Gasoline Alley by Jim Scancarelli for January 08, 2025

Some of those HOAs are evil!

How does someone living in a place for 60, 65… maybe 105 years(?) just now find out about a surprise Home Owner’s Association, with the power to make people follow their rules and hand out fines? If anything that sounds like something a town/village/city would be in charge of, unless maybe Ida No moved Walt’s house into some sort of gated community… or maybe down to The Villages.

But I totally called the werewolf decorations yesterday.

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Huzzah, it’s a full classics update for the 8th:

What will Lora do when she gets absolute power over Skeezix, Corky, Rachel and the Wallet household? Skeezix thinks it’s a great idea, his cousin must be a pushover!

Hipshot drops the guns, and crawls into a nice, comfortable bottle. Billy stops by the jail to make sure Marshal Rick know what’s going on… and maybe he should dust off the cell in case he gets a visitor later that night.

Of all the… after all this, Lance wants to make sure that Brenda is over her (now ‘back to life’) mystery man, before they pledge themselves to each other until death do they part. You’re over Basil by now, right Bren-Bren? “I.. I… don’t know…” WHAAAT??

Eve goes from 3-point ace (the ABA started in 1967) directly to Meadowlark Lemon trick-shot wizard. Nothin’ but net.

If a person who lived in a house since before the founding of a local HOA and never joined the HOA effected by the HOA rues.

HOA Harassment over all !

I really don’t understand why HOAs even exist. Anything they do that’s actually useful would be better handled by plain old zoning laws. It’s my house, I’ll paint it any color I want to, and do whatever I like with my own tree.

Here’s one for ya-

A couple months ago I replaced one of my bedroom nightstands and put the old one out in the front yard by the curb. I put a “free” sign on it and posted an ad on FB Marketplace. Three days later I get a letter from the Code Enforcement office in my town. It said I had to remove the old nightstand or face a possible fine for “leaving abandoned furniture in the front yard”. Here’s the thing- my neighborhood doesn’t have an HOA. Apparently one of my neighbors called the CE office to complain instead of coming to me to ask about it.

One of the reasons I bought my house is because it’s in a non-HOA area, but apparently it doesn’t matter. I guess I should be happy that I’m not paying fees.

Busted!

Fight ‘em, Walt! You were there with your big old house long before they were! They can’t automatically make you a part of their HOA simply because they chose to build their neighborhood near or around your house! Get Mayor Melba involved, she knows the law.

HOAs are evil. Just a bunch of little Hitlers who think they can tell other people how to live.

Plenty of houses out here in Long Island still decorated—plenty of them whose electric bill could wipe out the National Debt

Sounds like religious discrimination!

i once left my Christmas tree up for 9 years

Instead of fining him, how about knocking on the door and offering him assistance with taking down the lights, especially at his age.

From Little Guy on the Comics Curmudgeon yesterday:

“GA: The HOA storyline is going to be a retread of the “Electric Acres” and the Senator trying to bulldoze Corky’s Diner. Just jump to the end where the Big Bad for the HOA (with the name as a bad Dad Joke for “Big Bad” so we know the person is a Big Bad) gets some official government documents (from George Washington amd Abraham Lincoln themselves) that they can’t do to Walt and/or his property what they want to do.”

It would be nice if Jimbo suddenly realized that he has already done this story before and moved on to something different?

I’m admittedly blessed to have never been in a situation where I’ve had to deal with one, but aren’t HOAs usually something you’re made to opt-in to when you don’t fully own the place you’re living in, to ensure you can’t bring the property value down for the people who actually own the residence? I’m pretty sure Walt has owned that house since before color television so I don’t really see how an HOA could force him to do much of anything.

I’d rather Help Our Appalachians than deal with a homeowner’s association.

You want an HOA to terrorize you; try living on base in married family housing anywhere from Lakehurst to San Diego.

From Poteet on the Curmudgeon:

“GA: This is your FGANSW (Friendly Gasoline Alley New Story Warning). The Evil Doll story has ended, and now Walt and Gertie have just discovered that somehow, Walt’s house has become subject to the rules of a HOA. Avoidance is recommended. (It’s too late for me.)”

Why does this HOA have so much authority? It’s Walt’s house. Walt’s decorations. Not their problem. Or it shouldn’t be.