Penske's disqualified, Abel still out ?

[DaveW]

As Harry Truman said, "the only thing new under the sun is the history you don't know."

That's a great quote. I ran into stuff like that when i was working. The company would treat almost anything new to us that some bright employee came up with like no one on earth could have thought of that before and so wanted to patent it and keep it secret.

My take on most of it was that there are an untold number of similar companies doing similar things with similarly brilliant employees, and most of what one company's employee could think up in isolation had a 95 % likelihood of being discovered before.

[Peter Olivola]

That's a great quote. I ran into stuff like that when i was working. The company would treat almost anything new to us that some bright employee came up with like no one on earth could have thought of that before and so wanted to patent it and keep it secret.

My take on most of it was that there are an untold number of similar companies doing similar things with similarly brilliant employees, and most of what one company's employee could think up in isolation had a 95 % likelihood of being discovered before.

Well, to extend the idea a bit further, the real difference between companies isn't the technical staff or workers, it's management. The more enlightened the management the more likely ideas will be encouraged and implemented.

[Rick Kirchner]

If you have rules someone must enforce them, or else get rid on them. Some rules do not make common sense. Others must be enforced or the racing will go away. Sometimes the rule makers need to make that decision. Most of the time they just dilly dally and just think "let someone else deal with that".

My HOA needs to learn this. 250 pages of rules, the vast majority of which are not enforced unless there's a complaint, and so many are "Karen" rules. And just like the SCCA, rules changes are published in the monthly magazine, and the insert gets longer and longer. They complain about the budget but have no clue that maintaining and enforcing rules takes money.

Here's an example of the stupidity - the only approved colors for tarps are brown and green. Which means if you have a white, blue, or silver car you can't cover it with the same color tarp... House colors have to be approved of course, and the primary consideration is Light Reflective Value. Now the EU has a standard for this, but the US doesn't - it's all up to the manufacturer. So the exact same color from two different manufacturers could have different LRVs. To put a cherry on top, the HOA tells us that if the paint fades outside of it's LRV, you will be required to re-paint. Yet there's no standard of measurement either, and I'm sure the moronic Karens at the Association office wouldn't know how to use the test equipment if they had it.

And they have a whole crew cruising around looking for this stuff.

[R. Pare]

Why in god's green earth would you live in an HOA?

[Rick Kirchner]

Why in god's green earth would you live in an HOA?

Well, at the time we were looking (COVID) this was the only place we found that had a shop or enough useable land to put one in, at our budget. I have a little over an acre with a 2100 sq ft house, 2100 sq ft shop, and a half-acre of pasture.

As HOAs go, its not all that bad - 9 hole golf course, pool, pickleball, tennis, equestrian stuff, two lakes, dog park, RC flying field, shooting range, RV par, two campgrounds, full-size gym, rec room, hot tub, and a formal restaurant, bar, and informal restaurant, convenience store, gas station, all for $2K/yr. The community also has its own county fire station and police department.

Mountain community with an abundance of wildlife - bears, lions, elk, deer, all kinds of raptors.

My daughter pays more than that at her condo for a pool, weight room, and to keep the grass cut around the place.

All those amenities make it easy to stay active and meet people, especially when you move in your 60's.

[Peter Olivola]

Well, at the time we were looking (COVID) this was the only place we found that had a shop or enough useable land to put one in, at our budget. I have a little over an acre with a 2100 sq ft house, 2100 sq ft shop, and a half-acre of pasture.

As HOAs go, its not all that bad - 9 hole golf course, pool, pickleball, tennis, equestrian stuff, two lakes, dog park, RC flying field, shooting range, RV par, two campgrounds, full-size gym, rec room, hot tub, and a formal restaurant, bar, and informal restaurant, convenience store, gas station, all for $2K/yr. The community also has its own county fire station and police department.

Mountain community with an abundance of wildlife - bears, lions, elk, deer, all kinds of raptors.

My daughter pays more than that at her condo for a pool, weight room, and to keep the grass cut around the place.

All those amenities make it easy to stay active and meet people, especially when you move in your 60's.

As the old saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

[Rick Kirchner]

it's not so much an argument about the rules, its the quantity of unenforced rules, and the constant upkeep on them. But yeah, there are a few dumb ones in there, like requiring a homeowner to screen an RV using fast growing greenery, and then telling you that you can't plant Arizona Cypress because it grows fast and then dies in about 10 years, while not getting on people for all the dead trees on their properties. We live in fire country.

[SteveG]

it's not so much an argument about the rules, its the quantity of unenforced rules, and the constant upkeep on them. But yeah, there are a few dumb ones in there, like requiring a homeowner to screen an RV using fast growing greenery, and then telling you that you can't plant Arizona Cypress because it grows fast and then dies in about 10 years, while not getting on people for all the dead trees on their properties. We live in fire country.

Well Rick, that's why you should be on the HOA board, logic can go a long way. We can start calling you Ken

Steve

[Rick Kirchner]

Well Rick, that's why you should be on the HOA board, logic can go a long way. We can start calling you Ken

Steve

I've dabbled on the other side of community government- we also have a community services district, which is actually government - the HOA is not and is bound by a different set of regs. I was asked to apply for a position on the infrastructure committee - we have a serious looming issue with our roads and water system. This is the second largest HOA by size in the US after the Villages in FL, but we are much smaller population-wise, and being an HOA with private roads we get very little tax money. So I threw my hat in the ring, along with two other respected retired engineers. Then one of the directors pulled some political BS and shelved us while getting his hand-picked alternatives instated.

I thought politics in the federal government (40 years Navy engineer) was bad....Guess I shouldn't have called him out on social media saying my vote for him two years ago was a disappointment.

The HOA side is like a high school popularity contest with the cliques lining up to support their guys - the equestrians, the golfers, the tennis people, etc.

[Mark_Silverberg]

Why in god's green earth would you live in an HOA?

Not all HOA are what you hear about. My Michigan HOA focuses on occasional community social events and collecting voluntary dues to have a legal defense against development which violates our deed restrictions. While we do review plans for home changes / improvements we are resident focused - meaning there must be a compelling violation of setbacks or other items on the deed restrictions for us to not approve the change. We actively support home owners who are requesting reasonable zoning variances (typically to build out buildings for hobby vehicles).

Any residents who complain about other residents are told that perceived zoning violations or complaints about property use are up to them to individually report.to the city. They can not hide behind the HOA if they have an objection. We have existed like this for 75 years, have great property values, well maintained homes, and the respect of the city.