Social Mood Indicator - FL Man Jailed for Brown Lawn

Social Mood Indicator:

He should have painted it green, as they are doing in California...

From the St. Petersburg Times, Joseph Prudente, a Florida retiree struggling to stay in his home can't afford to fix his lawn sprinkler system, but inexplicably doesn't water the lawn the old fashioned way, so a year ago portions of the yard turned brown and died.

His homeowners association complains to no avail, requests mediation at which he fails to show, then gets a court order to compel him to maintain his yard in accordance with deed restrictions (all yards and lawns shall be maintained in a neat and attractive condition and shouldn't have more than 10 percent bare patches) which he ignores until the judge orders him to jail for contempt.

Neighbors belatedly came to his aid and re-sod the lawn (but did they fix the sprinkler system?) and he's released from jail. But not before a national media firestorm and public outcry, despite a homeowners association interest-group spokesman observing, "What's more important than maintaining the appearance of a community?"

What is more important, indeed, in these times of universal prosperity, peace and happiness?

One would think for the amount of money collectively expended by the homeowners association, the attorney, the mediator, the court, the sheriff, and the jail in this fiasco, the homeowners association could have sprung for the offender's sprinkler system to be fixed or the lawn to be re-sodded, or both, many times over due to Mr. Prudente's hardship. Or the HOA just could have paid to have the lawn painted green.

The social mood aspects of this scenario are revealing: Instead of asking for help to solve his problem, the homeowner ignored requests to comply with deed restrictions. Instead of the resident's immediate neighbors volunteering to help a year ago, they complained to the HOA. Instead of trying to help, the HOA immediately reached for its lawyer. Instead of the judge berating all parties involved the first time so weighty a matter came to his attention, he merely signed an order.

We obviously have not yet embraced the possibility of a deep, painful, protracted economic recession. It has been so long since the last significant downturns (1973-1975 and, of course, 1929-1942) most adults, and certainly those under 50, have no memory of really difficult times.

We may, in fact, soon begin to learn firsthand exactly what an economic depression entails, during which the conditions of our lawns may be the least of our concerns.

BAYONET POINT, FL — Joseph Prudente's homeowners association told him to resod his shabby lawn. He didn't do it. Then a judge told him. He still didn't do it. So the 66-year-old went to jail for a couple of days.

The first article about this ran in Saturday's St. Petersburg Times. Another one ran Monday. But at least as interesting as the stories themselves was the response they spawned. Neighbors helped make his lawn green again. The media interest was wide. And the outrage? It was unabashed.

The judge's assistant got calls Monday she called "ugly."

Beacon Woods Civic Association president Bob Ryan was expecting feedback. He was even expecting negative feedback. What he was not expecting, he said, were the e-mails "wishing me AIDS and cancer."

This story seemed to throw open a window into the national feelings of hopelessness and anger in these times of economic uncertainty.

"Everyone's having a hard time now," said Andy Law, one of the neighbors who led the resodding effort. "There's a lot worse things going on right now than brown lawns.

"What are we coming to," he asked, "when we're putting our senior citizens in jail for having a brown lawn?"

For Prudente, a retired registered nurse from Long Island, his choice was this: keeping his house or keeping his lawn nice.

He bought his one-story, four-bedroom home in 1998 for $127,500. He and his wife live off Social Security and his pension, and he's three months behind on his mortgage, which recently went up $600 a month, he said. His daughter and her two children recently moved in with them because they were having hard times. More mouths to feed.

"Right now," he said Monday, "my lawn is not my priority."

It's important to note here that Prudente did not go to jail for having a brown lawn. He went to jail because he didn't obey a judge's order.

"If the gentleman finds himself in a difficult situation, obviously that's a shame," said Frank Rathbun, a spokesman for the Community Associations Institute, an organization that represents homeowners associations around the country. "But the associations have an obligation to enforce the rules that are in place to protect property values. What issue is bigger than property values today?

"What's more important than maintaining the appearance of a community?"

"The court isn't offended that his lawn is brown," said Paul Milberg, an attorney in Fort Lauderdale who represents the Community Advocacy Network, a group that works for homeowners associations. "The court is offended that it told him to do something and he didn't do it.

"Court orders do need to be enforced," Milberg added. "You want the court to be the bastion where disputes are resolved so that people don't take to the streets."(All emphasis ours.)

Full Story Here: Sod patches over lengthy Pasco lawn spat