I called the police on my neighbors for violating lock-down rules

 

Four households of them.  They all employ the same gardening crew.  Commercial gardeners cannot operate under the new regime here in San Mateo County.  Yet they do.  I spoke with one of their employers and very politely asked that she call them up and tell them not to come.  I even offered to mow her lawn for free!  (I adore this particular neighbor)  She requested that I ask some other employer (neighbor) to do so, saying that she does not want to cause trouble in the ‘hood.  I told her that I am asking her because she is a lawyer and as such she must have no trouble whatsoever in saying, “No”, because what good is a lawyer that cannot say, “No”?  She gave me their phone number.  I said I will not call them because I have no relationship with them and I have tried talking to them but we have no language in common.  Eventually she offered that she would tell them not to come because there was a neighbor who would call the police if they did.  I do not know whether she followed through, but they arrived again on Saturday afternoon as they usually do.  I immediately called the police.  The dispatcher seemed annoyed, and told me that some sergeant somewhere would “prioritize” the complaint.  The police never came.  I totally understand the actual situation for the police – they will be accused of racism, undermining trust of communities at risk, all of that stuff.  I suspect that the gardeners knew the police would not respond because they have been around awhile and know that the more petty of the laws do not apply to them.  VDH has often described this situation and he is correct.  We are a sanctuary.  There is nothing illegal about being illegal – or not much, its sort of vague . . .  The law is a legal fiction, depending on one’s ethnicity.  The gardeners know the lay of the land.

To be honest, my problem with the gardeners does not relate to the virus.  I have been known to exceed the only-within-5-mile-from-home restrictions on bike riding.  Rather, I suspect I have a genetic predisposition (or something) that makes the sound of a leaf blower disabling for me.  It drives me crazy!  Immediately.  I am trying to use the law to eliminate this blight from my locked-down existence.  Continuing with the honesty, this group of gardeners is particularly unsympathetic, because I saw them pointing at me and laughing as I planted a lawn from seed, and another time when my damn mower would not start.

So what to do?  I have contemplated filing a suit for trespass for the dust, leaves spores, mold, etc., that is deposited on my property that is the actual purpose (not side effect) of a leaf blower.  I could call 911 for an obvious non-emergency.  I have already (some years ago) petitioned my local government to restrict leaf blowers.  It turns out thats racist!

It is bad enough to be ridiculed by gardeners for being an old white guy trying to start an old lawn mower.  Now I feel like an old man shaking his fist at clouds demanding something impossible.  Not good!

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  1. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    It is interesting to observe a number of people who appear to self-identify as conservative, but also seem to oppose law enforcement.  Generally speaking, I would think that the conservative position should be that stupid laws should be changed, not ignored.  I realize that there is a lot of frustration around regarding apparently stupid laws.

    The OP seems to be reporting on another strange phenomenon in California, which VDH has mentioned.  The authorities don’t seem to care if illegal aliens break not only the immigration laws, but a bunch of other laws as well.  The laws are enforced against generally law-abiding people, who have assets that can be seized, and who will probably obey and pay a fine if ticketed.  But the authorities don’t both to enforce the law against other groups of people, who are harder to punish.  It is quite a problem, at least according to the reports that I have heard, mostly from VDH.  I have observed it myself only rarely.

    I think that I’d be as annoyed as most people by a “snitch” who reported me for violating some order telling me, for instance, that I had to wear a mask to roll my trash can down to the curb.  Thankfully, I don’t live in a place that has imposed such rules.

    On the other hand, if California is having a lockdown of non-essential businesses, why are the landscaping businesses operating?  The law should be properly enforced, even if it is a stupid law.  Maybe especially if it is a stupid law, because enforcement could lead to public pressure to change the law.

    • #31
  2. Brian Watt Inactive
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    I used to pay my gardener at the end of the month for work rendered. I paid him for both March and April three weeks ago. When he comes this Thursday, I’ll pay him for May. I am now paying him at the beginning of the month because he and his family could probably use the money right away.

