I used the term comic relief not to indicate a joke, but to indicate the inability of a homeowners association to come up with any idea that is actually business oriented.  fishtales, rope walk, dead freddies, all have playgrounds, and all are 'paved' with a very inexpensive commodity . . . sand.

when on the clubs committee I also presented a slew of fairly bright ideas . . . most of which went nowhere.  the ones that were accepted were basically the window dressing ideas, anything based on sound business principal went nowhere.  

as joe says, there has never been a time where the board considers return on investment.  I previously pointed out the "it's only x$ per property owner" refrain; another thing that gets me nuts is "it's an amenity", used constantly to justify YC losses and mistakes.

BTW, speaking of things that get me nuts, been working on my 50 words . . . it truly is disgraceful that property owners are provided that meaningless amount of info with which they are supposed to make an informed decision.

steve lind