Much too subtle for this gang.

Yup, it's me. Except it's a POS 300TD.

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Hey, I may resemble that remark...!

Maybe not cheap POS cars, but POS cars.

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-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

Oh the humanity of Crocodile tears.

Indeed.

Strange how some people's principles and stances on various social issues get dropped by the wayside when it has the potential to affect their pocketbook.

I wonder how some on here would respond to the following situation, involving neighbors and an HOA -

5 or so years ago, my younger sister and her husband bought a home in an existing subdivision, inside the city limits of a small city up in NC, with an already existing HOA. According to my sister, the HOA, and the city itself, were quite reasonable as far as their fees and regulations - far from the lawn gnome police described in some extreme cases.

About 2 years ago, the house beside them came up for sale, and was purchased by a certain family. Not long after moving in, they constructed a chicken coop and populated it with numerous birds, and also turned loose 3 goats in the back yard. After a period of time not cleaning up the waste from the livestock, the stench on a hot summers day from their backyard I dare say needs little description. The backyard was trash littered, and the only lawn maintenance done was that performed by the aforementioned goats.

This being a zoned residential area inside city limits, the keeping of livestock by itself was not only in violation of HOA rules, but also in violation of city and county law, not to mention the health issues from the accumulated animal waste. After several complaints, both the HOA and the local authorities contacted said family, informed them that they were in violation of both HOA reguations and local laws, and that they would have to remedy the situation to be in compliance with both or face legal action.

The family's response was to contact one or more, shall we say, particular ethnic "legal defense" organizations, who in turn contacted the HOA and local authorities. Their message was if either the HOA or local authorities took ANY type of actions against their "clients", they would do their level best to sue the HOA, city, and county into bankruptcy, over their "discrimination and harassment of our clients because of their ethnic background".

At that, both the HOA and local authorities caved. Last word from my sister is that the situation is still unresolved and no action whatsoever taken.

Given some of the comments I've seen so far in this thread, I'd be interested to hear some thoughts on this particular situation.

__________________
Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

No one can help weak people that won't help themselves.

__________________
'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

HOA and city should be sued. They are allowing a health hazard to exist. Should someone become sick because of it, both of them would have a law suit on their hands

__________________
Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

For the most part, my philosophy is, "I'll do what I want with my property and you do what you want with yours". However, when it comes to creating health hazards, that's where I draw the line.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

In that light, the HOA and the city are in the "damned if you do, and damned if you don't" situation.

On the one hand, if they do take action against the family in violation, it would seem they have the CERTAINTY of a lawsuit against them by one or more well-funded national organizations with deep legal pockets.

OTOH, if they do nothing, they have the POSSIBILITY of John or Jane Doe becoming sick, and the likelihood of a private citizen in that area having the resources to mount a protracted lawsuit against them isn't all that great.

So it would seem they've taken the low cost/low risk approach - do nothing.

A third possibility is that the HOA/city are waiting for someone to become ill, that can be tied directly to this situation, and can then act on public health grounds, and thus negate the discrimination/harrassment accusations.

__________________
Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

I don't know what the politics are in the area but I don't see how the HOA city can be a no win. I know that that the minority thing can be played in numerous situations but this is an obvious violation of health codes and local ordinances. The least they could do is go for it and see what happens. What ever organization they have at their supposed disposal may not go to bat.

It does sound like a crap situation though.

__________________
Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

I'd say the city is either very poor/has no balls or there is more to this story.

SOP for zoning violations in my city is to hand them off to the city attorney, which in turn would more than happily get sued by that big scary "ethinic" group if the violation goes uncorrected, while the lawsuit is dragging out they would also be attaching fines to the property. I would imagine most cities governments operate in the same way. Although more rural areas tend to have very weak/nonexistent zoning. That's like how say in the Orlando area that I was in a few weeks ago you can have 9ksf houses next to trailer parks.

It sounds like the zoning violation isn't so cut and dry, there is more to the story.

My thoughts are if you want your yard full of crap and don't take care of your property go move out into the country and have at it. But don't come into a nice neighborhood and knock $30k off the top of everyone's house, cause not everyone wants to live like that. Some of use like nice neat houses, clean streets, etc. Now my city has a "blight" commission which is slowly but surely going after all the crap holes, fantastic.

I'm not talking about HOA nazi's either that measure grass with a ruler. IE keep your lawn short enough so it doesn't look like your trying to harvest grain, keep the paint/siding in reasonable condition. Keep the yard neat, when I was little and played outside my parents kicked my a** if I didn't clean up my toys. Also my favorite rule, no unregistered cars parked outside. Again you want to run a junk yard great, do it in the country or if you have a big back yard hide it.

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1969 280SE
2027 Ram 1500
2026 Genesis GV70
2007 Tiara 3200
1988 Egg Harbor 37
1981 Boston Whaler 17

Not to make light of my sister's situation, but yes, in more ways than one.

I believe you hit the nail on the head with "local politics" - or perhaps more "local money".

My sister said one or two HOA board members, on a you-me-and-the-fencepost level of confidentiality, had told her that one or more "employers" in the area had expressed "concern", to both them and the city, over the "possible negative impact", that any action against the aforementioned family and attendant lawsuit and publicity that would be generated, that would cause "disruptions to their operations and workforce".

I think you can read between the lines on that one.

__________________
Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

Why would anyone want to pay a premium to have a committee of pompous dumbasses telling them how to live? OP started by saying that he'd worked hard to afford a house in this neighbourhood. Seems to me he didn't work hard enough. If he'd worked "really hard" he could afford the kind of estate where you don't need suburb Nazi's to keep a lid on the sheeple because they are so far away they might as well not exist.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

While I don't share their views, I can kind of see the appeal for some people who are very into having their neighborhood look and "feel" a certain way. I think they are being silly, but I don't deny their right to do that.

I've spent some time in the middle east, and I think they are on to something when it comes to the way their houses are built. Many have a big wall running all around the property, enclosing a private courtyard. You don't see your neighbors, and they don't see you, unless you invite them over or vice versa. More privacy on a smaller lot

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

Sorry. I did not even think of that when I wrote it. There really was no pun intended.

__________________
Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.