Cap Mandrake
Posts: 23184
Joined: 11/15/2002 From: Southern California Status: offline
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There is nothing quite like a mortal threat to unite people who can barely tolerate each other under other circumstances. I might be talking about Churchill and Stalin or Chiang Kai-shek and Stilwell or de Gaulle and just about any other sentient human being....but I am not. I am talking about my neighbors, Christians, Jews, Budhists, Hindus, conservatives, Obama voters <shudder>...even my neighbor who built his $10,000 mailbox on my side of the property line and thinks the LA Times is too conservative can be united under the proper circumstance. The circumstance is, in this case, to combat a common peril to our liberty, to our American way of life, the HOA. The street has 20 homes but they are well spread out. All the traffic has to go out one way, which is not too bad as there are less than 60 residents, perhaps even 50 or less. So far so good. Unfortunately, a developer bought a home at the top of the street on about 7 acres and wants to subdivide into 8 lots. Naturally, this isn't very popular with the rest of the street. The developer has to get approval from the County which has declined to act until the HOA took a stand. The HOA Board of Directors were advised to act like spineless jellyfish by their equally spineless attorney, who is also covered in slime, did I mention that? See..it's like this, the developer's attorney is also without spine but at least has an exoskeleton so he scared the HOA's attorney and long story short....the HOA BOD approved the plan in a secret contract without formal input form the other residents on the street. Now we are fighting mad so we cook up an idea. The left turn at the end of the street is dangerous because of line of sight issues and oncoming traffic. We advance the argument the situation will be more dangerous with 50% more homes. The BOD hires a a traffic engineer to study the issue. Now, we are feeling our oats. We got them now. High fives all around. They invite us to the board meeting to discuss the decision. We all go. They bring their attorney. We bring ours. These guys are being paid by the hour so they are arguing about Robert's Rules of Order during the meeting. I am not kidding. Anyway, last agenda item...the decision of the board on the dangerous left turn. We all lean forward, "The traffice engineer has...blah, blah, blah...determined that...blah, blah, blah....is indeed a dangerous left turn due to topography and blah, blah blah." WE WON! High fives all aorund. The BOD spokesperson continues, "The Board of Directors has therefore determined, in the interests of safety, to....<pause for dramtic effect> make this intersection a right turn only intersection."
< Message edited by Cap Mandrake -- 3/28/2010 6:28:01 PM >
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