Illegal Clothesline Spotted

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mrb627

mrb627

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 12, 2001
Messages
5,122
Location
Buford, GA
As I was driving through my neighborhood yesterday afternoon, I spotted something that caught my eye from a distance. A neighbor has erected an umbrella clothesline in their back yard. Mind you, they have a wood privacy fence and the top of the clothesline is a mere inches above the top of the fence. The casual passerby would probably never notice. I, on the other hand, spotted it at a distance. Laughed out loud in the car as I know it will ruffle feathers in the neighborhood.

Honestly, I support them in their efforts.

<RANT>
It simply makes no sense to me that you are not allowed to have a clothesline to hang your washing out to dry when the house next door can construct this huge black, blue, and metallic trampoline that is as tall as the house, not fence it in, and don't bother to cut the grass underneath it.

Wake up people!</RANT>

Malcolm
 
Malcolm, from my reading I don't believe no-clothesline laws (usually they're local ordinances or part of HOA agreements) have ever withstood a legal challenge, anywhere in the U.S. Sounds like your neighbor understands this.
 
Malcolm,

Maybe you could stop and tell your neighbors that you applaud their efforts to buck the system.  Thumbs up to them!
smiley-wink.gif
 
 
Coming from the rural upper-midwest, I can't imagine being told clotheslines are verboten on my own property. Common sense: no junked/unregistered cars; keep lawn tidy; height restriction for fences. But no clotheslines? C'mon. I'd put one up and never use it just to piss off the association, LOL!
 
The last condo I lived in was way more strict than just about clotheslines. It was a hot day and I was sitting on the balcony. I took my shirt off and hung it on the back of the chair. Two hours later I got a call from the management telling me to stop drying clothes on the balcony.
 
I live in a country where seing clothesline  and pulleys, all the way along city streets from balconies and windows was and still is (even if less now)  as normal  as seeing a traffic lamp at a crossroad (costs of electric energy  is high and no gas dryers availabe until recent years)....
Of course drying in the dryer is more convenient, why have to deal  with the drudgery of hanging laundry if you have a dryer???

I can understand that in a country where dryers made their enter such early and where cost of running them  is so low,    and because of that are entered to be part of laundry chores job almost as a  basic laundry equipment  that  80% if not 90% of people own and use, there could be such a view about clotheslines from some people....
So that is why in USA sometimes clotheslines are associated to, poverty, slums etc.... because of that reasoning, some  people finds them unsighty because associate them to poverty...don't get me wrong, this reasoning  it's wrong simply because it lacks in a simple concept comprehension there could be other reasons going over the simply "I'm poor I cannot run/ I don't own a dryer" matter..... that would not make of  a  whole neigborhood poor also!!

I've herad many neighborhood associations bans them becuase they're supposed to drop the value of house in those neigborhoods.... theory denied more than once...

There're could be many reasons why one hangs laundry.....

One is simply that there're people enjoying hanging laundry (some people find it relaxing)....
Others just do that for global warming theory beliefs...
But even if it were did for money issue for what reasons it should drop property value then???

 

I think everyone should have the right to dry his own laundry as he prefer in his own property!

 

We're not talking about sunbathing naked! It's laundry! What disturbing is in that?

Also, I will never understand people being ashamed to hang out underpants and such!

Every summer I see tons of underpants of my neigbors hanging from their balconies, I'm not talking about <span id="result_box" class="short_text" lang="en"><span class="hps">beggars</span><span>, or women</span> <span class="hps">of dubious morality.... but even class women simply hanging their bras or tangas out with no reason to be ashamed for that....
It's underpants, we all wear it, we  wash it and so we will hang it!
So unless you hang some sorts of weird stuff  like sex toys stuff   I don't see why one should be ashamed!
I think anyway that a simple principle reason!</span></span>

<span class="short_text" lang="en"><span class="hps">Everyone should be allowed to do anything he wants in his own property unless it gives damages to others and clothesline of course DO NOT!
Cheers</span></span>

<span class="short_text" lang="en"><span class="hps">
</span></span>

[this post was last edited: 2/19/2013-17:59]

kenmoreguy89++2-19-2013-15-31-45.jpg
 
Freddy:

"Also, I will never understand people being ashamed to hang out underpants and such!"

Well, in some instances, I can kind of see that.

I mean, if the 300-pound person next door favors thongs, I don't really wanna know.

I have three words for that situation: Indoor. Drying. Rack.
 
