> > From: N9EN@VOYAGER.NET [mailto:n9en@voyager.net]
> > Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2002 9:50 AM
> > To: Joe Subich, K4IK; Mike Lazaroff K3AIR; towertalk@contesting.com
> > Subject: Re: [Towertalk] deed restrictions
> >
> >
> > At the risk of sounding belligerent, I think that Joe - K4IK,
> > needs to do his homework on this issue. I can't remember
> > where I saw the article in, whether it was in U.S. News &
> > World Report magazine or in a Chicago Tribune newspa-
> > per. But where ever it was, the article dealt with the sub-
> > ject of "Homeowner's Associations" and how abusive they
> > had become.
>
> I have done my homework ... after all, I am vice-president of
> the homeowners' association for the community in which I live.
> All I'm saying is that K3AIR's painting of all homeowners'
> associations as "Nazis" is offensive and wrong.
Well, you're entitled to your opinion, of course, and I'm entitled to mine.
Many have commented on the insane and intrusive character of 99% percent of
these groups. I have nothing further to comment on that as it has all been
said and said very well. Your association is evidently one of the very few
that do not fit the description; around here, all of them do.
> I happen to agree that the FCC should have preempted antenna
> restrictions for amateur radio just as they did for direct
> broadcast (satellite) television. In fact, I believe that the
> ARRL screwed up when they asked the Commission to extend the
> preemption rather than picking an easy test case and going to
> the courts using the existing preemption. I also believe that
> Congress should legislate the pre-emption since the Commission
> seems to lack the balls to do their job right.
Well put and absolutely correct.
> That said, there are many homeowners' associations that have
> ceased to function, no longer enforce the CC&Rs, or which can
> not enforce the CC&Rs because they have failed to enforce them
> consistently. That some associations have gone overboard does
> not make all HOAs bad any more than all amateur towers are bad
> simply because some amateurs overload or fail to install them
> properly.
>
> 73,
>
> ... Joe, K4IK
>
Around here, a lot of the CC&Rs don't have any expiration; they simply say
that they "run with the land" forever. Those that do set a date (usually 10
or 20 years in the future) also specify that the HOAs can simply vote to
renew them for another 10 or 20 year period. Usually they do. Some other
HOAs do not enforce them; however, here *any* of the homeowners can sue to
enforce them if the HOA doesn't want to - a situation that just encourages
the neighborhood busybodies (do I dare say "Nazis?!"). If a ham wants
antennas, then he has to hire a lawyer and go to court to prove that the
CC&Rs have been "abandoned" to win his case - a lot of time and a lot of
expense, not to mention the hard feelings it creates in the neighborhood.
It's long past the time these people were reined in.
73, Mike K3AIR
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