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Grandpa’s Basement House

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Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#211

Post by croon »

MereInterest wrote: post #29
next_xibalba wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the author is describing are rules of homeowner's associations and other similar organizations. Individuals freely enter agreements with homeowner's associations which dictate land use. One is also free to choose to live in a place not governed by these rules. But, they are not the law of the land and they do not implicate a lack of freedom in the U.S. relative to other countries. Its quite silly to suggest as m…

Suppose it's the 1960s, and you want to buy something to eat. Your choices are "Go home and make food." and "Go to a smoke-filled restaurant and buy food." The choice of "Go to a non-smoking restaurant and buy food." doesn't exist in that environment, because there are no such restaurants. It would be silly to state that this is a free choice indicating a preference for smoke-filled restaurants, because there is no a…

While I agree with everything you said, it's a bit ironic that the comparison drawn is between an HOA putting restrictions on what you can do in service of collective benefit as something negative, to before such restrictions was put on restaurants in service of allowing people to get food without second hand smoke.

I understand people will have different preferences, but someone making tar or smoking fish on their lawn 24/7 affects all neighbors, while an HOA rule restricting that only affects that one person, and everyone else can enjoy their yards unsmoked.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#212

Post by happy_path »

oxfordmale wrote: post #45
pintxo wrote: post #42

This style of incremental building seems to be still in existence in Southern Europe. It‘s not uncommon to see unfinished concrete structures. Basically the raw skeleton often with exposed rebar at the top or sides, indicating future work. They may stay in this state for years. As apparently everything is paid in cash and so building only advances whenever the owners have enough at hand.

In Spain it also related to planning permission. Once the building work has finished, you need to have the planning permission paper work in order. Therefore they often leave one small room unfinished (exposed on the outside wall) to claim work is still in progress.

I have lived all my life in Spain and that's not my experience. Maybe in some small rural towns you can (illegally) keep an unfinished work for years, as long as nobody notices.

However, that is absolutely not true for most Spanish cities.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#214

Post by adwn »

lelanthran wrote: post #206
gardenmwm wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but common courtesy and cleanliness is something that makes me happy. I’ve lived in neighborhoods that have had rat problems because of a single home that kept trash everywhere. Should I be inconvenienced because someone doesn’t want to do the bare minimum to upkeep their property? Would you be ok if I moved next door to you and hung nazi flags (this has happened to me as well)? When people behave in ways that in…

> Would you be ok if I moved next door to you and hung nazi flags (this has happened to me as well)? Restricting nazi flags also restricts pride flags. The question is "Would you be okay if I hung flags?" What about other forms of displaying support? Are posters just a cheaper flag?

Wtf. Those are not even in the same ballpark. One of them is showing support for people that want to live a "non-standard" lifestyle, the other is showing support for a dictatorial regime that started a world war and murdered millions of people out of some idiotic ideology.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#215

Post by Veen »

pintxo wrote: post #42

This style of incremental building seems to be still in existence in Southern Europe. It‘s not uncommon to see unfinished concrete structures. Basically the raw skeleton often with exposed rebar at the top or sides, indicating future work. They may stay in this state for years. As apparently everything is paid in cash and so building only advances whenever the owners have enough at hand.

I once stayed in an AirBNB in Crete where the lower floors of the building were occupied and the upper floors hadn't been built. If you carried on up the stairs past our apartment, you ended up at what looked like an building site with concrete floors and exposed steel beams. I didn't see any building work happening while I was there.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#216

Post by lelanthran »

lelanthran wrote: post #206
gardenmwm wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but common courtesy and cleanliness is something that makes me happy. I’ve lived in neighborhoods that have had rat problems because of a single home that kept trash everywhere. Should I be inconvenienced because someone doesn’t want to do the bare minimum to upkeep their property? Would you be ok if I moved next door to you and hung nazi flags (this has happened to me as well)? When people behave in ways that in…

> Would you be ok if I moved next door to you and hung nazi flags (this has happened to me as well)? Restricting nazi flags also restricts pride flags. The question is "Would you be okay if I hung flags?" What about other forms of displaying support? Are posters just a cheaper flag?

If you're going to restrict flags, restrict all flags.

Otherwise all you're doing is saying "this neighbourhood only allows support for these politics".

Are you sure you want to go that way?

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#217

Post by oxfordmale »

happy_path wrote: post #212
oxfordmale wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Spain it also related to planning permission. Once the building work has finished, you need to have the planning permission paper work in order. Therefore they often leave one small room unfinished (exposed on the outside wall) to claim work is still in progress.

I have lived all my life in Spain and that's not my experience. Maybe in some small rural towns you can (illegally) keep an unfinished work for years, as long as nobody notices. However, that is absolutely not true for most Spanish cities.

Maybe not in major cities, however, definitely applicable to a medium sized town in Catalunya.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#218

Post by Gigachad »

concordDance wrote: post #205
Gigachad wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is something to be said for being able to restrict negative activities. Someone piling up junk on their front yard for example. I own in a Strata title apartment building which comes with a lot of very similar restrictions but its all pretty reasonable imo. You are free to paint the inside of your apartment however you want but painting the balcony or the hallway side of your front door is not allowed as it com…

> You are free to paint the inside of your apartment however you want but painting the balcony or the hallway side of your front door is not allowed as it compromises the visual image of the building. Sounds monotonous with a lack of free expression and personality.

Can you imagine a high rise where its all following a consistent design except one balcony which is painted red? It would look like crap. And for little gain since its only really something you can see properly from the street.

I know HN loves the muh freedoms angle but surely its easy to understand how forgoing the freedom to paint a very small portion of the property is largely beneficial.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#219

Post by Robin_Message »

rayiner wrote: post #184
samatman wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're his neighbors, Ray.

They’re his HOA, which is a different power relationship. It’s like bringing gifts to your boss at work.

My wife runs a community choir with some friends in a notional elected committee. Is buying the committee a token yearly thank you like buying gifts for a boss too?

It seems to me, at best, the HOA is a committee of volunteers from the community, serving the community. It is not your boss; it's your peers completing the executive function of the rules and procedures you have collectively agreed.

Buying a gift for a peer's uncompensated labour is standard politeness.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#220

Post by nsv »

Gigachad wrote: post #156
hamburglar wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There seem to be a lot of people who like the idea of willfully entering an HOA agreement that limits freedoms that they wouldn’t want their neighbors exercising. I can see both sides but it’s not really for me.

There is something to be said for being able to restrict negative activities. Someone piling up junk on their front yard for example. I own in a Strata title apartment building which comes with a lot of very similar restrictions but its all pretty reasonable imo. You are free to paint the inside of your apartment however you want but painting the balcony or the hallway side of your front door is not allowed as it com…

I am part of the minority that would not mind at all if my neighbor had a rusted out car in their lawn. I recognize that this isn't a very common opinion though.
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