We've been walking quite a bit through various Petaluma neighborhoods and we are wondering about all the neglected homes.

Are people just lazy? Do they not have the time? Where is the pride of ownership? Trees in need of attention, dead landscaping, falling fences, weeds thick and six feet high, peeling paint, cracked driveways, etc.

These are not foreclosures -- these are privately owned. Some are owner occupied, some are rentals. But SOMEONE owns them! These homes are still valued between a quarter million and a half million dollars. Don't they care???

Seems like every block has at least one or two unmaintained properties. Dry lawns are OK -- there is a water shortage. But tall thick weeds are a fire hazard.

We woke up one morning to a fire truck watering down the bark chips and weeds on a yard on our block. A discarded cigarette butt was the cause.

A few examples: East Madison near Maria. I'm surprised the fire dept. doesn't cite them.

P.S. Lots of teenagers are available to weed and help with home maintenance. I'm sure their hourly rate is affordable.

Just my thoughts.....

My lawn is brown because I don't feel I need to be watering it when I can water my veggies in the backyard. Lawns are a huge waste of water. What gets me is all these people with lush green lawns and their sprinker systems still put more water on the sidewalks and down the gutter.

i used to walk right by Maria and East Madison when i attended B.E. years ago. then, the owners used to care about their homes and the appearance from the street. that house in particulary adjacent to B.E. usually has a car parked on the "lawn" and there are weeds growing almost laughably high (4') in the front yard of the house almost directly across the street at E. Madison and Penrod.
if i lived nearby i'd be sad about the overall look of the neighborhood.

KRRH, anytime you feel like paying to have the front of my house "up to your standards" you now have an open invitation to do so.

I agree with KRRH, it's not fair to the rest of the street to allow your yard to look like a dump. God help the poor homeowner who tries to sell a home next to one. I live in the Casa Del Oro subdivison and half the homes have let the lawns die. How can homeowners afford to let this happen? I wish we had a homeowners association to stop this.

I think with the current water shortage it is OK to let your lawn dry out. Just keep it mowed and weeded. It will come back in the winter if we (hopefully) get some rain.

But what's with all the dry HIGH WEEDS on properties around the neighborhoods? It's not only Casa Del Oro, but all over town.

It only takes an hour or two to weed whack or pull those eyesores. It's good exercise too.

Keywords: lazy, neglectful, careless, slobs, cheap, sloppy, oblivious

I really have to agree with tjmac it does not cost a dime if you can yourself muster up the strength to pull the weeds or sweep the driveway and throw out the broken ugly TRASHY basketball hoops that sit out in front of homes that kids don't even use on a city street...get off your butts and clean it up...LAZY

I agree...I live in Southgate and it's amazing how some people buy a nice new house but don't take the time to weed their front yard. I swear during Christmas I'm going to get some lights and ornaments and string them around the weeds….some of them are as big as a small bush…maybe they’ll get the point. It’s one thing to cut back on watering but it’s embarrassing to let your yard fill up with weeds.

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