Peace Wreath-Symbol Of Satan?

[anitram]

Gated communities = minimum security prisons.

 

[Vincent Vega]

Thanks yolland

So the boards or board presidents are little dictators exploiting their power sometimes.

If people join those communities by moving there they of course admit to respect the rules, but like in this case it was really exaggerated control on her.

I would rather move few miles further to avoid living in an area where somebody tells me what I am allowed to do with my ground.

It's a bit strange that in the country of freedom more and more people give up their freedom happily, e.g. by joining such associations.

Also really strange to read how some people try to tell people whether they are allowed to paint their mailbox or their house in a color they want. That's fanatic intolerance in my eyes.

 

[dietcokeofevil]

What made it a mormon theme?

And ethnic plants?

What a bunch of morons!!!

She is more involved with the church than I am. But she painted an image of Quetzatcoatl an ancient deity from the Americas...

kind of a link to the Mormon belief that the resurrected Christ visited the Americas. Underneath the image she put a picture of the Bible and the Book of Mormon sitting next to each other. Sheput the image behind the plants. So you would have to be close to it to see its meaning.

Ethnic plants...colorful handpainted pottery and a porelain statue of a dark skinned Indian woman carrying water.

 

[dietcokeofevil]

What was strange was the fact that there was nothing in the by-laws to prevent it...they had a meeting to try and change the by-laws in order to prevent it.

By the way, thanks to the poster who asked about my wife's well being. She is doing great now!

I also think that you should follow the rules of the Association if you agreed to them in advance. Problem is, that there was no rule in this regard and they tried to put it in place after the fact. Luckily several neighbors came to our defense (a lot of them were those who already had an ax to grind with the association)

 

[Golightly Grrl]

We don't have an actual association, but some of the outrageous complaints I've heard about in my parent's neighborhood:

1. When we moved in in 1996, we moved on a Sunday. Some neighbors really had a problem with that (well, as did we since it was over 100 degrees and no one has air conditioning).

2. The lady I babysat for painted her mailbox red to accent her house and flowers. Mind you, the house is white with blue trim, quite bland, but she got harassed and was asked to paint the mailbox a different color.

3. A young family moved in across the street and the mom is real artsy. She has an AMAZING garden out front, and she painted the house this blue color with a hint of purple. It looks great but most have shunned her for painting her house an actual color.

4. The lady across from my parents had her son come over and move her nasty car, which doesn't even run, in front of her house just so that no one else could ever park there.

IMO, these homeowner associations sound like a fancy term for PEOPLE WHO HAVE WAY TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS.

I was just going to write the same thing, Lies. People have way too much time on their hands if they think a wreath shaped like a peace sign and a red mail box are huge problems. I dealt with these type of people when I worked in retail, and most of them can get bent. I just want to drop their asses in Darfur so they can witness what a real problem is like.

And maybe I'm just a lowly renter, but I'm glad that I live in a neighborhood with diversely built homes and buildings, mom and pop stores, various ethnic restaurants, and non-corporate coffee shops, and where drag queens can walk among little old lady immigrants from Russia.

 

[redhotswami]

And maybe I'm just a lowly renter, but I'm glad that I live in a neighborhood with diversely built homes and buildings, mom and pop stores, various ethnic restaurants, and non-corporate coffee shops, and where drag queens can walk among little old lady immigrants from Russia.

sounds just like where I lived when I graduated college! People can make all the rules they want, but I've never felt more welcome and supported than when I lived in this community as opposed to growing up in my parents' home there the HOA ran our lives. I suppose they create these rules to build community, but to me it does the opposite.

 

[Angela Harlem]

I reckon it does anything but build a sense of community. Unless you're precisely the type who condones such things - which speaks volumes on its own (which I know is not you, MissSwami ).

I'm not following how or where the authority comes from for these Associations. You have council by-laws which declare it so, but who gives the authority to this mere body of citizens to yield such discretion?

 

[BluRmGrl]

The board members get elected to a term by the homeowners in a particular neighborhood/area - anywhere from a year to three years, depending on your HOA. Sounds nice & democratic, huh? Problem is, the only folks who get really jazzed about attending the meetings & voting are generally in the minority with regards to how well they tolerate diversity.

Basically, it's usually just the junior demagogues & their fellow lackeys who show up. Which is exactly why no one else wants to get involved. It's a vicious cycle really... more people want to get involved so that crazy by-laws don't get passed, but they find after attending a meeting or two, nothing gets accomplished except a bunch of pyscho bitching by the one's elected to the board & the one's up their butts, waiting their turns to be elected!

IMO, the actual good done by a HOA is usually hugely overshadowed by the dumbass, mundane, nobody-gives-a-shit stuff that they obsess over.

 

[Liesje]

IMO, the actual good done by a HOA is usually hugely overshadowed by the dumbass, mundane, nobody-gives-a-shit stuff that they obsess over.

Sounds like my aunt and uncle's. They built a house in a gated community, only to have the HOA discover their bathroom doesn't have a jacuzzi. While the HOA was busy harassing my aunt and uncle into installer a bigger tub, they let a convicted sex offender move into their little utopia. But, my uncle is guilty of it too, b/c he got all pissed about the way the HOA divided remaining lots and didn't want anyone to build a house and cut down certain trees he liked on another lot. Well, when they moved in they bulldozed an entire hill! Or, the HOA decides to buy land that abuts farm land where local families have been quietly farming and hunting for hundreds of years. The HOA wants the DNR to change the hunting laws b/c they don't like the sound of guns in their community.

