Corolla resort manager sentenced

The property manager of a Corolla resort community has been sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to embezzling nearly $1 million from her employer.


The embezzled money came primarily from association dues and assessments collected from nearly 100 Buck Island homeowners as well as monies set aside by property owners for ongoing maintenance and repair of their homes, the release states.

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Let's see, HOAs must have the power to foreclose because without it some owners won't pay their dues which just won't be fair on the other owners. Right? But what about all the money that is embezzled from these same poor homeowners? Why is a million dollars" an isolated incident" but a couple of hundred dollars in unpaid assessments cause for foreclosure?

vLog - 29 June 2010: Homeowner's Associations - Putting the "ass" in association

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxx37s5tzdg

Interesting commentary on associations and why it is so difficult to get more homeowner friendly laws passed in Texas. Thanks to Bill Davis for the link.

In North Bay Village, Fraud and Witchcraft Haunt a Condo Building

There are lots of condo association spats and scams in the tiny, scandal-ridden hamlet of North Bay Village. Most of them are pretty boring. That's because most of them don't involve a wrathful warlock.

The situation got stranger last week when tenants found a flyer posted on every door and littering the parking lot, declaring Laracuente's enemies were "annoying bitches" and continued, "All they know how to do is create chaos. Oh, daughters of Lucifer, that ye have been born... only for procreation purposes and to favor evil. We damn our luck for these people joining our community."

Meanwhile, there has been "no maintenance, no cleaning, [and] no garbage collection" since the mystic shit hit the fan, says North Bay Village Vice Mayor Reinaldo Trujillo. "It's a mess. If this situation isn't irregular, I don't know the definition of the word."

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Ah yes, just as Zogby discovered in the CAI poll of "Happy Homeowners", all is well in condo and HOA land.

Controversy Over the American Flag

Controversy is brewing over a flag pole in Woodstock, Georgia. A homeowner is asked to take down the pole flying an American flag.

Jon Hansen has lived in Woodstock's Summerchase subdivision for a decade. The disabled army veteran and former law enforcement officer has flown an American flag outside his Summer Point Drive home since moving in.

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Here we go again. Oh, when will they ever learn?

This same issue keeps coming up over and over again. When will people, vets or plain old citizens, be allowed to live in peace in their own homes?

HOA rules conflict with energy savings

Homeowner battles HOA, wants her roof to reflect an energy-saving ethic

Zoom in on the Google Maps satellite view of University Acres in east Orlando, and the rooftops along Charlie Piper's cul-de-sac look like dark-gray, asphalt stepping stones baking in the sun.

Piper wants to change that. She wants to replace her dark roof with a white one that better reflects the sun and conserves energy inside her home.

Her homeowners association, though, disapproves.

San Diego homeowner finds naked man asleep on sofa

San Diego homeowner finds naked man asleep on sofa

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A San Diego resident awoke to a shocking discovery: a naked stranger passed out on his downstairs sofa.

San Diego police Lt. Jim Filley says the Pacific Beach homeowner called police after wandering downstairs Sunday morning and finding the snoring man.

Filley says the naked man was drunk and thought he was in his own home in Mission Valley, some 20 miles away.

The man, whose name wasn't released, had taken off his clothes outside the house and walked in through the unlocked front door.

The homeowner declined to press charges. And since the intruder had sobered up, he was released to find his own way home.

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Hey, it's summer at the beach in one of America's best beach towns. Whaddya expect?

Don't mess with Texas: Your home is not your castle; outlaw HOAs

Chuck Bloom: It's my castle -- not an HOA's

Some state laws hold that concept to be true; it's your castle if an unwanted intruder invades your property and you use your legally registered weapon to defend yourself – even with lethal force. Even anti-gun advocates have understood such thinking.

But when the intruder goes through the courts and takes the property with a pen, it's not your castle, and you have little say about it. Because of various factors (such as the almighty dollar), that's deemed acceptable behavior.

The very existence of homeowner associations should be outlawed in Texas, but, because of the overwhelming influence of major political donors (including major Texas homebuilders, who create the HOAs), we're left to read about such travesties that befell the Clauer family of Frisco.

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I wonder if Chuck Bloom is related to John Irving Bloom aka Joe Bob Briggs, Dallas comedian and drive in movie reviewer.

(Home sells on courthouse steps for tiny fraction of value. Property owner left SOL. Media and blogosphere outrage. HOA foreclosure fu. One star. Joe Bob says check it out.)

media-ocracy

media-ocracy This is a new blog run by Anthony DiMaggio, a political scientist (and friend of mine) who has a lot of very interesting things to say about politics and the media.

ALIEN TELLS LARRY KING TO LEAVE CNN | Weekly World News

ALIEN TELLS LARRY KING TO LEAVE CNN | Weekly World News
That's the only possible explanation.

Let record show: Blago an equal-opportunity disparager :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Gov. Blagojevich

Let record show: Blago an equal-opportunity disparager :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Gov. Blagojevich
$#*+%! | If you can't say something nice...
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When you string all these bon mots together like this, it is hilarious. Until you realize that he was elected Governor of Illinois, and then re-elected.

