BonoVoxSupastar said:
What made it a mormon theme?
And ethnic plants?
What a bunch of morons!!!
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.Liesje said: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.
Golightly Grrl said: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.
BluRmGrl said:
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 said:
Anyway, I like that peace wreath, and if I find one like it, I'm going to hang it on our balcony.
Liesje said: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.
dietcokeofevil said: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.