I agree with Steve that the lawn-mowing thread has spread beyond Minneapolis, with the exception of Robin Garwood, who asked some really great questions about whether Minneapolis has ordinances "mandating crew cuts for lawns" (man, what great a great description!) and whether renters have any say in what lawn care methods are used on the properties at which they live - any landlords care to weigh in on that?
However, in defense of Gary, while "preachy" might be an appropriate description, I don't in the least detect any intolerance or condescension in his posts. Steve requests posters focus on educating people about costs and benefits. I quote from Gary's post: "Reducing lawn size and designing lawns to be mowable without electric or gas-powered machines is one way to exercise good urban citizenship to the end of creating a healthier watershed without costing the government taxpayers a dime." Gary went on to describe the leaf-blower man. I found this to be a far less condescending description than I would have used. I won't go into further detail because I don't want to force Mr. Brauer to issue yet another decorum reminder today. :-) For those who wonder what the big deal over lawn mowers, leaf blowers, gas-powered weed whackers are - let me share a recent experience: Last week, fire alarms went off in my building, forcing an evacuation that had us all standing outside for 15 minutes or so while the fire department came to investigate. The cause of the alarm going off was determined to be a maintenance worker running a gas-powered weed whacker too close to a building air intake. Exhaust from the machine was sucked into the building where it then set off the alarm. These things DO pollute. We should all look for alternatives, whether they be human-powered lawn maintenance, prairie lawns or buying a goat. Hope that's not too preachy for everyone. Mark Snyder Windom Park [EMAIL PROTECTED] On 5/22/02 1:24 PM, "Steven Marchese" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I think Gary makes some good points about the worthiness of supporting local > eco-friendly enterprises whenever possible. But I have to admit that this > mowing thread is getting on my nerves for two reasons. One, I tend to agree > with the list manager that this really isn't Minneapolis-specific. Sorry, > but almost any issue can be trained back to Minneapolis because it relates > somehow to life as we live it or wished we could. > > Second, this is getting way too preachy for my tastes. I think we need to > be careful about exalting our own eco-friendly choices lest we look as > intolerant and condescending as those who would see those same choices as > off-beat or crazy. The point should be educating people about the costs and > benefits of the different types of mowing options, as well as a host of > other choices people make in their daily lives (where to shop, what kinds of > food to buy, what types of entertainment to enjoy, etc.) For example, every > dollar spent going to a Twins game may mean dollars not going to a host of > other worthy local enterprises. To my mind, Minneapolis should be a place > where people's individual choices are respected and encouraged, even if, at > times, they would vary from what I or others might want. (Hello, > diversity!) Let's educate folks about the options and empower them to make > the decisions that work best for themselves and their community. > > Steve _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
