Let the fence wars begin

Our house is on the closed end of a cul de sac. At the apex of the circle, where a few more houses normally would be situated, we have back fences for several houses up on a hill, that face a street a couple of blocks away.

One of the families has put in a back gate, so that their kids can come down the hill to play on our street. Though I was not thrilled a few years ago when they put the gate in, because I didn't want everyone in town knowing what a nice, quiet street we have, in reality it has been nice. The kids can cruise through the back gate and switch from their backyard to ours without facing off with car traffic.

But the house next to them is a rental property and it needs a fence bad. Not only is the fence ugly, it is supposed to be enclosing two dogs who are not friendly to other dogs or children. The renter told me herself that her dogs are not nice and cannot be near other dogs. I assume they do not like kids by the loud growling when we try to play on the street.

I sent the home owner a letter yesterday. Hopefully she will get the fence replaced soon. Until then the kids can't play baseball or ride bikes in the street.



Yeah, nice, no? And this is after I used every scrap board I could scrounge up to cover the largest holes.

The home owner last year rented to a dude with three pit bulls. Luckily for the neighborhood, he skipped out on the lease and left her house within a couple of months. So I don't expect this to go smoothly. She knows the shape of the fence and yard, and she still rents to people with dogs.