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  • 2016-09-16 (xsd:date)
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  • Judges Rules the Government Can Ban Vegetable Gardens (en)
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  • In September 2016, the Free Thought Project web site published an article that led to claims a judge had ruled that the government could ban vegetable gardens because they're ugly: Predictably, the claim aused widespread outrage on social media due in part to the growing popularity of vegetable gardens and local produce. The rumor was condensed to conclude that a precedent enabling the banning of independent vegetable growth throughout Florida (or all of the U.S.) had been set by a judge because such gardens are unsightly, and that Miami Shores officials wished for all vegetable gardens to be replaced with grass. The tyrannical tale also made it to the Miami Herald, which presented a more balanced version of events to readers. As it turned out, Carroll and Ricketts weren't prohibited by the government from growing any and all vegetables; rather, the Miami Shores jurisdiction simply stipulates, as part of local landscaping codes, that such gardens should not be placed in the front yards of homes: Code regulations in Miami Shores Village (Division 17, Sec. 536[e]) pertaining to landscaping state that Vegetable gardens are permitted in rear yards only. It is true that a Miami Shores couple fought and lost a court battle with the village to retain their front-yard vegetable garden, but the court's decision in no way banned vegetable gardens, much less constituted a sweeping ruling applicable anywhere outside Miami Shores. A local judge simply sided with Miami Shores Village in ruling that the jurisdiction had a right to enforce extant landscaping codes, which permit vegetable gardens in rear yards but not front ones. The couple involved were not prohibited from growing vegetables, simply from doing so in the front yard. The rumor about a vegetable garden ban was one of several that severely distort local controversies over individual management of personal resources such as food and water to suggest the government is hostile to rugged individualists. A similar distortion asserted a man was arrested for collecting rainwater, and another inaccurately claimed Michigan repealed its Right to Farm Act (and presumably the right to farm along with it). (en)
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