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HOA drought drama blasted into the stratosphere

Can you believe all the news about a homeowners association and a drought?

C'mon! Does a California HOA letting homeowners know they need to spruce up drought-dried lawns really warrant national coverage? Honest to god, this story ran in newspapers as distant from California as Washington DC. And on TV stations all over the country. Even on a major network's early a.m. show. 

The media DO tend to catapult stuff into the stratosphere.

The headlines are quite evocative. Like: "What drought? East Bay community orders homeowners to green up"; and "Upscale California neighborhood bans brown lawns despite drought"; and "This gated community insists California's drought  is over, wants green lawns again."

And then there's this lead paragraph in a newspaper article: "Raise your hand if you have ever lived in a community with a homeowners association. Raise your other hand if you ever wanted to punch your HOA in the nose. That's what I thought."

Wait a second! Punching HOAs in the nose? All 309,000 of them? According to surveys, lots of people are real satisfied living in HOA communities.

Catapulting stuff into the stratosphere. Isn't this why we are where we are? Just look at political news! There's fluff and titillation galore. But is the political news substantive? Or is it just entertaining? Is news news? Or has it become just another reality show?

(Editor's note: Conservation is important, conservation of water and other resources. So are news media reporters. We've dealt with reporters and editors, duking it out with them at times. But we respect their important role. It's just that things seem a bit out of kilter right now. Having said that, beware of suggestions made during the political campaign, for example, that federal libel laws should be expanded to make it easier to sue news media. In a democracy, the fourth estate and press freedom are more important than ever.)

Lob your feelings our way by commenting here or email us at: hoastrategic@gmail.com.

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