A fountain in our yard

We moved into our house about 18 months ago. It's an old house. You'd like to think it had seen better days, although in reality I suspect it's been a bit run down and off-kilter ever since it was built. This is one of the older neighbourhoods outside of downtown, as far as I can tell. I've seen maps that show our street basically surrounded by forest wilderness on at least 2 sides, around the turn of the century.
The neighbourhood probably hasn't always been as pleasant as it is now. It's definitely changing, but you don't have to look far to see signs of a recent, less affluent past. That's why Main Street is such a fascinating blend of modern trendy and 70s shabby.
One of the consequences of this past is some rather creaky water services around here. In the 18 months we've been here we've had to call the city out 3 times to fix leaky water pipes, two within 20 yards of each other in the large water main that goes up the street alongside us.
The first leak appeared within a few days of our arrival in the house, in September 2007. This is not the kind of thing you want to see when you've just paid over the odds for a house you're only just beginning to realise isn't quite as nice as it looked when you walked round with the realtor. The first signs were a slightly squelchy patch on the front lawn, just off the sidewalk. Over a couple of days this became a fully-fledged water feature.
We called out the city, unsure as to whose responsibility these things were. They dug a hole, which exposed the leak, causing the delightful fountain you see in the picture. Fortunately the leak was on the city's side of the shut-off valve - the junction between their pipe and ours. They fixed it and went on their way.
Has anyone else noticed how the City seem to have a never ending supply of sterile grass seed?