Last week it was bottled water. Today its clotheslines. I guess because property tax reform isn’t an issue residents really care about. The gist of this hot issue apparently is that there’s some energy costs savings to be had if people dry their laundry on clotheslines instead of in dryers. Yeah, ok, call captain obvious on that one.
But some people apparently live in condo associations or communities that have by-laws that prohibit the venerable clothesline. Not just the clothesline, but some associations take great pleasure on prohibiting and regulating all sorts of things under “aesthetic” reasons like flags, window treatments, garden sheds.
I’ve never understood why anyone would want to live in these types of soviet-era style behavior modification developments subjected to the whims of what doormats are allowed. Naturally, our Hartford legislature just can’t stand idly by while these people figure out how to wrangle with their condo association to allow for a clothesline or two. Apparently the mere thought that someone might be able to negotiate a dry your underwear on Tuesdays between 11 and 2 program, is just too difficult. It might not happen. Or it might include Wednesdays.
So rather than deal with some sort of constitutional issue about whether these associations have a right to even regulate themselves to the extent they do, which is something that occassionally pops up in the legislature, they are proceeding with a hearing today.
Martin Mador, legislative and political chair of the state chapter of the Sierra Club, wrote the original proposal that became House Bill 5596 An Act Concerning The Right To Dry.
“The real driver to this is the global warming crisis we face,” said Mador, who will have a 9:30 a.m. press conference in the Legislative Office Building. The bill includes language to give associations control as to where clotheslines might be used in a complex.
“This bill goes to what an individual can do,” Mador said. “It doesn’t force anyone to use a clothesline.”
Today’s hearing on the clothesline bill and five other energy proposals begins at 10:30 a.m. in Room 1-B of the Legislative Office Building.
What’s next, deliberations on the use of garden hoses?
source: Courant, Airing Their Wet Laundry; Hearing Today On ‘Right To Dry’ Bill, By BILL LEUKHARDT, February 28, 2008
