Susan Taylor lives on Awbrey Butte here in Bend, and was trying to do something nice for the environment by drying clothes on a clothesline. The problem is, she lives in a sub-division where her elitist neighbors are worried about their property values dropping because of said clothesline. It’s to the point now where Brooks Resources, one of the nations largest private landholders and the folks who manage the homeowners group up there, is threatening legal action against her.
The full, entertaining story, with reactions from neighbors (who are probably from out of town originally) and Brooks Resources management (who I have very little respect for for a variety of reasons unrelated to this story), on the Wall Street Journal is available here.
Full disclosure: I know Ms. Taylor, have known her for many, many years (since I was a kid as she works with my mom), and built a computer for her a couple years ago. She just contacted me to ask for help sorting through all the email and crap she’s getting because of this story (apparently the BBC has contacted her). Just the same, she lived up in that area of Awbrey Butte LONG before many people did. Her and her husband built their house up there, and they had no neighbors at all for years, and when she called me this morning, I literally laughed out loud. I think this whole thing is hilarious and just epitomizes the kind of craphole Bend is slowly turning into.
Amazingly, I’m sure there are other developments in Bend that have similar rules, and sadly, Sunriver has even worse stupid rules.
Update: Jon has a great idea for a headline if this makes the newspaper: “Brooks Resources hates the environment.” Good call, Jon.
Update on 9/22: Ms. Taylor has a new e-mail address just for this purpose if people want to email her about this, and she said I could post it here: hangingoutinbend {at} gmail {dot} com. She said that she thanks everybody who has supported her, and is glad to have mine (and other blogger’s) support.
Update on 9/23: Just got an update from Ms. Taylor:
This whole thing is beyond me. I cannot believe all the support. Check out the Oregonian tomorrow, The Bulletin this week, ABC news local filmed me, a German TV station next month…wow. I have so much more hope, I had hit the wall prior to the Wall Street Journal covering this. The BBC did a live interview Sept. 18 and NPR aired Thurs.on Here and Now with Robin. Unreal.
We’ll just have to see now if Brooks Resources caves (doubtful).
Update on 9/23 @ 4:10PM: According to The Source, Ms. Taylor took down her line. Haven’t confirmed with her yet.
Update on 9/25: KTVZ has a story.
Update on 9/26: The Source gave Brooks Resources the boot.
Update on 9/29: Bulletin’s story.
Comments
Doonesbury did a shtick on this some twenty years ago. Looks like LA finally made it to my old hoetown.
Go Susan!
o.0
I live across the pond from you (Scotland). If anyone objected to someone hanging up washing on a washing line to dry, for this or any other reason, virtually the entire country would turn around and have a right good laugh at the person objecting. Drying the clothes that way not only benefits the environment, it actually ends up with the clothes smelling fresher and cleaner, unless you live in a heavily built-up inner city area. Never been to Bend, but I get the distinct impression that it could not be called ‘a heavily built-up inner city area’ by even the most wild stretch of the imagination.
Me: That area of town is not even close to heavily built-up inner city. It’s got larger homes on larger lots. Here’s a Google arial view of the area.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world….
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/09/18/driving.iceland/index.html
Parts of HOA rules make me happy. I would prefer not to have neighbors leaving cars on cinder blocks, washing machines on their front porches, trash in their yard, etc. However, if Ms. Taylor is trying to help the environment by hanging her clothes to dry then good for her! You can get retractable lines so that they aren’t up all the time (and so as not to “bombard the senses” of any upset interior decorators). I think it’s pathetic that BR would take her to court over something so stupid and silly. Let the woman dry her clothes in peace!
“I think this whole thing … just epitomizes the kind of craphole Bend is slowly turning into.”
Megadittoes Jake — except I’d say it’s “rapidly” turning into a craphole. This was a pretty nice town until every pretentious asshole in the world decided to move here.
Wow, must be nice to have the lives of her neighbors where the biggest worry is being offended by towels and tshirts hanging on a clothesline.
Stupid people are really hellbent on world domination.
opps! Thanks for linking my link and apologies for not having my name with it.
I’m on the new system. %#$! Vista. That is all.
When I worked at Deschutes County 9-1-1, I remember getting 9-1-1 calls from Sunriver residents concerning towels hanging off deck railings, loud golfers, and smoke coming from chimneys in the summertime. 9-1-1 calls. I also remember a citation being given to a resident for removal of a tree. The fine was over $10,000! I know for some, the C C & R’s are part of the reason they live where they live, but wow.
