Musical Ice Cream truck

It depends,
Do you like ice cream?

What could possibly be more annoying then the same music (Mary had a little lamb) over, and over again? (most always around dinner time)The days of Beaver Cleaver (watch old tv shows)are gone when kids waited until the ice cream truck would come around.
Food stores carry every possible variety of ice cream products, so stop the soliciting in your community.
But! You can't put up a sign specifically banning "Ice Cream" trucks.
Our Private Community has signs at the entrance saying "No Soliciting" along with a "No Trespassing" sign. We had a religious group come into the community, and when they were confronted, we were told they saw the no soliciting signs, but they were not selling anything. They apologized, and told us if we had a no trespassing sign posted, they would not have entered the property.

Keep in mind, we are a Private Community located on Private Property with nine Board Members, so it enables us to maintain strict guidelines to protect our community.

Jim

Board President

Is there a reason not to allow the Musical Icream Truck to drive in your HOA? If there were no children or the music was annoying then maybe. But, if there are children and you can tolerate the music and the ice cream truck drives safely, why not allo him? It is not like he is knocking door to door soliciting.

I love the ice cream truck! They just couldn't fit through our streets very well. I say it's time the kid's take back the streets and go to that Ice Cream truck again! We need to get back to our good memories of what it means to be a kid and the summer. Too many video games and fears put onto our kids. An old fashion ice cream truck with it's blaring annoying music should be enough to bring and induce new memories of a good childhood...Let the Ice Cream truck in!!!

Or just tell the guy the stay out...

If your Association allows solicitation, then they are allowed.

If your Association prohibits solicitation, then they are not (along with not allowing girl scout cookies, boy scouts popcorn, etc.).

How can anyone (board member) who has volunteered to enforce the CC&R's of an Association pick and choose the rules you will enforce. If you cannot equally enforce them all, you cannot enforce any.
The meaning of solicitation is to sell a product.
If you allow Ice Cream trucks then you cannot descriminate, or deny any type of sales in your community, and you might as well become a typical neighborhood community.
If your Association allows solicitations, then you are fine, but because one may think it is "cute" to see children chasing after an ice cream truck, but your rules say there is to be NO Solicitating, then you must by law enforce the rules.
Acting on your responsibilities as a board member over rules your "feelings" of trying to go back to the good ole days.
Unlike some high class HOA's in our area, (who would never allow Ice Cream Trucks) we don't perceive ourselves to be so much as high class, but more stable then to allow these types of trucks in the community.

Jim

Board President

Children living in HOA's that enforce their guidelines, and do not permit Ice Cream Vendors in their communities turn out to be just as responsible adults as those who some of you "feel" would be deprived if they were not allowed to chase after trucks in the streets.
Streets in our community are designated for the use of vehicles. (one post suggested kids should take over the streets again)
Our children today are cooped up in the houses with their ipods, computers, televisions, cell phones, and every conceivable electronic device they can get us to buy.
Better to get them outside again for recreational purposes which does not include chasing ice cream trucks.

Jim

Kelly,

I agree. We do allow solicitations so this specific issue is a non-issue to me. Although I agree that if there is no solicitations the covenant should be enforced, our BOD uses the following methodology:

If a complaint is made, we will investigate and enforce if need be.
If we see a violation, we will investigate and enforce if need be.
We do not go around looking for violations outside our once a year architectural inspection.

Granted, some covenants might be broken between inspections. However, with a volunteer board you can only do so much and honestly, I have a lot more issues to be concerned about instead of having an ice cream truck drive through the neighborhood. However, if someone complained, we would go through the paperwork.

Tim

First, the speeding car killed the kids and not the ice cream truck. Ban an ice cream truck and still have the speeding cars, you still have potential for accidents.

Second, an HOA exists to protect the property values (as best possible) of all the homeowners since everyone loves so closely together. Its not designed to sanction a bunch of meddling neighbors to ponder ice cream truck violations or, better yet, file anonymous complaints demanding an "ice cream truck" investigation. Just treat the complaintant to a Nutty Buddy.

Third, an ice cream truck does not affect property values. It's transient and won't return if there's no money being made on that particular route. Think about it.

Fourth, to stretch a "no solicitation" covenant to cover ice cream trucks is silly. The customers chase the truck. The ice cream man is not knocking on your front door and invading your privacy, the real (and excellent) purpose of eliminating solicitation in a community.

The only "violation" of a solicitation may be society's linkage of silly jingles lightly playing from the ice cream truck, but there's no hard solicitation. There are harder feelings contained within those people who have grown too old, bitter and consumed with HOA duty to find a little charm in a rather drab world.

I write this as a formerly self-consumed HOA president who is now the same HOA President with a bit of perspective on the whole situation called "living in a neighborhood." I like my latter self, and my nerves gentle rest in my skin as a result. Live in the countryside if you want utter isolation from urban/suburban life.

However, in fairness to private gated communities.....please lock out whomever you please. Fair enough and even ice cream trucks should comply.

If solicitation is the attempt to sell any product;
And HOA's exist to preserve or increase property value;

Isn't that increase a product?
Should an HOA ban themselves?

Jim,

This sounds like the stereotypical "Old Folks vs the Younger Families" battles where passive-aggressive action is taken against families by punishing a non-pushy vendor.

