July 7, 2008 5:39 PM
Clothesline wars - Right to Dry
A local story, which seems to be popping up everywhere:
Homeowners fight for right to dry laundry outside July 6, 2008 - 1:58pmGAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) - "Jill" is not her real name. She wants to remain anonymous.
For years, Jill has been violating the rules of the Montgomery Village Association.
She hangs laundry to dry on a clothesline in her backyard. The yard's tall fence helps in her scofflaw laundry activity.
"Some of the other neighborhoods are allowed to hang out their laundry at certain times of the day, but where I live it's not allowed at all," she said. It's important, "Jill" emphasized, "for environmental reasons and because of the soaring cost of energy."
"I'm not the only one, either," she adds. "I see others doing it, too."
Wei Wang also lives in Montgomery County and prefers to dry her laundry outside. She worries, too, about the consequences.
"My homeowners association threatened me to stop it; otherwise they were going to take legal action," Wang said in an e-mail. "I wrote a letter and explained to them that hanging laundry outside is a good way to save energy. They wrote me back: 'Please be aware that the covenants and bylaws of your community expressly forbid hanging laundry outside. We appreciate your concern to conserve energy and suggest that you hang your laundry indoors.' "
Wang has written the Environmental Protection Agency about addressing the potential benefits to the planet from hanging laundry outside.
"If I say people in China hang laundry outside, some people will laugh at me," Wang said. She has lived in Germany, Britain and Denmark and "that people from these countries are hanging laundry outside."
Read entire article here.
Facts:
*Clothes dryers rank second in household energy consumption.
*Energy costs are rising.
*60 million Americans live in homeowner and condo associations, many not allowed to dry clothes outside.
*Colorado and Hawaii have laws prohibiting any ban on outdoor clotheslines. Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire have proposed similar legislation.
Patricia Wigginton, a member of the board of directors of the Maryland Homeowners' Association, wants an end to the banning of clotheslines in Maryland and plans to bring the issue to her next board meeting:
"The mission, in general, of the constitution of the United States is to guarantee rights for all citizens, that's really the foundation of our government system," Wigginton said. "Homeowner association covenants and bylaws do the opposite, they all restrict rights. And what happens is kids grow up in these neighborhoods and get wrong ideas _ like that it's OK to tell someone they can't hang their laundry outside."
Resources:
References:
Drawing the Line on Outdoor Clothes Drying - New York Times
Old Clothesline Is Still Hanging Tough - Denver Post
Fighting for the Right to Dry - Time magazine
The Right to Dry: A Green Movement Is Roiling America - Wall Street Journal
and tons more at Project Laundry List
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
picture by Buddy Stone, who exhibits at Flickr and writes:
A simple clothesline has saved me a bundle on not using the dryer. It's not "fashionable" to do this, but the stuff smells great and costs nothing to dry.
Posted in Current Affairs, Practical Info, Saving money | Permalink
Comments
I'm so glad I don't live in suburbia! My parents live in a "ritzy" neighborhood and, among other things, they are not allowed to erect any fence in the front yard (and the backyard fence must be a wood privacy fence); they can't plant fruits or vegetables in their gardens; no clothesline; no parking on the street; they can't have a plastic mailbox; and if they want to put up a trellis or awning they must get special permission from the homeowner's association.
We went on vacation as a family for a month when I was a child, and my grandparents stayed at our house to look after things. As a surprise, my grandfather built my sister and me an AMAZING play house in the backyard, all on his own, by hand. The result? The homeowner's association sued my parents for "erecting a prohibited structure."
I'll take my humble life in the country over that anyday!
(My parents and the association settled out of court. My sis and I were "allowed" to keep our playhouse, with the stipulation it had to be painted in dark green -- we had painted it bright red -- and my parents had to plant trees and shrubs all around it to hide it from the road. My parents kept the playhouse up for years after my sister and I had grown and moved out as an act of defiance against the association!)
Posted by: Anna.Keiter | July 7, 2008 8:44 PM
