live in a place with an HOA.

The states need to buckle down on these associations. Give them a taste of their own medicine.

Of course, Jerry Brown should have made the watering restrictions mandatory, not voluntary. They do it in Colorado. They do it in Nevada. Since when is California such a hotbed of "don't tread on me" libertarianism that they can't mandate watering restrictions?

and do xeriscape. This drought is not to be fucked with.

a rebate - I think it's up to $2 sq/f - for xeriscaping. I don't know if your water district has anything like that, but you might check. One thing to keep in mind is that they insist (here, anyway) that you have to have a percentage of living vegetation (grass/shrubs/etc) in the yard when you start the process. I assume that is to make this sure that the homeowner is actually replacing an existing lawn as opposed to just getting a subsidy for cleaning up a trashed yard.

$2.50 sq ft. with a min. of 250 sq ft. Mine is really just a parkway, and may not meet the min. footage. It's my only grass, and it is next to my commercial/residential bldg. that I also live in I don't think it is much of a water-suck, but I still think it's the right thing to do. We have low flow toilets in apts, we only have 5 luckily, and the businesses pay extra in rent for water. We only have one water line into our 99 yr. old bldg.

It sounds like a nice xeriscaped area would be great - and your city offers a fantastic rebate. Good luck!

green in the winter. There's a product for that. I really never noticed... Looked fine to me.

e.g., they cannot MAKE you break a law. They should petition the city to impose restrictions. It is quite silly that they have not already.

make you break laws. At least they can keep fining you and the problem is that if you live in an HOA, you have very little recourse. You either do what they say or they make life miserable for you. Florida passed a very comprehensive bill preventing HOA’s from prohibiting Florida-friendly landscaping in 2009. The basic premise was water conservation. However, we all know that HOA’s don’t always play by the rules, even State laws, and board members are quick to fine, take to mediation, and even sue homeowners for doing anything different than what the board members want. There have been many Florida lawsuits against homeowners on this issue, and some are still ongoing. Some homeowners have “won”, but the HOA’s are appealing the decisions. One homeowner has submitted at least 5 architectural approval requests using Florida-friendly plants and has been denied each time. The HOA's know they have the money to outlast the individual homeowner in lawsuits.

They cannot pass HOA's that are in direct violation of city, county, and state laws.

No need to fertilize, water or weed kill. It looks like a putting green from April to November. Keep it mowed to about 2 1/2 inches and it feels like a spongy carpet. Even the dogs love it. But for four months in the winter it goes dormant and turns almost white.

I highly recommend it. It's almost miraculous during droughts and heat waves.

My girlfriends parents have had multiple nuisance lawsuits filed against them by a neighboring HOA even though they have been out there for thirty years and the HOA community that surrounds them on three sides less than ten.