Of the 359 homeowners in my area, 112 are deviously blatantly breaking the law by committing the heinous “fence crime”; in other words, in violation of sections 12.21 and 12.22 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code which limit the height of the front yard fence and hedge to a maximum of 3 ½ feet above ground level. That’s a lot of criminal activity for one neighborhood.
Using their pens and pads, my investigative team, three unemployed 17-year-old babysitters, scoured my neighborhood for crooks and found a very troublesome woman. This 74-year-old widow named Barbara told them a suspicious story about how her otherwise law-abiding husband unknowingly installed his “lovely wooden slats” in 1987. My detectives measured the “offensive picket” at four full feet. , instead of the legal 3 ½ — above ground level.
When pressed, Barbara confessed that she had just received a letter from Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo asking her to “appear for a hearing with the City Attorney to determine if a criminal complaint should be filed against you.” … for an alleged (fence) non-compliance.”
“It’s a stressful situation,” Barbara says. “Makes me feel like a criminal. Shouldn’t there be a statute of limitations on fences that have been in place for so long?”
Billboard snitching is on the rise, according to some local officials. Nosy neighbors or quality-of-life protectors, depending on one’s perspective, protest the fences by anonymously calling the city’s toll-free number to report their neighbors for wrought-iron, chain-link, and hedge indiscretions. Barbara’s picket caught the attention of authorities when whistleblowers alerted the Department of Building and Safety about another neighbor’s fence. A dozen families on the street received the ominous code violation letter.
My investigative team told me to grab my polygraph and question light, and run to Barbara’s house for a “Guantanamo Bay-style” probe. But when I arrived, I sympathized with the wide-eyed senior, hinting, “Have you ever seen the Leonardo DiCaprio movie, Catch Me If You Can?”
Of course, he would never let Bárbara get any further into the ins and outs of crime, snubbing Mr. Delgadillo and reporting the offense to the garbage. And she’d hate for the billboard fiasco to culminate in a showdown in a dusty printing press in France, all run by taxpayers.
But I wondered, just as a philosophical exercise, what would the city do if it didn’t show up at the hearing? How would the city react if Barbara faxed them a list of the 111 other tall fences in our neighborhood, or better yet, the tens of thousands in Los Angeles?
Two things are for sure: It would take a lot of jobless babysitters to compile the list, and it would start a revolution. Homeowners would not be willing to dismantle fences that cost them thousands of dollars to build.
Barbara, who reports irregularities, could create a directory of each property with any type of code violation. In fact, we now have one: it’s called a phone book.
As a real estate agent for the last 17 years, I have never sold a house that complied with all building and safety regulations. There are enclosed courtyards and guest houses that are not “built to code”; there are water heaters, roofs and air conditioners that have been installed without permits. It may be illegal to park too many vehicles in the driveway or store too many items in the garage.
Due to a series of raids in the area, Barbara wants to keep her picket for security. Fence offers all the other benefits, like increased privacy and the flexibility to transform front yards into grassy play areas for kids and pets, especially when pools swallow up the back of a lot. Properties adjoining the hills, as well as those that have succumbed to sprawl or mansion, may not have room for a garden without enclosing the front.
Too many years have passed and too many fences have been built for Los Angeles to attempt a dangerous, impractical and expensive U-turn back to the “Leave it to the Beaver” days when neighborhoods had unobstructed front lawns. One-third of all Angeleno homeowners cannot and should not be entered into a “fence violator database.”
The Barbaras of this city should not be scared by official announcements, turned into mockers and labeled as “victims of the process”, as a fence snitch calls her.
The city could encourage residents to cover existing fences with greenery to capture the pastoral quality of yesteryear or require them to contribute $100 a year to a neighborhood beautification fund in exchange for the right to ignore the law.
The city could even change the law to accommodate taller fences and mature hedges; After all, a homeowner has paid for his front yard, so he should, within reason, be able to use it however he pleases.
The “fence” controversy has traveled beyond Los Angeles to the California communities of Burbank, Santa Monica, Richmond and Glendale, where angry homeowners have flocked to city council meetings, often breaking attendance records. , to express their dissatisfaction with what they perceive. be arcane and restrictive rules. The problem is likely to continue to make its way across the United States, as most communities limit the height of front yard fences to three to four feet, while homeowners routinely ignore the laws.
As I said goodbye to the infamous Los Angeles picket line, Barbara whispered in my ear.
“Don’t tell Mr. Delgadillo, but I wish my fence was higher. So I could take out the trash in my nightgown.”
I nodded, “Why does a person have to get dressed just to walk out the front door?”
