Grandpa’s Basement House • Hacker News Board

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#251

Post by webmaven » Mon, May 23, 2022, 4:24 PM UTC

duxup wrote: post #57

geoffeg wrote: post #2

> Growing vegetables on what should be a lawn is verboten in many locations, if not by the government than by private association bylaws. I'm aware that some HOAs limit (sometimes to what seems like an extreme) what can be done with the yard and lawn, but I wasn't aware of any governments that ban growing vegetables. Is that more common in water-restricted municipalities? (I live in midwestern US, where backyard gard…

This is interesting/ strange to me. I grew up in the Midwest and a modest garden in the backyard was often the case. I’ve never heard of them being banned. I don’t doubt they are some places. I’m sure some suburban guy decided to plow his front yard and be a corn farmer, but generally I find nobody minds a garden.

> This is interesting/ strange to me. I grew up in the Midwest and a modest garden in the backyard was often the case. I’ve never heard of them being banned. I don’t doubt they are some places.

Backyard gardens are generally unobjectionable, it is the front yard that gets neighbors riled up when they see dirt and messy looking plants. Even then, if you make an effort to have it present as ornamental (eg. herbs, cherry tomatoes, mini peppers, etc. in attractive raised beds and containers that don't displace the entire lawn) you may be able to get away with it.

Oh, and definitely keep the compost pile out of sight.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#252

Post by webmaven » Mon, May 23, 2022, 4:39 PM UTC

gorgoiler wrote: post #3

The idea of HOAs having any kind of say feels so undemocratic, but not in a standard way. We should not tolerate purely popular democracies. We allow representative democracies, and part of that public contract is for our leaders to represent all those in their constituency, not just those who voted for them. That means those in the minority. The crazy guy growing gourds instead of a lawn. The loon with the purple ho…

I was an HOA board member in Las Vegas for a while. I was absolutely voted into the position and had to stand for reelection every year. The board voted on enforcement actions, and based on public requests and debate occasionally drew up amendments to the regulations (usually clarifications and closing loopholes) for popular ⅔ majority ratification.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#253

Post by WalterBright » Mon, May 23, 2022, 5:08 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #115

jzb wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on where you live and how bad a yard gets, it can be a real problem. Here, for example, it can be an invitation to snakes or other wildlife that aren’t confined to that property. That said, I’m -1 on HOAs. I’ve heard far too many complaints and too few people happy with them to deal with one.

I've had quail, deer, mice, raccoons, coyotes, moles, hawks, snakes, lizards, bees, wabbits, squirrels, gophers ground beavers, bobcats, owls, and even eagles hanging out on my property. I'm in the middle of the metropolitan area, too. I don't mind them :-/ A couple years ago a coyote mom decided the front yard was the perfect place for her to watch her 7 pups grow up. She'd keep a weather eye on me, and I enjoyed wa…

> but I'm not sure what it was

Probably didn't like my HackerNews posts!

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#254

Post by OJFord » Mon, May 23, 2022, 5:19 PM UTC

hamburglar wrote: post #244

OJFord wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's quite what you're describing (sorry if it is) - but 'we [deliberately] have rules, we just don't enforce them' would probably be a pretty effective & pleasant one. I suppose essentially that's just living in a society, i.e. as anywhere without a 'HOA', but codified.

It’s exactly as I described. He said he wouldn’t go after anyone for rules violations, and he didn’t. The previous busybody HOA President was quite bothered, but it seemed most people just wanted to be left alone.

Yeah, that's how I understood it.

I just meant that you could also deliberately have rules (as opposed to come into office after them) and you do intend that people follow them, create new ones, update them, etc., but they're just not enforced, and everyone knows that.

As in just codifying some social expectations that would probably exist in roughly the same form anyway.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#255

Post by guerrilla » Mon, May 23, 2022, 6:11 PM UTC

gorgoiler wrote: post #190

guerrilla wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it undemocratic? They agreed to the terms of the HOA when they bought the place... They move to some place and then are upset when people don't like them doing certain things? This is a weirdly entitled view.

Is there a standards body for HOAs? Are they regulated? If they have equivalent legal status to a government or a police department, are there constitutional rights which they cannot violate? Can two competing HOAs exist in the same geographic area, and home owners are free to setup additional ones if the incumbents don’t meet their needs?

Gish-gallop much? Looks like you were answered anyway though.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#256

Post by JetSetWilly » Mon, May 23, 2022, 6:18 PM UTC

harpersealtako wrote: post #240

JetSetWilly wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would hate to live in Tobermory I suppose: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tobermory_Main_Stree...

If I lived in one of those houses, would I be able to paint it whatever color I wanted (e.g. pink and yellow stripes)? Or is there some sort of coordination to make sure they all look appealing as a set?

You can choose whatever colour you want. It seems they used to me more sombre but around 50 years ago the owner of the hotel decided randomly to paint it bright yellow and neighbouring houses along the front thought it was a great idea and started choosing their own outlandish colours.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#257

Post by bombcar » Mon, May 23, 2022, 7:18 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #223

bombcar wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The census basically calls it urban if you have a sewer not a septic heh. Most people consider “small town” to be rural though it’s technically not as it’s a city.

I don’t even have sewer. Though I do have town water.

Knew someone who had city sewer but was on a well. Caused an interesting billing problem for the city, since they usually bill for sewer as part of water.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#258

Post by [deleted] » Mon, May 23, 2022, 7:28 PM UTC

tomrod wrote: post #242

lelanthran wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Yes, I would be okay with restricting Nazi flags and other known hate paraphernalia. Pride is not hate, despite modern recasting of homosexuality in scripture by conservative religions.

[deleted]

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#259

Post by sheepybloke » Mon, May 23, 2022, 7:40 PM UTC

My parent's house was built like this! The previous owners built a single story basement house into a hill, and then added the main story later in the 60's. It's a cute little ranch now, but sort of weird in that the basement now has all the hook ups needed for a kitchen.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#260

Post by sheepybloke » Mon, May 23, 2022, 7:45 PM UTC

My wife and I have talked about building something incrementally recently. Looking at what we could afford, we can't purchase an actual house, but we could get some land for a reasonable price. So, we were thinking of getting an airstream, buying some land, and then building a set of smaller buildings like this around the property as we got the funds. However, there can be lot of pushback on this from what I read.