Can I get a piece of that?

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otr12
otr12 Posts: 632 Member
in Chit-Chat
That green space between the sidewalk and the street,....

(At least here) The city holds you responsible for maintaining it but you don't actually have any rights to it. It isn't yours. However, people use it and if the city doesn't need to dig it up they let you do whatever you want with it. They don't give you any problems. Some people pave it. Some people put playground equipment on it. Some people park their cars on it. Lots of people plant gardens on it, and this is where I have a question.

If people plant food producing items in this space can I grab a snack while I'm out on my run or is this stealing?

Technically I know it isn't stealing. It's public property. If I were to plant strawberries in this space and people ate them all before I ever had the chance to grab some I would be disappointed. I wouldn't be angry at people for taking all the strawberries I planted since I chose to plant them on public property. I wouldn't have planted them there if I wasn't willing to accept this possible outcome. But I would be disappointed that someone chose to take them all and not leave any for me. Not because it's right or wrong but just because it seems like a disrespectful thing to do to take them all. If people took 3/4ths of them I would be happy to share my berries with my neighbors.

I don't tend to think along the same lines as the masses so I can't predict what the masses think. So, if they were your strawberries and I stopped and grabbed 3 of them as I was running by would you be mad at me? Would you think I was stealing the fruits of your efforts? Would I be acting inappropriately?
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Replies

  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
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    As long as you're discreet and nobody sees you, then it's fine.
  • Qarol
    Qarol Posts: 6,171 Member
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    I haven't got a clue what you're talking about...
  • Krull_the_WarriorKing
    Krull_the_WarriorKing Posts: 650 Member
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    If you can pee there - you can eat there.... just eat first.
  • Sj20fame
    Sj20fame Posts: 205 Member
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    This made me giggle, but No I would not mind if you took a few strawberrys =D I have an apple tree in my yard, and I'll come outside and see people taking apples, LOL it doesn't bother me at all, because its' natures fruit, and it's feeding someones tummy, Now ask me if it would bother me if I seen a squirrel eating the apples, then I'd be like a SPIDER MONKEY AND GO CRAZY!!! don't ask me why that bothers me, but it does LOL
  • leonardk09
    leonardk09 Posts: 86 Member
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    OH my gosh, this just made my day. Hahahaha. You make so much sense! Although, I feel like that little slice of land is still the "invisible property" of the owner, so I wouldn't take anything or be disrespectful. It's sort of like.. man's law versus common law.
  • antijen
    antijen Posts: 112 Member
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    Please help yourself to my strawberries and eat them in good health... just be sure to park your car in your spot, I need some new wheels ; )
  • u2fergus
    u2fergus Posts: 422 Member
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    Speaking as a gardener... growing plants and making sure they're weeded and watered and mulched and all that is HARD work. If somebody just took stuff that I'd been working on for months without at least asking, I'd be very annoyed. Having said that, though, I bet if you asked first, the person would be happy to share a few. I think the key is that you really should show them the respect of asking first.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
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    I would probably be upset if they were mine, after all I was the one who put the effort into it so I should get to enjoy them. But I wouldn't plant something like that in a place where people could help themselves, so it doesn't matter.
  • jah7700
    jah7700 Posts: 276 Member
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    As long as you're discreet and nobody sees you, then it's fine.

    LOL!
  • JennsLosing
    JennsLosing Posts: 1,026
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    i wouldnt plant anything there, just for that simple fact! thats just me though, im stingy like that.
  • 27strange
    27strange Posts: 837 Member
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    Interesting....

    I think I would be disappointed too if people were taking "my"strawberries regardless of what ground they were planted in. I worked hard to plant those and get them to grow, I should be able to enjoy them and share with others as well.

    So thankful for wide open green spaces and acres and acres all to my own!! (to do with what the wife tells me to...of course.) Country livin' is the life for me.
  • otr12
    otr12 Posts: 632 Member
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    As long as you're discreet and nobody sees you, then it's fine.

    The things nobody sees me do never really happened.

    (I have no clue why there are black marks on the ground angled towards my driveway.)
  • piezoeyjune
    piezoeyjune Posts: 186 Member
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    Would you take a piece of the playground equipment? Or for that matter a wheel off the cars?

    Same situation. They bought the seeds and tilled the earth. What grows there is their property b/c they "created" it.
    Regardless of who owns the land.

    Seems to me that taking some of their produce would be the same as stealing.

    Id keep hands off.
  • whitejessamine
    whitejessamine Posts: 166
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    While I totally understand your point of view, I would would feel proprietary about anything I planted there. So, yeah, if I saw you taking them and I didn't know you and hadn't said it was fine, I'd be bothered by it. Maybe you should just stop by and ask if they'd mind? I mean, most people I know who grow stuff have too much and would rather give it away than see it go bad, so they'd probably say it's fine if you did ask...
  • nehtaeh
    nehtaeh Posts: 2,977 Member
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    Speaking as a gardener... growing plants and making sure they're weeded and watered and mulched and all that is HARD work. If somebody just took stuff that I'd been working on for months without at least asking, I'd be very annoyed. Having said that, though, I bet if you asked first, the person would be happy to share a few. I think the key is that you really should show them the respect of asking first.

    This!

    I'd most likely share most anything of mine if I was asked. If you just come up and take it I wouldn't be as accomodating.
  • sandislim
    sandislim Posts: 264
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    I've always wondered why all areas of grass are not planted with food - apple trees, plum trees, strawberries, potatoes, instead of the usual flowers and grass we see. It would be a wonderful place to live then. There would always be food for those that are poorer. But there would probably be some nasty person poisoning them or something equally sinister. I heard that by planting and tending to an area for a period of time makes it yours to keep - but I'm not sure if that is true.
  • Krull_the_WarriorKing
    Krull_the_WarriorKing Posts: 650 Member
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    What if you came back later and stapled store purchased strawberries back on? Would it be more like borrowing?
  • otr12
    otr12 Posts: 632 Member
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    Would you take a piece of the playground equipment? Or for that matter a wheel off the cars?

    Same situation. They bought the seeds and tilled the earth. What grows there is their property b/c they "created" it.
    Regardless of who owns the land.

    Seems to me that taking some of their produce would be the same as stealing.

    Id keep hands off.

    What if I stopped and pushed my kid on the swing there? Is that the same as if I went through your gate and let my kids play on the swing-set in your back yard?
  • EmiVReyes
    EmiVReyes Posts: 118 Member
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    I wouldn't mind sharing my own strawberries but I would feel strange about taking someone else's. You never know what some people do to things... lol
  • boopiejones
    boopiejones Posts: 73
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    there are homes that back to the trail that i ride my bike on. some of them have fruit trees overhanging the fences, and i will occasionally see people picking the fruit. usually they just take one or two, but some times there will be people with plastic grocery bags chock full of apples, oranges, etc. maybe it's not wrong, but it sure is wierd. like the people at the end of a 10k that don't just take one of the free bottles of water, but they take 10. and 20 bags of chips, etc.

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