Posted on 06/21/2012 12:19:13 PM PDT by grundle
Denver mom Sarah Cohen says drawing sidewalk chalk art is one of her three-year-old daughter Emerson's "simple pleasures in life."
"It's definitely better than video games," Cohen told KCNC.
However, the homeowner's association in Cohen's neighborhood feels differently. They say Emerson's drawings -- usually of hearts and flowers -- are distracting and offensive blights on their community.
"My initial reaction was, 'You have to be kidding me," Cohen said.
The association, called Innovations and Courtyard Traditions at Stapleton, temporarily banned children from drawing on sidewalks, saying anything that offends, disturbs or interferes with the peaceful enjoyment is not allowed on shared spaces.
They said neighbors have been complaining about chalk drawings like Emerson's.
The group's attorney told the station that the association is going down a path of "do no harm" and is temporarily banning the chalk art until it is discussed in depth at a later meeting. It will then be up to the residents to decide if the art will be permanently banned.
Cohen said she has not personally received any complaints from neighbors, and her daughter will continue to draw as a sort of mini protest against the temporary ban.
Of course not. It's much less uncomfortable to discretely go to the HOA and let them deal with it while maintaining friendly, neighborly relations.
The ONE good thing about homowner associations: Your neighbor can’t park his motorhome in the driveway.
But that is not enough.
BTW, I burn my garbage. ;-)
Teach the daughter to write slogs like “Fight the Authority”, “Occupy Innovations and Courtyard Traditions”, and “Chalk Up another community to AwP!”
AwP = A##holes with Power.
Perhaps if the little girl drew a hammmer & sickle instead of hearts and flowers, the neighbors might approve.
Did she draw a picture of God, a Mommy with a Daddy, or an image a someone working in the Private Sector?
Maybe they ought to paint at night with spray paint instead.
one of my neighbor’s is always calling the city on me: dog is barking, grass grown too long, is the contractor working on my house licensed?
It would be nice to have a visit from the neighbor instead of the city all these times.
That’ll teach the little runts.
Oh...but I suppose that would take some guts. Easier to crawl like a slimy worm and b!tch to the HOA. Those commie a-holes will do the dirty work.
How abut the child draws in her own driveway?
I am so SO glad I don’t have an HOA.
Wonder how many anti-breeders are on the homeo wners ass.
I was about to post “Are they nuts?” when I saw a HOA was involved.
The nice lady violated the first rule of buying a home - 1.) Never buy a home in a development with a HOA unless you really want to put up with the rules the HOA has - and the old biddies doing the enforcing.
Wonder how many anti-breeders are on the homeo wners ass.
"Sounds like that bitch had it coming." Ted Mosby How I Met Your Mother
Hard to live around folks whose shit don’t stink and who don’t have a life.
Most people will gladly give up their freedom in exchange for the right to mind their neighbor’s business.
No lemonade stands, no chalk art; seems the Grinch has taken over local government all over America even as his big brother takes over the national machinery.
Incidentally, by contrast, in Medina Ohio recently, they held a "chalk art festival," a sunny weekend when anyone who wanted to could do chalk art on city sidewalks all over the central square. Made for a nice day out in the town, and anyone who would have been "offended" would have been laughed out of town.

You and the rest of that fairy tail trash, poisoning my perfect world!"
Timne for ‘mid-night messaging’
Why should the parents have to buy their kid a white board or anything else? The parents are most certainly paying easement taxes and upkeep fees on the sidewalk. They have PAID for the right to let their kid play on the sidewalk in whatever manner they see fit.
I see a loophole. The headline leads me to believe that while children can't draw on the sidewalk, nothing would disallow ME from doing so.
And I would it too. Just to piss off the old biddies at the HOA.
Have these morons really thought about the can of worms they are opening with such vague, open-ended idiocy? Let them pass this, then if I was the little girl's parents I'd go ape shit on the HOA-everything that happened on that sidewalk would "offend" or "disturb" me. Walk by with clicking shoes? I'm "disturbed." Walk by with a dog? Hey, I converted to Islam and I'm "offended." Drown the a-holes with complaints and demands for action.
I know this is a HOA, but it is instructive to note that Dennis Rader, the serial killer known as the “BTK (Bind Torture Kill) killer”, took a several years hiatus from torturing women because he got enough pleasure working as a Code Enforcement employee...
Really classy there.
These 'sensitive' types would have been run out of my neighbor PDQ.