Anyway, I like that peace wreath, and if I find one like it, I'm going to hang it on our balcony.

 

[indra]

Anyway, I like that peace wreath, and if I find one like it, I'm going to hang it on our balcony.

You rabblerouser!

 

[BluRmGrl]

They built a house in a gated community, only to have the HOA discover their bathroom doesn't have a jacuzzi. While the HOA was busy harassing my aunt and uncle into installer a bigger tub, they let a convicted sex offender move into their little utopia.

That's going waaay to far - the inside of my home is no one's business but mine! Then again, you said the magic words when it comes to HOAs... "gated community". We have a particular one here in Wilmington - IF you own a pickup, it must be garaged. Leaving it on the street or in your driveway is strictly forbidden. When building a new home or redoing your yard, you have to submit a "Landscaping Blueprint" to a Review Committee who determine if the placement AND types of plants you intend to use are up to muster. Oh yes, and if you pruchase property inside their hallowed gates, you are required to join the (Insert community's name) Club - to the tune of $20000 a year, last I heard.

That seems to be a pretty constant rule amongst HOAs... the more money you spend to live somewhere, the more outlandish the HOAs rules tend to be.

 

[Angela Harlem]

are there any photos of what a street looks like where these OCD sufferers dictate all this? i'm rather fascinated. or is that revolted? hmm.

 

[Vincent Vega]

Everyone taking pictures gets shot or will have an "accident".

 

[fly so high!]

Homeowners Associations

My wife had just survived chemotherapy when she moved with our twins from LA to San Antonio (I was finishing Voiceover Acting classes before re joining them a few months later.)

She went through this creative phase where she was painting a mural on one of our walls and decorating the yard with an ethnic flavor. The Homeowners Association jumped all over her. Two neighbors argued with her on our front lawn essentially telling her to cease and desist with working outside and to remove the artwork. They claimed that it was because the picture she painted on our home had a Mormon theme and that the plants on the front yard garden were too ethnic ("Why do you have to call attention to yourself declaring to the whole world "I AM MEXICAN, I AM MEXICAN"...She is from Nicaragua). It is worth noting that the mural she painted is behind vegetation one would have to be leaning in pretty intimately to get close enough to be offended.

I was with the family again by this time and went to the meeting held at the Presbyterian Church with a tape recorder. The leader of the meeting stopped the proceedings, asking who I was and tried to tell me that I had to turn off the recorder. I identified myself as the husband of the woman with the hideous ethnic and religious agenda and that there was no need to fear a recording since the proceedings of the meeting were completely in the right. They asked me why I "allowed" my wife to do these things while I was gone.

In the weeks that followed cars kept driving up and down the street slowing down in front of our house with fingers pointing and jaws flapping.

But something interesting followed. Soon bus drivers, mail carriers, and other neighbors caught wind of what was going on and were taking our side, even saying that the artwork was beautiful and to keep it up. Some neighbors pointed out that this homeowners association has been throwing its weight around with folks for some time now and that it was refreshing to see someone not allow themselves to be bullied.

Homeowners Associations. I am sure that there are some decent ones out there. But from personal experience I am not a fan.

Homeowners associations.....how dum-dum

I think we have something similar here but not sure what they are called but i have a few suburbs around the area that i live that won't let you paint the outside of your house in the colour you want you have to pick out from only a selection of colours for walls and rooftiles and a friend of mine got a note on her door to be told to mow her lawn!!!

 

[Vincent Vega]

I never heard or have seen such a thing here in Germany.

But in the cities we have these allotments and they are pretty similar.
Basically they are for people living in cities who want to have a garden, so they rent some space with an arbor. There are also strict rules and by-laws run by babbits. They'll tell you what you are allowed with your "garden" and how it has to look like, and if you don't keep the grass cut and everything you'll get into trouble.
Same happens on some camping grounds.
Some people there are just crazy and intolerant and want everything to look perfectly similar.
On the other hand, most of the people renting these allotments seem to be happy with the rules, so it would be intolerant to condemn them as well.

But still I haven't ever heard of HOA's or these gated communities.
Personally, I would feel like being in a minimum security prison.

 

[dazzlingamy]

I am freakily fascinated! I had no idea this sort of fucked up thing exsisted!
Do you mean to say that people can vote on where you park your car? and what plants you choose for your house?

is this for real? And people actually go ALONG WITH IT? If anyone ever told me to do or change anything with my house they'd get a nice little one finger saulte and a door slammed in their face. Its your OWN DAMN PROPERTY! I mean ok if you have leaky old cars and it looks like a tip, then the council should issue a notice to tidy it up in case of fire or whatever, but toactually enforce the most petty of things...is just UNIMAGINABLE. I cannot FATHOM how people would go along with this!

redhotswami you display those pink plastic flamingoes proudly!

 

[Vincent Vega]

If your car has a oil leak you have to repair it and catch the oil.

One drop of oil makes 700 liters of ground water unuseable.

But in general, in my driveway I will park my car, and my guests can park there as wel.
I'm curious how you'll invite guests when all the cars have to be in a garage.

But if you don't want to live under the rules of a HOA you'll have to build your home somewhere else. Otherwise you have to accept the by-laws.