Don't tow my car!......then again, just don't shoot me!

Over the last few days, there have been several people in our neighborhood that have complained by e-mail that their cars have been towed because they parked on the street over night. Our neighborhood has a rule that there is no overnight parking on the street. The reasoning behind the rule is due to the width of the streets, it would be difficult for emergency vehicles to maneuver around them. I agree. There are times when it is a challenge to get my truck through, which is much smaller than a fire truck. I got a laugh from these folks complaining. The homeowners passed a rule with a consequence. You broke the rule, deal with it. This is no different than getting a speeding ticket because you are rushing. You broke the speed limit and got caught.

For me, I have no problem with this. However, I found out yesterday evening that the tow company is being paid by the homeowners association to patrol the neighborhood. Wait a minute! The tow company gets paid to drive around, then they get paid again when the person collects their vehicle. I do have a problem with this. A portion of the dues I pay goes to the tow company. This is ridiculous. I have no problem with the no overnight parking or you get towed rule. However, the tow company does not need to get paid twice. Let the tow company patrol if they want to at no cost. If they find a car, tow it, and get paid. If they don't tow anything, better luck next time. Tow companies are very familiar with this system with repos. They don't get paid until the repo vehicle is recovered. No car, no pay! Very simple.

This brings me to the other ridiculous homeowners association story in the news. In Florida a neighborhood watch person shot and killed a teenage boy who was walking down the street. The back story is that the neighborhood had several break ins over the last 6 months. So, the watch person sees this boy, kills him, and then claims self defense. The boy was talking on his cell phone, not loading his AK47! The crazy thing to me is, why was a neighborhood watch carrying a gun? Pepper spray, a taser, a paintball gun maybe, but a deadly handgun?

Homeowners associations are a great invention. I had a prior neighbor in a neighborhood without an association that had the authority to enforce its rules, that was a nightmare. It is a miracle that we were able to sell our house with him beside us. Unfortunately, associations are full of people. Some people are reasonable, some are closed minded, some are all about the rules as long as they can do anything they want, and then there are some that are power hungry. It reminds me a lot of the state of our national political system. At the end of the day, we need to come together and have an enforceable set of rules with consequences without being extreme.