Halloween Might Really Suck This Year

Even though I basically live in Van Nuys, technically our area is called Valley Glen. I subscribe to our neighborhood association newsletter which is e-mailed out as a PDF a few times a year. I just got the winter edition.

Below is a clipped portion of it that tells me I should be more involved in city government. Click on images to enlarge...


17 comments:

  1. Dave I think that really sucks. Do you own your house? Do you have a HOA? If not I seriously doubt the city can dictate what you can and can't put in your yard unless it's something physically hazardous.

    Petition and bring it to town halls and get involved. But seriously I don't think they have the legal grounds upon which to force such a law. Utterly ridiculous.

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  2. Wait... You're serious? This isn't a 4/1 prank?

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  3. Oh my stars, that is scarier than ANYthing I could create for Halloween. Woah. Keep us updated!!

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  4. Nice April Fool's....the website you list on the newsletter header does not exist. Good one.

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  5. Congrats, first April fools blog posting I fell for today (and I've seen a LOT)!

    The website for the paper gave it away ;-)

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  6. I assume this is an April Fool's Joke, if not I'd consider moving. Good luck fighting city hall, if it's not.

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  7. Oh come on...say it...SAY IT:
    April fools!

    it better be...

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  8. I'm hoping Mr. Lowe has us all fooled! After googling said Valley Glen Herald and the offending council members.. I couldn't find a trace, so I'm hoping I've been duped for an April Fools joke!!

    We have someone who goes overboard for Christmas around here and the city made him contain his display due to the amount of traffic and people that went to see it.. They said he needed a permit because ONE neighbor was complaining and got a couple more neighbors to follow suit!! They didn't have a display that year and instead put a huge animated Grinch with his arm pointing to the neighbor who had the problem and his house was subsequently vandalized!!

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6590930/ns/us_news-weird_news/

    I can see both sides of this issue, but Halloween for the most part is contained to around three nights at the most and for most amateur haunters only a big display on the night of! Christmas on the other hand will pull in people for about the entire month just to look at displays!

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  9. carved pumpkins with faces would have to be approved? You've got to be kidding....oh, wait, April Fools!

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  10. I admit it: I totally fell for it! Was all ready to march over to your city hall meeting and everything!

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  11. well, at first I was horrified and then remembered what befalls all of us gullible folks on the first day of April. kudos to you, sir, for an excellent April fool's joke!

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  12. This is pretty much a prank. Did some research for giggles. Here's what I found:

    1. The clipping in the screenshot points to a website called valleyglenherald.og. There's no TLD .og domain and presumed typo for .org but tried both anyways. Both are non-existent.

    2. By federal law, local law can NOT pass laws dictating what can and can't be displayed on your property. They can give you a hard time. But in the end they can't legally enforce it or make you have a permit unless you're charging people to come on to your property which is a whole different matter. Now what wasn't clear is if we were talking Home Owner Association who CAN enforce such craziness and why I will never live in such a neighborhood. But the local can NOT pass laws to do this.

    3. There is a Valley Glen website and the logo in the upper left IS legit - http://www.valleyglen.org however no such article exists anywhere I could find on the site.

    Come on Dave, the gig is up, spill the beans already :-D

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  13. I cry Silly Buggers on you!

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  14. @The Dismal Trader,
    That's classic.
    I love your neighbors
    response. mwahahaha!

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  15. Happy April Fool's Day All. Yes, this post was a gag. I was so surprised by the responses to it. I hope there's no hard feelings from anyone. I thought it an over the top concept, but these days, I guess such a thing could happen and Halloween haters do exist.

    For the record, Valley Glen is a wonderful town and I've always had nothing but support from the neighborhood and community when the display goes up every October.

    It's nice to know the Internet Halloween community is just as supportive and would rally to one's side against such nonsense. A special commendation to reader Terrormaster who went out of his way decoding my bogus newsletter revealing it's a hoax.

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