The blog linked below is from the Huffington Post. It’s lengthy but is well worth reading. The author was doing mission work in Nicaragua helping destitute families improve their homes and villages. But upon returning home she was greeted with threats of fines and lawsuits over mildew in her driveway! It’s beyond appalling.
Speaking of bullies, have you seen this story from earlier this week?
– Kalama-based interim property managers of the mobile home park [ in Lexington, Washington ] were demanding that a neighborhood volunteer group, Helping Hands, stop offering their free services to elderly and ailing neighbors.
– The rules left residents fearing even going next door to borrow a cup of sugar
– Amber Monte, president of California-based holding firm Investment Property Group, which owns Tim Wa and oversees the Kalama managers, said those managers are gone from the park.
– Helping Hands formed last fall after group president Carol Hughart and a few other neighbors saw others in the park struggling to clean their yard due to illnesses.
– [ Carol Hughart ] said managers were trying to eliminate competition for the assistant manager’s for-profit repair business.
– In April, managers started requiring residents to seek their written permission before having visitors or gathering as an organization…Those who violated the rules would be warned of trespassing, and police would be called on subsequent offenses
– “If my neighbor comes by to borrow a hammer, he can’t even do that. He’d have to get written permission,” said Don MacDonald, president of Tim Wa’s Homeowners Association.
Read the entire story: “Lexington Neighbors Fight For Right To Help With One Another’s Chores” by Lyxan Toledanes. The Daily News. May 06, 2014
(via AboutHOAs.org)
You know things are really bad in the HOA when you fear borrowing a cup of sugar! Borrowing a stick of butter, borrowing a cup of flour or sugar was the instigator of the social hour of the day for my mom. Sometimes she came home with a new recipe or plans for a summer day trip for the moms and kids to take together. If she were alive, she’d be so sad to hear HOAs have destroyed the “cup of flour” social hour for girl friends in the neighborhood.