Ocala homeowners association says evacuees are not welcome

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050907/LOCAL/209070310/1078/news

OCALA - Tammy Coggins returned to her Majestic Oaks home after a weekend in Atlanta and found the welcome mat pulled out from under her good intentions.

While communities throughout the Sunshine State and elsewhere are welcoming Hurricane Katrina's storm-weary survivors, Coggins and others in the 500-home southwest Ocala subdivision were told by their homeowners association that their deed restrictions prohibited them from doing the same.

A flier, distributed by the Majestic Oaks homeowners association on Saturday, said that rather than allowing "additional families" in the community, residents were encouraged to contribute to hurricane relief funds.

"I came from a city that opened its arms to 50,000 refugees," Coggins said. "I was shocked and angered when I came home to find this."

[hogwyld]

1. The home of

Compassionate conservatism. I pray that those idiots in Ocala don't get hit by a disaster. Cause paybacks a bitch.

[Lochloosa]

23. Welcome to DU hogwyld....

may your stay be long and fruitful

[henslee]

26. Been to Ocala. Home of Don Garlits hot rod museum.

[HeeBGBz]

30. What a bunch of pigs

I traveled 600 miles to get to Missouri from Gulfport, Ms. Every little teensy town and berg had signs up welcoming refugees. I was amazed by the outreach of this disaster and touched by the support of the general populace.

Ocala sucks. Karma will kick their ass.

[alarimer]

31. I hope they get struck by the next one and lose everything

Goddamn selfish pigs.

[Bonhomme Richard]

2. Republican Family Values.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Yah! Welcome to the scourge of Florida! Homeowner's Associations!

[AlCzervik]

4. how many times has Florida been helped out? thats so shitty.

[whistle]

5. That area of Florida is mostly republican correct....

[jab105]

37. Yes...Gainesville is our little liberal oasis...surrounded by red red

everywhere...

Ocala is very conservative...

I saw this piece on the local news...homeowners lady said there was nothing they could do about it, it was in the deed...yea...ummm...and then said, but if you are related to them, then you can house them...anyways...

[AlCzervik]

6. oh look what i found!!

http://www.websitea.com/majestic/welcomeframe.htm if you click on Majestic Oaks info on the top right it gives all kinds of contact info!

[Dem2theMax]

39. Thank you SO much. That's just what I was looking for!

:evilgrin:

[Trillo]

7. It's interesting to me how an organisation can usurp the right

of a family to open their own home to surviving evacuees.

It's essentially because of a "single family" restriction? Define "family." Here's my dictionary's 10th definition:

10. a group of people who are generally not blood relations but who share common attitudes, interests, or goals and, frequently, live together: Many hippie communes of the sixties regarded themselves as families.

It's in contrast to the same dictionary's first definition; the wide divergence supports the idea that the definition of "family" is in some dispute.

[lupita]

8. more compassionate conservatives n/t

[saigon68]

33. They are out to "WHITEN UP OCALA"

LIKE BLEACHING DARK STAINED CLOTHES.

[RamboLiberal]

9. Ocala homeowners association says evacuees are not welcome

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050907/LOCAL/209070310/1078/news

OCALA - Tammy Coggins returned to her Majestic Oaks home after a weekend in Atlanta and found the welcome mat pulled out from under her good intentions.

While communities throughout the Sunshine State and elsewhere are welcoming Hurricane Katrina's storm-weary survivors, Coggins and others in the 500-home southwest Ocala subdivision were told by their homeowners association that their deed restrictions prohibited them from doing the same.

A flier, distributed by the Majestic Oaks homeowners association on Saturday, said that rather than allowing "additional families" in the community, residents were encouraged to contribute to hurricane relief funds.

"I came from a city that opened its arms to 50,000 refugees," Coggins said. "I was shocked and angered when I came home to find this."

I fucking hate homeowner's associations and I don't even live in one. Some may be good, but most are little Hitlers IMHO.

[marmar]

10. Homeowner's associations can be pretty evil...

Some of their discriminatory practices are pretty blatant.

[progressivebydesign]

25. I think you're generalizing about HOAs.

I live in a place with one, and am moving into a place with one. It's not the HOAs that are assholes automatically, it depends upon the mindset of the people in it. There are some developments around here with narrow minded jerks that leave little tickets on your door for EVERYTHING... and others, like where I am now, that meets once a year to discuss neighborhood stuff and have dessert. They don't have to be racist, or evil, or discriminatory just because they exist. But many, many, developments have them as a way to maintain a positive vibe to a neighborhood. It's just like a neighborhood association in many ways (when it's a good HOA), a way to feel connected. When they go bad, as with the one we're all discussing, they become a fucking nightmare. My point is that they're not all bad... but it's just like anything like a church, an office, a ladies club, it can get ugly.

But.. most homes built at the same time since the 80's have CC&Rs. Conditions, Covenants, & Restrictions.

[Catch22Dem]

11. Most ARE little Hitlers, you're right.

I live in one, but I don't pay dues.