She is more than welcome to come down off the butte and use my clothesline. I;ll put on some coffee. Better yet, she could buy a house down in my neighborhood. Sure, she’ll have to downsize from 2500 sq feet to 1200, but per square foot, I’m sure the homes are just as, if not more expensive. As for the interior decorator neighbor, maybe she should go back into the interior of her home. Note to self: if I ever get braindead enough that I can’t figure out what I like to have in my own home, DON’T hire that lady.
Screw the sheets and towels – time to hang the panties and bras, Susan!
Some years ago I knew a couple who left a pumpkin on their front porch for a few days after Halloween and got an angry rebuke from their homeowners’ association for blighting the neighborhood.
I can see the need for reasonable rules (no cars up on blocks in the front yard etc.) but sometimes things get just plain ridiculous.
That’s exactly what I was thinking! Black, red, and lacy!!!! 😀 The louder they balk, the racier it gets! LOL
You people have no sense of community. Awbrey is special. Clotheslines make it like where you live.
Sally Heatherton,
marvelousbend.wordpress.com
Funniest Local Blog Since Snarky
I have no idea who this woman is or if this blog is totally fake, but it sure it funny. Some quotes: From here:There are also stories about poor people,…
Okay its pretty simple. You get the CC&Rs when you close on the property. If you don’t like any of them you have the option NOT to purchase that home. It doesn’t matter who was there first because the RULES were there before Susan.
Gob bless this great country that we can live where we want whether it is in the flatlands below Aubrey Butte where the hillbillies live or in Sunriver or elsewhere. She made her choice. Now she has to live with it until she is ready to move. My guess is that she will stay because she likes living there.
I love to read what all the angry service economy workers have to say about the “new” Bendites…
Wow… Mister Farewell Dr. Resident,
First, you should know how to spell “Awbrey Butte” since you live there.
Second, I am not a service economy worker, and I live in the “flatlands below Aubrey Butte”
Referring to yourself as a …”‘new’ Bendite” is embarrassing (putting it mildly) to anyone who moves here that is down to earth, seeking a better quality of life (‘hillbilly’ or professional).
And… if we didn’t have ‘service economy workers’ who would wait on your a$$ when you choose to go out for fine dining, build a new home, or any other things that require these ‘hillbillies’ to do for a living to support their families.
You are an embarrassment to affluent society!!!
Shame shame shame…
From a college educated professional…who moved here many years ago for a better quality of life to get away from people (putting it nicely) like you.
Damn greenies! [/joke]
You go, Susan Taylor!
More On The Bend Clothesline Flap
After threatening legal action against a local woman for trying to hang up a clothesline in her yard, Brooks Resources has now decided that instead of taking advantage of the…
“She lives in a sub-division where her elitist neighbors are worried about their property values dropping because of said clothesline.”
I live on Awbrey Butte. Please lets not generalize and call all her neighbors “elitists”. Saying that also implies that Susan is an elitist simply because she lives on Awbrey Butte. I live near Susan and do not mind her laundry hanging out one bit.
I am loving this–the boomers’ guilt over their wealth crashing headfirst into their environmentalist 60’s ways. I think someone who chooses to live on Awbrey Butte is a fool, and if you need rules and regulations to live your life in your own home you probably belong in N. Korea or Cuba. I personally CAN afford buying and building there but I chose not to when I reviewed the CCR’s (you are legally allowed to review such documents, it’s just not easy to do). In south Florida, where I live now, “Gated Communities” and CCR’s are the norm, completely removing the individuality and the warmth that a “normal” neighborhood has. When Americans turn over their rights to these boards made up of parasites like the interior decorators, America has ended. People, look carefully at where you live before you buy, otherwise such simple things as drying your clothes or installing solar panels will provoke legal action against you. Solution? Act with your wallet. Don’t buy there. Don’t buy into developers’ stunted promises of “carefree, beautifully manicured neighborhoods” to “live the ______ lifestyle” (insert “golfing”, “spa”, “active outdoors”, etc. in above blank). They are destroying American neighborhoods, walkable towns, and a persons’ right to live IN THEIR OWN HOME as they see fit. I’m not into conspiracy theories, but this is just too dangerous to continue feeding–perhaps when we all live in CCR’ed places we will all be under what thumb????.