Pink House In Pflugerville Raises Eyebrows

PFLUGERVILLE, TEXAS — The singer John Mellencamp once wrote lovingly of "little pink houses," inferring such hued abodes were part and parcel of the American Dream. But in Pflugerville, one man's choice of house color has garnered decidedly more mixed reviews.

Upon purchasing his home in November, Emilio Rodriguez started to paint it pink. And we're not talking a dash of pink here and a drop of pink there. The whole structure from the roof to the gutters is painted pink.

Whimsical? Fun? Not everybody thinks so. Residents have taken to their Facebook neighborhood page largely to gripe about the unique home, pejoratively labeling it as a paean to Pepto-Bismol. Rodriguez prefers to liken it to bubble gum instead, calling the home his pink palace.

Paralyzed from the waist down after a car accident in his childhood, Rodriguez told Fox 7 that the color helps soothe him as he deals with ongoing medical treatment. "When I have to do medical stuff I can look up at the pink house and it kind of calms me down a little bit," Rodriguez told the news station. "People say it looks like Pepto-Bismol, but I'm going for pink slime."

But not everyone has their figurative pink-colored glasses affixed to their face or seem la vie en rose as Rodriguez does. Residents by and large hate the color scheme, as they've expressed on the Facebook neighborhood page. Some seeing red, not pink, are calling for the creation of a homeowners' association (HOA) to exert some measure of regulation.

Rodriguez counters the haters by noting he'd be grandfathered in, even if an HOA were to form. "Even if they made an HOA right here I'm already grandfathered in so we're set," he told Fox 7. "I did my homework beforehand."

Such assertions no doubt have some residents literally reaching for some Pepto-Bismol, and not as a linguistic device toward figurative analogy. In brushing aside the naysayers, Rodriguez said he's not done yet: "The driveways' going to be pink," he told the news station. "I'm getting all the grass removed for pink tile blocks. I'm going to have pink spot lights on the trees pink car. I will paint my wheel chair pink."

Indeed, the pink house has energized this community in a way not seen since last month's announcement by Austin Foam Plastics Inc. — a foam, corrugated molded pulp and wood packaging maker — alerting to its $5 million plant expansion that will create more than 20 jobs.

There's something you should know about Pflugerville. This is s town that revels in appropriating the silent "p" of its German name to spell civic events that would normally just start with an "f." There's the Spring Pfling coming up March 30, with early registration open for Summer Pfun Camp. The Deutschen Pfest in May is billed in city advisories as an annual "pfestival" celebrating heritage music, food, arts & crafts and a carnival. The Pfarmers Market runs from May to November here as a stop for locally grown produce and prepared foods. Film lovers descend to the Pfloating Movies event where they get to take in a flick while cooling down at Mentzer Pool. The library's Maker Pfest showcases the work of local artists. While the rest of us celebrate the 4th of July, residents here celebrate Pflugerville Pfirecracker Pfestival .

It goes on and on and on like this in Pflugerville, an endless pfont of word variations pforevermore. Which is all to say: You'd think some Pflugerville pfolks might have a more developed sense of humor or whimsy. Oh, but ain't that America, for you and me? Ain't that America, we're something to see baby. Ain't that America, home of the free, yeah, little pink houses for you and me. Oh, for you and me.

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