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U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

reuters.com

251–260 of 329 posts

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#251
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>a big load could take upwards of 3-4hrs a day I find this hard to believe; I can wash an 8kg load and it takes me perhaps 15 or 20 minutes to hang it, and much less to unhang once dry. Folding and putting away is the same regardless of drying method. EDIT: "just such a chore" made me think it wasn't about the drying time.

maybe they meant it would take 3-4 hours to dry? thats how I read it anyway.

Their wording seems to imply it's a chore that lasts that long. Maybe they thought they had to watch it dry?

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Again, I find your intention to get into other people's business just.....strange. It's not me. It's a community which agreed on a guideline, standard, by-law, etc. > You mentioned "property value loss" in another comment - that's not a thing. No, it actually is. Demand will suffer in locations which are unkept and trashy. I would not buy a property next to a home that had cars parked on the front lawn. I would not…

>>I would not buy a property next to a home that had cars parked on the front lawn. I would not want to live next to someone who thinks that's appropriate and most people would agree with me. I never said it's approporiate. I wouldn't want to live next to such house either. But I find it unacceptable that you would like to regulate that away, just like I don't think it's acceptable to regulate whether someone can han…

The community regulates it. The community is sovereign over the individual. The individual can either accept this or leave the community. If they continue to violate the community then the community will shun them or exile them. This is how social systems work. Some people call it "cancel culture" but that's just the same thing at a larger scale and with new rules.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#253
post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree - it reads like propaganda paid for by this "Project Laundry List" organization, in the pattern of PG's Submarine article. Since when does this need to be a national issue anyways - "U.S. residents fight..."

The article establishes the national relevancy directly: > His principal opponents are the housing associations such as condominiums and townhouse communities that are home to an estimated 60 million Americans, or about 20 percent of the population. About half of those organizations have ‘no hanging’ rules, Lee said, and enforce them with fines. Millions of Americans live under covenants that prevent them from doing…

They haven't established how many people actually want it. If 60 million Americans live in communities with such rules, presumably at least a substantial number of them, if not an actual majority, want visible hanging laundry to be prohibited. They don't seem to have even asked how many of those people actually want to hang laundry versus wanting to keep it prohibited, they just picked that to have a big number to put in glorified press releases.

And there's no evidence at all that it's an issue worth addressing on a national scale. Presumably in some places a majority want it prohibited and in others a majority want it permitted, why not let them all do as they please?

Unless of course somebody somewhere draws a fat paycheck for representing "Project Laundry List" (exactly who is really funding that anyways?) and needs to justify their position by getting glorified press releases published as news articles.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#254

I love hanging my laundry, but wouldn't appreciate it it my neighbors front yard. It is a jerk move if they have another option. I guess it falls in the free speech category. I don't like what you say but I support your right to do it. HOA residents also have the right to make binging agreements, for better or worse.

>wouldn't appreciate it it my neighbors front yard. I don't get it; why do you care?

Please take this with an open mind.

To the extent I care, it is a mater of aesthetics. I enjoy seeing a less cluttered and more maintained environment. Because they are my neighbor, I see their front yard frequently, as do my visitors.

This is basically the same reason that I don't like it when people litter and leave their garbage in the street, or I don't leave dirty dishes around my house.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#255
post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly why I live in the country. No neighbors, who almost by definition exist to constrain my life. By making up laughable things like "hurts everyone's eyes to have to see a car parked on the front lawn".

You'd think this. I've been Looking for some land to build some interesting projects (larger than usual personal-use solar farm with mechanical outbuildings, small wind turbines, various experimentation with hoop houses, etc.) lends me to believe the NIMBYs have made it to most of the country. You have to truly be in the absolutely middle of nowhere with an amazingly huge amount of land to actually be able to "do wha…

I learned years ago, that if there are no inspectors then there are no regulations.

In my county there are inspectors for water and septic. That's all. So that had to be to code.

Everything else is up to the landowner.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#256

Quoted post unavailable.

> It still weirds me out that people in USA are such bad neighboors Don’t mistake single news articles for cultural norms. Things like these are in the headlines because they’re weird, rare, and noteworthy. I assure you this situation isn’t playing out across the entire US. Stereotyping an entire massive country based on a single news story about a weird dispute between neighbors is just illogical. This is outrage jo…

Bad HOA stories are more common than bad wisdom teeth stories. If I'm at a party and somehow bring up some silly complaint my HOA has filed I am sure to get several other people chiming in about their HOAs. It is common.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#257

Quoted post unavailable.

This has nothing to do with the law and every to do with the HOA that the people in this article from 2009 willing joined when they bought their home. I know it's fun to hate on the USA at every given opportunity but this is less some systemic issue with the US and more a squabble between a few individuals who are violating a contract they chose to sign, and their neighbors who also signed said contract because they…

Calling HoA voluntary is like calling ToS voluntary. Technically it is, but practically it's very one sided.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#258

Years back we rented a flat in a building that housed a lot of retired people. A regulation we weren't aware of was that you weren't allowed to hang anything on the railings of your balcony. On a day off we were cleaning and left a mat we'd washed to dry, hanging over the railing. It wasn't there an hour before we had a delegation at our door of angry elderly residents. They weren't one bit nice about it even after w…

I'm always curious what is it about old people that make some behave in this way? Is it the way people used to be raised, cognitive decline, or simple nothing better to do? I also notice it in the comment's section where older people tend to be far less forgiving of discretions than younger people.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True about the first part. You actually have no idea what it's like being around me. So I have one up on the rest of you there.

> You actually have no idea what it's like being around me. That's great. I'm grateful we live in a country where people that are compelled to always put themselves first and not have to consider other people can remove themselves from society and choose to live an isolated life away from society. I'm even more grateful for the people that recognize this about themselves and make the move. Living socially involves sa…

That's not quite it. Those in the country live socially and harmoniously. But without the pressure of breathing at the neighbors armpit, it's far easier.

For instance, I contribute to the local volunteer fire department. The annual festival. The fireworks on the 4th.

I pull my neighbors out of the ditch when their car slides on snow in the winter. Hell, I snowplow my stretch of gravel with my tractor if the county isn't going to get to it for a couple days and my neighbors need to get to work.

Interactions are generally more cooperative, maybe even healthier, without the always-being-in-one-another's-face.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#260
Interestingly, hang-drying laundry is widely used in Japan, where people prefer it to using a machine when weather conditions permit; the sunlight kills germs and dries fabrics more gently. Saves energy, too.

The main problem is creepy older men stealing ladies’ undergarments. It’s become such a problem that you can buy gadgets that secure your clothes to the line such that they can’t be pulled off by thieves using “grabbers” on long sticks.

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