Muzzling the Joneses

It has long been a staple of small-town and suburban life for neighbors to complain about each other’s lawns, or the colors of their houses, or their teenage children’s taste in music. Generally, it remains a back-fence dispute, not a matter for the local constabulary.

In recent years, however, a growing number of towns and counties have passed laws trying to ban residents from placing political signs on their lawns — signs promoting political candidates or, say, expressing opposition to the war in Iraq.

Some local officials say the bans stem from complaints that the signs are an eyesore, but what they really are is an infringement of free speech, and more and more angry citizens are going to court to defend their constitutional rights. Some civil libertarians hope that a recent lawsuit in the northern New Jersey town of Hawthorne will shift the momentum their way.

Several years ago, Hawthorne’s council approved an ordinance allowing homeowners only a tiny amount of time to display signs — a month before an election and a week after. When a local businessman left two signs on his property supporting Ron Paul well after the New Jersey presidential primary last winter, he was paid a personal visit by a police captain and two other officers and threatened with fines of $1,000 a day unless he removed the signs. He did.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/opinion/21mon4.html?th&emc=th

The logical next step in their careers as modern-day Napoleons.

inner city neighborhood. Oh, I don't mind having some two bit Napoleon tell me I can't paint my house orange with yellow trim. I don't much care what color it is on the outside. I also don't mind proscriptions against cars on blocks, appliances in the front yard, and van seats as porch furniture. Some things are just plain tacky.

However, when they start making stupid rules about lawn grass and shrubbery and whether or not you can string a clothesline out back when the dryer breaks down, they've lost me. Killing political speech is just another indignity in the name of property values, one that is most likely unconstitutional.

If the present real estate meltdown has any positive outcome, it has to be killing off the HOA as people are forced to turn their required patch of lawn grass into vegetable garden and their back yards into places to wash and dry clothing.

... how in effect, HOAs require you to NOT live green, and engage in conspicuous consumption.

The really bad ones frown on special equipment for handicapped people!

Incidentally, I have met a lot of Dems lately who serve on HOAs-- even a few Dem HOA presidents. I think they might be changing some of them from within.