US Residents Fight for Right to Hang Laundry
Dan Clore
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/11/19-9
Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Reuters
US Residents Fight for the Right to Hang Laundry
by Jon Hurdle
PERKASIE, Pennsylvania - Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three
clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse,
knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop.
Froehlich is among the growing number of people across America fighting
for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of
housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving
green appeal.
Although there are no formal laws in this southeast Pennsylvania town
against drying laundry outside, a town official called Froehlich to ask
her to stop drying clothes in the sun. And she received two anonymous
notes from neighbors saying they did not want to see her underwear
flapping about.
"They said it made the place look like trailer trash," she said, in her
yard across the street from a row of neat, suburban houses. "They said
they didn't want to look at my 'unmentionables.'"
Froehlich says she hangs her underwear inside. The effervescent
54-year-old is one of a growing number of Americans demanding the right
to dry laundry on clotheslines despite local rules and a culture that
frowns on it.
Their interests are represented by Project Laundry List, a group that
argues people can save money and reduce carbon emissions by not using
their electric or gas dryers, according to the group's executive
director, Alexander Lee.
Widespread adoption of clotheslines could significantly reduce U.S.
energy consumption, argued Lee, who said dryer use accounts for about 6
percent of U.S. residential electricity use.
Florida, Utah, Maine, Vermont, Colorado, and Hawaii have passed laws
restricting the rights of local authorities to stop residents using
clotheslines. Another five states are considering similar measures, said
Lee, 35, a former lawyer who quit to run the non-profit group.
'RIGHT TO HANG'
His principal opponents are the housing associations such as
condominiums and townhouse communities that are home to an estimated 60
million Americans, or about 20 percent of the population. About half of
those organizations have 'no hanging' rules, Lee said, and enforce them
with fines.
Carl Weiner, a lawyer for about 50 homeowners associations in suburban
Philadelphia, said the no-hanging rules are usually included by the
communities' developers along with regulations such as a ban on sheds or
commercial vehicles.
The no-hanging rules are an aesthetic issue, Weiner said.
"The consensus in most communities is that people don't want to see
everybody else's laundry."
He said opposition to clotheslines may ease as more people understand it
can save energy and reduce greenhouse gases.
"There is more awareness of impact on the environment," he said. "I
would not be surprised to see people questioning these restrictions."
For Froehlich, the "right to hang" is the embodiment of the American
tradition of freedom.
"If my husband has a right to have guns in the house, I have a right to
hang laundry," said Froehlich, who is writing a book on the subject.
Besides, it saves money. Line-drying laundry for a family of five saves
$83 a month in electric bills, she said.
Kevin Firth, who owns a two-bedroom condominium in a Dublin,
Pennsylvania housing association, said he was fined $100 by the
association for putting up a clothesline in a common area.
"It made me angry and upset," said Firth, a 27-year-old carpenter. "I
like having the laundry drying in the sun. It's something I have always
done since I was a little kid."
(Editing by Mark Egan and Paul Simao)
--
Dan Clore
New book: _Weird Words: A Lovecraftian Lexicon_:
http://tinyurl.com/yd3bxkw
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
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News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
Skipper: Professor, will you tell these people who is
in charge on this island?
Professor: Why, no one.
Skipper: No one?
Thurston Howell III: No one? Good heavens, this is anarchy!
-- _Gilligan's Island_, episode #6, "President Gilligan"
Alex Russell
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/11/19-9
> Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Reuters
> US Residents Fight for the Right to Hang Laundry
> by Jon Hurdle
>
> PERKASIE, Pennsylvania - Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three
> clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse,
> knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop.
>
Can anyone explain to me why the USA claims to respect individual
rights, freedom of expression, and other noble human rights, but in
practice does the following:
- treats high school kids as if they have no rights
-- random searches
-- suppression of almost any expression outside of the main stream
-- arbitrary rules regarding even innocuous over the counter drugs
-- illegal strip searches of minors
- tries to ban flag burning
- had a president who thought atheists could not be "good Americans".
- frequently abuses "eminent domain"
- likes free trade,unless any other country dares to be more productive
in an industry: eg softwood lumber
- No fly list with almost 1 million names on it, but there are less than
10,000 hard-core terrorists in the whole world
- "Freedom zones"
- preemptive arrests
Alex R