What the HOA Is Really Afraid Of:

A Truly Diverse Neighborhood!

As our Peachtree Village Neighborhood Union is working very hard to hold the HOA accountable for their many misdeeds, some of which are violations of State and Federal laws, it's very important to bear in mind the fundamental problem for which HOAs in general and Peachtree Village HOA in particular, were created in the first place--BIGOTRY!

Bigotry is defined as stubborn and complete intolerance of people who differ from one's own. The specific type of "others" which bigots cannot tolerate can vary. Their intolerance can be directed at people of a different race or ethnic group. It can be people who have another religion or sexual orientation. It can people who hold a different political view. It can be directed against different family types-- a single woman with young children, a person who is mentally-challenged, or just anyone who is not perceived as "us."

When construction of the small community of homes we now call Peachtree Village was first proposed back in 1984, many people in the surrounding, almost all-white neighborhoods were very upset that, because the houses would be smaller and less expensive, they were terrified that "others" would move in, and bring "ruin" to their neighborhoods. In their bigoted minds, the reason people were poor had to do with who they were, not because they had been systematically prevented from prospering by job discrimination and the many obstacles that prevented them from successfully running their own businesses. Consequently, when they got wind of some affordable housing going up right next to them, they heard "cheap houses that will attract the type of people who will tear them up and create a dangerous ghetto." And their unfounded fears were very specific!

For example, they imagined "those people" to be so backward and ignorant, they wouldn't even know how to use and electric oven and stove, but would instead use the wood-burning fire places to cook over, which would make Peachtree Village houses very susceptible to fires breaking out. It's not some coincidence that, when these bigots couldn't stop the construction of our community, they insisted every house have a sprinkler system installed (though Fox and Jacobs, like they did with everything else, used the cheapest, lowest-quality materials as they could find).

It was this bigotry which led to the insistence Peachtree Village have an HOA that would have extraordinary powers to force the residents to conform to a rigid set of 100s, if not 1000s, of maintenance and decoration rules. In other words, if they couldn't keep those "others" from moving in, at least they would be FORCED to "take good care of the houses they occupied."

Ironically, not that many "others" bought homes in Peachtree Village back in 1985. The purchasers were, mostly, just like the whites in the surrounding neighborhoods, just people who didn't need a larger and more expensive home.

But among them, and as is the case in virtually every neighborhood under the dictatorship of an HOA, it did attract a number of the type of people who have a deep-down need to CONTROL others! In general, they're known as "controllers," which Psychological experts have specifically identified as a mental disorder (Check out this article and see if you have noticed these controlling behaviors from among the HOA Board members and their supporters--https://psychcentral.com/pro/exhausted-woman/2016/01/30-different-types-of-controlling-people#1).

In recent years, though, Peachtree Village has actually become more diverse. Whites make up only about 1/3 of our community. The rest are Latinos, Asians, blacks and some of Middle Eastern or African descent. So, of course, those who have never learned how to get over their bigotry are utterly terrified and feeling very strongly that, unless they use every possible means of frightening those "others" into submission, the neighborhood is bound to turn into a crime-filled "ghetto"!

This explains why the previous "Board" and a dozen or so of their bigoted supporters went into a panic when some of us who have our heads on straight began to oppose their efforts to rob us of our home sovereignty, ultimately leading to the formation of the Peachtree Village Neighborhood Union. To accomplish their ends, they resorted to all sorts of deception--they lied, they exaggerated and they did all they could to tap into the fears which, everyone has, along with all sorts of threats against the majority of our neighbors in order to cower them into silence.

Trouble is, lying only works for a short while. It takes an increasing amount of effort to lie, more lies to cover up the first one, and exponentially more lies after that! Also, menacing people into silence only breeds anger and frustration. The more the HOA does this, the greater that anger and frustration will grow. Sooner or later, the HOA's abuse of power will be overthrown, and we here at the Peachtree Village Neighborhood Union want to see their demise come about in a peaceful and legal way, though our commitment to peace and lawful behavior should not in any way be mistaken as a sort of "weakness." No, as a wise person once said, it's the "peacemakers who will inherit the earth," so we look forward to the day, in the not too distant future, when EVERYONE who is a part of the Peachtree Village community will truly inherit their HOMES, and no longer will anyone else rule over them as some sort of oligarchy!

While we'll do all we can to help these sad controllers realize their fear is nothing more than a problem INSIDE THEIR MINDS, even if they never get over their bigotry, we will do everything we need to, making use of every legal means available, to wrestle back our home sovereignty, and by "our," we mean EVERYONE who lives in or is the non-resident owner of a home in Peachtree Village! We've already made some progress and, while there's still a long way to go, we're more determined than ever before to make Peachtree Village a happy community of all sorts of people who know they have a real HOME here, in an ACCEPTING and TOLERANT and THRIVING community.