    The gardening crews in my neighborhood are busy on someone’s lawn all week long. They use blowers. I live with it and don’t find it irritating. The squawking crows can be irritating. The neighbor’s kid with the tricked-out Mustang who likes to lay scratch can be irritating…but I usually get over it. But that’s just me. I can understand how certain noises can be irritating but that’s why earplugs were invented. You know, what also works? Noise cancelling earbuds or earphones and a pleasant classical symphony by Mozart, Debussy, Beethoven, Delius, what have you, or some laid-back jazz by Vince Guaraldi or Dave Brubeck.

    If I lived in a neighborhood where gardening or lawn service workers were not permitted to work, I would be upset by the petty arrogant tyrants in local government who deemed that this outdoor activity somehow was unhealthy based on no credible scientific data whatsoever — and not upset at the gardeners who are just trying to make a living, keep food on their respective family’s table, and not be evicted from their homes.

    I don’t know, maybe you should be thankful you live, my guess is very comfortably, residing in a neighborhood that has gardeners with leaf blowers. You could be living on the street in downtown San Francisco amidst heroin needles and human feces where your life is threatened on a daily basis. So, sorry about “the stuff” blown on the wet paint of your exterior wall. I hope someday you can get past that.

    • #32
  3. Fritz Coolidge
    Fritz
    @Fritz

    Leaf blowers?!

    Oh, the humanity!!

    • #33
  4. DrewInWisconsin is done with t… Member
    DrewInWisconsin is done with t…
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    On the other hand, if California is having a lockdown of non-essential businesses, why are the landscaping businesses operating?

    Illegal immigrants. Officials will look the other way in exchange for cheap landscaping.

    • #34
  5. Hugh Member
    Hugh
    @Hugh

    Any gardening service that kills dandelions is all right by me.

    • #35
  6. Retail Lawyer Member
    Retail Lawyer
    @RetailLawyer

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Retail Lawyer (View Comment):
    The gardeners in question take 1.5 hours for the four houses. Every week. Every Saturday. There are no leaves on the ground. There is no moisture in the ground, but there is dry dirt. Maybe its a California only problem – we are dry half the year. I have had to repaint an outside wall because a leaf blower blew stuff onto wet paint!

    While I sympathize, I have to wonder:

     

    If you know they work every Saturday (and apparently only on Saturday), why would you paint when you know they are coming?

     

     

    Different leaf blowing crew.  I have to note the schedules for the various crews for leaving the laundry out, windows open, etc., but they don’t always keep to schedule.  The Saturday guys are always on Saturday.  I would never paint on Saturday.  This is hard to believe, but true:  They meet up with another crew on my street to socialize and mark the end of their working week.  Sometimes even set up a picnic table with relatives and have a picnic in the shade where a car would park.  I have no problem with that, and it keeps them on schedule.

    • #36
  7. Retail Lawyer Member
    Retail Lawyer
    @RetailLawyer

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Retail Lawyer (View Comment):
    The gardeners in question take 1.5 hours for the four houses. Every week. Every Saturday. There are no leaves on the ground. There is no moisture in the ground, but there is dry dirt. Maybe its a California only problem – we are dry half the year. I have had to repaint an outside wall because a leaf blower blew stuff onto wet paint!

    While I sympathize, I have to wonder:

     

    If you know they work every Saturday (and apparently only on Saturday), why would you paint when you know they are coming?

     

    Different crew and not on the usual schedule.  Saturday crew is very reliable that way.  I would never paint, hang laundry out, or wash my car on Saturday.

    • #37
  8. E. Kent Golding Moderator
    E. Kent Golding
    @EKentGolding

    Spin (View Comment):

    You called the police on your neighbor for having someone mow their lawn. Yet you offered to mow the lawn for your neighbor. Let that sink in.

    People have bad days,  and Corona shutdown is making everyone crazy.

    • #38
  9. Brian Watt Inactive
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    Retail Lawyer (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Retail Lawyer (View Comment):
    The gardeners in question take 1.5 hours for the four houses. Every week. Every Saturday. There are no leaves on the ground. There is no moisture in the ground, but there is dry dirt. Maybe its a California only problem – we are dry half the year. I have had to repaint an outside wall because a leaf blower blew stuff onto wet paint!

    While I sympathize, I have to wonder:

     

    If you know they work every Saturday (and apparently only on Saturday), why would you paint when you know they are coming?