I have been ticketed for hanging my car mats over the fence to dry while I was washing my car in my space behind the townhouse.....

it was my fault, I did not read any of these restrictions......and its a matter of keeping things tidy, versus those who would go overboard with it.....

no window A/C units allowed.....central air only to be used....

garage door open only to get car in/out

no toys on lawn after 6pm

only vehicles registered to that home could park in the driveway....visitors must park in designated areas......2 blocks from my door.....

it can be a stupid rule.....but its meant to keep certain individuals inline....and we all have to pay a price for it......one bad apple can ruin it for others.....

but never again will I buy a home where they tell me everything that I must do, including paint colors for inside and outside the home....

but this follows the same rules

No shoes
No short
No service.........now if a hot hunk walks in without a shirt who would argue.....but thats not what you get...its always that beached whale who doesn't know that toothpaste and deodorant exist, is what you will have to put up with.....and ruin for the ones to be admired!....just to make sure that everyone is PC and treated equal.....

in essence, I am the one who is not allowed to be treated equal in view of Tom Seleck.....because some jackass doesn't bare arms to a bar of soap....or a gym!
 
Jeff:

I think you misunderstand me - even attractive people can over-share their private preferences. Really sexy lingerie belongs on an indoor rack even if you're Gisele Bundchen.

But there are combinations of clothing items and people that bring up images you'd just as soon not think about.
 
hanging "unmentionables"

My grandmother never had a dryer. She did her wash on Saturday and her clothelines were in her front yard. She would hang her "unmentionables" on a line that was in between two other lines that were hung with towels and sheets...no one could see what was on the middle line! I can't imagine living where clotheslines were prohibited. I live in a middle class neighorhood mainly consisting of 1950's ranch type houses and almost all of us use clotheslines of some sort....either the two T bars with three or four lines stretched tight between the bars or the umbrella type. I also have lines in my basement to use on dreary days. I use my dryer very, very little. If it's cotton, it gets line dried (including jeans).
 
I was there only about a year before we sold and went onto the next regular home out of the HOA areas.....this was 1986

I think the rules are still in place, if not worse by now.....and even the newer developments had some outlandish rules....but it kept a number of PITA/troublemaker neighbors in line....

this was only to make the area of TwinRivers seem to be something that it was not!....we were on the far outskirts of Princeton, NJ.....to anyone else we lived in Hightstown....to add a higher price tag....our address was East Windsor......big freakin deal.....then we moved to the other side of Route 130.....now were in the POSH area of West Windsor, still Hightstown zip code.....

this was just an area where they thought the world revolved around them!
 
Martin

I certainly hope they didn't actually tell you what colors to paint the INside of your home!! If that were the case I'd paint my living room hot pink and remove any curtains/blinds so the whole neighborhood can see. LOL

Our neighborhood has pretty typical rules but there is no HOA and no enforcement. Just standard stuff like no fences and no signs in yards. Only trouble with stuff like that is when irate neighbors would pull strings with the town code enforcement to get the "offending" neighbor in trouble. That happened to my parents twice.

Now the neighbors don't do that anymore with them because they think my mom practices voodoo and witchcraft (fine by me, they leave us alone now!)

Our new neighbors on the corner put up a nice fence around there yard and now the insane neighbor between them and us who is out at 9 AM and 7 PM on a SUNDAY with every loud power tool imaginable hates them. I told her one day that I don't blame them for putting up a fence. The look on her face was priceless.
 
There's a local Italian restaurant that has the far side of the dining room wall (before the kitchen) decorated to look like a typical Italian street. Yep, there's laundry hanging from windows (real cloth, too) on that wall.

I wonder how many clothes-line haters dine happily at that eatery and then go home and get out the binoculars so they can turn in any of their neighbors who dares to air their clean laundry.
 
Sorry to have to say this, and I know it's cynical, but this culture is sick 'from the oceans to the prairies to the mountains white with snow'. Everybody wants to control everybody else. Which tells me the nazis won WW2, and that's why I'm cynical.

I mean really. A rule when you can have your garage door open? Who can park in your driveway? A friend's HOA required prior approval to add or remove landscaping. Thus he could be cited if he got weeds and cited for removing them. IOW, there is ALWAYS something they can cite you for if they don't like you.

The water nazis won't let you rinse laundry. The power nazis don't want you using electricity. The aesthetic nazis don't want you drying outdoors, or even painting an "unapproved color" indoors. Then there are the fence nazis, the pet nazis, the music nazis, the food nazis, the car nazis, the child nazis--what they can do outdoors and when, or even how many you can have--the lawn nazis, what kinds of grass are allowed, how tall and what shade of green it must be.

Really hate to say this, and wouldn't have even thought it until the last 15-20 years, but what passes for America today makes me puke.
 
