I once had the misfortune of living next to vacant land managed by a county fire department, which became a potential problem during a particularly bad wildfire year. The dry weeds were nearly the height of cornstalks. I had enough after my neighbors and I—most of whom had green, well-maintained lawns—received notices from the county telling us to keep our yards trimmed.
I started making calls to the appropriate agencies and got the usual bureaucratic runaround. I still remember my call to the weed abatement department, which assured me it would handle the situation. "Aren't you going to take the address?" I retorted as the person was about to hang up. The county finally mowed the property after the right staffer in an elected official's office intervened.
