In article , "Bob Ahnmeischaft"
wrote:

"paghat" wrote:

Thing is, there's ALWAYS something to report, if you have some "I'm the
cops" style loony neighbor with a bug up their butt looking hard enough.

Ya know...you've got a great web page, and some lovely gardens. But you
really need to take up yoga or something - you're too tense and your...oh
hell...your diatribes sound a bit angrier than perhaps you ought to be.

I find HOAs and overly restrictive covenants to be odious.

That's good enough for me!

However, people who buy homes in neighborhoods with HOAs or restrictive
covenants are made aware of these restrictions before they buy in.

But HOA mentality likes to believe they control between 200 & 800
neighborhoods in a single community. They don't, of course, & the two
pro-HOA wackjobs who claimed they already have made such inroads obviously
like to BELIEVE they're that powerful, & indeed in some few areas there
enough incorporated housing districts that "if you don't like it, go
elsewhere" amounts to segregation.

And when "innocent" buyers are welcomed & shown the restrictions they'll
live under, they often don't know until it is too late that in fact the
OPTION to enforce racist standards IS in full force, & as lawsuits against
HOAs increase in number for this reason, your dues will be raised to cover
the court costs.

Now, I have no problem with minimal standards of maintenance, etc. You
know...cut the grass more than twice a summer, or at least plant something
that looks good at 12" tall, 'cause bluegrass ain't it. Don't leave your
bombed-out '72 Impala in the side yard. Try to maintain your house in a
basic state of repair - it doesn't have to be perfect, but, you know, take
care of it.

Unfortunately, where rustic is defined as run-down, one ends up in a
sterile environment -- culturally sterile because of the racist factor,
aesthetically st erile because a horribly ugly brand spanking new tin
garage door facing the road, & a plastic garden shed, are judged "good,"
but a rustic dwelling & much else quaint & beautiful is banned.

Other of your points though I clipped 'em for space, were very balanced &
thoughtful, & I liked the post even where I might assess issues a bit
differently.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/