November 27, 2006

  • I'm truly curious....why would anyone want to live where there's a homeowners' association?  To be fair, I daresay it's possible there are some that manage to keep from becoming mini-reincarnations of Tito's Yugoslavia, and it's those types of associations that make the news, but how do you know what kind you've got till you actually move in, and if it's a good one, that it'll stay that way?

    From (where else?) CNN.com comes this story of a homeowners' association president run mad:  Peace on earth? Not in our subdivision!

    The above admittedly-hokey "wreath" is what got the president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association undies in a bundie. 

    A homeowners' association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to
    fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a
    peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of
    Satan.

    [snip]

    The association in this 200-home subdivision 270 miles southwest of
    Denver has sent a letter to her saying that residents were offended by
    the sign and the board "will not allow signs, flags etc. that can be
    considered divisive."

    The subdivision's rules say no signs,
    billboards or advertising are permitted without the consent of the
    architectural control committee.

    Kearns ordered the committee to
    require Jensen to remove the wreath, but members refused after
    concluding that it was merely a seasonal symbol that didn't say
    anything.

    Kearns fired all five committee members.

    Don't you love it?  He fired the committee members because they didn't agree with him.

    Tito's spirit lives on in Loma Linda, t'would appear. 

Comments (4)

  • I live in a neighborhood with an association (for 20 years) and so far haven't had any problems.  The good thing is that no association can do anything too crazy because it would take a vote of the group. 

    Nathan's last final is Dec. 12 (I think).  And, Amanda is enjoying her teaching job so far.  She sure comes home beat some nights though.

  • Amanda! That's it. My apologies.

    And it sounds as if y'all's association's by-laws were written with a modicum of common sense. Too many of them, however, tend to leave too much power in the hands of the association president.

  • I also live in a neighborhood association. The trick is to find one whose rules are clearly stated. The purpose of our association is to keep up the condition of the road, and to maintain the sewage lift station, neither of which is the county's responsibility becuase of our status..  There are certain rules about fences obstructing the view of the road. That's it.  We had one altercation in which a member said we should pay for the erosion of his property (it's on a ravine) due to the water pipe which drained from the road, but the pipe was there when he bought the house, so it was a case of caveat emptor. He tried to withhold payment for the resurfacing of the road, but all it took was for Rich to send him a certified letter stating that he had agreed to the tenets of the association and that a lien would be put on his propery if he withheld the owed funds for the resurfacing of the road, to which the assocoation was obligated. AFter that he relented.  Turned out his wife was behind it all. He was clearly an embarrassed, henpecked husband. NH's make us a bit nervous, though, but more from liability issues than anything. This one is a pretty peaceful one, all told.

  • Well, as I said, it's likely just that it's the mini-Tito's-Yugoslavias that get written about. They can be useful tools, properly set up, but OTOH, they can be absolutely hideous, too.

    Glad to find those who visit here are living in the properly-set-up sort.

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