The "Pick Up The Crap" Rule

I live in a condo community. We have townhouses, about 60 units on 40 acres, surrounded by evergreens and a river. You have to drive quite far up a main crossroad while passing woods, watershed and a small private airport strip to get here. It's pretty secluded. We are not a place you'd normally discover on a leisurely Sunday drive.

            The residents here are a diverse mixture of young and old, families and singles. We allow cats and dogs, if you raise them right and follow the no-hole-digging and pick-up-the-crap rules. Some folks have been here since the place was first built, in 1988 and occasionally someone new moves in. But mostly, we remain pretty residentially constant. Do you want to know why?

            We all own our units or rent them from an owner. They're not too shabby either. Mine has three floors, a bathroom on every floor and a balcony off the back. it sits within its own plot of lawn and woods and I share a wall with a unit owned by a sweet retired couple. The entire complex is surrounded by pine trees and manicured gardens. My fire pit and courtyard out back seats about 30 comfortably and is open year round. Fires with neighbors and good conversations are commonplace. But that's not what sold me on this way of living because, well, you can get that just about anywhere, right?

            What I love most about living here is that it is a bona fide community. We have a community garden, where everyone who participates trades green thumb secrets and shares flowers and vegetables. Even if your garden bombed, you get a share of the harvest. It's not required, but you get it anyway because you participated and you tried. Heck, even if you didn't opt to plant a plot this year you probably still got a share of the harvest because we grow so much.

            We pool our money into a fund to pay for everyone's landscaping, snow plowing, septic pumping and master insurance policy. We have a full size in-ground swimming pool and tennis court, a half-court basketball arena, hay fields and walking trails down to the basin of the river where we fish. The fund money is used to maintain all of these things.

            How do we pay for all this stuff? It isn't easy. Our five elected board trustee members, who preside over the condo "association " hire an accountant and several contractors. These guys hash out what everything will cost for an entire year (this also includes roof repair and replacement, clapboard painting and driveway sealing) and they negotiate, often with a few tough words being thrown around. When they've gotten pretty close to reaching something they think the residents can live with, we have our annual condo association meeting. Item by item, we either vote for the best vender and contract or, like some of us prefer, vote to let the board trustees vote for the best vender and contract—so we can get back into our gardens. The result of all this bickering is a cumulative figure. Some years it's higher than others depending on both what transpired and what is within reasonable prediction. Then... we argue until we come up with a yearly fee we can all agree upon, that will pay for all of the items discussed and we vote to second and accept the final figure. This number gets divided by the total number of units and everyone starts paying their share on a monthly basis the following January.

            We have to take into account that the retirees have a limited income and don't want to get too extravagant. We need to understand that the younger families use the pool to entertain their kids—and keep their sanity—and the guys like to shoot hoops so everybody has a different opinion about what's important to them and where they want their money to be spent.

            The insanely patient trustees are good listeners, but they know when to jump in as well. That's why we elect them. They have a way to prioritize needs and the list gets organized pretty quickly according to necessities and luxuries and item by item they listen as residents state their case.

            "No, we can't ditch the landscaping company to save money and all start mowing our own lawn because we have some elderly residents that just can't do it. We hear you, but let's end the discussion and move on."

            So the meeting goes on until we've heard everyone and discussed everything. Some complaints end up with an answer like "So.... we send a letter to all residents about the over-abundance of loose, colorful plastic toy pieces littering the landscape and tell them to move it into their back yard and off the common areas." Sometimes, we need reminders about everyone else's space.

            After the meeting, we go back to our community feeling secure in the fact that we're safe and sound, our homes will be kept up to retain their value and the people we see every day will act peacefully and respectfully toward each other. Every day living goes on. This is important because when you live in a community such as ours, you make friends. These folks become very important to you as you watch their children be born and grow, their dogs pass on and their family members visit. You are put out in front of each other every day. This is not the way to live if you are reclusive, negative or skeptical. Sometimes we get people who are kind of hard to deal with but more often than not, they change to act like us rather than vice versa. Sometimes, you just have to learn to listen.

            In accepting this lifestyle, I have learned to share. I've learned that people have the ultimate capability to accept others, but sometimes have to call them on the carpet first. You don't have to be perfect to be here, but you've got to be fair. Conflicts will arise, that's inevitable, but we've got the skills we need to compromise. In the end, we're all winners.

            Maybe the world is bigger than our small condo community, but it sure would be nice if everyone could live like us. Why can't each person be the owner of a "community destiny" and strive to make sure everyone is included in a good life? Why can't everyone share their harvest as well as we can? Why can't we elect officials who, like our beloved trustees, can show the world how to negotiate? I don't worry so much anymore because I've got my tribe here and no matter what happens, we're in it, together, and nobody's going to change us. It's the rest of the world I worry about. Sometimes I wish America was a big condominium complex and my state was a unit. Our trustees would tell America loud and clear that it has broken the pick-up-the-crap rule!