side-yard dreams
So I'm currently reading Food Not Lawns and am totally loving it. It has a MAJOR activist bent to it -- the author has worked with Food Not Bombs and Greenpeace, as well as lots of other non-profit orgs
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1. Approach the super. Explain what you'd like to do and make sure to reinforce that it will result in less hassle for him/her, because you will be doing the maintenance on it and it'll no longer require his/her attention. It's possible s/he may be able to give you unofficial permission (and if your landowners don't make periodic visits and you're fine without the fence, unofficial permission would be all you'd need anyway). If you do need the fence, then get him/her on your side first, and then...
2. Approach the land owners. My suggestion would be to write them a letter that covers these points:
1. This is what I'd like to do.
2. It will not require any outlay of money from you other than putting up the fence and lock; however, putting up the fence and lock would be a good investment anyway, because it will keep out the teenagers who do drugs and may deface the building, dogs who leave their wastes, it invites trash dumping which creates a health hazard, etc.
3. Other than that, this will incur you no expense or hassle.
4. The ground is contaminated due to dumping, which may be a health hazard. I will plant common varieties of legal, non-poisonous, non-edible plants [there's not really any need to go into detail re: types of plants] that are good at leaching heavy metals from soil, thereby reducing the contamination load.
5. I plan on staying in this apartment for the foreseeable future and I am a good tenant who has consistently paid rent on time, but even if you were concerned about me leaving midway through this project, the worst that would happen is that the super mows the plants and resumes the regular mowing that he's currently doing. And you'd have already had the benefit of me removing the existing trash and contaminants.
Basically, couch it all in terms of how this benefits them, and how it won't be any additional expense or bother for them. Make it clear to them that it's a win-win situation for them.
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