ARC of the Covenant (and By-Laws)

Most everyone who’s ever met me knows that I’m really quite a sweet girl. A lot of people who don’t know me but just see me walking down the street tend to cross to the other side just to avoid me. I guess I’m OK with that. I mean, the "visual deterrent" aspect of being a pit bull does come in handy as Dad pretends to restrain me from attacking a group of young hoodlems every now and again.
If I were vicious, though, I think I’d save up my unbridled rage and unleash my 1500 lbs. per-square-inch-strong jaws in the direction of the Architectural Review Committee (ARC) and the Board of Trustees here where we live.
Mom and Dad had their hearing with the Board to appeal the decision of the ARC to enforce their arbitrary rule against window boxes. They’d been going back and forth (by letter) for quite some time, but this was their big face to face showdown. Dad prepared a presentation pointing out the inconsistencies of their rules manual (the boxes were only "prohibited" after we put them up) and used their own mission statement to point out how window boxes "enhanced amenities and preserved property values" and "contributed to making our community a more pleasant" place. Mom was optimistic about the hearing. She knew that the ARC was a misguided group of anal retentive, power-obsessed, student-council-president-wanna-be’s (think Tracy Flick in Election) but she also knew that our argument was iron clad. The presentation included pictures of our beautiful boxes (in bloom, of course) and even showed a window box on a house like ours from another Renaissance community.
Going in, Mom thought that any reasonable group of people who’d been elected to make rational, reasoned, informed decisions for the entire community would see the error of the ARC’s ways and rule in our favor. Dad, on the other hand, didn’t share her optimism. He’d been dealing with this situation for a while and hadn’t told Mom of the bad feeling he had. The storm clouds were gathering thicker every time he’d spoken to the Community Manager, Tyler. Tyler was in agreement with us but is basically just the office manager for the community. He’s also responsible for sending out the violation letters. He’d been sharing some inside dirt on the workings of the Board, about how they’re inherently lazy and how they let the ARC do all the work. In exchange, the Board basically rubber-stamps decisions made by the ARC.
I’m BORING you, right? I know. Sorry. I'll stop now...

All I know is, the hearing put my Mom in the hospital!

To be continued…