Flower Power!
May 9, 2006 12:07 PM   Subscribe

Worried that the nearby field is going to become cookie-cutter houses? No need to do anything rash, instead do a little planting.
posted by Ogre Lawless (36 comments total)
 
This is a really good idea.
posted by keswick at 12:11 PM on May 9, 2006


Would this technique trump an eminent domain land grab?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 12:14 PM on May 9, 2006


It's time to start spilling some seed.
posted by NationalKato at 12:17 PM on May 9, 2006


sorry b1tr0t, i forgot it's the godgiven right of developers to pave everything. carry on.
posted by keswick at 12:34 PM on May 9, 2006


Of course, this will work only if you live where people actually give a shit about environmental rules.
I have a feeling, where I live, that field of flowers would get plowed up and planted with new McMansions just as soon as the county officials can fire up the Caterpillar.

The irony, of course, would be that they would probably name the new development after the very flowers they bulldozed. "White Flower Farms" Something like that.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:37 PM on May 9, 2006


For years, Evans has looked out on the field from the window of his hillside home above the site. If Laguna Vista ever gets built, he said, it will be as bad for the apple-growing mecca of Sebastopol as it will be for his view.

"It's going to be flat-out ugly,' he said. "Every third house will be the same. It's going to destroy property values. As a development it might be appropriate for some place like San Jose. Not for Sebastopol.'


His view ? Wow, what a hero ! What a principled environmentalist !
posted by fugitivefromchaingang at 12:45 PM on May 9, 2006


Remember through towns
With fear and fascination
On what was here
And what's replacing them now
Interchange causes malls
And crowded chain restaurants
More housing developments go up
Named after the things they replace
So welcome to Minnow Brook
And welcome to Shady Space
And it all seems a little abrupt
No I don't like this change of pace


-Modest Mouse - Novocain Stain
posted by ninjew at 12:45 PM on May 9, 2006


This has nothing to do with endangered flowers or wild spaces, and everything to do with Bob Evans' property values.
posted by rocket88 at 1:09 PM on May 9, 2006


This is a really dumb idea. If people get the notion that endangered species laws can be manipulated like this maybe they will stop supporting these laws.
posted by three blind mice at 1:16 PM on May 9, 2006


It's all innuendo and suspicion, though. What if they are legitimately natural there?
posted by raedyn at 1:21 PM on May 9, 2006


Ewige blumenkraft!
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:25 PM on May 9, 2006


Amazing story. Thanks.
posted by nickyskye at 1:38 PM on May 9, 2006


I like it. Better yet America--there are these places called "cities" which already have lots of affordable housing, culture, restaurants, and welcoming communities. You might have to see your kid play with another kid who isn't the same color, or speaks a different language, but he or she will be better for it. And you can sell your car. And know who your neighbors are and make friends with them. Lots of perks. And 20 years from now, your townhouse will actually be worth something, not plowed over to make way for "Shadier Brook" or what have you.
posted by bardic at 2:05 PM on May 9, 2006


And it's true we named our children
after towns that we've never been to.
And it's true that the clouds just hung around
like black Cadillacs outside a funeral.

posted by mrgrimm at 2:06 PM on May 9, 2006


Good idea, but Bob Evan's reasons for doing it put a damper on supporting it openly. That said, it still stopped a tract development which are terrible places for kids to grow up in, have no community, and don't help the towns they're built near much either.
posted by Vaska at 2:15 PM on May 9, 2006


there are these places called "cities" which already have lots of affordable housing,

Affordable housing in such lovely neighborhoods as West Oakland, Mott Haven, Lawndale, and Roxbury.

culture, restaurants, and welcoming communities.

Catcalls, graffiti, Halal, tacos, and ten million "Chinese" restaurants.

And you can sell your car.

And in turn you can enjoy the thrill of carrying your groceries up and down hills, through traffic, while enjoying the sweet, sweet smell of diesel exhaust and fermenting streetside trash. Hope you like paying a 200% markup on diapers from the corner delicatessen!

And know who your neighbors are and make friends with them.


Which is easy to do as long as you can get past not being able to communicate in the same language, you love 100 decibels of reggaeton at 3 AM on a tuesday, and you think people urinating on the street gives the place "character."

I've lived in cities all of my life. Affordable, safe, convenient-- pick two. And keep piling in those cities, kiddies, so your very presence can enrich your landlord (or prior owner) who does nothing but collect economic rent because he paid someone who paid someone who paid someone who stole the land from someone else.
posted by Kwantsar at 2:24 PM on May 9, 2006


Sounds like a job for White Middle-Class Suburban Man!
posted by anthill at 2:31 PM on May 9, 2006


It's time to start spilling some seed.

Sounds like a threat from Onan the Barbarian.

I hope the housing project is stopped. If Bush keeps stacking the deck in favor of big business, maybe someone needs to use a little sleight of hand to make the game a little fairer.
posted by pracowity at 2:43 PM on May 9, 2006


pracowity, ouch.

I find wildflowers growing in a field holding back developers to be delightfully subversive in this instance. Something charming in that metaphor.
posted by nickyskye at 2:59 PM on May 9, 2006


graffiti, Halal, tacos, and ten million "Chinese" restaurants.

what's wrong with these again? participation in them is not compulsory....

