By Elizabeth Williamson | New York Times
The trouble began when the Potomac Yard Homeowners Association reminded Frank Capone in mid-January 2021 to take down his Christmas lights.
Most homeowners would have rolled their eyes and complied. Mr. Capone studied case law, called a lawyer, requested a hearing, ran for the HOA board and kept the lights glowing for years.
Potomac Yard is in Alexandria, Va., an affluent Washington suburb that is home to lawyers, federal workers, government contractors and politicians, including more than 100 members of Congress. Alexandria voted 77 percent for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, and so did Potomac Yard. Mr. Capone voted for President Trump twice.
Those politics, along with strong personalities and an exacting HOA that bans everything from brass front doorknobs to window boxes, have driven nearly five years of war between Mr. Capone and his outraged board. The battle stands out for its excess. Mr. Capone has spent $40,000 suing the HOA over his right to plant a Mickey Mouse flag in his front flower pot and revoke the street parking privileges of 22 neighbors. Seeking to oust him from leadership, his association started a multimedia campaign, including a video of his Zoom meeting outbursts that drew eyeballs from several states.
The case is another example of how the nation’s partisan divide has reached the hyperlocal level. Nearly one-quarter of Americans belong to an HOA, whose dominion over private property draws ever more complaints. In Florida, where nearly half of residents live in HOA communities, a Republican state legislator, Representative Juan Carlos Porras, is “seriously considering” legislation banning the associations entirely.
“We should not have authoritarian boards dictate your day to day life with no accountability,” he wrote on X.
Mr. Capone, while hardly alone in his efforts, is singular in his approach. He calls it “targeting the devil.”
“He’d be better off living on a rural road where he can just throw garbage out the back door,” said Patrick Doherty, a board member of the homeowners’ association. “But he chose to live in an HOA.”
