----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary Nunn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, April 21, 2002 1:22 PM Subject: RE: Homeowners Associations - Dictatorships in the US?
> Dan wrote: > > > No home businesses are allowed > > I assume that you mean a business that would attract customers or physical > traffic? I also assume that would not include an internet type business? > > > > As a result of these restrictions, and other strict zoning rules, > > houses in > > the Woodlands sell for a considerable premium: at least 20%. The > > neighborhoods are much more pleasant places to live and people > > pay for that privilege. > > Certainly there need to be guidelines/rules, but some of the Home Owners > Assoc's are to the point of being fanatical dictators. Actually, they aren't dictators: they show the risks inherent in a true democracy. It reminds me of a discussion in another forum of people's cooperatives as an alternative to democracy or corporations. > The sited case of the elderly woman who paid cash and then had her house sold out from under her > by the Home Owners Assoc. was clearly abuse. The leaders of that Association > should have been put in jail. I know of the case; it was in Houston. The problem is that homeowners associations are minimally regulated in this state: because conservatives see them as part of the free enterprise system and thus superior to government. The Woodlands is a 70,000 member community without a government: only a homeowners association. > > Rules and guidelines are good for giving guidance to community "standards" > but nitpicky things like lamp post location and cars in the driveway are > just plain silly. It is, but democracies can be silly. The bottom line is that the other members of the association were not so outraged as to start a recall campaign for the board of directors for the homeowners association. She had little sympathy from her fellow homeowners because she hadn't paid her dues for several years, IIRC. Dan M. Dan M. > Gary >
