Frat boys beware: get your ugly couches off the porch!

Image courtesy of dno1967 on Flickr

So Diane Hofstede, the Minneapolis City Council member who is pushing for removal of tacky couches off frat-boy porches, doesn't like ugly couches.

As media outlets are reporting, Hofstede has proposed an amendment to the nuisance ordinance that would ban upholstered couches and chairs from city front yards and porches. And no mattresses would be allowed, either.

We'd like to play devil's advocate here. Other than offending aesthetically, are ugly couches and mattresses really a problem?

We think not.

The City Council asked the Fire Department to look into how many fires were started as a result of these ugly couches. Here's, um, what they found:

2006

Fires involving upholstered furniture being used outdoors - 1

Cause: Arson

Total Fires - 1808

2007

Fires involving upholstered furniture being used outdoors - 3

Cause: 1 Arson, 1 Careless Smoking, 1 Undetermined

Total Fires - 1859

2008

Fires involving upholstered furniture being used outdoors - 3

Cause: 2 Careless Smoking, 1 Undetermined

Total Fires - 1489

We're all for cute furniture, like these couches from Pottery Barn . Such furniture would still be allowed, as long as it is specifically manufactured for outdoor use.

Hofstede's idea could help beautify the Ward 3 neighborhoods she represents, as well as the rest of the city.

Let's just call ugly couches what they are: an aesthetic risk, not a safety one.