Woman battles city hall for right to hang her wet clothes

Deborah Sharp
USA Today
Dec. 10, 2004 08:39 AM

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Poppy Madden has emerged as an unlikely hero in a campaign known as the "Laundry Wars." She has triumphed - twice - at City Hall for the right to hang her wash in the hot Florida sun.

"I'm still hanging my purple panties," Madden says. Her clothesline is protected from neighbors' complaints by a state law that encourages solar power - in this case, using the sun rather than a clothes dryer.

"Seeing clean laundry hanging in a yard is a lot less of a problem than having someone's loose dog leave a deposit on your lawn, she says."

The clothesline battle in this waterfront city is the latest chapter in a familiar story about the balance between personal freedom and community standards. Such disputes can stem from city codes, which was the case with Madden's clothesline, or from restrictions set by homeowners associations.

A record number of homeowners now reside in neighborhoods or condominiums under the often-strict rules of community associations. Some of the fiercest struggles occur over what associations deem acceptable, whether it's holiday flags, fences or the color of a front door.
http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/1210laundry-ON.html

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Good for her.

we're doing some house hunting and that's top on the list, if there is one, we're not interested. It's our house, we'll decorate/paint/use our house however we damn well please!

Zonker Harris' mom got into a dispute with her homeowners' association regarding an "illegal" clothes line.

My mom was having the same issue at the time. It was kind of spooky.

Some people have nothing better to do than harass their nieghbors over petty rules.

Hanging my panties on a clothesline.

Especially in areas populated with retirement age people. I guess they have nothing else to complain about.

For example, my parents have owned their home for over 20 years, and recently had a garage door replaced. It's a white vinyl model that you can buy in any chain hardware store and has a permacote paint free surface that never needs to be painted.

But, since it isn't made out of wood, and because it's (gasp!) white, it doesn't match the overall look of the neighborhood with their rotting wooden garage doors. I mean, you can't even buy a wooden garage door in a lot of chain hardware stores these days.

So, their HOA is threatening to sue. I say let them try, and so do my parents. There's nothing in the by-laws about garage door construction materials, and the color schemes have to be uniform to the original paint job or "neutral" as to not offend. I don't know of a more neutral color than white.

They're all flat, criss-crossed with ugly, straight canals, cookie-cutter houses with ugly screened-in pools in back, and too much empty space between each house, like in "Edward Scissorhands". I hate suburbia, but Florida suburbia is especially depressing.