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SA homeowner says HOA forced him to plant a yard in a drought
KENS TV ^ | 06/27/2011 | Joe Conger

Posted on 06/28/2011 11:05:38 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd

SAN ANTONIO --With 100-degree, hot, dry days, Armando Urdiales decided to plant a new lawn.

Well, not really. It was his HOA, he said, that suggested it, after they found patches of dirt amongst the withered blades in his front yard.

"That was the kicker for me. Really? You're going to tell me to grow grass in a drought," Urdiales said.

The social studies teacher said after receiving two threatening letters in the last 60 days, he planted $150 worth of sod and started watering it.

"Isn't there a better use of our resource--of our precious resource of water--other than maintaning grass?” he said.

The Crown Meadows HOA didn't return KENS 5's calls.

SAWS officials say they have yet to see any homeowner deed restrictions that demand homeowners keep their lawns green. And as a public water utility, SAWS has no jurisdiction over HOAs.

But the utility is asking all associations to think of brown grass as the new green, at least for now in stage-2 restrictions.

“Grass is trying to go dormant right now. That's what it's trying to do. It doesn't necessarily mean it is going dead. It's trying to shut down," Karen Guz, SAWS Director of Conservation, said.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: drought; hoa; texas
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San Antonio is under mandatory lawn watering restirctions. You can only put out sprinklers one day aw week. For just a few hours in the early morning or late evening.

But what does this matter to HOA nazi's?

1 posted on 06/28/2011 11:05:43 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: Responsibility2nd
But what does this matter to HOA nazi's?

NAZI is exactly the correct term. I am certain that a psychological evaluation would show that the mindset of those who seek to head the HOA is the same as the most rabid NAZI. It takes a very sadistic human to relish punishing homeowners over such insignificant matters.

You don't seek out belonging to an HOA board unless you get "kicks" out of watching other humans suffer. The only difference, and I am serious about this, the only difference between the NAZIs and the HOA boards & the evil left in general is that they don't have absolute control over the populace the Nazis had.

Evil humans to their core, ALL of them.

2 posted on 06/28/2011 11:13:38 AM PDT by sand88 (Sarah Palin announces her run: August 12, 2011 11:10am ET)
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To: Responsibility2nd
We moved out of a HOA about 7-years ago and had the same issue. The city was on mandatory watering restrictions but we kept getting nasty-grams from the HOA. The common park areas grass looked like cr@p though.

No more HOAs for us.

3 posted on 06/28/2011 11:13:56 AM PDT by MissTed ( Since beginning the gin and tonic diet, I've already lost two days!)
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To: Responsibility2nd

First question before you make a purchase, “Is there an HOA?”
HOA’s are nothing more than small libtard fiats that have no excuse for existence but to protect the homogenous neighborhood. Race clauses are illegal in covenants so should be mini-fascist HOA boards. Both allegedly are there to protect property values. What makes HOA’s morally superior?
If you really feel that your neighbors alternate theory of upkeep is going to impact you, you didn’t buy enough property or you picked the wrong neighborhood.


4 posted on 06/28/2011 11:19:07 AM PDT by Steamburg (The contents of your wallet is the only language Politicians understand.)
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To: Steamburg
you picked the wrong neighborhood

Like one without an HOA?

5 posted on 06/28/2011 11:25:52 AM PDT by Publius Valerius
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To: Publius Valerius

Cute, when something is explained so that there will be no misunderstanding, there will be a misunderstanding.

Anyway, it would be socially insensitive to suggest that someone might wish to simply reduce the number of one’s neighbors until that someone is the HOA.


6 posted on 06/28/2011 11:30:50 AM PDT by Steamburg (The contents of your wallet is the only language Politicians understand.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Yup. Today’s my day and I was out there at 6am trying to save the $600 worth of sod I put down last spring. I’ll be out there again between 8 and 10 this evening.

Sucks.


7 posted on 06/28/2011 11:30:55 AM PDT by jagusafr ("We hold these truths to be self-evident...")
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To: sand88

Not sure if anyone on here listened to Phil Hendrie’s comedy show on the radio in the 90s and 2000s. He had a recurring character named Bobbi Dooley who was the president of her homowner’s association. Usually he’d have her character on trying to defend some crazy thing she’s done with her HOA. One in particular I remember is when Bobbi restricted a woman flying a yellow ribbon for her missing Marine son because it was an “out of season decoration” but said a loophole allowed Bobbi to fly dirty underwear to try and coax her runaway dog back home through a “familiar scent.”


8 posted on 06/28/2011 11:32:56 AM PDT by chargers fan
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To: Responsibility2nd

Anyone who doesn’t like their HOA rules has only themselves to blame. And HOAs are different from Nazis, because HOAs are voluntary.

