Front Lawns

I love the neighborhood where we live; beautiful houses, front lawns, gardens galore. It is also so sweet to see how many people are growing vegetables in our immediate area. Tomatoes are abundant, as well as many other herbs and veg. I think there is no better environment for raising a child in NYC and also for having and walking dogs.
But here is where it turns ugly. It is amazing to see how many people are obsessed with their lawns. Or more specifically not having dogs walk on them, let alone relieve themselves. What is up with that? As far as I can see no one uses their front yards. For all I know they are frolicking on the grass in their backyards but what about the front? These manicured lawns seem only for display and it drives me crazy. At least my dogs walk on them. What else is their function?
There is a company working to change all that. Here is a bit of the Edible Estates manifesto and a link to their website. They are looking for a lawn in New York City for their next project.

Edible estates is:
An attack on the American front lawn and everything it has come to represent. Edible Estates reconciles issues of global food production and urbanized land use with the modest gesture of a domestic garden. It is is an ongoing series of projects to replace the American front lawn with edible garden landscapes responsive to culture, climate, context and people. And, it is a practical food producing initiative, a place-responsive landscape design proposal, a scientific horticultural experiment, a conceptual land-art project, a defiant political statement, a community out-reach program and an act of radical gardening.

http://www.fritzhaeg.com/garden/initiatives/edibleestates/guidelines.html