Codes of the City of Downey - Property

Here's a question for you home owners: who owns that land from the edge of the street up 10 feet toward your house?

Until Monday, I thought it was the property owner and the city had an automatic easement on that property to do necessary stuff like sidewalks, trees, waterlines, and so on. But I have since spoken with the city and found out that the city owns the street plus an additional 10 feet into my yard and driveway. I have the easement in order to maintain the property.

Whoa! what a mind opener. This is why I have to get a permit to alter any of the city's property in front of my property which, contrary to what I used to think, is 10 feet shorter.

Front yards

We were out walking in for what is for us a new neighborhood and came across this front yard. The eclectic nature of the landscape made you want to investigate it further. Was this path made on purpose or just a product of where things chose to grow?



My investigation found that it is actually the front half of the front yard. There is this fence that separates the two halves. The normal front yard with its dogs, its grass and its "keep out" signs are on one side and passersby get to enjoy the beauty on this side. Thank you homeowner.

In our front yard, the kids and I used to play football. Not so much in this yard.

Yard art revisited

 

I like the incredible variety of yard art that can be found in our city and have had fun looking for how each family or person expresses themselves through the "art" in their yard.

I discovered this statue while driving through North Downey. It is certainly the focal point of this front yard. For more yard art, click here.

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance."
~Aristotle