Maybe it’s my one-time Texas roots, but I just keep thinking, “Aren’t Texans smarter than this? How can they keep bashing the handicapped? Don’t they know that breaking federal law can be horribly expensive?”
But Texas HOA board members just keep doing what board members do best; their very worst.
Here’s another HOA kicking around a blind guy. He bought his home because it was just a few steps to the bus. The HOA built a fence that now requires this man to walk a mile to reach the bus stop. The blind fellow, by the way, is a lawyer.
What is it about service dogs that HOAs don’t understand? It’s federal law. You cannot keep a disabled person from owning a service dog even if you hate that homeowner’s guts.
Nick Spagnolo was disabled while fighting in Kuwait and Somalia. Now, as a disabled Navy veteran he has a service dog to help him cope with his daily life. The Veterans Administration says it’s a service dog. His doctors say the dog is a medical necessity.
But the Jamestown Property Owners Association in Hobe Sound, Florida says Spagnolo’s dog weighs 40 pounds and the HOA regulations clearly prohibit dogs over 20 pounds.
Homeowner Carol Dietrick is handicapped but gets around great on her mobility scooter. Now, her HOA claims her husband’s truck which is equipped with a wheelchair lift is a commercial vehicle! And they’re threatening to fine Carol’s landlord.
WFTV-TV in Central Florida reports that the HOA could be in violation of federal law. Talk about understatements!
Carol…take your camera and get some pix of the rear ends of every board member’s car. Betcha you’ll see lots of commercial logos like…. Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, Honda, Toyota, Subaru, and maybe even Cadillac. That’s all advertising.
Handicapped youngsters are often the target of ire from Homeowners Associations. Despite laws to protect the handicapped, there’s a special kind of rancor directed at families who have special needs children.
The latest example is in Lexington, Kentucky. The Andover Forest Homeowners Association has told the parents of a child with cerebal palsy that no exception from HOA rules would be granted their son.
Three year old Cooper Veloudis is the center of the storm. His therapist told his parents, Tiffiney and George, that their special needs son might be encouraged to be more active if he had, say, a playhouse in the backyard.
