Thursday, November 19, 2009

Probably Our Stupidest Fight

Stupid in the sense that opponents of drying your laundry on lines outside are true idiots. Stupid in the way anti breastfeeders are.
What it boils down to, of course, is money. Opponents are afraid of loss of property value and hide behind "asthetics". I for one like seeing clothes on lines because I've done it all my life and I know the pleasures and utility of doing it.
Piss on them. Laundry isn't the only thing we can hang.

U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry

"PERKASIE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) – 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.
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."

2 Comments:

Anonymous nick z said...

she received two anonymous notes from neighbors saying they did not want to see her underwear flapping about.

I guess they are being forced to stare at her hanging clothes... how awful for them!

Seriously, i thought this was an Onion piece, it's so ridiculous.

19/11/09 8:30 AM  
Blogger nolocontendere said...

It really is ridiculous. Everything about bringing your clothes and bedspread outside into the sun and breeze is just so wonderful and efficient that it's a cinch the sick fucks don't like it.

19/11/09 2:10 PM  

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