     

    Different crew and not on the usual schedule. Saturday crew is very reliable that way. I would never paint, hang laundry out, or wash my car on Saturday.

    There’s these new fangled machines called clothes dryers. They’re all the rage. Though you may want to buy multiple pairs of socks.

    Some HOAs won’t let residents hang out laundry…thankfully.

    • #39
  10. E. Kent Golding Moderator
    E. Kent Golding
    @EKentGolding

    Doug Watt (View Comment):

    As a former police officer this would be a very low priority call. I might drive by just to say I checked it out, but I would keep on driving. I might prioritize the call to make the drive by shortly before the Second Coming.

    If you have timing for the second coming,  clue us in.

    • #40
  11. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Retail Lawyer (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin is done with t… (View Comment):

    I have been doing a lot of spring lawn work during our shut-down. So have my neighbors. Several people in our neighborhood are putting in new gardens this spring. Yesterday one of the neighbors behind me was using his rototiller. Sure, loud, but good for him.

    I’m glad you’re not my neighbor.

    I am writing this watching plumes of dust waft around settling on everything and listening to multiple leaf blowers. It is truly the bane of suburban living.

    I’m guessing if they didn’t keep their lawns up, the local homeowner’s association would fine them. Would that make you happier?

    I’m not OK with my behavior. It is out of my character. I am ashamed of what levels I have stooped to. Really. That was the point of the post.

    By the way, a few weeks ago I fired up my 1951 rototiller and prepared the back yard for spring planting. I was considerate enough to time this so that I would not raise dust. It took an hour. Once a year. The gardeners in question take 1.5 hours for the four houses. Every week. Every Saturday. There are no leaves on the ground. There is no moisture in the ground, but there is dry dirt. Maybe its a California only problem – we are dry half the year. I have had to repaint an outside wall because a leaf blower blew stuff onto wet paint! So their activity is not confined to their own property. It is the absolute lowest hanging fruit to pick if you are concerned with particulate matter in the air, which the Bay Area Air Control District most definitely claims to be.

    Yeah and my neighbors kids are always screeching.  And my other neighbor’s dog [expletive]s in my yard all the time.  I don’t call the cops.  I might have shot the dog with my kid’s genuine Red Ryder Range Model Air Rifle once or twice.  Might have.  And I just sit and complain about the neighbors kids.  

    My other neighbors planted flowers on my property.  I went and said “Hey that’s my property and lilacs are from the devil, can you move them?”  They were cordial and apologized (this property line is wonky) and moved the plant.  

    • #41
  12. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    9thDistrictNeighbor (View Comment):

    Retail Lawyer: …sound of a leaf blower….

    Karen, is that you?

    BOOM! (goes the dynamite)

    • #42
  13. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    I would think that the conservative position should be that stupid laws should be changed, not ignored.

    That depends on the level of stupid.  I am told (I have not verified) that it is still illegal to drive a car while wearing a house coat in a nearby town.  

    Ok, let’s get rid of that law.  But until that happens, should it be enforced?  No.

    • #43
  14. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    On the other hand, if California is having a lockdown of non-essential businesses, why are the landscaping businesses operating?

    Because they need to eat.  Oh, and they are patriots of the highest order.  Down with King George, and all that.

    • #44
  15. DrewInWisconsin is done with t… Member
    DrewInWisconsin is done with t…
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Spin (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    I would think that the conservative position should be that stupid laws should be changed, not ignored.

    That depends on the level of stupid. I am told (I have not verified) that it is still illegal to drive a car while wearing a house coat in a nearby town.

    Ok, let’s get rid of that law. But until that happens, should it be enforced? No.

    Are you frequently driving around in your house coat?

     

    • #45
  16. Retail Lawyer Member
    Retail Lawyer
    @RetailLawyer

    Brian Watt (View Comment):

    I don’t know, maybe you should be thankful you live, my guess is very comfortably, residing in a neighborhood that has gardeners with leaf blowers. You could be living on the street in downtown San Francisco amidst heroin needles and human feces where your life is threatened on a daily basis. So, sorry about “the stuff” blown on the wet paint of your exterior wall. I hope someday you can get past that.

