And even though August is over, many residents have kept their blue lights up. But in one Central Point neighborhood, it’s homeowner’s association is asking them to remove some of them, and residents are upset.
“I don’t agree,” Janice Combs says.
Janice Combs has lived in the Hidden Grove Green Valley neighborhood for a few years now. She was one of many on her street to swap her white lights for blue during the month of August as a show of support for local law enforcement.
“They say that they drive around and see them and it makes them feel happy,” Combs says, “and so I wanted them to know that we support them.”
Now that August has come and gone, the homeowner’s association is asking residents to change some of them back. In a newsletter posted online, and emailed to those who subscribe, it cites the need to have well-lit streets, and asks residents to remove the blue bulbs from the light posts at the edge of their property, and put them on their homes instead.
Combs hadn’t seen the newsletter until we stopped by, but she tells us the colored lights shouldn’t be an issue.
“There’s enough regular lights,” Combs says, “I haven’t read anything that we’re not allowed to put blue lights, yellow lights, orange lights.”
She says she plans to keep her blue light shining, even if others take theirs down.
“Showing my support for our law enforcement and as long as I can do that by a simple blue light then I’ll do that.”
We looked up the subdivision’s rules which state that homeowners are responsible for maintaining the post lights outside of their home with an “approved photoelectric post light”. The rules do not specify which colors or sizes are approved.
An employee at the neighborhood’s office did not want to appear on camera, but told us homeowners are able to appeal any HOA rules, and says at this point the board has not decided whether they will fine homeowners for neglecting to take the blue lights down.
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