Annapolis Capital Punishment

Of laws....and lawns...

It's Friday morning and already the two-stroke terrorist machines have revved up for the holiday weekend. I'm talkin' 'bout lawnmowers, weed whackers, and especially those obnoxious and noxious leaf blowers. Who needs em? This is a city, not Potomac!

Last weekend, on that lovely Saturday, I was subjected to a never-ending cacophony from early in the morning until late in the afternoon. One neighbor revved up the lawn mower and another took over. One all sides, power mowers, rider mowers, the expensive and fancy toys spewing noise and fumes--all day long. Then out come the ridiculous leaf blowers. What's wrong with a broom? What's wrong with a few blades of grass on the sidewalk?

People, please. Do we need another law to keep down the noise? Why do we need these huge lawns anyhow? And why all this turf? We work and pay and work and pay to water and fertilize and clear them of weeds and then we spend more money and more energy to cut them. It makes no sense! It pollutes on every level. There are so many better ways to maintain our yards--better for our pocketbooks, our peace of mind, our ecological balance.

Please refrain from all these tools--or at least pick times to do them when they are least likely to bother others. Is this something we need to legislate? Just think about it this weekend--and pay special attention, as if you could avoid doing so anyhow, to the amount of hours you will be subjected to this racket all weekend. And please, think of all the many different and better ways you too can maintain a lovely landscaping not based on turf and more turf.

There is a reason why your yard naturally reverts to forest if you abandon it...