    I am so thankful for where I live.  Really.  I can watch the bad news on TV, but I ride my bike around Stanford or somewhere, come back and sit in my back yard, and think I am in paradise.  Neighbors are all actually enjoyable.  My nephew was living with me, just out of college, first tech job . . .  He decided to move to the hippest part of San Francisco about 6 months ago.  Sold his car, even sold his bike because renting one was so easy.  Ate out all the time.  Having fun on Tinder.  He reports a real horror show now.  Everything that made it fun is gone.  It is very, very, uncomfortable, dirty, dangerous, and without amenities. 

    I am past the repaint of the wall.  I’m really, actually going to get some noise cancelling headphones.  I will be fine, but I am worried about the nephew.

     

    • #46
  17. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    DrewInWisconsin is done with t… (View Comment):

    Spin (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    I would think that the conservative position should be that stupid laws should be changed, not ignored.

    That depends on the level of stupid. I am told (I have not verified) that it is still illegal to drive a car while wearing a house coat in a nearby town.

    Ok, let’s get rid of that law. But until that happens, should it be enforced? No.

    Are you frequently driving around in your house coat?

     

    I drive around in yo mama’s housecoat!

    • #47
  18. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Spin (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    I would think that the conservative position should be that stupid laws should be changed, not ignored.

    That depends on the level of stupid. I am told (I have not verified) that it is still illegal to drive a car while wearing a house coat in a nearby town.

    Ok, let’s get rid of that law. But until that happens, should it be enforced? No.

    But there is a tradition of demanding that the law be enforced in full measure as a means to highlight the stupidity of the law. 

    • #48
  19. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Retail Lawyer (View Comment):
    My nephew was living with me, just out of college, first tech job . . . He decided to move to the hippest part of San Francisco about 6 months ago. Sold his car, even sold his bike because renting one was so easy. Ate out all the time. Having fun on Tinder. He reports a real horror show now. Everything that made it fun is gone. It is very, very, uncomfortable, dirty, dangerous, and without amenities. 

    While I am sure your nephew is a fine person and I’m sorry you’re worried about him, I’m pretty sure this is what the german word schadenfreude was coined to describe.

     

    • #49
  20. Darin Johnson Member
    Darin Johnson
    @user_648569

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    It is interesting to observe a number of people who appear to self-identify as conservative, but also seem to oppose law enforcement. Generally speaking, I would think that the conservative position should be that stupid laws should be changed, not ignored. I realize that there is a lot of frustration around regarding apparently stupid laws.

    The American right contains multitudes. 

    It’s true that the right tends to support law enforcement more, but breaking dumb laws reflects the kind of cussedness I find lacking these days.  There’s a place for that, too.  Especially now.  I say fire up the damn leaf-blowers.

    • #50
  21. GLDIII Temporarily Essential Reagan
    GLDIII Temporarily Essential
    @GLDIII

    Brian Watt (View Comment):

    Retail Lawyer (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Retail Lawyer (View Comment):
    The gardeners in question take 1.5 hours for the four houses. Every week. Every Saturday. There are no leaves on the ground. There is no moisture in the ground, but there is dry dirt. Maybe its a California only problem – we are dry half the year. I have had to repaint an outside wall because a leaf blower blew stuff onto wet paint!

    While I sympathize, I have to wonder:

     

    If you know they work every Saturday (and apparently only on Saturday), why would you paint when you know they are coming?

     

    Different crew and not on the usual schedule. Saturday crew is very reliable that way. I would never paint, hang laundry out, or wash my car on Saturday.

    There’s these new fangled machines called clothes dryers. They’re all the rage. Though you may want to buy multiple pairs of socks.

    Some HOAs won’t let residents hang out laundry…thankfully.

    You just have to know how to sell it.

     

    • #51
  22. Retail Lawyer Member
    Retail Lawyer
    @RetailLawyer

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Spin (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    I would think that the conservative position should be that stupid laws should be changed, not ignored.

    That depends on the level of stupid. I am told (I have not verified) that it is still illegal to drive a car while wearing a house coat in a nearby town.

    Ok, let’s get rid of that law. But until that happens, should it be enforced? No.

    But there is a tradition of demanding that the law be enforced in full measure as a means to highlight the stupidity of the law.

