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Comment by asdff | Hacker News Reader

Go ahead and try and make a vegetable garden in your front lawn. City inspector will probably cite you in many places in the US. We have the front lawn because we made everything else illegal.

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WE didn't make everything else illegal. Companies did. And they get to sell alot of weed killer because of it.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25782048-beyond-the-war-...

The City may not fine you, but there's a high likelihood that your HOA might, if you have one.

You do know that's a choice you make, right?

A choice of one isn't much of a choice. HOA neighborhoods are also populated with people who live there because it was the only place they could get into or was least awful choice they had.

Source: just escaped an HOA after 10 years. wound up there because it was the only choice we had at the time. years of misfortune kept us there.

>> it was the only choice we had at the time

Just no. No it wasn't

I'm okay with you not knowing what you're talking about.

It is not necessarily a choice people make. I mean, as with everything, people make choices that lead to risks that you can uncharitably blame them for, but people don't necessarily directly make the choice to live with an HOA.

Common sense should tell you every organization has a beginning.

I moved to where I am now, a couple of years ago, with the understanding there was no HOA.

However, it turns out there was what I'll call a "shadow" HOA - an informal group of people that would like to be one but don't have official standing (yet).

Due to some recent events, they are trying to make it official, have instituted a mailing list, have mentioned possibly having voluntary donations to support the legal costs, etc.

I don't think real estate agents selling homes in the neighborhood are necessarily telling people what's going on either.

As painful as it will be, pay attention. When you are not looking the organizers will file with your county and say an HOA was voted in. If no one challenges, and the county files the paperwork it will be very expensive to prove they faked a vote.

It depends on the city. In the city I grew up with having a kept up front lawn was on the books as an ordinance. Vegetable gardens incure fines. No HOA but this is how it goes for a lot of smaller municipalities where it might as well be like living in an HOA. Not cutting your grass actually lead to the city coming out and cutting it for you on top of fines, but it worked out for some slumlords that this fine and mow job by the city was cheaper than hiring a landscaper so they would just do that and never cut their grass themselves on their properties.

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