Social Amenities

         July 24, 2012


Enough With The Rules Already!!!

Since the establishment of our homeowners association, EVERY board, without exception, has determined that it was their solemn duty to "lay down the law" and make rules. After all, what good is it to be a director if you don't tell people what they must do, and how they must live. Over the last 7 or 8 years there has been a plethora of bylaws, policies, and rules. All of them seemed to make sense to the boards that initiated them and, in many cases, they were indeed sensible but were, in the long run, senseless. At this point we don't know with any certainty what rules or policies even exist let alone which are real,valid,or legal. Hell, many of the rules turn out to be just rumors that some board member or homeowner wishes were a rule. We are rapidly discovering that even many of our sacred bylaws are distorted or illegal.

This board and previous boards are not the only culprits. Each homeowner seems to be begging for rules that, when imposed on everyone else, will make their own life more enjoyable. Naturally Joe doesn't like Sally's rules and Sally doesn't like Bill's rules but it seems everybody likes the concept of rules for everyone except themselves.

The true difficulty arises when the arrogance of the various boards causes them to decide that they can and MUST impose penalties and consequences. Rule breakers must suffer!!! This particular board wants to impose fines and restrictions on any perceived breaker of any rule whether the rule has merit or not. That's not enough. Some board members have taken it as their duty to publicly identify, criticize and castigate anyone they declare to be a dastardly rulebreaker. Recently, some member(s) of this board, despite full knowledge that some particular rules were deficient and, in fact, illegal, insisted on enforcing those rules. How dare anyone defy the authority of a proclamation of the board whether said proclamation is right or wrong???

It is a well-documented fact that in any segment of any society, over 90% of the people will follow whatever rules are imposed upon them even when those rules may be illegal or repressive. They simply cannot exist without someone telling them how to exist. Naturally, the non-compliant members of any society are labeled troublemakers and dissidents even when the rules they resist following are ridiculous or illegitimate.

As a troublemaker and dissident, I would like to make three suggestions:

1. Have El Parque's bylaws offically translated and legitimized without input from the board or ANY El Parque homeowner or group of El Parque homeowners.

2. Convince the current board that whatever rules and policies seem to be currently in place should be treated as suggested social amenities and not as dictates. Over 90% of the homeowners will gladly cooperate and those who do not will be open to any reasonable discussion of their differences in opinion over a social amenity that is not a dictated rule.

3. Make it clear to the board that any future rules (social amenities) cannot be arbitrarily declared or amended by the board without homeowner approval.



I do not normally consider myself a trouble maker or dissident but rather a concerned homeowner. However, I cannot argue with the above post and do agree with the three recommendations suggested. If that makes me a trouble maker and dissident, then so be it. The quality of our lives is determined by more than popularity and comfort of a board of directors and administrator. It should concern all owners and renters, and I wonder why it would seem otherwise for some.

posted by Anonymous : 8:39 AM, July 27, 2012




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