In article ,
Victor M. Martinez wrote:
Marc Stephenson wrote:
Living without HOAs is just fine unless you need one (like to force a
neighbor to cut down the 6 foot weeds and haul off the junkyard outside
his garage, or to force another neighbor to disconnect the 35-foot
motor home parked in the driveway).

Actually, we've had to deal with some issues with our next-door neighbor
and all it took was a call to the city.

We don't all live in a city. Maybe Travis County would intervene, but I
haven't had the need to call them. Our HOA took care of it. :-) If you
don't want an HOA, by all means, avoid neighborhoods which have them. If
there is one, make sure that you understand the deed restrictions and are
willing to abide by them before taking ownership of the property.


Anyway, I know what's supposed to be there and what is not.

I don't think anybody ought to tell anybody which plants are ok from the
aesthetic perspective. There is no such thing as universal taste. I find
large front lawns extremely ugly and boring.

The issue is not a matter of deciding which plants are okay. If this
woman planned and maintained her landscape/habitat, then she ought to be
able to document what's there, show plans, etc. We've seen such
lists right here. If she's just letting it
run amok (hey look, crabgrass, nutgrass, Johnson grass, broadleaf "weeds",
yahoo!), then she's not being considerate of her neighbors. I admit that it's
a subjective process. In this case, there's some evidence that the woman in
question was just paying lip service to the agreement which she signed
(she thought they would go away) and that tilts me away from straight sympathy
for her side of the situation.

When they brought in "black dirt" for my backyard, it came with Johnson
grass, and plenty of it. If I had just decided that having five-foot stalks
of Johnson grass dominating my property, should my neighbors not have the
right to complain? What if I said, I don't mind it being there, so it's
not a weed?

I don't expect my neighbors to have to follow any rules that I don't have to
follow, and I do expect them to follow the same rules that I have to follow.
Works out okay. I know what the rules are and so should they.
--
Marc Stephenson IBM Server Group - Austin,TX
T/L: 678-3189