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He fights for your right to dry clothes outside
By adamg on Sat, 07/13/2013 - 5:13pm
State Sen. Michael Barrett (D-Lexington) says it's nuts that some condo associations won't let their residents dry their clothes the old fashioned - and environmentally friendly - way and is pushing legislation that would let communities adopt "the right to dry."
His bill, S.924 would let cities and towns adopt a measure that:
Notwithstanding any general law or the terms of any contract, deed, covenant, restriction, rule, by-law, lease agreement, rental agreement to the contrary, a homeowner or tenant shall not be prohibited from the installation of a clothesline.
The proposed law defines a clothesline as "a rope, cord, wire or similar device on which clothing is hung to dry."
Via Lexington Patch, which has more.
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Comments
I don't get it.
Don't condo association rules fall under "terms of a contract" as mentioned in the law? So the law doesn't effect condo associations which is what Barrett is angry about.
"Notwithstanding," which is
"Notwithstanding," which is the very first word in the proposed statute, means, "in spite of." Thus, this would allow people to ignore contracts, etc., which prohibit putting up clotheslines. A number of states have clothesline laws, and they're good energy policy without downsides. (Unless you forget to take your laundry in should it start to rain or something)
I'd kind of agree.
I'd kind of agree. It's amazing that with all this big green push movement, there hasn't been much of a big movement to start hang drying your clothes again. Clothes Dryers are the worst in energy efficiency (come on, its essentially a big space heater with a drum that turns), so why not. It saves money, energy and the environment.
Yeah I'm well aware that having many people do it can change the appearance of the building (images of 1890s NYC tenements come to mind) but still, its a very green thing to do.
Yeah, but
if you have environmental allergies, as most everyone does, you're actually NOT supposed to line-dry clothes and linens, because they end up full of pollen, and line-drying doesn't do anything to kill dust mites (and bed bugs, for that matter).
Imagine all that green pollen we get every spring stuck to your clothes. That's a little too green for my taste.
Nobody is forcing you
I'm allergic to the dryer sheets that everybody seems to think are necessary. I'd much rather line dry. Also, read your tags - some clothes are line dry ONLY.
dryer sheets
I agree about those useless dryer sheets. Not only am I allergic to them, I fail to see that they serve any real function. All they do is coat the items being dried with some sort of slimy, powdery feeling chemical, as well as a heavy perfume smell which can't be good for you. Another example of a product people think they "have" to use, but which in reality is unnecessary.
Nobody is forcing you to use dryer sheets either!
Let me first say that I'm not against line-drying. I grew up doing it on the back porch of my parents' co-op in the city and most recently did it on my old apartment's back porch. My new condo doesn't have a private porch to do it on, and thus I miss it.
But moving on, I think "dryer sheets" is a weak argument for being anti-dryer. Dryer balls are noisy, yes, but much greener than the sheets (reusable!) and, in my opinion, far more effective. But, let's back up a step--I've never come across an article of clothing in my life that says, "Must use dryer sheets."
If you have your own dryer
That is very true.
If you don't, and use laundromats, you end up getting the ghost of dryer sheets past on your clothes.
If you can bring your spun out laundry home with you and hang it up, so much the better.
You vill line dry, and you vill like it!!
For pity's sake. Where did this concept that anything which is allowed will be required come from? Or that if you can't, no one else should be allowed to either? I can't decide if this is a conservative nightmare or wetdream, though I suspect the latter.
You don't have to get "gay married".
You don't have to use birth control.
You don't have to own a gun.**
You don't have to line dry.
Relax, and get out of your neighbors' business.
**This one is of course incorrect. There are areas in the US where gun ownership is required of home owners. See Kennesaw GA for example. But in the rest of the rational world...
But in the rest of the rational world...
You mean like in Switzerland?
I love Switzerland...
...But have you ever been there? Different planet. They have chinchilla food in the supermarkets!!
Chinchilla food
"They have chinchilla food in the supermarkets'
Is that food for chinchillas or food made out of chinchillas?
No, not like in Switzerland at all
Home owners aren't required to own weapons. Men serving in the military are.
In fact, the last stats I saw show 29% of Swiss households owning guns, vs. 43% of American households.
Thanks for trying though.
Um...
Actually, it's not a military per se. It's a militia.They are required to own not 'assault weapons', (scary looking AR15 type stuff), but actual military assault rifles. The ammo is issued but strictly regulated. Since they are home owners or renters, these rifles are widely distributed among the chinchilla owning population...
