Originally published at: Homeowners Association issues cease-and-desist over children playing sports in grassy field - Boing Boing
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5 Likes
One reason my family didn’t own a home until my wife and I were in our 40s is because we had a hard and fast rule against buying anything that fell under an HOA. I’ve never regretted that decision for a second.
57 Likes
I know, I know, “not all HOAs” but is it really worth the chance? It’s like gambling with your life, or at very least your livelihood.
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Same here. They are like poison.
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Karenhaven, SC
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I know a lot of people are going to say never buy anything with an HOA. Have you tried to do this? It’s next to impossible in a lot of places. Some HOAs suck, some don’t. They generally all are a pain in the ass in the mountain communities I work in as an architect. They have to approve everything you do before the town will look at it. It’s usually NIMBY-ism at its worst. But the catch is there aren’t any neighborhoods I’m aware of in these towns that have escaped the HOA, usually because developers of neighborhoods create them in order to manage certain community required things like trash pickup, common areas, etc. But yeah, they suck.
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I am aware. As I said, that’s one of the reasons homeownership was off the table for us for so long.
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“Before you know it the Carolina Panthers will be playing here,”
That’s some quality hyperbole 
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They’re outraged because it isn’t organised.
And because it is.
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Seriously, the Cleveland Browns, maybe, but the Panthers?
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Obligs:
My last house in NoVA was in an HOA. They are difficult to avoid there. Sometimes the Architectual Review Board picked on EVERYTHING - as they did in May 2020 at the height of the pandemic! Like I’m gonna hire a handyman in May 2020! And there’s NOTHING you can do about it.
Now, I live in a house in a neighborhood that is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, Wawaset Park. Exterior modifications need to be in keeping with the nature of the buildings and need to be reviewed, but that’s about it. I think that’s reasonable, given the history.
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For those interested, this is the grassy field in question.
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I feel that Point 8 of Umberto Ecco’s “Practical List for Identifying Fascists” is in effect here, "The enemy is both weak and strong. […] the followers must be convinced that they can overwhelm the enemies. Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.”
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Hell’s Bells, that is a car-based suburban wasteland.
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The first comment was from a parent defending the kids playing football, not complaining about it. Here’s another comment from the same resident:
“The best way to parent my kids is allowing them to be outside, be healthy, be active and frankly it’s not fair for me or my kids,” said Denshuick.
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That seems like the perfect spot for exactly what they’re doing.
I thought suburban homes on cul-de-sacs were for families with children, no? So they can safely play outside? Was this not the American dream paid for through the GI Bill?
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This assumes they have anyone to play with. This feels like they’re just bitter because some kids are having fun and they’re not. This reminds me of the story about parents were jealous about no children couples at Disneyland. These people are just assholes. They’re the type, “If I don’t have fun, no one gets to have fun either.”
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There are conflicting stories, but it really doesn’t matter. It’s an open field, and the local kids should be allowed to play there whether or not it’s organised.
I live under an HOA in a condo building, where it’s necessary. But I’d try my best to avoid it in a neighbourhood of single-family homes like this.
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!! in addition to the field, there’s a pond, woods, a creek, and a river! The kids probably can’t play in any of those other places either.
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What better sound in a neighborhood is there than the laughter and shouts of kids at play? I love it.
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