What Makes a Good Neighborhood?

We live in what we think is a beautiful neighborhood.  It's called Redbird Creek,  named for the creek that runs behind it and for the Cardinals that live there.  It's full of mature live oaks and towering pines with landscaping kept very natural.  We are what's called a covenant protected community which means that we have a set of rules and regulations that govern how we keep our subdivision looking good.  We can't cut trees without permission, all building must be approved by an architectural committee, and no boats, ATVs, jetskis may be kept in driveways and must be screened from the road.And as you can see it is a beautiful place.  But now some in our community have decided that in addition to the rules and regulations we have that we should start fining our neighbors if they don't follow the rules.  It's obvious that most, if not all of us, are following the rules, but that's not good enough.  What a horrible thing to do to a community, turning one neighbor against another and 

actively encouraging neighbors to report infractions. 

 Mac and I take a 2 mile

 walk through our neighborhood everyday and have never seen anything being done that deserved a fine.  

 Well this was brought to a vote at our annual Homeowner's Association Meeting on Sunday and the vote ended in a tie, so we're at a standstill.  We don't know what's going to happen, but I hope that they simply let it die and realize that even without fines we'll continue to take care of our properties because no one wants to destroy the beauty we have here and we don't need a fine to make us do it.