I'll bet the 29% you cite is civilian guns beyond the required stuff...
Thanks for trying, AC.
Pollen
Pollen is only a problem a few weeks out of the year, late May/early June and late August/ September.
If you want to be green and can't line-dry, though . . .
You can still rack-dry. There are still at-least-halfway-decent wire and wooden racks made these days.
How did I ever make it to
How did I ever make it to adult hood? Most people my age grew up in households that moms line dried sheets and clothes on nice days - sheets even in winter at times. We had a dryer but there's nothing like line dried sheets. To a kid, there's nothing like running through moms hanging laundry!
Maybe that helped build up an immunity from allergies? We certainly weren't as protected from environmental triggers as kids seem to be now a days.
Republicans should propose U.S. flag flying amendment
I might ask one of the four Republicans in the Senate to attempt to tack on an amendment allowing condo dwellers to fly Old Glory. Or perhaps, burning bed sheets, ala Cabrini-Green of the 1970's. Roll Call votes, of course.
Watching the mostly far-left Senate squirm would be entertaining.
How about you can fly if, but
How about you can fly if, but only if it is wet, and you're drying it out.
This is a great idea. Unlike
This is a great idea.
Unlike most appliances, there's no such thing as an Energy Star dryer, since dryers are inherently very energy intensive. And the sun will do the same thing for free -- all you need is a clothesline or laundry rack.
And the idea that laundry drying is lower-class -- that's a matter of opinion. Environmentalists should start a PR campaign to change this attitude.
I just wish he'd gone a step further, and proposed a state law instead of a local option.
"And the idea that laundry
"And the idea that laundry drying is lower-class -- that's a matter of opinion. Environmentalists should start a PR campaign to change this attitude."
Ha! You didn't know my grandmother. Child of the Depression and as a young woman during WWII, she was definitely proud of the fact that she and my grandfather had reached the point where they could afford a clothes dryer. She also had a clothesline that she used frequently, but she had rules for how she positioned the laundry. Large bedsheets went facing the street to shield the unmentionables from prying eyes...
My other grandmother never had a clothes dryer. Not because she couldn't afford one, but because she didn't see the need. Her clothesline and (during the winter) European-style drying rack worked just fine for her.
I couldn't ...
... just hang my clothes to dry in Barrett's backyard?
I wouldn't live in a place
I wouldn't live in a place that didn't allow a clothesline. Really, what's so ugly about a line of sheets, towels or clothing drying in the sun and breeze? I have a Cadillac clothesline in JP with ball bearing metal pulleys from Canada. I also own a dryer, by the way, and use it when I have to. It has its place but reduces the life of your washables.
If I were house hunting and
If I were house hunting and found a place I liked, and then found out there was a condo bylaw against drying laundry outdoors, I'd make sure to let the president of the association know that was the reason I wouldn't buy the place.
Social and psychological manipulation
Corporations have manipulated 'middle class' people [and almost all people, even poor people, like to think of themselves as 'middle class', not 'poor', or worse 'trash'] into using exclusively washing machines, dryers, all kinds of concoctions for washing and drying clothes, making them smell pretty, and so-on. One of the most successful marketing techniques is mocking a product or attitude as being 'ignorant' or 'low class', where-as suggesting another product[s] and way of doing things is the 'normal' and 'respectable' way. Most people IMO are very insecure, consciously or unconsciously, about their 'class' and how others perceive them. And they can be pretty easily manipulated along these lines.
People of course should be free to hang clothes in the open air if they choose, in an appropriate spot.
Amusingly, some of the main reasons people today have so many skin and allergy problems is they have been brainwashed by corporate marketing to over wash, over clean and over use multiple products that are generally cut with a base of dubious chemicals and other ingredients, mostly chosen for their inexpensive cost my the manufacturer. Drug dealers do the exact same thing with cocaine and heroin, sometimes with dire results. And many organic and natural ingredients are just as toxic as the artificial and synthetic kind.
BRA
Should make it mandatory for developers to add clothes lines into the design of all new condo projects in the City. Just like eliminating required parking spaces, people looking to buy in the City are not looking for clothes dryers.
Tortured logic
Instead, I would point out that requiring clotheslines in the design of all new condo projects is like requiring parking spaces. Some folks are going to use them, but there's no reason to force everyone to have them.
Next you're going to tell me that God created heaven and earth, and the required number of parking spaces to go with them.
The chutzpah of automobile-welfare queens know no bounds.