Ruckus over tape recordings disrupt homeowners association
Nancy Levy sent this slice of HOA life, about a man who was arrested for having the temerity to audiotape an HOA meeting. To those folks who keep asking me how an HOA is any different than a normal city, I reply: show me one guy who got arrested for taping a city council meeting. Why on earth any municipal police department would do the bidding of these HOA mucky-mucks I'll never know. Read the justification given for this ridiculous policy and then tell me we don't need major reform of this institution.

Feel free to take notes at Phoenix Pointe South Mountain Residential Association meetings, but be advised that recording them could have consequences. It did for board member Mike Harris, who says he was arrested. At the association's July 11 meeting, board members took the unusual step of calling Pointe South Mountain Resort security after one of their own ­ Harris. A board member for the past two years, Harris was removed from the premises after he refused to turn off his tape recorder just before the meeting began. The security in turn dispatched a Phoenix police officer who asked Harris to turn off the tape recorder. Still refusing to shut it off, Harris said he was placed under arrest and handcuffed...Association board vice president Jane Karkosky said she objects to being tape recorded out of fear that board members will have to spend time reviewing tapes of lengthy meetings and be weighed down by minutiae.