On my block we could have fielded almost 20 5-7 year olds, all armed with cap pistols and capable of making life in the summer a living hell for the 'sensitives.
Of course we'd be off the streets before the dads got come.
“Innovations and Courtyard Traditions at Stapleton” — how gay is that?
And what’s more of a “courtyard tradition” than sidewalk chalk drawings?
one of my neighbors is always calling the city on me: dog is barking, grass grown too long, is the contractor working on my house licensed?
Ahole neighbors is the reason we moved to 10 Acres in the middle of the woods.
“——and the old biddies doing the enforcing.”
—
Where the hell does it say that older women were doing the complaining?
Idiot!
.

It’s about time they cracked down on these lawless thugs!
‘dog is barking’
Back when I was young and foolish, I did visit a neighbor about his barking dog, to say it didn’t go well would be an understatement.
I did it a second time with another neighbor who let his dog bark for hour on end. He treated me like dog shit.
Not to be a fool, after that I always let animal control do the talking for me.
Personally, I think people who have barking dogs know it, and not only don’t give a rats ass about anyone else, they’re assholes to boot. I dont suffer assholes well. History has taught me to ALWAYS use someone else to deliver the message.
“Ahole neighbors is the reason we moved to 10 Acres in the middle of the woods.”
Ain’t it great? I have my own lake and woods with no one for
3/4 of a mile. Nothing fancy, but I wouldn’t trade it for the
fanciest penthouse in some smelly, crime ridden cesspool of
a city.
Doesn't this law offend, disturb or interfere with peoples' peaceful enjoyment?
Irony is dead.
Shame on those spoiled kids. They should have their butts belted every time they do it. They are supposed to be smoking dope, manufacturing meth in their back yards, mugging elderly ladies, breaking the neighbors’ windows, riding their bikes through everyone’s flower beds and calling their mothers a bitch.
You just describe The Neighbor From Hell next door.
I keep praying the eagles around here will take of her yappers...
I didn’t say complaining - I said enforcing.
Most HOA’s I’ve run into had the “nothing better to do crowd” serving on the board. They liked the power and loved to get in somebody’s face at every opportunity.
For the most part they were female, retired and blustery.
We moved to a property with neighbors far-far away too - because of neighbors
HOA - What’s that? I can scream the word all over the yard and no one will call the cops or HOA :>).....’HO-A’
How about welcome to the United States of Fagland.
On the other hand, who would be stupid enough to live in an HOA (HomO nerds Association)?
How about welcome to the United States of Fagland.
On the other hand, who would be stupid enough to live in an HOA (HomO nerds Association)?
But it's really the a$$hole owner's fault. He may love his dog, but the whole neighborhood shouldn't suffer.
Call animal control to find out what the regulations are regarding barking dogs.
When I had problems I was living in Colorado Springs. After my two encounters (I was niave, but not stupid, I didn’t have a third, the extreme attitude of two different barking dog owners made me realize that the majority must be assholes) I did just that , called animal control. I found out the rules, in C/S they are pretty strict, and then filed a complaint.
I’m a kind of live and let live guy, so filing a complaint was kind of a big deal for me. However, I knew that in the end someone was going to be angry, and until that point it had been me. Filing a complaint made the other guy angry I;m sure, but my anger went away. I also got to sleep, and that alone makes a person happier. That’s because the barking stopped. I didn’t know how, nor did I care.
Over the years, I filed at least a half dozen complaints. To do it over, I’d probably file two dozen. It just isn’t in my nature to complain always. I think A lot of nieghbors would have been happier if someone (me) had carried the ball more often.
Remember, the person you’re filing the complaint against, in all likelyhood, is an asshole. One thing that is undeniable, they don’t give a rats ass what you think, how miserable their barking dog makes you feel, or how much their actions disturb your life. They’re assholes.
Sorry for the use of that word, but I can’t come up with a more accurate description that I can use here of who and what these barking dog owners are.
See my post immediately following yours.
I faced a similar situation many a time, and let it slide. To do it over again, I wouldn’t. I’d call animal control and file, and you should too.
Your neighbor doesnt give a rats ass about how you or anyone else in the area feels, and that attitude should be reciprocal.
At 7 in the morning, someone is going to be really ticked off. Why should it be you and a dozen other people? It doesn’t have to be. It can be just one guy. See how much anxiety you can help alleviate?
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