It seems like no one can just let the kids play-who has the whistles? Why are there tents? Can’t kids kick around a ball without being forced into “proper” teams and soon uniform as and all that crap?
7 Likes
Nope, not once. And then I moved a year or so later.
5 Likes
There’s a pernicious rationale for HOA, in that they “protect property values.” Until the lots are sold, this is the overriding concern of the developer. This mercantilist approach may continue if landlords move in.
4 Likes
I’m looking forward to the news that Super Bowl LIX has been relocated from New Orleans.
5 Likes
That was the absolute first thing on our list when we were looking for a realtor. Yes, it eliminated some homes, but living under the dictates of one of those things was not something with which we could live.
We currently have a painter coming over in a few weeks to paint our house in rainbow stripes (six-color, Gilbert Baker style.) I can only imagine how an HOA would react to that, never mind my ongoing effort to eliminate the grass in our yard and replace it with native ground cover.
20 Likes
yay!
i bought this home in an older neighborhood with no HOA. mum and i rebuilt, ground up. i don’t think any HOAs would allow us to paint our house bright blue with yellow doors, orange decks with dark blue railings or our workshop bright blue with a pink porch and bright green railings! mum and i are all about colors and any haters can hate away, but there is no Karen Triumverate to tell us any different!
12 Likes
Before I got to the tab where I had this article open I had been reading The Onion. When I read this one, I didn’t realized I had gotten back to the “real” news.
Yeah, it’s the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina, alright. One thing though; it continues past the state border and quite a way up the coast of North Carolina. The last place I lived in NC was Surf City, but that was almost 40 years ago. When I was in the area in 2012, I barely recognized the town as it had grown so densely populated and had become exactly as you describe.
9 Likes
From reading the article on WMBF, it really looks like the HOA board members never were kids at any point in their lives.
As in, they were already in their mid-30s and going straight for careers the minute the stork delivered them. (Yes, they obviously haven’t got laid for at least three generations.)
6 Likes
Wow, it’s the only park in the whole neighborhood … what poor planning! They should fill it in with a gator pond, just like the dozen other common spaces there.
7 Likes
The only comparison to HOAs we have in Canada AFAIK are stratas, condominium associations where everyone has a percentage property entitlement calculated by the owners purchased area as a percentage of the total shared ownership area. There are lots of rules and regulations but most of the time it’s specifically relating to common areas and semi-common areas. I’ve only been in one contentious strata in 35 years, and the naysayers were sometimes voted against in sufficient numbers. Most of what the contentious folks didn’t want to pay for ended up being mandated by the fire dept and provincial elevator safety regulations.
We’re in an awesome 65 unit strata now but unfortunately only have one family with an elementary school aged kid (Vancouver housing prices 
). Several of us pitch in and help with various maintenance issues (I do locksmith/security bits & pieces), some help with gardens and yardwork if the caretaker’s away and in general we help each other out occasionally.
7 Likes
I guarantee that if it weren’t for those kids there isn’t a single human soul that ever uses that useless, giant, boring space.
8 Likes
And the open spaces might have " Do not Enter, Water rises rapidly" signs, as if the green spaces are only there for flood control.
3 Likes
How about Mud Ball?
3 Likes
It’ll be the Carolina Panthers against Real Madrid in the University Boat Race, U15 division
5 Likes
This happened in a HOA where I used to live with my family including 2 kids aged 8 and 3. There was a nice little green area in between the townhome units. A member of the HOA board decided to plant a cactus garden over it because the sounds of laughter and fun rattled him during his work-at-home hours. He justified it (in a closed door session) by saving water, though no doubt the capital costs and maintenance costs outweighed the benefit for keeping that small area green.
7 Likes
One of our neighbors recently just ripped up and re-did their front yard. Was watching the progress over a week while on dog walks.
Then they put in lawn - they don’t have kids.
I don’t get it, since they were starting from scratch and putting in irrigation they could have easily put in a selection of native plants, succulents and the like with some ground cover.
OT - HOAs suck, thankfully we don’t have to deal with that nonsense.
3 Likes
There are days when the noise from landscapers and garbage trucks, and car detailers and light construction equipment seems damn near constant, and the source of the noise becomes immaterial.
3 Likes
I did the measurements in Google Earth and it was about 120x30m (about 426x100 freedom units). A professional football field is about 300x160 feet. Maybe it’s not regulation size, but more than adequate for large gatherings in a residential area.
6 Likes
I guess the question is what the gradient is. It looks flat in the pictures, but if the homeowner’s association is going to bring up possibilities like professional football teams showing up, they’re obviously concerned that it’s a slippery slope.
12 Likes
They should go back to the roots of the game and play medieval England’s ‘folk football’ or ‘mob football’ where there are an unlimited number of players rampaging across the countryside and where rules pretty much start and end with the restriction that you aren’t allowed to commit manslaughter or murder to get the ball to a goal.
3 Likes
