Crazy, how HOA Amerika has become so fascist.
This HOA in Silver Spring, Maryland has decided that one homeowner goes a little too far in her decorations. The kids in the neighborhood absolutely love it when this homeowner puts out her annual Halloween display. But this HOA does what HOAs do. They sue. They ‘farm’ certain homeowners to find cases to refer to their chosen law firms. They figure that ‘farmed’ homeowners will surrender, pay the fines, the jacked-up legal fees and excessive collection costs.
It’s all about money. Follow the money.
This kind of neighborhood retaliation should be illegal! It’s unconscionable.
But these lawn Nazis know no bounds.
(click here for Halloween story)
Back in 2007, Silver Spring, Maryland, privatized its formerly public places, allowing the private developer that operated the city to suspend constitutional rights.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002354.html
Just think of it as an H.O.A. corporation, but on a city-wide scale. If you want to imagine it on a nation-wide scale, watch season 2 of Jericho.
It’s another example of what Evan McKenzie called “repressive libertarianism,”
where certain people who call themselves libertarians invariably side with property owners who want to limit other people’s liberties through the use of contract law. Property rights (usually held by somebody with a whole lot of economic clout) trump every other liberty….As private corporations take over more functions of government, this position could lead to gradual elimination of constitutional liberties.
HOA have hit our small town. Looking for ways to turn the members on the boards. Your articles are very helpful
Hi Jim, get my book, Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association. It’s getting bombarded by five star reviews. The first step is to wake up every homeowner. Show them the many ways HOAs and especially their management companies steal money from homeowner in some of the most unconscionable ways. If you can wake up the whole neighborhood to the kind of organized crime that runs through the entire HOA Movement, you could be the first HOA in the national to have totally protected you neighbors against the crimes that are ruining neighborhoods across the country. Be bold. It’s the only way we have a ghost of a chance of controlling this rapidly growing cancer.