I have invested quite a lot into maintaining my post quality here, so pursuant to our posting guidelines can you make sure addendums, footnotes, and end notes are no longer than 50% of the original post.
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I’ll do my best.
ETA: does this mean 50% altogether, or each individually?
ETA 2: sorry to ask, but you didn’t mention subsequent additions*. Do these also count?
ETA 3: how about polls?
*I mean, obviously minor corrections wouldn’t be a problem, I’m taking about paragraphs of added text after the fact.
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Broad generalizations? On this site? Impossible.
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You receive one of these.
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Dear Homeowners.
This year, we are raising the assessment, primarily due to unforeseen increases in the community’s water bill. We know that part of what makes our community so vibrant is our Capability Brown like gardens. The city-- bless it’s little heart-- has suggested that we not use quite so much water, especially in serpentines A and B. Naturally, we refused, and the city imposed a small fine, which we are now passing on to you.
We urge you to vote against more “water restrictions” in the upcoming election.
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Poor headline aside, I don’t think anyone’s saying it’s true across the US. The civil code referenced is specifically for California: http://codes.findlaw.com/ca/civil-code/civ-sect-4735.html
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Just complaining about the headline. I know that is not a novel thing to do.
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That’s pretty much the idea. Also, some subdivisions are built with quasi-public amenities like a park, pool, or decorative flowerbeds that need to be maintained by someone, so an association is formed to collect dues to pay for it.
Again, the theory. The practice is that you let busy-bodies with nothing else to invest their energy in stake their claim, dominate the process, and ultimately make their neighbor’s lives miserable.
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thats the thing…if it was only for group/community maintenance and such…I can get behind that. But don’t give me rules and regs around what YOU think is best for the length of my grass, species of my shrubs, and what type of roofing tiles I can or cannot use.
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Are succulents edible?
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The irony is that a well-planted drought tolerant/native garden looks sooooo much better than a fucking lawn (and is infinitely better, environmentally speaking), even when the lawn isn’t brown from water restrictions. My neighborhood is poor, with a lot of uneducated immigrants, and they uniformly have lawns - if you go for a walk, you can tell when you move into a more middle-class, educated neighborhood because the front gardens are interesting, considered, drought-resistent plantings. (When you get to the even higher income area, it’s lawns again - because they can afford the water bill and their gardens are being put in and maintained by people from my neighborhood…)
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Succulents? That’s not drought resistant! This is drought resistant!
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HOA? More like Blockwarts
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Attendance at our annual meeting? Less than 8 members…
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I decided to do my bit this summer by letting our front lawn turn to meadow - partially because I’d taken flowers out and forgot to put new ones in for the July August time and I wanted the bees to have something to go to (the clover in the grass did the trick). I thought it was beautiful and it did the trick for the bees.
Any neighbour complaining about the fact that I don’t cut my grass would have been politely told where to go.
Obviously lawns are ecologically sound round here as long as you don’t manicure them with weedkiller and fertiliser. You just leave them out to get wet and a prolonged drought won’t kill them if they are long enough.
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You don’t know how tempting that is.
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Sure great, but what about the person in that red house beside of him? What happens if they want to sell? Oh, just ignore your new neighbors with the over grown backyard full of random junk, appliances, and poly drums… Cause that’s going to be a selling point.
I’m all for HOA’s minding their own damn business, but hell that picture pretty much violates city and county ordinances at that point.
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I rent a condo in CA, and this summer, the HOA newsletter advised residents to be sure and flush out their drains monthly to keep them from getting clogged. To quote:
After running the disposal, continue to run the water for about 3 minutes. To maintain your sink “clog free”, all residents should pour a cup of bleach down their drain each month and run the hot water for about 5 minutes to flush the pipes out to the main line in the street.
I could’ve sworn we were in the midst of a drought. Doesn’t that seem like a lot of wasted water?
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It isn’t drought though summers are quite dry in Seattle as much as that + long days of sun beating down on the grass just kills it dead till wet season comes back.
I am envious of the neighbors who have just punted and put wood chips over the front lawn.
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