It costs money to keep your yard looking nice, and it doesn’t require daily watering to keep grass green.

There are lots of alternatives to lawn, especially of you in a hot, dry area. But they aren’t as cheap.


9 posted on 06/28/2011 11:34:46 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (End the "Fiscal Fiasco" in 2012!)
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To: Beelzebubba

“because HOAs are voluntary.

Not really. Collectively they individually have gain a monopoly on all housing within any reasonable distance of every city and town.


10 posted on 06/28/2011 11:36:59 AM PDT by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
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To: Steamburg
The grass greenies are a real pain in the rear. We have no HOA but they ply our neighborhead every year trying to sell contracts for regular lawn fertilization and other treatment. Hello! This is SW Pennsylvania where grass grows just fine on its own.

One even had the audacity to come knocking on my door to inform me that clover had taken over nearly half my lawn and try to sell me on a program to rectify this awful situation.

I looked at him and asked him if he knew that clover provided its own nitrogen? Further, I preferred honeybees in my yard to lawn chemicals in my groundwater. He looked at me like I was crazy and told me that if no action was taken, clover would soon cover my entire lawn. I told him I was looking forward to that day and my lawn would only need a monthly mowing when it came. To hasten that end, every fall, I dug up clumps of clover and transplanted them into the grassy areas of the lawn to speed up the process.

11 posted on 06/28/2011 11:39:49 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Responsibility2nd

When you move into a HOA regulated community, you do so with full knowledge that you are placing yourself under the control of someone else’s whim.

There have been enough horror stories of HOA excesses that it’s hard to believe anyone is unaware of what is likely to occur under their dictates.

Nazis? Perhaps, but they are Nazis who have power only over those who actively choose to move in and give them said power.

I’d live in the truck before I’d let a squad of self important neighbors have a say in what I can and can’t do in my yard and with my house.


12 posted on 06/28/2011 11:40:28 AM PDT by Dr.Zoidberg (Warning: Sarcasm/humor is always engaged. Failure to recognize this may lead to misunderstandings.)
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To: sand88
You don't seek out belonging to an HOA board unless you get "kicks" out of watching other humans suffer

Or you actually care about your community, and see that nobody else cares enough to help run things. The swimming pool doesn't pay for itself, the common areas don't maintain themselves, the playground doesn't fix itself.

The key is to elect people who understand the essential things for the HOA, and aren't power-hungry people looking to order others around.

I finally escaped my board a while ago but was coaxed back by some homeowners who were worried about the direction the board was taking.

There certainly are bad HOAs, and more than a fair share of dictatorial types serving on them. But there are also a lot of good neighbors simply giving up their own time to try to maintain the neighborhood so the rest of us can go to the pool or use the playground.

13 posted on 06/28/2011 12:14:50 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: CodeToad; Beelzebubba

On the other hand, in most cases HOAs are representative of the community. The board members are elected by a majority vote of members in the community, and are up for re-election every few years. In many cases, only a small minority of people show up to the elections.

It’s pretty easy therefore in most cases to get yourself elected to a board. If your board is truly not representing a majority of the people, and the people are at all concerned, it is pretty easy to get enough to show up to elect a new more representative slate for the year (our HOA it’s 3 members out of 9 each year, so in 2 years you’d have a majority).

Many HOAs also allow proxies, so you just have to get your neighbors to give you their proxy, they don’t even have to show up.

But in fact, for all the grumbling, often a majority of the community actually support what the HOA is doing. It still may be tyrannical, but it’s not just the board, it’s the majority of the community that re-elects the board.


14 posted on 06/28/2011 12:20:02 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Vigilanteman

I just hope it’s not burr clover.


15 posted on 06/28/2011 12:23:17 PM PDT by Elderberry
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To: Responsibility2nd

16 posted on 06/28/2011 1:05:09 PM PDT by Emperor Palpatine (Can you afford to board the Chattanooga Choo-Choo?)
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To: Elderberry

It is the standard white blossom stuff with a little yellow blossom clover mixed in to add hardiness and color. They put in a great root system so that it stays green even during those short periods when we go a week or more without rain.


17 posted on 06/28/2011 1:12:42 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Vigilanteman

If it’s like the clover that loves to invade my yard. If you don’t eradicate it before it flowers, then forget about going barefoot in the yard with all the burrs it puts out.


18 posted on 06/28/2011 1:21:39 PM PDT by Elderberry
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To: Elderberry

I’ve never heard of burr clover. Mine is as soft as a baby’s bottom.


19 posted on 06/28/2011 1:24:48 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: CharlesWayneCT

What counts are the CC&Rs. The Board can’t break those, and those are what you buy when you buy the property.


20 posted on 06/28/2011 2:27:32 PM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (End the "Fiscal Fiasco" in 2012!)
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