I now live in the Bay Area, Oakland specifically, and something I've really come to appreciate here is the lack of any sort of ordinances like you've run into. In fact, having a green grass lawn is frowned upon for all the environmental reasons you call attention to. I bought a house in the Oakland Hills last year and we're surrounded by large trees, native grasses, ferns, and dozens of native or drought tolerant flora. Few of the yards are fenced in, which allow wildlife like deer, foxes, turkeys, coyotes to roam freely between the houses. The trees support dozens of different species of birds. And while there are tons of spiders too, very few mosquitoes. And this is still in a city! And do I have to water it? Fertilize it? Mow it? No. I have a crew come through once or twice a year to clear out overgrowth (required for wildfire safety) and that's all the maintenance that's required.

I really wish more places in our country would allow native plant life to thrive around our cities, we'd all be better for it.

http://goatsrus.com/contact.htm

From the sound of it, your yard/land is a great fit for their services :)

And in our Firewise neighborhood, we give people a list of native plants that are more fire-resistant, in case they want them. We also do Home Ignition Zone inspections on a volunteer basis, to help them identify their biggest risk factors.

It's a traffic hazard as the intersections have no visibility, nobody will mow because people dump junk in the empty lots and you'll hit bricks or metal and ruin the mower.

That does not sound like an argument against overgrown lawns but for speed limits and road designs that discourage fast driving. Here residential areas intentionally curve their roads so people can't drive fast because visibility is not all that great around house corners anyway.