Ode to My Condo Association

Condo, oh Complex, art thee condo buildings or retirement village?

I live in a second floor 2-bedroom condo. I pay an association fee. This fee gives garbage water; lawn care of common areas & winter snow removal. There is no clubhouse or pool; no playground (there's both, in the complex across the street). We are not allowed to play or talk loudly and be overly excited in the yard/fire lane that falls between my building and the next. The balcony's are too dangerous to allow the kids onto them, unsupervised (and even supervised, I don't trust my son). [The posts are so wide that a child could fall right through them. I'm sure they are in violation of city code, and the kicker is that they were re-done a year or so ago, and were no made any safer than before. Why bother, then!?] There are rules as to what furniture and furniture combinations are allowed on the balcony; when holiday decorations may go up and must come down; and all windows must be white (as in blinds or curtains ... no sheets, etc.). As a courtesy to others, we must be quiet in the hallways and no talk from balcony's or windows to people on the ground. All windows with cracks and screens with holes must be repaired post haste and only recently has the ban on satellite dishes been lifted. We may, however, play on the basketball court that always has a puddle in the middle of it, or in the field adjacent to it. --both of which are enough of a distance from my building that were we to have a potty emergency, there'd be trouble.

Trust me, they mean it.

Is it any wonder why I've lived here for five years, and barely now any of my neighbors? Is it any wonder that, until recently, I had no idea that so many families lived in this complex? Is it any wonder that the kids and I end up spending most of our days (even in beautiful weather) inside!? If we don't have a car, we don't typically go anywhere. I wouldn't want to be discourteous to my neighbors...

Dear Condo Association: You may feel that many of your rules promote community and are made in the spirit of kindness to one another, but in doing so, you have completely ignored a wonderful chance to build community and promote health and happiness amongst your residents. It's painfully obvious that you do not with to promote a healthy family environment. I further put out there that, in the creation of some of these rules, you are actually being discourteous and somewhat prejudicial. You are practicing descrimination.

You may ask why I, the assoication member, say nothing and do nothing to enact change. Good question, and one that I ask myself from time to time. The truth is that I'm afraid of making things worse. If I complain, if I call the city and "tell on" our illegal balconies, if I call the local courthouse and let them know of the discrimination (and, yes, I'm fairly certain there is a case, of some sort), what happens to my home life if it gets back to the Association Board that I was the one that blew the whistle? I can't afford to move, and I certainly don't wish for things to become even worse. I'd like to stay on the good side of the Association Representative who lives on the premises. Can you blame me? At the same time, however, I have problems with myself for not blowing the whistle. Who am I to complain but then do nothing? How can change ever occur if the ball never gets rolling? Don't these sorts of things always start with one person ...?

If you know anything about living area discrimination cases; if you know anything about city balcony ordinances; if you know anything about the rights of condo owners ... HELP! OR, if you simply wish to commiserate, that's great, too ... it would be nice to know that I'm not alone in the situation I find myself to be in .


My brother, who writes Everyday Life had this to say, about my lovely association:
sociology of my nephew's birthday party