be a hazard to my community. I received a notice from Code Enforcement that I will be fined $500.00 if I don't cut my hedges six inches back from the sidewalk before 8/14/2024.

When I questioned the Code Enforcement Officer about the situation I was told the hedges "block free movement of pedestrians across the width of the sidewalk". I was also told that the hedges make it difficult for someone on a wheelchair to use the sidewalk.

Here's a current photo of my criminal hedges...

dangerous hedge.jpg

Public Nuisance 14.72 e Municipal Code Redwood City

Did you flash your Democratic party membership card; you know the one with a hammered cycle on it?
If not, you counterrevolutionaries need to be kept in your place.

[Joe Guy]

.........This will reveal the bare ends of juniper plants,(which can be very sturdy) stripped of the leaves and revealing strong wooden stakes ready to do great damage to any person who happens to stubble into them. That would be a good time to talk to your home owner's insurance office and prepare them to have their lawyer on call.

I asked an Officer if I could just post a 'Beware of Hedge' sign out there and discovered that she had no sense of humor.

Then I explained that in order to cut the hedge back as far as they want it, I will need to make it ugly and it will take at least 5 years for green growth to fill in the area. I said I don't want to get some type of complaint about the hedges being an eyesore because that's what is going to happen. Then I thanked her for her lack of understanding.

If I was a right wing veteran like liberty I probably would have just shot the officer in the head and buried her under the junipers. I would stand my ground like a true patriot.

[Sue U]

They do look pretty menacing to me.

Gotta agree. Look at them just loitering there by the sidewalk, up to no good for sure.

[Joe Guy]

Did you flash your Democratic party membership card; you know the one with a hammered cycle on it? ...

Yeah, here's the photo that's on my democratic party membership card....

[BoSoxGal]

In all seriousness, as I'm sure you already know, junipers don't take well to heavy pruning - they don't grow new green growth on bare wood, they will just be bare wood forever if you are forced to cut them back that far. Your picture is a little fuzzy (or maybe it's my aging eyesight) but it seems there are already large patches where bare wood is exposed to the sidewalk.

It might be time to think about removing the juniper hedge and planting something more manageable going forward, like privet which does take kindly to frequent pruning and would be better suited to being sidewalk adjacent.

Here's a gardening blog entry on the issue of trimming junipers, you can find many others by Google search. This is a not uncommon problem with junipers planted as hedge or foundation cover. https://gardenrant.com/2017/11/can-thes ... saved.html

[ex-khobar Andy]

I don't have a problem with the basic notion that hedges etc should not block the sidewalk.

However: as a one time wheelchair user (I broke hip and elbow doing something silly in a car 32 years ago) I cannot see how your hedge is in any way impeding wheelchair use of the sidewalk. Plenty of room. Indeed the tree plantings seem to me to be far more likely to inhibit a wheelchair.

Secondly if the hedge does in fact slow down a wheelchair, can they enforce a code beyond the edge of the sidewalk? It looks to me as if the max they could ask you to trim them back would be a couple of inches at most which might in fact be quite doable without destroying the hedge.

[Burning Petard]

Tell me more about this hammered cycle. That rear fender looks like could possibly have been shaped by multiple hits from a ball-headed hammer which would leave dimples or it could be be a finishing touch sometimes called 'engine turning' which would leave interlocking polished circles.. The frame itself looks ancient. I have heard of cycle riders who are 'hammered' meaning have exhausted themselves trying to keep up with other riders who are stronger. I have heard of Auto drivers who are hammered, meaning drunk way beyond the line where they should have their car keys taken from them.

But I am unfamiliar with a hammered cycle. Could this be some sort of metaphorical circular process of exposition that leads to revealed ignorance?

snailgate.

[MajGenl.Meade]

14.72 Solid landscaping, decorative materials, trees, shrubs or other plantings, including, but not limited to, large rocks, driftwood or planters, which protrude more than thirty-six inches (36″) above the level of the curb and sidewalk and which are continuous with the length of the parkway strip between the property line and the curbline, or which otherwise tend to block the free movement of pedestrians across the width of such parkway strip, or which obscure or obstruct the entrance to any driveway or otherwise constitute a hazard to pedestrians or operators of vehicles.

