Ike in Game

[Left Seater]

Save yourself time and don't send your guys down this way. Our HOA along with the local MUDs have gotten together and contracted with multiple crews to operate in our neighborhood.

Homeowners are encouraged to go the local rec center/pool to hire a crew. The rates are set and are based on an hourly system. To encourage the crews to move as fast as possible there is also a start fee. So they get a base, then the hourly. Also, homeowners are allowed to hire whomever they want outside these contractors. However, other contractors are not allowed into the hood, unless they have an appointment. The constable's office who handles our neighborhood patrols, is stopping all other contractors on the way into the hood and asking for the address and contact name of the home they are going too. Calls to the homeowner are then made to confirm. Upon completion the "other" contractor is escorted out of the hood.

Further, all debris is hauled to a right of way in the neighborhood under a large power line. There small branches are chipped and turned into mulch. Logs are split and cut to length to be firewood. The things that can't be recycled are piled and the county is picking up three times a day. Homeowners are then allowed to pick up 10 bags of mulch and 4 cords of firewood. The remainder will then be offered for sale in the 'hood and any left over will become the property of the contractor running the mulching and splitting operation.

Props to the MUDs and HOA for putting this system in place prior to the storm. The contractors love it because they have a steady stream of work for three weeks or more and all in the same location. No driving around from a job in Houston, to one in Katy, to one in Sugar Land. The homeowners love it because we are getting previously negotiated rates and aren't bidding against each other.

[Tom In VA]

Nice to know that there are HOA's that exist that actually provide a service other than receiving your check in an envelope, opening the envelope, creditting your account and then cashing that check every month.

[Dinsdale]

How incredibly unAmerican.

If I were an area contractor, I'd sue.

They're detaining contractors without probable cause? As an American, that makes my stomach turn.

[Left Seater]

How incredibly unAmerican.

If I were an area contractor, I'd sue.

They're detaining contractors without probable cause? As an American, that makes my stomach turn.

No one is detaining anyone. The constables are just enforcing the rules already on the books. There is no solicitation in the 'hood. If you have a legit appointment you are allowed to enter, you don't have one you are asked to leave. They don't have to leave though, but if they don't the constable can then fine them for solicitation.

[Dinsdale]

I'm an American -- I can fucking travel down any public street and talk to anyone I fucking please, at any time that pleases me.

Why do you hate America?

[RumpleForeskin]

Save yourself time and don't send your guys down this way. Our HOA along with the local MUDs have gotten together and contracted with multiple crews to operate in our neighborhood.

That is really awesome to hear, LS. I wish I could say the same for the HOAs up this way, but they aren't worth a shit. It's free enterprise right now. Some people are getting fucked by the "foreign" contractors and it does piss me off a bit when Ethel Q. Resident doesn't know any better and just says "Yes" to the first contractor that comes along and offers to cut down a hibiscus for a thousand bucks. It's fucking wrong.

Our crew is making quite a bit of cash, but we're not out to squeeze every penny from the residents of the community.

[Dinsdale]

I'm an American -- I can fucking travel down any public street and talk to anyone I fucking please, at any time that pleases me.

Not in a disaster area you don't, assuming of course that it even is a public street.

Disaster is over... contractors entering out front should have told you.

But I see that given the chance to speak out against governmental corruption, the Sheeple have ONCE AGAIN chosen not to, and instead support it.


Been there, done that. And anytime there's government involvement, at any level, involved in contracting (and in this situation, fixing prices), you're looking at a corruption party like you couldn't even comprehend.

Even on this small scale, look for the head of this HOA to be driving a new ride, or doing some major remodelling on his house... trust me on this one.


Someone decided which contractors can work in certain neighborhoods, and how much they may charge?


UnRACK the People's Republic of Texas, Comrade.

Rights, even constitutional ones, are not absolute.

Say that to my face, and I'll put a bullet in you.

[Dinsdale]

it does piss me off a bit when Ethel Q. Resident doesn't know any better and just says "Yes" to the first contractor that comes along and offers to cut down a hibiscus for a thousand bucks. It's fucking wrong.

You're right -- it's "wrong."


