The Inner Monologue

Ah, the humble right-of-way—that magical strip of land between the sidewalk and the road, or maybe even the space where underground pipes and wires secretly live beneath your meticulously curated lawn. It’s technically not yours, but that hasn’t stopped you from treating it like your personal Eden. And why not? It’s basically free real estate!

Until, of course, the city or utility company has the audacity to remember that they, too, have a right to that right-of-way.

Exhibit A: The Doomed Sidewalk Garden

You spent months turning that sad little strip into a cottage-core paradise—herbs! Flowers! A whimsical little rock border!—only to wake up one morning to a backhoe parked on your petunias because, oops, the water main under them exploded. Cue the Facebook rant: “The city destroyed my garden with NO WARNING!”

Sweet summer child, the warning was baked into the very existence of that strip of land. It was never yours. You were just borrowing it, like a library book that could be recalled at any moment by the cold, unfeeling bureaucracy of infrastructure maintenance.

Exhibit B: The Power Line Pruning Freakout

You planted a lovely tree directly under power lines because, hey, it looked nice. Fast-forward five years, and the electric company shows up with chainsaws, turning your majestic oak into a lollipop. “They mutilated my tree!” you cry.

No, they saved your tree—and also prevented a blackout when the next storm rolled through. Trees and power lines are like roommates who hate each other. One of them was always going to lose.

Rights-of-Way: The Illusion of Ownership

Here’s the thing: rights-of-way are amazing. They let us pretend that our water, electricity, and internet just magically appear without giant trenches or ugly utility poles ruining the vibe. But that convenience comes with a trade-off: sometimes, people need to use them.

So go ahead—plant your garden, install your decorative boulders, whatever. Just don’t act shocked when the city or utility company does exactly what they’ve always had the legal right to do: dig, chop, or otherwise reclaim their space.

Because at the end of the day, you don’t own the right-of-way. You just borrow it—and the lender always has the right to call in the debt.