> Listen, is her yard overgrown? Yes, but it's been like that for years

lol. Oh, well if it's been like that for years..

The funny thing is, you could have written this from the opposite perspective (the Yuppie midwesterner) and the same commenters would lambaste you both (see below).

I agree completely with OP. :-).

If you're oh-so-neighborly you might've offered to help the lady with her yard sometime between the day you were born and the day the city sent her a warning letter.

Watch out, this jerk will call the cops on your boats and grills, too. Like the bar next me did while bitching about "nimbys" out the other side of their mouths.

Maybe she's never heard of a Brazilian wax.

That's protected species habitat.

A northern spotted owl is butt fucking a snowy plover in one of those bushes as we speak.

Half the homes in this city look like something out of an episode of Life After People. I'm an advocate of talking to your neighbors before telling on them. Clearly snitching works best if this long-time eyesore of a lawn has gotten squared away, by you no less. And you are gonna keep it squared away, along with your own lawn, correct?

Midwestern yuppie transplant?!?!?!? There's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one.

Be a man and tell the fucker to rescind their complaint to the city and get together with your neighbors and deal with this issue on your own if it means that much to you.

Way to defend her honor and elderly status by writing an I,Anon rant. Fucking wuss!!!

Here's what really happened: I,A was too busy building some dumb "art car" for Regional Burning Man to care about mowing his lawn full of rusty bike parts, blackberry bushes and English Ivy. I,A's neighbor got pissed and called in a complaint. I,A (who moved here from CA about 6 to 7 years ago) gets pissed and blames midwesterners (who moved here 5 to 6 years ago).

The rest is fantasy. There's no old lady and there sure as shit ain't no justice squad of 30-something Orygun Native neighborhood bros concocting a plan to make things right by some sort of unspoken moral code.

If I may address I,A directly: mow your fucking lawn already.

Sure, good neighbors work together and discuss their problems honestly. So, hiding behind city bureaucracy is unneighborly. And So is hiding behind PM's anonymous snark column.

Even Sin City has a rough area; Old Town. Which reminds me, A Dame to Kill for is a top notch film. It's more camp than the original, with more deliberately funny black quips and subtle animation, which makes it play more like an actual, graphic novel. All foreshadowing does indeed pay off. There is a central character, common to all story lines. The relationship between the Bruce Willis and Jessica Alba characters still tugs at your heart. I plan to go see it again this week.

Lol! Up and coming "montavilla".

The yard next door going au naturel is a bitch. Itchy vermin love to hang out there. Bad for my dogs. Snakes love it there too. Bad for my wife. If the senior lady living there is true. You or better still and a couple neighbors should get together and clean her yard up. I don't know what to tell you about next time and next time, but I hate calling the city on people. There I've said it. Call me a wuss if you must.

Grey Gardens-inspired loft with house-trained raccoon is the new fixed gear.