Front Lawns Are Bad
Problem
- Waste of money - Front lawns are the bane of towns all across Canada and the US. They serve little purpose except to consume our time and money to maintain it. Space is money and front lawns consume precious space. With front lawns consuming about 30% of lots this can be turned into cash by not having them in the first place OR having a larger backyard for the same price!
- Harmful to the environment - being exposed to all the neighbors, there is extreme pressure to control nature so it looks "nice". Chemicals are dumped on the lawns and they leak into the environment. The pesticide ban will NOT help this problem because (certified) chemical companies will still be allowed to dump.
- Make a cities inefficient - Public transit, and utilities all have a longer distance to go with front lawns wasting 30% of the city's space. There are many ways to make a city run more efficiently, but removing front lawns is a no-brainer first step at saves 30% on the delivery of services
Common city by-laws require roads to be wide and housing to be far back from the road. Developers would love to pack housing closer and make narrower roads, people would love the larger backyards they get by trading in thier front lawns. City by-laws are getting in the way of everyone's happiness and are causing the following problems.
Solution
I propose getting rid of front lawns and making more of what you see in old cities, and downtowns: housing right up to the road, or so close the owner would rather have a garden. Note that removing font lawns can be done with detached housing.