EAST DALLAS, Texas, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- A resident in an East Dallas, Texas, historic district has been told to remove the artificial lawn he installed, city officials said.

The Dallas Morning News reported Jose Escobedo was unable to grow grass on his Junius heights Historic District property, so he paid $1,400 to have artificial grass installed where his failing lawn had been.


Escobedo is a former construction worker who was injured several years ago and receives about $1,500 a month in disability payments. He uses the money pay $639 per month on his mortgage and to raise two daughters.

"I've done everything I can do. I don't have money," Escobedo said. "If the city doesn't like it, I say to them -- come and take it."

"The artificial turf is simply inappropriate for neighborhood houses built from 1900 to 1940. The materials they used back then would not have been artificial," Kate Singleton, East Dallas' preservation office's chief planner said, referring to the restoration efforts.

While neighborhood association officials side with the city preservation office, Escobedo's neighbors side with him, the newspaper reported.

"It (Escobedo's house) looks nicer than anything around it," said his next-door neighbor Steve Winget. "I saw how it was before. Grass wouldn't grow there. They should leave him alone."