Affordable, safe, convenient-- pick two.

i've lived in portland for 10+ years, got all three.

and .... economic rent? what other kind is there?
posted by acid freaking on the kitty at 2:59 PM on May 9, 2006


i know when i think "affordable," i think "portland."

i suppose in comparison to the upper east side it is...
posted by keswick at 3:06 PM on May 9, 2006


sorry b1tr0t, i forgot it's the godgiven right of developers to pave everything. carry on. -- keswick

Well this country was founded on the idea that people can own property and have the right to do with it as they please.
posted by knave at 3:09 PM on May 9, 2006


what's wrong with these again? participation in them is not compulsory...

Nothing is "wrong" with them (except graffiti, which is often vandalism), but "culture" and "restaurants" aren't all that they're cracked up to be if you don't happen to enjoy the dominant culture(s) or cuisine(s).

economic rent? what other kind is there?


Start here.
posted by Kwantsar at 3:13 PM on May 9, 2006


heh. well, in comparison to most things around it of a similar size, portland is affordable, which is why we have a booming population of former seattle/bay area folks cashing out of the housing bubble and relocating here.

sure, much more expensive than most rural areas, but my point is that there are many cities that aren't subject to kwantsar's false dilemma.

"culture" and "restaurants" aren't all that they're cracked up to be if you don't happen to enjoy the dominant culture(s) or cuisine(s).

everywhere i've been in this country, the dominant culture and cuisine is White American. the point was that the other cultures found in a city are a welcome counterpoint to this, and there's not usually just one subculture. don't like tacos? go eat some thai food. don't like thai? how about some italian? greek? ecuadorean? ethiopian? you can find good quality food from another culture you DO like. is it really anyone's experience that there's only one type of ethnic food to be had in the city?

ok, even ditch the food angle, and you've still got the benefit of music, dance, and arts that's rooted in other countries' cultures. America the melting pot is miles and miles better than America the new McMansion subdivision.
posted by acid freaking on the kitty at 3:35 PM on May 9, 2006


Well this country was founded on the idea that people can own property and have the right to do with it as they please. - knave

Bullshit. There are plenty of laws about what you can and cannot do on your own property. What you can build, where, when, what it can look like, if you can set fires, what substances you can consume there, what items you can store there, if you can put a sign on your lawn, all freakin' kinds of things.
posted by raedyn at 3:47 PM on May 9, 2006


Why don't they put the flowers in a museum, and charge the people 1.50 to see 'em?
posted by Citizen Premier at 3:48 PM on May 9, 2006


raedyn, there are some of us who think those laws are ridiculous, and they did not exist when the constitution was written. Land/property ownership is the underpinning of all our rights in this country. If you can't own land, you have essentially no rights.
posted by knave at 4:06 PM on May 9, 2006


So, we're supposed to welcome every illegal immigrant with open arms so long as they don't try to buy a house.

Sounds like banning abortion and then not supporting the bastards.
posted by mischief at 4:11 PM on May 9, 2006


bardic, our fam moved from the city to a 200+ yr old farmhouse out where what was past the 'burbs since we really grew weary of listening to other people's horrid music blaring at all hours. That was the only reason, however. I don't give a hoot about property values or "The Joneses". While I enjoy nature (avid cycler/hiker/camper/backpacker) and initially saw some benefit to being out here, I'm a city boy @ heart and miss the quick access to diverse food, entertainment, culture, services, etc. I didn't miss the rude noise, tho...(note the tense)

Funny how the main reason we moved did a full comeback on us. The surrounding farmland went to a developer and now I have a bunch of New Jersey imports (I'm in Pennsylvania) blaring music at all hours from their patios, pools, backyards and cars. I guess rude, stupid people manage to take up roost pretty much everywhere. I wish I thought of the endangered flower ploy a couple years ago.

So, our last refuge will probably be to move to the center of a 40-acre wooded lot with one, unpaved access road in the harshest part of northern, coastal Maine. Or, just buy an island. I have to embezzle a gazillion dollars first, tho...that is, unless anyone knows of a city area where there's a good community without the awful noise.
posted by hrbrmstr at 5:43 PM on May 9, 2006


The trick to this is to have the foresight to do this years in advance so the plants are well environmentalised.

Imagine local covert efforts to seed a few thousand acres of forests or wetlands with otherwise indigenous endangered species, and the control one would wield without having to own the property.
posted by mischief at 6:11 PM on May 9, 2006


Well this country was founded on the idea that people can own property and have the right to do with it as they please.

Land/property ownership is the underpinning of all our rights in this country. If you can't own land, you have essentially no rights.

I had never heard this before. What an exciting way of approaching these things! Thank you for clearing that up for me.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:42 PM on May 9, 2006


I can only assume that's sarcasm, but whatever.
posted by knave at 8:02 PM on May 9, 2006


Yeah, I considered deployment of the [sarcasm] pseudotag, but figure it was pretty obvious without it. But I do invite you to say what leads to you actually say such things -- I'd genuinely be interested in where you're coming from with all that.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:25 PM on May 9, 2006


(insert witty pun related to Bob Evans' name)
posted by matkline at 9:31 PM on May 9, 2006


Isn't Lawndale where Daria lived?
posted by nyxxxx at 1:40 AM on May 10, 2006


Well this country was founded on the idea that people can own property and have the right to do with it as they please.

*buys the condo downstairs from knave's and starts cooking meth*

*then kills her housemate* (Hey, my property, my rules!)
posted by salvia at 10:17 AM on May 10, 2006


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