Today Nathan and I went to our HOA meeting. Wait. Let me get you some background first... We live in a condo complex, where the two bedroom condos get a garage and an assigned parking space. The one bedrooms have a garage. There are also about 15 guest spots. Needless to say that they are often taken by residents with more than two vehicles or who decide to use their garage for something else (like a pool table).
So after several complaints about not having any place for their guests to park, the HOA board FINALLY decided to start enforcing the Codes, Covenants, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) about cars in guest spots only being allowed to be parked there for no more than a 72 hour period.
So today at the meeting there was a couple there complaining that these new procedures were ruining their quality of life and shouldn't there at least be a grace period. "EVERYONE" (according the them) has 3 or 4 cars now a days. And people in the one bedroom condos might need 2 or 3 spaces depending on how they use their garage and if it's a couple. They also confessed to using their garage as a gym for their workout equipment!
To their comments I wanted to say: "YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE GETTING WHEN YOU MOVED IN! DON"T MAKE ME PAY FOR YOUR LIFESTYLE CHOICES!" I personally hope they move out. If they don't like the rules we had all along, that is no excuse not to enforce them. Just because a cop isn't sitting on your street with his radar gun doesn't mean he can't do it any day he pleases. Just because the government doesn't catch all the murderers doesn't mean they should stop looking for them.
If I have to pay for anything they suggest to "improve the quality of living" here in my neighborhood I'm going to be very unhappy. What about my quality of living if the HOA dues double or triple to pay for more parking spaces?!?
Just because you move in to an area you can't expect it to go through lifestyle changes as you do. That's why people move! If you have 12 kids and live in a 3 bedroom house and need more space, you move. If you have 5 cars and can only fit one in a garage, you move. Get real people! You adjust.
Created 12 Aug 2008
Updated 12 Aug 2008