Cut and dry case?

Instapundit links the story of John Hamilton in Sandusky, Ohio. He was cutting the foot-high grass at a city park, when police were called since - while cutting the grass, clippings landed on the sidewalk and trash got sliced up.
In an era of foreclosed homes and government cutbacks, what is a citizen's right to keep his neighborhood clean? If we punish good Samaritans who try to make things look better, then we'll have a passive population and a bigger mess.