Originally Posted by eldondre

with all due respect, I never said they were evil people (although that opinion may vary depending the particular association). interestingly you brought up grant money for parks. why do we need it? because Fairmount park has been starved of funds. I read that it's received over a 70% cut from its funding in the early 1970's. The whoel development process is broken. community associations can, but don't always, represent community interests for things such as parking (I don't own the spot but damn it, it's mine!)and real problems such as crime. Determining the height of every building should not be one of them (which is why we need a new code, one that doesn't require developers to run the gauntlet of bribing various agencies and community groups). Worse, one thing that is NOT the purvey of the groups is whether the business will be successful or not. banks make mistakes and they have information. people posting their feelings on the internet or discussing them in a meeting does not constitute market research. how well was JB's accepted when they wanted to put a second floor in? how many business like that fail because they don't receive approval? Most of these people are not evil but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Just because you are active in an assocation doesn't mean you should have the right to play unelected tsar of the neighborhood. If I start cleaning an abandoned building, it makes the neighborhood nicer but it doesn't mean I own it.