Webster's defines soliciting as "trying to obtain by usually urgent requests or pleas" or "to urge strongly." An ice cream truck doesn't meet the basic definition.
However, an uninvited, door-to-door salesman would violate this premise as that action IS intrusive, requires a level of urgent salesmanship and shut be halted.
"No Solicitation" enforcement would also cover your neighbors who invite salespeople onto the property.

Technically, you have a non-starter because you inherently have to ignore an equal application of the "no soliciting" rule.

Let those few families enjoy their ice cream and keep a common sense perspective on this. This makes me feel bad for being an HOA president. You're bored if "Mary Had a Little Lamb" sends you into a rant.

As silly as it sounds, "yes." Thrown in your newspaper man since he's distributing literature, daily, that contains solicitations.

It won't end.

the best way to get rid of an ice cream truck is don't buy any ice cream...they won't waste their time in a neighborhood no one buys.

Kelly,
You are right ... this is one of the saddest threads on here.

Santa was arrested for breaking and entering.
The Easter Bunny was fined for leaving eggs all over the common area and is therefore not a member in good standing and no longer allowed access

"The childish posts on this forum is what is SAD." - YES!

"The purpose of the site is to address SENSIBLE issues, and concerns dealing with HOA's." - YES!

"If you folks are members of the board in your communities the opinions you are giving on this topic is not helpful to folks who would be reading the posts for the first time." - IF THIS TOPIC IS THE FIRST THEY READ ON HOATALK.COM, THIS WEBSITE LOST A READER!

"Look over some of the posts you have put out, and ask yourself if you are acting like responsible representatives for your Associations." - YES, WE ARE ADDING LEVITY TO SOME OF THESE COMPLAINING POSTS AND PROVING THAT THERE ARE HOA MEMBERS, EVEN PRESIDENTS, WHO HAVE LITTLE SOUL IN THEM.

"Why not let this topic end?" YOU OFFERED THE BIGGEST PARTY W/ THE OUTRAGE OVER A POOR ICE CREAM TRUCK, SO WE DANCED!

In true seriousness, there are very deep issues discussed here and I engage those in a different tone and manner. But, I think, the notion that HOA members would go so far as to shoo small joys in life away from their neighborhoods makes more than one member of this internet forum - who are board officers, self-conscious of their decision to volunteer for Homeowners' Association management. In fairness, you, as president, can set any tone you wish with your community and I wish you luck with your strategy as I believe it's doomed to lessen your credibility w/ your neighbors and colleagues as a leader. If you're a president who "doesn't care what they think," you should take a break from HOA activities. Now that is a responsible bit of feedback.

The passive-aggressive nature of any internet chat forum lends itself to people, like me in this case, to "laugh out loud" through text. However, any board member who came to our meetings to complain about an ice cream truck that residents obviously enjoy would face the yuck-yucks in person and to their face. It's simply too good to pass up if you have a sense of humor. Sorry about that. As president, I would seek Webster's Dictionary definition (listed above) as the basis for defining the word "solicitation" and compare to any vendor's behavior in our community.

What you seek is to restrict all economic activity in your community EXCEPT that which is authorized to conduct HOA business. Go in that direction and we'll all, by newly-enacted covenant, shut up, follow the letter and oberve a leader from afar.

Actually Tim, I heard Santa was in trouble for not picking up all the Reindeer droppings.

From reading the initial posting, the main issue on this thread was solicitation. Which many, including myself, did address.

However, many threads do take different turns and twists as different things come up.


If you go back and read the initial postings, you will of course see that the initial issue was addressed. There were three options given:

1. If there is no soliciting then enforce it.
2. If soliciting is allowed then let the truck go through
3. leave it alone and let the dollar speak for the association (if purchased they will return)

This thread then touched on the definition of solicitation. It also touched a little bit on safety. Intermixed within this advice was some humor (something most board members get very little of when dealing with Association business). Humor has it's merit in many situations as a coping mechanism. It may seem out of place at times but it could be the only method someone has with dealing with an issue.


Personally, I felt that the thread was ending. However, replies to your posting might take it in another direction.

That response was met with this advice:

KellyM3
(North Carolina)

Posts:177
07/27/2011 4:15 AM Quote Reply
First, the speeding car killed the kids and not the ice cream truck. Ban an ice cream truck and still have the speeding cars, you still have potential for accidents.

My last response to this will be:
Two children being killed in a private community by any means is unacceptable. There will always be speeders, but if the ice cream truck had not been in the community the kids would not have been killed. The ice cream truck was the reason the children were in the street.

This is why I think it is silly, and childish to make light of something that took the lives of two children, because society has moved passed the horse, and buggy days before supermarkets carried all types of ice cream, and we have representatives of communities making jokes.
The poster seems to have been a first timer, as well as the one where the children were unfortunately killed.
Wonder how impressed they were with the responses?????

NO more on this topic from me:

Jim

The children could have been chasing a loose pet or a ball, it was still the speeding car that was responsible for their deaths. As a former paramedic I do not take anyone's death lightly but to place the blame on the truck and claim that because this happened you should ban all ice cream trucks is ludicrous. The community that adjoined ours had the misfortune of one of their fire engines hitting and killing a child who was trying to see where it was going, using your logic should we ban fire engines?

Hey - neglience is spelled negligence and there's an "aren't" in there that should be "isn't, " I believe.

Have a great weekend all and I'll leave this one alone forever. I promise.