I recently received a notice of a fine of $200 from the city of Federal Way, WA. They claimed that my shrubbery hung over the sidewalk.They claim them to be a nuisance. Here is a photo of what my shrubbery looked like when I cleaned the place up, before moving in.
My house is the one at the bottom right of the intersection. It has the light green shrubs along the street with the darker green shrubs behind them. You can clearly see that my property extends to the street. This landscaping has been here for decades. After moving in I found it difficult for myself to make a left turn at the intersection, to get to my house. Sure I could come down the other street, but I thought I would be nice and completely remove the first row of light green shrubs, making it easier for everyone to make a left turn at the intersection.
It took my be hand, with simple hand tools, to dig up all of the vegetation back 8 feet from the curb. One wheelbarrow at a time I went through all of the dirt removing pieces of asphalt and other trash from when they built the road. So I was basically cleaning up hazardous waste from the road construction, left on my property. This is what it looked like when I was done.
I am pretty sure that just because I removed 8 feet of shrubbery from the front of my property, I am in no way donating my land to the city as a sidewalk. It is still my property and I could park my car there if I wanted to. I guess someone complained that some of my dark green shrubs were hanging over into the area I cleared. People trespass and use this area as a sidewalk. The city of Federal Way, WA then took it into their own hands and went into my property 20 feet and completely destroyed my shrubbery. This is what they looked like in May of last year.
Sorry, but I am so angry typing this, my hands are shaking… So I went from having landscaping to the curb, to a more than fair gesture from me voluntarily, to having the city trespass on my property and preform a clear cut on my shrubs. They will never recover. The one decorative shrub I had at the head of my driveway was over 3 decades old, and now looks like this.
There is no sidewalk. There has never been a sidewalk since the house was built because it is private property.
If I parked my truck there would they want me to prune my truck?
What would you do if your city threatened you with a $200 fine for your shrubs hanging onto your own property after they trespassed on your property and did this to your yard?
Federal Way, WA, a place where the police do nothing when your house gets burglarized three times. They didn’t take any evidence from any of them even though there was plenty. They treated me, a man with mental illnesses, like someone that was worthless. Now they trespass on my property and destroy my landscaping and follow it up with letters about $200 in fines. I haven’t got a disability check since February, $97. I don’t know how the city is going to recover this $200. Maybe they could round up all the police that didn’t do shit when I needed their help to take a collection so I can co buy some yard tools to take care of my yard. All of my stuff was stolen 2 years ago.
latenyte photography 