The woman is. She is the HOA president, so what? It isn’t the responsibility of the HOA to control the behavior of neighborhood kids. She says that she was patrolling the neighborhood? That isn’t her job, either.
If she (or anyone else in the neighborhood) has a problem with the behavior of children, you go there as a neighbor and complain to the parent. What you don’t do is go there talking about how you are the HOA president and trying to use that as some sort of show of authority to throw your weight around. The guy answering the door is a lot more polite than I would have been in that case.
However, had an adult or adults come to my door and politely complained about the kids harassing them, I would have asked the kids to tone it down. It’s all about presentation.
That’s the main reason why I am on the board of my own HOA. I am there to make sure that some authoritarian asshole doesn’t become a little dictator. I do everything that I can to tell the neighbors that the HOA can’t do (x) or (y) because that isn’t within their power.
Yes, I know that many of you will say that you won’t live in an HOA community, but that just isn’t how things are here. Half of all homes in Florida, and 85% of homes built within the last 20 years, are in communities that are controlled by an HOA. I would disband our HOA in a heartbeat if I could, but that won’t happen, so I do the next best thing. I make sure that they don’t become tyrants.
4 Comments
Scotty · November 29, 2023 at 8:25 am
Again, you’re in the wrong on this one.
The father is the one who’s incorrect. She is well within her rights to enforce the bylaws and covenants of the homeowners association now she came to him politely to ask him to keep the children quiet it is 9:30 at night those kids should not be running around the neighborhood barking in people’s bushes. And if they are actually in an HOA Community he signed paperwork agreeing to the bylaws and covenants that gives the HOA power over him if he breaks or violates those covenants and bylaws and if you actually are on an HOA you know they do actually have power: they can start legal proceedings and take your house. Used to be mini HOAs wouldn’t let you have a satellite dish in your front yard until a Court ruled hey tell a communications is so vital that if the homeowner can prove they can’t get those kind of things without having their satellite dish in the front yard they can have a satellite dish but you have to prove you can’t get it otherwise or the homeowners association can put legal proceedings against you for violating the covenants and bylaws. My local HOA has rules against swing sets in the front yard every homeowner signed paperwork saying they agreed to the bylaw that says you can’t have a swing set in your front yard under penalties guess what the HOA enforces no God damn swing sets in the front yard, they have started legal proceedings against people they have assessed fines and they have taken at least one person’s house over it.
Used to be people that let their kids run around and play during the daylight but as soon as the damn street lights came on your kids were supposed to be at home doing their homework doing their chores getting cleaned up or having dinner, it was not socially acceptable for your children to run around the neighborhood after dark making little assholes of themselves. If that father was a reasonable individual he’d punish all of his children by taking away their electronics and limiting their cellphone usage to vital needs.
Divemedic · November 29, 2023 at 8:55 am
My answer explaining to you why you are wrong became too long for a comment. Please see my latest post, here.
SmileyFtW · November 29, 2023 at 9:17 am
Agree wholeheartedly on getting on the board. We have a landowners association and the only thing it should be doing is make sure that the covenants are followed. Period. I got on the board for the same reason as you: to keep some dictatorial busybody from trying to overreach the authority of the association.
Scotty seems as though he would be one of the busybodies if given the opportunity.
Get off my lawn…
A response to Scotty – Area Ocho · November 29, 2023 at 8:54 am
[…] the behavior of children. I won’t quote the comment in this post because it is too long. You can read it here. His opinion essentially boils down to “the HOA can enforce whatever rules they wish” […]
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