Auteur Sujet: This is what the U.S. has come to  (Lu 4487 fois)

0 Membres et 1 Invité sur ce sujet

djohnston

  • Invité
This is what the U.S. has come to
« le: 28 juin 2013 à 20:11:12 »
Secret flower planter threatened with arrest if he doesn't stop planting flowers

(NaturalNews) The real estate department from Washington's Metro Transit system has recently become aware of unauthorized flowers springing up in planter boxes on public property. Along the north side of their Dupont Circle station, hundreds of mysterious morning glories and other flowers have been coming up in planter boxes along the Metro's north escalators.

Metro found out who the secret flower planter was when they received a polite letter on June 3 written by the flower planter himself, Henry Docter. Henry sent a letter asking permission to continue caring for hundreds of flowers he had planted a week earlier at the Metro transit system.

Immediately, the Metro responded to Docter on June 11 with a "cease and desist" letter threatening "arrest, fines and imprisonment" if Docter tried to weed, water, or tend to the flowers. Concerned about public safety, Metro said that they didn't want Docter or anyone else to be injured caring for flowers that were set in steep, cobblestone inclines.

The 52-year-old garden artist, Henry Docter, who has planted flowers in public places on four continents since 1979, said, "I've never gotten in trouble for planting flowers. Never has anyone overreacted with such an absence of common sense."

Docter, who calls himself the "phantom planter" doesn't deny that he is "a little nuts," but planting flowers is something that he loves to do and has been doing for 34 years. "Flowers are nature's way of affirming how beautiful life can be," says Docter. He's more famously known for his clandestine horticulture and the planting of more than 40,000 flowers at the American Embassies in Israel, Argentina, Spain and Cambodia.

Docter isn't some freak on the street whose goal is to disrupt the public. Instead, Docter is a husband, father of two, part-time lawyer, author, and collage artist who just has a knack to garden. His friendly public gardening is loved by many.

A man who lives nearby the Metro station, Mike Stirratt, said that Docter's passion for planting "is fantastic," as he questioned the Metro's threats of prosecution, "It seems incredibly unfair that they would prosecute you for doing something to help the neighborhood."

As the issue gains more public attention, Docter hopes to raise awareness about his predicament with the Metro Station through an online petition. The petition has already drawn more than 2,000 signatures in a week.

Visit http://www.letmyflowersgrow.com/ to support Docter and a fellow team of neighborhood activists who are discussing ways to compromise with the Metro station.

Even though Henry Docter has had little trouble planting flowers at the Metro station since last October, Docter said that he would be up for signing a liability waiver saying he wouldn't sue Metro if he's hurt, and that he would be willing to use a harness if Metro required it.

Back in October, Docter went under the radar as he planted 150 daffodils and tulips in the same boxes he's planting in now. The spokesman for Metro, Dan Stessel, said the public flower planting has slipped under the radar because "It's sort of beyond the scope of what you would imagine some private citizen would do."

Metro is now beginning to back down on their charges, thanks to activist support in the community. Stessel said that the letter they sent to Docter might have gone too far, "The word 'imprisonment' is one we probably would have omitted had it originated in our general counsel's office," Stessel said.

Metro is now looking for ways to work with the community to find sustainable, safe, and affordable solutions to the predicament, but they declined to clarify if that includes allowing Henry Docter to plant.

Docter responds has responded with, "What could be more "affordable" to Metro than an artist who gives away a garden of a thousand flowers? What could be more "sustainable" than an artist who's willing to provide the labor this summer and fall to water and care for the garden and then clean up when everything is brown and dead after our first frost?

What do you think? Should public flower planting be a crime?


Hors ligne patrick013

  • Membre Senior
  • ****
  • Messages: 252
Re : This is what the U.S. has come to
« Réponse #1 le: 28 juin 2013 à 23:37:32 »
What do you think? Should public flower planting be a crime?

IMHO you should be allowed to plant flowers, but,  more importantly,
consider zero percent interest rates, how come nobody complains
about that  ?     Is everbody besides me a millionaire ?

Hors ligne melodie

  • Administrateur
  • Membre Héroïque
  • *****
  • Messages: 1774
    • Citrotux
Re : This is what the U.S. has come to
« Réponse #2 le: 29 juin 2013 à 00:45:50 »
It is an interesting story, and I like very much the idea of seeing nice plants and flowers everywhere, and particularly in the cities where usually everything is so grey. I am happy to know the man received a wide support. (Even if what he does sounds a bit nuts!)

Sometimes in France some people use spare corners of ground to plant edible vegetables. ^^
ie:
http://www.la-croix.com/Solidarite/En-France/Planter-des-legumes-pour-se-reapproprier-la-ville-2013-05-03-955819

and here they say in fact it started in UK:
http://www.youphil.com/fr/article/05879-incroyables-comestibles-des-legumes-gratuits-en-plein-paris?ypcli=ano
Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed.

Hors ligne patrick013

  • Membre Senior
  • ****
  • Messages: 252
Re : This is what the U.S. has come to
« Réponse #3 le: 29 juin 2013 à 01:08:19 »
You guys must be rich.     Zero percent interest rates ?

What kind of "flowers" would you like to see,  or not see   ?

Chicago plants flowers throughout all the city parks every year.

Hors ligne patrick013

  • Membre Senior
  • ****
  • Messages: 252
Re : This is what the U.S. has come to
« Réponse #4 le: 29 juin 2013 à 02:12:53 »
Without much say so otherwise....

Spend your principal so banks can make a profit...

screw wicd when other software doesn't work either...

but eth0 works fine...

mouse themes require 3 reboots...

Stanley Cup is a state school party...

Crime is up 300  %  with  the new mayor...

LinuxVillage.iso  is still the best...

The garden club has planted their flowers...

Everything's normal as far as I can see.

djohnston

  • Invité
Re : Re : This is what the U.S. has come to
« Réponse #5 le: 29 juin 2013 à 02:15:11 »
Is everbody besides me a millionaire ?

Yes. Most definitely ..... not.  ;)

Hors ligne Taco.22

  • Membre Senior
  • ****
  • Messages: 391
    • Scorpio_Openbox
Re : This is what the U.S. has come to
« Réponse #6 le: 29 juin 2013 à 05:20:24 »
OK, so who's the Taylor Swift fan !?!
What can go wrong !!!