Maybe they need to explain exactly what your violation is violating. Apparently your shrubbery (a shrubbery!) is not blocking the free movement of pedestrians across the width of a such parkway strip. Of course, I have no idea what they mean by that description but it doesn't seem to mean "sidewalk". . .

What exactly is the "hazard" - the dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or condition that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.

Then there's that not fighting city hall thing . . .

[Bicycle Bill]

That bike is actually fairly modern.   It's a large-framed 'Sam Hillborne', designed by Grant Peterson (who is a minor legend in the world of custom frame-building) of the Rivendell Bicycle Works in Walnut Creek, California.   The double top-tube is a dead giveaway — and, of course, the word 'Hillborne' on the down tube.

As noted, it's a large-framed (56 cm or larger) bicycle, as smaller-framed Hillbornes have only the single top tube.   The fenders, though, could indeed be hammered, as they are still available for people like myself who prefer their bicycles to be made out of alloy steel in the classic design rather than titanium, aluminum, beryllium, or some whiz-bang composite or carbon fiber designed with the aid of a wind tunnel, and to have that old-school, retro look... for which the fenders are a nice touch.   They're more expensive (and maybe a couple ounces heavier) than their plastic counterparts, but to a true devotee, that's not an issue.

Although as I've aged, I must admit that for longer distances, a bent bike is better than a hammered cycle.


-"BB"-

[Joe Guy]

BSG - Thanks for the link. I'm going to cut the hedges back carefully before attempting to make any drastic changes. I've been maintaining them since 1982 and I don't want to pull them all out just because the city is suddenly concerned that six inches of juniper might trip a pedestrian or tip over a wheelchair.

......as a one time wheelchair user (I broke hip and elbow doing something silly in a car 32 years ago) I cannot see how your hedge is in any way impeding wheelchair use of the sidewalk. Plenty of room. Indeed the tree plantings seem to me to be far more likely to inhibit a wheelchair.

The hedge is not impeding the use of the sidewalk. When I pointed out to them all of the room for walking and rolling on the sidewalk I was told that the width of the space where the tree is planted doesn't count as sidewalk because it is a "planting strip" even in the cemented areas where you can't plant anything. So the fact that I have extra space on my sidewalk doesn't count.

Secondly if the hedge does in fact slow down a wheelchair, can they enforce a code beyond the edge of the sidewalk? It looks to me as if the max they could ask you to trim them back would be a couple of inches at most which might in fact be quite doable without destroying the hedge.

You can't tell from the photo I included but the hedge does extend over the sidewalk/border about six inches in some areas. And no, they can't make me cut it back any further than the border line.

.......But I am unfamiliar with a hammered cycle. Could this be some sort of metaphorical circular process of exposition that leads to revealed ignorance?

Yes.

[Joe Guy]

Maybe they need to explain exactly what your violation is violating. Apparently your shrubbery (a shrubbery!) is not blocking the free movement of pedestrians across the width of a such parkway strip. Of course, I have no idea what they mean by that description but it doesn't seem to mean "sidewalk". . .

What exactly is the "hazard" - the dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or condition that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.

Then there's that not fighting city hall thing . . .

I will be doing the best I can to cut back the hedge. I'm not sure it will meet the city's standards because some of it might lean an inch or two over the border when I'm done. If I am fined, I can file for a hearing and make my case. If I do, I will ask them what my violation is violating and ask them about those free movement and hazard thingies.

[Big RR]

I had a friend who had the same problem (in NJ, not CA) and I investigated and found that the regulations specified the distance shrubs had to be trimmed from the sidewalk and the street. We tried to challenge it and get some sort of accommodation, but no dice; as I recall, afterwards, he went through the town and reported every other violator to the arbor commission, figuring he'd at least get many int the town up in arms about the regs, but not sure if anything happened (he eventually moved due to a job change).