Saturday, October 11, 2003

Go Cubs!
Condolences to Floridians, who have to deal with all the issues of common interest housing as well as the Floundering Fish. As I write it is 7-0 Cubs in Game 4. Matt Clement, he of the cow-pie-on-the-chin, Amish-farmer-on-the-mound look, is inexplicably winning the game. Until tonight I considered him a curse on the Cubs, some sort of albatross, or perhaps albacore, who was sent to torment the team that has been sentenced to permanent ignomnity for not letting a guy bring his goat into the stadium in 1947, or some such rot. But here's a guy with a goat beard winning a game that any rational human would think he was going to lose. It could change at any minute, but so far it is a strange and terrible thing to behold. As a Chicagoan I can do nothing but chortle with glee as The Man With the Strange Thing on His Face inches toward a victory.
Go figure.

Tuesday, October 07, 2003

Request for comments on CAI Bill of Rights
In February I will be speaking at the annual Community Association Law Seminar sponsored by the Community Associations Institute. I'll be at a panel discussion on "Is 'Rights and Responsibilities for Better Communities' the Answer to HOA Critics?" That is a reference to a document that you can view on line at the CAI website, here. The other panelists will be attorneys Molly Foley-Healey (primary author of "Rights and Responsibilities") and Dave Ramsey, and property manager Sandra Denton.
I would appreciate receiving any intelligent, reasoned opinion on the subject from interested observers. Note "intelligent, reasoned." That means, please, no venomous screeds, conspiracy diatribes, or calls for the abolition of common interest housing. This is a panel about whether or not the CAI "Rights and Responsibilities" document will satisfy HOA critics. If yes, then why? If no, then why not? I don't promise to answer all the e-mails I get on this, although I'll try to acknowledge them all. But I am genuinely interested in taking in whatever you all have to say. The deadline for submission of my paper to CAI is Monday, November 3, so keep that in mind. Thanks for your help.
McKenzie is back on the air!
Sorry for the long absence. We went on vacation in Panara, Iowa and had no computer access at all except for one visit to a nice lady at the management office of the local homeowner association who let me sit at her desk and check my e-mail. How's that for irony?
Then I went to the American Political Science Association annual meeting in Philadelphia, where 5000 political scientists had to wait in long lines to check their e-mail at about 12 computers.
Then my son and I went to Glasgow, Scotland, where I spoke at an international conference on gated communities. This was put on by the University of Glasgow, and it was a great success. The papers will be posted on the web soon, along with some of the Powerpoint presentations, and I'll give you all the URL when it is up.