HOAs...gotta love 'em!

I've been in my new home now for over 4 years. This is my 2nd home since marriage and it was cool watching something being built from the ground up. I was also excited about being a part of a HOA (home owners association). I had faith that I would be in a community of people that wanted to maintain the quality of our neighborhood and the value of our homes. Yes, I believed in the video loop that was played in the model homes of the mature tree-lined streets with people riding their bikes, walking their dogs and visiting each others homes. What I've experienced so far, is:

• The rumbling, beeping and whizzing of construction machinery
• Unsupervised children riding their bikes in the alley, across my yard and through the construction sites
• My vehicles being so consistently covered with dust, that I'm beginning to think it's a new car color
• Neighbors who signed the HOA agreement that no cars are to be parked on the street, yet they own more cars than their 2 car garage can hold
• Unproductive annual HOA meetings that are little more than a "gripe fest"
• Division residents that act like mobile radio stations, whose bass bumps so loud it vibrates the windows of my home

Considering the fact that all of the homes in my division have yet to be built, my hopes for the "video loop" neighborhood doesn't look so good. On the plus side, my immediate next door neighbors are AWESOME people and the entire division is very diverse. Looks like, when I get on my feet, I'll definitely have to get more involved with our HOA.