The Village of Great Neck apparently not only doesn’t want its residents’ dirty laundry aired in public but it’s clean laundry as well.
The village board cracked down on clotheslines last week, passing a law banning the drying of laundry in residents’ front yards.
Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman indicated the law was a response to specific garment exhibitionists whose air-drying of their underthings had drawn complaints from neighbors.
“Village government is the government closest to the people and is the most responsive and efficient form of government. As such, we often take steps to ensure that the quality of life of our residents is protected,” said Kreitzman in a statement. “Our residents care about our village and their homes and their appearance. We have a beautiful village, and I and my board of trustees do not believe that hanging clothes in a front yard is appropriate behavior. The actions of a few have made it necessary to pass this law.”
The law prohibits the outdoor drying of clothes outside the front or sides of a building, or within 10 feet of any property line.
This is not the first time clotheslines have been at the center of legal action. Legislators in Colorado, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont have passed so-called “right to dry” laws prohibiting homeowners associations and condominium boards from instituting blanket bans on outdoor drying, according to a 2009 New York Times report, and Maryland followed suit with its own laundry rights bill in 2010.