    This law is even worse than what you all are talking about.  It is new, for one thing.  It is still on the county / city website.  But if you report a violation, the dispatcher tells you the law is not being enforced, suspended . .  she is not really sure.  Stay safe and have a nice day.  So everybody who reads the Corona dispatches from the local government but has not reported a violation thinks all these gardeners are either scofflaws or anti-government heroes.  I think most of us agree that laws should be respected or changed.  This is the worst.  A phony law unless a gardener disses a cop.  I truly wonder what they teach in law school these days.  I asked Ann Althouse that very question years ago and she responded, “whatever they (the government) can get away with”.

    • #52
  23. Hugh Member
    Hugh
    @Hugh

    My sister in Houston hung out some things to dry the day after the hurricane down there and the HOA goons came by the same day to give her a written warning.  Some people live for this.

    • #53
  24. Retail Lawyer Member
    Retail Lawyer
    @RetailLawyer

    Darin Johnson (View Comment):

    It’s true that the right tends to support law enforcement more, but breaking dumb laws reflects the kind of cussedness I find lacking these days. There’s a place for that, too. Especially now. I say fire up the damn leaf-blowers.

    Right on!  I’m pretty sure I would rate very high on the cussedness scale.  It actually makes me proud to be an American.  When I see a sign that says, “No X” I will do X just because the sign tells me not to (except littering).  A lady with a French accent once pointed out that I was violating a sign, then asked if I respected signs.  “We shoot signs in America”.

    The leaf blowers beat me down.  I violated my own principles.  maybe its the virus.  I have not been myself lately.

     

    • #54
  25. DrewInWisconsin is done with t… Member
    DrewInWisconsin is done with t…
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Retail Lawyer (View Comment):
    maybe its the virus. I have not been myself lately.

    None of us have.

    • #55
  26. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Retail Lawyer (View Comment):

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Spin (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    I would think that the conservative position should be that stupid laws should be changed, not ignored.

    That depends on the level of stupid. I am told (I have not verified) that it is still illegal to drive a car while wearing a house coat in a nearby town.

    Ok, let’s get rid of that law. But until that happens, should it be enforced? No.

    But there is a tradition of demanding that the law be enforced in full measure as a means to highlight the stupidity of the law.

    This law is even worse than what you all are talking about. It is new, for one thing. It is still on the county / city website. But if you report a violation, the dispatcher tells you the law is not being enforced, suspended . . she is not really sure. Stay safe and have a nice day. So everybody who reads the Corona dispatches from the local government but has not reported a violation thinks all these gardeners are either scofflaws or anti-government heroes. I think most of us agree that laws should be respected or changed. This is the worst. A phony law unless a gardener disses a cop. I truly wonder what they teach in law school these days. I asked Ann Althouse that very question years ago and she responded, “whatever they (the government) can get away with”.

    Laws that are on the book but rarely if ever enforced drive me nuts. New York state has lots of such laws, plus lots of laws that got enforced only if the police officer or other government official didn’t like the target for some reason. That all made it very difficult to teach respect for the law to our then-teenaged son.

    • #56
  27. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):

    Doug Watt (View Comment):

    As a former police officer this would be a very low priority call. I might drive by just to say I checked it out, but I would keep on driving. I might prioritize the call to make the drive by shortly before the Second Coming.

    If you have timing for the second coming, clue us in.

    I can only tell you that it might come when you least expect it, but I don’t recommend holding your breath waiting for the big event.

     

    • #57
  28. EDISONPARKS Member
    EDISONPARKS
    @user_54742

    Even though the OP was not intended as satire, does my assuming it was satire and finding the OP hilarious make me a bad person?

    • #58
  29. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    I think disrespect of law enforcement is becoming more common on the right than it was. But I think that disrespect is mostly because the police are being called upon to enforce increasingly penny-ante or stupid laws that the leftist politicians enact because they believe every aspect of life and interpersonal relationship must be legislated, notwithstanding that anyone who still has common sense can see that the laws don’t really fix the problem they are said to fix. 

    • #59
  30. Southern Pessimist Member
    Southern Pessimist
    @SouthernPessimist

    Blow drying my driveway every week is one of the high points of my life. So sue me.

    • #60
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