The Skellies of Burgundy Lane

Updated October 6, 2025

I’ve lived in Westridge Manor Estates since 2002. Although I’m not an original owner, I’ve been here 23 of the neighborhood’s 36 years. We chose this neighborhood because of its location and were gratified to see that it had a low-key Home Owner’s Association (HOA) that was largely focused on maintaining common ground and ensuring a reasonable level of upkeep, generally tied to the regulations already existing in our municipality. All that changed in the spring of 2024, when a group of activist homeowners created a proposed slate of changes to our neighborhood indenture.

In our opinion, the proposed amendments represented a gross overreach of the intended authority of the Trustees. Although we do believe the Trustees were acting in the best interests of the neighborhood, the wording of some of the amendments and the way business was conducted seemed to indicate that they might not have been receiving the best legal counsel at the time. The proposal was created behind closed doors and without serious attempts to solicit broad resident input, only being shared with homeowners when it was time to vote. When we received it, I sent a letter to the HOA making some key points in the hopes that these could be addressed before the vote was finalized. My concerns include:

• The proposed amendments allow the HOA to impose fines and penalties and suspend the membership rights of homeowners due to violations – all at the discretion of the Trustees, creating the opportunity to arbitrary and capricious penalties that are not subject to approval by owners or to periodic review.
• The proposed amendments strip homeowners of the rights to use their property in the manner they see fit by preventing rentals and home-based businesses, both of which are important in today’s economy. Whether you’re a retiree looking to make extra money teaching piano lessons or a young family who can’t afford a down payment but who could afford to rent in a great neighborhood with great schools, you’re out of luck. Additionally, preventing rentals is a way of “redlining” neighborhoods and promoting exclusivity – and many of us who live here value diversity in our community and chose this area because it was diverse.
• The proposed amendments created policies addressing problems that were largely non-issues – including where residents store their trash cans and how long they leave their holiday decorations up. Several older residents voiced concerns about the restriction on Christmas decorations since January weather can be unpredictable and they don’t want to have to pay someone to take their decorations down or be subject to a fine. These rules may prevent them from decorating at all.
• The proposed amendments were sloppily constructed, omitting subsections and not specifying whether they were deleted or still in force, which creates ambiguity and potential legal liability for the neighborhood. Similarly, there are sections which are overly vague, creating exposure for the HOA and the homeowners. Vague comments on yard maintenance could negatively impact nontraditional landscaping and pollinator plots, which are important to many of us (and should be important to all of us).

I also circulated the letter to other residents that I knew because my fear was that busy residents might not read the proposal or fully understand the rights they were being asked to give up or might not take the time to vote. I’m a firm believer in civic responsibility: speaking up when there is injustice and playing a role in the process. I proposed alternative language/positions to the HOA. Unfortunately, the new amendments passed during the homeowner vote, and as I confirmed afterward many of my neighbors didn’t read the document or didn’t understand the rights they were giving away. This became even more clear at a subsequent neighborhood meeting to discuss the structure of fines or penalties for violations – with several people stating they didn’t agree the trustees should be able to do this despite having voted for the proposal.

I’ve never been big into decorating for holidays, mostly because I’ve been a physician working 12 to 14 hour shifts and haven’t had the time or energy. The provision to limit holiday decorations was trying to address a problem our neighborhood hasn’t really had. During the process of lobbying neighbors against the proposed amendments, I made a joke to a neighbor that I’ve not been a big decorator but if they passed I would embark on a campaign of year-round holiday decorations involving skeletons.

Why skeletons? Because Halloween is my favorite holiday, and because I’m a doctor, and I think skeletons are cool. They support us each and every day and in classical art skeletons can be seen as a symbol not only of death and mortality but as one of rebirth and renewal. Halloween decorations have become immensely popular and posable skeletons are easily obtained. There are a number of households in the St. Louis area that have skeletons decorated in their yards year round, which also inspired me.

Thus, on Labor Day weekend of 2024, the Skellies of Burgundy Lane were born. Despite having lived here for two decades, there were a lot of neighbors I hadn’t met due to work hours or being busy raising two children. Since the Skellies came into being, I’ve met more neighbors than I had in the past decade, and all of them have made positive comments. Our mail carrier is particularly fond of the Skellies and even makes regular suggestions on holidays and seasonal themes they should celebrate. I was thrilled to make his first request come to life in January 2025. Since then, the Skellies have become less of a protest and more of a thing of whimsy for me. I love the fact that they make people smile, and several residents make a point of asking “what are they going to do next” or asking why they’re not out if we’re between holidays. They also have a following in the community and have been mentioned in online groups by people who pass through our neighborhood to take their kids to school. I know many of my neighbors despise cut-through traffic but it’s less than it was 20 years ago when we had a fully functioning high school across the street, and if you’re looking at the Skellies or slowing to read their signs you’re not speeding.

I enjoy decorating the Skellies as a message to specific people, whether it’s the mail carrier or whether it’s a neighborhood mom who is stressing about sending her oldest child to kindergarten, which inspired the Back to School display. Compared to some of the other “year round” skeleton displays, mine is tame. I usually only put out two or three at a time (with a maximum of five) and I keep them nestled in the front landscaping under a tree. They’re not in the middle of the yard. They’re designed to be humorous and whimsical and aren’t scary or of the “horror” genre of skeleton displays as others are.

I enjoy calling attention to rarely celebrated holidays and to honoring those in my life by commemorating Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, the birthday of the US Air Force, Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and Pride Month. I also like having the ability to call attention to social causes through World Cleanup Day and the two weekends of Scouting for Food. Sometimes the Skellies are funny, as when they satirized egg prices last Valentine’s Day. Our Doctor’s Day display was featured in a national physician’s group with over 91,000 members. The Skellies now have their own Facebook and Instagram profiles, are featured on my employer’s intranet site, and are regularly viewed by individuals in over 20 countries.

It’s been brought to my attention that some neighbors have a problem with the Skellies, but none have approached me directly. Instead, they’ve written a letter to the HOA, who made me verbally aware of the complaint although the Trustee who spoke to me stated that no violation has occurred. I encouraged the head of the HOA to have those neighbors contact me individually so I can talk to them about the “why” behind all of this. If they care so deeply about making the Skellies go away, they’ll have to amend the HOA indentures. And while they’re at it, perhaps they’ll consider restoring the rights of homeowners that have been taken away and making our neighborhood a leader in promoting diversity, eco-friendly landscaping, and the ability for us to use our properties as we see fit.

For those of you who don’t like the Skellies, I’m sorry. They’ve been one of the most fun things I’ve done in the last decade and having this creative outlet has been rejuvenating. They’ve also introduced me to lots of new friends. If you like the Skellies and their whimsy, I’m always open to ideas. The only rules are that the Skellies have to be environmentally sustainable – all props have to be thrifted or repurposed and should be compostable if they’re not reusable (such as the paper signs).

Thanks for reading if you’ve come this far.

Sincerely,
Amanda
porchskeletons@gmail.com