A Shelby County Environmental Court recently ordered Adam Guerrero, a high school teacher, to remove his garden because his neighbor doesn’t like it. Mr. Guerrero grows vegetables, produces biodiesel, and also raises bees. He uses the garden as an instructional tool in educating Memphis students.
Why should Mr. Guerrero’s neighbor be the only one whose interests are considered? The garden does nothing to the neighbor but offend his aesthetic sensibilities. Unless the court has recognized this neighbor as the community arbiter of good taste, able not only to decree what plants his neighbors may grow on their own private property, but also what color they may paint their own houses and what style of clothes they may wear, his opinion of Mr. Guerrero’s landscaping choices is wholly immaterial. Mr. Guerrero, on the other hand, will be monetarily damaged by being forced to remove his garden. He bore an expense to install it, is enjoying ongoing value from it’s use, and would have to invest more time, labor, and money to have it removed.
There’s a petition online to get the court to reverse its ruling. I’m not sure that’s even possible in the Tennessee judicial system, but a strong public outcry may, at the least, prevent the court from making such rulings again. It sounds more like this needs to be directed at Code Enforcement to get them to drop the case. Still, if you’d like to sign the petition, go here: https://www.change.org/petitions/city-council-super-district-9-overturn-the-ruling-that-deems-mr-guerreros-garden-a-nuisance
You can read the story in the Memphis Flyer here: http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/seeds-of-discontent/Content?oid=3052172
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