Just steal the image and put the source in the body text. That way you're not redirecting everyone to reddit. Sort of defeats the purpose of the protests.
I personally don't like it, but I respect their right to do whatever the fuck they want with their property. If they want a fugly house, then that's their right.
Honestly, no. At least where I live, they're finally starting to do something against gravel gardens. They are illegal here (have been for decades but no-one did anything against it) and they're absolutely terrible for the environment and destroying green space (additionally to them being very bad for bees and further sealing the floor which is awful when any flood happens). Luckily people shouldn't be able to do absolutely everything they want if it hurts everyone so much.
I'm not living in the US. As far as I know, it's something very ridiculous that every house needs to look absolutely the same (I feel the freedom). And no, what I wrote isn't "the same", mandating how every garden needs to look exactly the same is something entirely different to fighting against very specific "garden" styles that combat the environment and are bad for the infrastructure (see floods). I'm fine with people having their garden however they want and doing stuff, but it needs to be in certain boundaries, e.g. that you aren't allowed to seal all ground which is terrible for bees, the environment in its wholeness and dangerous during floods.
If there are some rare edge cases where many things depend on it and there are very good reasons to set a certain boundary but otherwise leave the freedom to do the own garden and house how they want, that's something different to just mandating that there is no possibility to choose anything about it's looks and destroy all creativity and uniqueness.
Got it. HOAs get bad press for requiring every house to look the same, but the basic function they serve also includes preventing stuff like the above. How far they go depends on the HOA, but one that just prevents egregious stuff like the above isn't fundamentally different from one that requires near uniformity.
I just ask because lots of people hate HOAs, but this is one big reason they exist.
Gravel gardens seal the ground? I thought it was just gravel on top of dirt.
I would prefer housing authorities don't require manicured grass lawns. They are so expensive to keep up and repair, especially since many don't use native grass species so they need watering in the summer if you don't want them to go brown.
I think it depends on where the yard is. A luscious green garden of non-native plants is a waste of water in desert areas. With the kinds of droughts that are becoming more common, replacing yards with rocks and low-water native plants is beneficial. And to be honest, even in areas that aren't in a drought, manicured lawns don't do much for the environment because they get loaded with pesticides and fertilizers to keep them as green and homogenous as possible. No flowers, no weeds, no bugs, no seeds, no diversity.
why? people have the right to do what they want with their property.
if you don't believe that, they join a HOA and setup their bullshit regulations that require your lawn to be perfect and green or you get fined hundreds of dollars.
HOAs can be absolutely awful, with power tripping board members and management companies that steal collected funds. But if you want to live in a manicured, upscale, gentrified suburb that's the best way to get ahead of crappification, salvage grade cars on blocks in the yard, appliances on the porch and meth houses.
Me, I'd rather a large buffer of land between me and my neighbors. I do realize those with commuter jobs can't practically get tens of acres to live on, however.
personally i like seeing salvage cars in someones' yard next to a home that is upscaled mcmansion.
that's why i live in the city. variety and no bullshit regulations about how your house has to look.
i also feel i have no right to judge or condemn anyone else's aesthetic choices with their property. personally i removed all my lawn bullshit and i put in low/zero maintenance flowers and shrubs and i let it grow wild. my neighbors fucking hate me, but they are miserable lawn worshiping types who make passive aggressive comments out of 'neighborly concern' because they think I'm a meth-head for not walking a manicured water-wasting soul-sucking lawn. I also drive a regular $10K car and not a $60,000 SUV, which also pisses them off.
Just before the previous owners of my house decided to put the house on the market they painted all wood inside (stairs, doors, door frames, window frames, skirting) pitch black.
Yes thanks, I enjoy living in a cave. Removing, sanding and painting all that will take me 100s of hours.
Oh, and it was done with the cheapest paint possible while painting over all hinges, locks and sometimes windows.
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