Because goodness knows, thousands of years of history is also "wrong," and we can indeed pass enough laws to counteract the axiom "a fool and his money are soon parted"... we just haven't passed ENOUGH laws yet. I mean, so what if the USA has more laws than any society in the History of the World... if we'd just pass more laws, stupid people would suddenly become smart...


really. That's how it works in practice. I mean, sure... if enough laws are passed, eventually everyone becomes a criminal, but at least it would suddenly make stupid people intelligent overnight.


Why do you hate Darwin? I'd think as many times as he's taken pity and spared your family, you'd be a big fan.

[RumpleForeskin]

Dins, I agree there are suckers out there who are too stupid to realize they are being butt-fucked by Slick Willie Tree Removal and probably diserve it, but there are others like old widows or widowers who just don't know any better and haven't dealt with this before.

There are times to play a sucker and there are times to not. Unfortunately, all these out-of-state contractors just see green.

[Dinsdale]

There are times to play a sucker and there are times to not. Unfortunately, all these out-of-state contractors just see green.

I see your point.

I mean, there's a high demand for certain services... and this is crazy shit... Americans are trying to make a buck by filling that demand, for whatever fee they see fit.

Seriously -- how unAmerican is that?

In NeoAmerica, the government decides which contractors get to bid, and how much they may charge for it.

RACK Texas for being at the forefront of the Socialist Revolution.


Since Big Brother deciding which companies get to participate in which businesses has always worked out so well in the past.


Fucking deplorable.

[Dinsdale]

I'll share a little anecdote, which may just break your ultraliberal heart:

Almost 2 years ago, we had quite the gnarly winter storm (had an even bigger one last winter, but it didn't æffect the inland population centers nearly so much). A friend's neighbor got a limb through the roof. They couldn't get any sort of tree contractor out (and there's a bunch of them around here... something to do with all the trees, I guess).


But check it out...

Instead of crying to the local government, state gov, or FEMA...

this is crazy shit...


The neighbors banded together to help the cul-de-sac clear their limbs, and patched the roof of that house up well enough to keep the water out until things calmed down and a proper repair could be made by as licensed contractor.


I know you Texans prefer communism/socialism, but the Old Fashioned Way works even better.

[RumpleForeskin]

There's been plenty of outreach from all over the community of neighbors helping other neighbors. Keep this in mind you narrow-minded twat, not every fucking job can be done by the hands of you and your neighbors. If a tree is sitting on another tree or something is not so clear-cut (no pun intended), it takes equipment and professionals to do the work.

I mean, you don't see me going in and performing open-heart surgery on some poor sap because there is a high demand for it and not enough surgeons to go around, do you?

Oh, and here is this other darned thing that gets in the way of helping each other out and/or doing it on your own. Ever heard of a job, Dins? I know Oregonians don't like to work 40 hours a week and just want to mellow in the mountains and smoke as much tree as they can, but down here we got jobs that demand a lot of our time. We're an oil/petrochemical driven community that requires people to actually put more hours in at work when this kind of shit hits the fan.

You're right....fucking deplorable.

[Left Seater]

Dins,

You really can't be this dense can you? No, the President of the HOA will not suddenly enlarge his house, nor will he be driving some new SUV. Clearly in your haste to smack you missed the part that said home owners are free to contract with anyone they want. They certainly don't have to use the ones the HOA has brought in. Nor did the HOA set the rates for the contractors operating out of the rec center. Those contractors are the ones that had their bids accepted during the last bid cycle 20 months ago. And in another 4 months when the RFP goes out, all contractors will be able to bid again.

Great, neighbors in Oregon snuffed out their cigs and came together to help each other after an ice storm. I guess that is newsworthy there. Down here lending a hand is not the exception. Plenty of people went to work clearing streets, culs, and storm drains as soon as it was safe after the storm. These are the same people that went to work for all the Katrina folks. So keep shooting and missing, cause these folks aren't looking for govt nor FEMA to take care of them.

Maybe everything in Oregon is community property and I am sure everyone sits around singing kumbaya all day. Down here we respect private property. You don't have the right to drive down a street behind a gated community, nor is that a public street. Same thing here for a contractor. While we might not have a gate across the main entrance road we reserve the right. The county doesn't maintain the streets the home owners do. They are no more public than the inside of your home is.

[Tom In VA]

Holy crap JSC, some intense shit right there.

[Mikey]

Why are all those boats trying to sail on dry land?