More on private government
I have discussed the broadening use of restrictive covenants in the past. Yesterday the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel ran a piece on these private rules employed in neighborhoods in an attempt to preserve property values. The piece offers a view of the positive, as well as some of the burdens:
On the flip side, Northbrook residents also aren’t allowed to erect a freestanding flagpole. They can’t hang clothes on a clothesline. They can’t build a shed, and they can’t have a boat or pop-up camper in their driveway for more than two days. Any fence must be approved by the association’s Architectural Control Committee.
It also makes note of the darker uses these restrictions have been put to:
Some older neighborhoods have outdated regulations. The West Foster Park neighborhood covenants, dating back to the 1920s, until recently contained language stating houses in the neighborhood couldn’t be sold to or occupied by any person of Mongolian descent, anyone of the Ethiopian race, or any native of Balkan or southern European countries. That language was discovered recently when the neighborhood association made changes restricting homes to being single-family and owner-occupied. That change was made to prevent deterioration of the neighborhood from rentals and subdivided houses.
link.
While racist restrictions would not be enforced by the courts, the new “single-family” and “owner-occupied” restrictions crafted by that group likely would be valid, and will likely have the same result: keeping “undesirables” out of the neighborhood.
