Tag Archives: Ward Lucas

Horrible House Color, & A Personal Memory

      No Comments on Horrible House Color, & A Personal Memory

Paint your house the wrong shade and you’ll get death threats! It’s happening to a couple in Texas who got permission to paint their house blue, but when the shade of ‘blue’ wasn’t specified they painted it teal blue. Amazing.

(story in London Daily Mail of teal house fight)

It brings back memories of one of my biggest gaffes. My first house in Denver was a dirty canary yellow and after living there a few years I really wanted to change it. I hired a painter and picked out a shade of soft gray that I thought would be very elegant. Since I was working 15 hour days at the TV station I wasn’t there when the painter did the house.

My wife called me at work and said, “You’d better come home immediately, there’s trouble with the neighbors.”

I raced home to find about fifteen or twenty neighbors gathered in the street in front of my newly painted house. But Good Lord, there was my painted house. The painter had used the correct shade of paint, but that house looked for all the world like the blue color you might see on a beached dead, rotting whale. It was horrible.

I assured the crowd that I would re-paint the house immediately and the second paint job was started the very next day, this time in true soft gray. There was no Homeowners Association. No threats of liens or lawsuits. There didn’t need to be. I just did what any one of us would and should do.

Once in a while I drive through that neighborhood of thirty-five years ago. The house is still painted soft gray.

 

It Just Never Goes Away

      1 Comment on It Just Never Goes Away

I was watching a grandson’s football game this afternoon here in the Denver area. A familiar looking lady walked up to me and grabbed my arm. She said, “Remember me?”

Ugh! At age 66 I hate that question. So she reacted to my blank stare: “I was at your house several months ago and brought you a big box of records on your former Homeowners Association.”

Ah, yes, I got the connection. This lady and her husband were foster parents and they loved the neighborhood. Not knowing a thing about the national HOA scam, they blithely bought a house and moved in with three foster kids. Knowing how anti-minority, anti-Semitic and anti-queer this neighborhood is I wasn’t surprised she’d have trouble. She was in tears and I just didn’t have any good advice for her except to move out.

She says she was told by more than one HOA official “your kind isn’t appreciated in this neighborhood.” All her attempts to improve the exterior of her home were rejected. She and her husband were doing some interior improvements and she was told by a notorious lawyer who takes every opportunity to get on the board and stay there, that if even one nail is out of place he’ll force her to tear everything down.

Well, this HOA succeeded in driving her out of the neighborhood. She moved. And she said her new non-HOA home is a wonderful place where all the neighbors talk and get along. She did say she still loved this area and said she was going to inquire about whether some adjoining HOAs were any better.

“No!” I told her. I gave her the same old advice I give everyone. “THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A GOOD HOA. EVERY ‘GOOD’ HOA IS JUST ONE VOTE AWAY FROM DISASTER!”

It’s true. It’s very sad, but it’s true.

Is Sex Assault Legal In Homeowners Associations?

      No Comments on Is Sex Assault Legal In Homeowners Associations?

Yes, that’s a weird question to ask. But a Saudi prince was arrested for assaulting several women at a party in his gated community home in Los Angeles. There’s lots of evidence against him and three women who claim they were victimized have filed a civil suit. But L.A. officials have decided there’s not enough evidence to charge him.

This prince and his family are worth billions. They’ll be able to pay off the women for sums of money that would seem grand to most of us. But it’s a pittance for those in the Saudi oil business.

On the other hand, the HOA might fine the prince for letting his lawn get too brown. But in the Beverly Hills Homeowners Association…life will go on as usual.

(link to LA Times story on Saudi prince)

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-saudi-prince-beverly-hills-20151019-story.html

 

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-saudi-prince-beverly-hills-20151019-story.html

The Flag, Just A Holiday Decoration!

      No Comments on The Flag, Just A Holiday Decoration!

Writing this blog is beginning to give me hives. I guess I’m just allergic to stupid people.

The self-proclaimed dictator of the Chestnut Place Homeowners Association in Murray, Utah, says she’s tired of looking at American flags and she’s beginning to fine homeowners who display them.

You think I’m making this stuff up? Come on, guys! You know I’m not.

HOA president Lyn Steinbergen says the flag is only a holiday decoration and needs to come down after the ‘holiday.’ Mz. Steinbergen, you’re obviously an ignoramus when it comes to knowledge about the American flag and whether or not the display of the flag is covered under multiple state and Supreme Court decisions. Yes, I’m prejudiced against your mindless stance because I have a number of family members who gave their lives for that flag. They also gave their lives to protect your right to be an idiot. If you honestly think it’s merely a holiday decoration then I brand you a brainless neighborhood ditz who deserves to be recalled as soon as enough signatures are collected.

(link to story in the Washington Times)

Additional note: Deborah Goonan is so sharp. She’s always miles ahead of me on updates.

(update on flag dispute)

 

 

Neighborhood Bird Brains

      1 Comment on Neighborhood Bird Brains

The whole idea behind Homeowners Associations is to address neighborhood problems caused by bird-brained homeowners. As we all know, in actual practice many HOAs cause more problems than they actually solve. When one neighbor is pitted against another, pride gets in the way and stupid things start happening.

But stupid neighbor fights happen in non-HOA neighborhoods, too. An ongoing case in Seattle has now led to a $200,000 lawsuit.

Several years ago, a young girl began feeding the crows in her backyard. The crows began bringing trinkets to the youngster, and a YouTube video of the feeding ritual went viral.

Well, 51 of her neighbors signed a petition to encourage the family to end the bird feeding operation. They say it has become a major health problem because too many birds are gathering. One of those homeowners has filed a public nuisance lawsuit against the girl’s family to try to get the bird feeding stopped.

(link to story on bird lawsuit)