I know I've posted this a gazillion times before but, we have the 20ft version of this clothesline.  I love it because I can move it anywhere in the yard to catch the best breeze if desired.  Otherwise, it usually resides just outside our west breezeway door facing the street for anyone to see what's out on the line.

http://www.freudenthalmfg.com/clothes_line/
 
yeah...you would have to get approval for painting the inside of your home.....it was all about curb appeal....what could be seen from the outside.....

even the backside of drapes was an issue......or the color of blinds.....mini blinds were critical, vertical blinds were more to their liking, cloth was preferred to vinyl...

glad to be out of there....I loved the multi-levels of the townhouse....other than that.....get me the hell out of here!......lol....never again!.....

hell, I lived with a landscaper....and even with his talents....you could not over improve the look of your individual section.....you had to stay low key with the rest of the Jones'.....yet it's all about beautification!.......

and yet I was not renting, We owned the freakin' place....or at least thought we did....have no idea what that mortgage/home ownership thing was all about
 
As "green" as the govt. and everyone in this country is getting, I don't see what the big deal is about clotheslines!! Hell do you know how much energy is being saved by drying clothes outside, and how many clothes dryers are not pre-maturely going to landfills because of overuse!! Hell these people complaining about clothelines being ana eyesore, have never been to the Bronx!!!, or maybe they have! LOL
Mike
 
Yogitunes

Garage door open? Visitor parking? I wanna move there and paint a house like a Mexican restaurant (fluorescent pink, green, and yellow) just to piss off the association. They can fine me, but collecting is another story.
 
we had a case about 25 years ago here in South Jersey.......the judge ordered this landlord to paint a vacant house.....didn't care how he did, just get it done....

or face a fine and jail time!

so he painted the entire house FLAT BLACK...including porch, deck, garage and fence..they didn't say what color, just get a fresh coat of paint on it......would have made a great Halloween scene.....

I think the next time a judge gives an order, he better be more specific....

with lawyer in tow, this landlord won the case!

I have to run over there someday....I wonder if its still there, and still black....

I don't know....there are certain rules that should apply, and some that are completely nuts.....growing up we lived in an area where all the homes looked alike, we called them half-double, today their semi-detached....just like decades ago there were areas called "The Projects"...today we call them "RowHomes"...an Apartment is now referred to as a Condo....just a fancy name to increase the price....we all hung laundry out to dry, clean laundry strung across lines with pins, and then you had a few who threw them over the fence....some rules are put into place to keep the area from being run down.....

who really is to say wether it's good or bad....just a matter of keeping it equal for everyone....and that's where you can hit a fine line.....

I do like these portable style clothesline setups.....theres a cemented sleeve in the ground, which the so called upside down umbrella clotheslines slide into for use, and then removed when not in use.....this sleeve would also house a flag pole, basketball hoop, umbrella and table for dining....multi purpose use, I could go with that!
 
Good and bad

Here goes.  My primary employment is Management for a HOA comprised of 377 Townhomes.  Homes Associations can be great or otherwise.  Most are governed by two factors: 1) It's Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions and/or Bylaws; 2) A Board of Directors, whose charge is to interpret and apply the Covenants/Bylaws.  I've seen many HOAs that are petty and over bearing while others are well run and serve their members interests, which should be the case.  Some rules are good and make sense - others as we've observed in this thread speak more to those individuals who desire to control and manipulate others.  Before any prospective buyer makes a purchase, he/she is well advised to first determine if there is a HOA and if so, familiarize yourself with the Covenants/Bylaws, followed by a visit with the Management and/or Board along with other current Homeowners before making a decision.   Doing your homework prior to purchasing pays off.  
 
Some run-ins I've had.

Bear in mind that I'm a historic preservationist who tends to favor design-review for historic neighborhoods, to a point...

I lived with my grandmother for a summer. One Saturday I was cleaning out her garage. It hadn't been done in years and was long overdue. I had the garage door open all morning to allow for light and ventilation. I was also moving lots of stuff around as I swept, organized, and vacuumed. A rep from the HOA came up the driveway and informed me that I had to put everything away at once and close the door. I politely explained that I was cleaning my elderly grandmother's garage (it should have been obvious) and that I would put it all away once the job was done. He left and I thought all was well. He came back again about 15 minutes later and asked me how much longer I would be working. I said "until it's done" and asked him to leave. About 15 minutes later he came back and told me to finish immediately or he was going to have a garbage truck called to remove the offending "stuff" (garage contents partially in the garage and partially in the driveway at that point). I grabbed a large garden shovel and chased him out of the yard and told him he was not welcome on the property under any circumstances. I finished cleaning the garage and never heard from him again for the rest of the summer. That was a bit extreme.

On another occasion, I was visiting a friend and had driven my Volvo (back in the early 2000s when I was still in college). The car was a little over 15 years old at the time and while it didn't look showroom new by any means, it still presented well enough. The neighborhood had no reserved parking spaces or guest passes, so I parked on the street in front of their house along with a few other friends. A little while later we went outside and found a note from the HOA on my car, but not on anyone else's. As it turned out, that HOA had a policy of not allowing cars over 10 or 15 years of age (I don't recall the exact age) to be parked in an area visible from a shared right-of-way. In other words, if someone wanted to own a car over 15 years old or had a friend who had one, the only place it could be parked was in their garage! That one really bothered me because I took (still take) pride in keeping my Volvo well maintained. As it stands today, it needs a paint job to be presentable, but at the time the paint was in good condition and it was clean. I wouldn't want to live in a place that dictated what kind of car I had to drive.

Rant over,
Dave
 

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