I was a tad more prepared this time for there was a quorum in round two. It remained a long, dull meeting that achieved very little. Something I would say Associa, or Alliance or whatever name the HOA “Company” (more like extortionist) counts on from the residents. I should start my own corporation to do this because I’m sure I could find a way to profit handsomely from collecting $33K/quarter just to cover landscaping on three common areas while not doing jack about the road expansions flanking my subdivision.
The usual nonsense came up about a volleyball court versus a basketball court in the park. I voted for neither, it’ll just get in the way of the makeshift soccer “stadium” and dog toilet the other residents think the park is. I like basketball too but the Travis County Sherriff isn’t keen on enforcing curfew in our subdivision. I received a big revelation too; the houses on the south side are part of Austin despite their Pflugerville mailing addresses. The remainder are neither a part of Pflugerville nor Austin which I knew back when the house was built in 2001. One resident who has worked with zoning said that our homes are worth too little to cover the services we’d require (trash, police, emergency, etc.), thus no city wants the rest of us. Nice. My area is the awkward, unathletic kid who is chosen last in a game of kickball on the playground.
As always, there were the committees barely staffed by anyone, blah, blah, blah. An election with a new guy selected to serve on the board. He works in real estate, (sarcastic) huzzah. The only solid thing I left this meeting learning was the number for the DOT to request a protected left-turn signal on the main entrance’s intersection because the traffic on the other side will generate an accident. This being Austin, people think turn signals are optional and telepathy is assumed. Should my plans for this year pan out the way I would like them to, I think I will join one of these committees to see what I can do. I had some success on the Quality of Life team at work, now to take it to a higher level. Did I raise a stink again? Not much. Another woman beat me to the punch but her complaining was more about how no one listens to her ideas and the lack of official channels. As if the three board members are some kind of secretive Star Chamber. With all the apathy from about 800 households, meetings barely making a quorum of 65 while every middle class American is too busy working his or her butt off to stay afloat. I’d say the board is more like the short-lived, struggling Duma after the czar abdicated. It’s not meant to be sympathetic yet at least they’re trying for what little Associa allows. My gripes were restrained to the protected turn and why Associa never forwards my e-mails to the actual board members.
Until next year, I will have to keep watching to see the money trail because they jacked the fees almost five percent this year. My homeowner fees are relatively cheap compared to my friend Jose’s yet his house is much more expensive, has a nice pool (something I’m against due to the high maintenance costs) and its gated; probably to keep out the Disney riff-raff.