Story Archive

The Grassy No

Maggie Redfern thinks she’s part of a “growing movement.” It’s about what grows in front of her home and many others, and it was represented at her hearing by signs saying, “Hell No We Won’t Mow”. Redfern, who works at an arboretum, has trees, shrubs, and pollinators as well as fescue grass in her yard. She says there’s “a good case for not using fossil fuels and pesticides and clean drinking water to have a short lawn.” But New London, Conn., “blight officer” Kenyon Haye ordered her to trim her plants anyway. “My job is to enforce the laws on the books,” he said. She appealed the order to a city hearing officer. (AC/AP) ...The “blight” laws are clearly overgrown. The city should trim them.