[Orion The Hunter]

12. Speaking of a place I am glad I do not live... EOM

[eeper69]

13. Just wait until THEY have a disaster

Bet they would change their tune then! x(

[ElectroPrincess]

14. I agree, their lives are so "small" they're always in your business ...

Freaks! We're supposed to have 2 trees in our front yard per the Home Owners association rules. One of our trees died a year ago. If someone complains, I'm planting a bonsai or putting in one of those ultra-gauche plastic jobbies just to "piss them off." :wow:

I figure, if I'm not parking abandon cars in the front yard, nor using a huge John Deere Tractor tire as a planter, then those nosy folks need to let my family be. :P

[mongo]

20. Hey - that's not an abandoned car

It's my storage building.

[Castilleja]

29. LOL, my kind of thinking!

Hehehe. We live in one as well, but we are waiting for it's decline due to lack of interest. It seems that it just depends on the type of person in it and their own little pet peeves, such as metal shed (horrors) marble tiger statue in front yard, etc.

[RamboLiberal]

15. Ignore Self Delete caused I duped another thread

that our wonderful moderators now combined. Sure miss the search function.

[KamaAina]

16. Next week's Top Ten is getting as crowded as the Astrodome

remember, they missed all the fun last week because of the holiday. They could easily fill up a Top Twenty or even Thirty with all the conservative idiocy that has bubbled up to the surface!

[HockeyMom]

17. New York is taking them in

Just announced on the radio this morning that both Nassau and Suffolk Counties will start housing the Katrina homeless next week. They said many will be unwashed, unfed, and shoe less. The children will be enrolled int he local public schools, no questions asked.

Long way to travel to find shelter and relief for disaster victims.

[Kat45]

18. Massachusetts took some today too.

That's an even longer way to travel.

[Delphinus]

28. NE Indiana's expecting some too. n/t

[HeeBGBz]

32. Branson MO is offering free motel rooms

Helping in any way they can.

[progressivebydesign]

40. Hey! Most states really want them..but the Govt has turned us down!

Washington State was told that the evacuees most likely will never be sent here after all, even though we've been anticipating welcoming them to the state. Other states have been told that, as well.

[Megahurtz]

19. It's that Repuke "Culture of Life" again.

:puke:

[Roland99]

21. Just tell the HOA that someone was considering an abortion...

they'll be over in a heartbeat with a Bible and a bowl of soup.

[progressivebydesign]

22. CC&Rs run with the land, so to speak. Their hands are tied on this.

Unfortunately, when you accept CC&Rs with your home, it's not just like apartment rules. They are specifically included in your deed and, while they can be changed, it's a difficult process. The Board Prez is right, they can make an exception, but you can be DAMN sure that someone in the neighborhood will take them to court over it. Four families in one home is a bit much. Their heart was in the right place... but perhaps 16 people (12 of which are unrelated to the owner) living in a single family home is a bit much for a neighborhood to handle if the homes are close together. Perhaps their church can find somewhere more stable for the families to go, and divide them up one family per host house. The issue of CC&Rs is not going away, and unfortunately, as sad as it is, the rules were already in place.. and you KNOW that someone in that development is going to take them to court so fast if they don't adhere to the CC&Rs.

[Lochloosa]

24. Knowing that area of Florida....how can she be "shocked and angered"

she has been hearing and living this shit for years..

[iamjoy]

27. May A Tornado Hit That Neighborhood

Ocala is in the central part of the state, so any hurricane to hit there would do a lot more damage in other places. Also, it has some hills, so is not as flood prone as other parts of Florida.

But, it sure would serve these people rejecting evacuees right if their homes were destroyed.

It is one thing to decide you do not want to (or are logistically unable to) host an evacuee in your home, it is a big decision, and a personal one. It is another for some one to tell you you can't do it because of some b.s. rules.

Don't tell me about HOA restrictions. The board can turn a blind eye to a violation. A home owner can take them to court, but maybe by the time all that gets sorted out, the evacuee will have found a place to stay. I think most judges would rule on the spirit of such a rule and say temporarily hosting an evacuee does not violate the HOA guidelines.

[MasonJar]

34. If I were she, I'd put out a for sale sign. Who would ever again

want to live in such a stagnant, prejudiced environment?

[Obamarama]

35. Of course, this doesn't surprise me one bit that this is in Florida.

[barb162]

42. with all the hurricanes that state has had the last 2 yrs., you'd think

they'd be all very understanding.

[Redstone]

36. Fucking yuppies assholes. Yuppies are ruining the country

more than anyone else, as a group.

And they also tend to be republicans, given that they're greedy and selfish fucks by nature.

Redstone

[ebal]

38. Maybe just sticklers

Maybe the president of their association is a super stickler, at the end of the article it says:

"In 1996, the association took a homeowner to court to make him remove a flag pole and the American flag from his yard."

[goforit]

41. Bush's kin. Racism exposed.

[Gregory1230]

43. OMG I live near Ocala, FL

I can't believe about that news. I wish I want move out from around here to go to a blue city. I don't like live here because there are too many GOP supporters. Shame to people won't allow victims to stay their homes.

[melody]

44. I feeling like going down there and knocking on every door to ask them why

What utter and complete bastards.