Price cuts mount as condos linger in Chicago - chicagotribune.com

Price cuts mount as condos linger in Chicago - chicagotribune.com
A trio of condo developments — one small, one medium and one large — announced price cuts recently as the market readjusts in a post-tax credit market and lenders show their nervousness about the summer selling season.

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I guess the realtors will tell us this means it's TIME TO BUY!

A taxing dilemma: Rising property taxes are strangling some homeowners, especially the elderly (With Video)

A taxing dilemma: Rising property taxes are strangling some homeowners, especially the elderly (With Video)

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Pennsylvania is noted for its multiplicity of townships, boroughs, counties and other local government units that along with school districts make for big property tax bills.

When those taxes go up, seniors on fixed incomes feel squeezed. This cohort along with apartment building owners allied in 1978 to pass California's historic Proposition 13 to limit property taxes. That tax revolt spread throughout the nation and is a key driver of local government privatization. Will the Keystone State be the next battleground?

Don’t Know Much About History?

There’s good news for American education. About three-quarters of residents — 74% — know the U.S. declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776. The bad news for the academic system — 26% do not.

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Do you suppose Zogby polled the 26% who did not know when they conducted the CAI "Happiness" polls? Yes? No? What do you think?

Special districts also suffer from HOA-itis

It's understandable why residents want local control of fire protection, parks and water. Hundreds of special districts sprouted across California to provide such services.

But there's a disturbing downside to the proliferation of all these fiefdoms, particularly independent special districts that have their own elected boards and run their own affairs.

As the 2009-10 Sacramento County grand jury's final report laid out in excruciating detail, because so many operate outside the same kind of public scrutiny trained on city councils and county boards of supervisors, there's an appalling lack of financial transparency, accountability and oversight.

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Special districts have been suggested as public alternatives to private local HOA government. Unlike HOAs organized under state corporation codes, special districts are governmental entities authorized by state government codes. As this Sacramento Bee editorial points out, however, special districts often lack an open, responsible and accountable governance ethic and require better oversight. Notably, the editorial describes special districts as fiefdoms, a term often applied to HOAs.

This suggests that the smaller and more local a form of government, the more likely cult of personality instead of rule of law will be the predominating governing standard. Since they are small, they are more able to hide in the cracks and avoid the disinfecting sunlight of public and media scrutiny.

It's worth bearing in mind for those seeking an alternative to private local government. Ditto for those who contend smaller government is closer and thus more accountable to its constituents. In theory perhaps but not necessarily in practice.

Payback Time - Budget in the Red, Illinois Has Stopped Paying Bills - NYTimes.com

Payback Time - Budget in the Red, Illinois Has Stopped Paying Bills - NYTimes.com

For the last few years, California stood more or less unchallenged as a symbol of the fiscal collapse of states during the recession. Now Illinois has shouldered to the fore, as its dysfunctional political class refuses to pay the state’s bills and refuses to take the painful steps — cuts and tax increases — to close a deficit of at least $12 billion, equal to nearly half the state’s budget.

Then there is the spectacularly mismanaged pension system, which is at least 50 percent underfunded and, analysts warn, could push Illinois into insolvency if the economy fails to pick up.

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And I sincerely believe that the Illinois "dysfunctional political class" will not do anything to pull the state out of its death spiral.

State and local gov't workers' job security fades

State and local gov't workers' job security fades

States and municipalities are facing gaping budget gaps. Many have responded by slashing services, raising taxes and, for the first time in decades, making deep job cuts.

And public employees should brace themselves: Some economists say the job cuts could worsen in the second half of the year.

Counting companies that work with state governments, a total of 900,000 jobs could be lost to states' budget shortfalls, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank in Washington.
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Certainly private local government -- mandatory membership property owner associations -- has been adversely affected by the economic downturn as chronicled in the many posts to this blog over the past couple of years. As Evan McKenzie pointed out On the Commons last weekend, precisely because it's private government, there's little publicly available data on associations that makes it difficult to quantify how the recession has affected them.

There's evidence that the economic downturn isn't affecting public and private local government evenly. Texas attorney David Kahne notes in an item I posted earlier this week that economic pain in Privatopia has translated into economic gain for association management and law firms foreclosing on association properties in arrears on HOA assessments. My guess is county tax collectors conducting tax sales to recover delinquent property taxes aren't making much if any money on these sales.

Local HOA's creative way to make money

Kara Kostanich
BOYNTON BEACH---A Boynton Beach Homeowners Association will soon be making money from a neighborhood foreclosed home.

President of Los Mangos Properties Owners Association Kathleen Dougherty said, "it will go back to the people and it will go back to the people and it will be spread throughout the community to pay our bills."
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What a concept! By the sounds of things HOAs can either fine people to balance their budgets or rent out foreclosed property and collect the rent.

Is it time to ask whether or not this idea of forced communal living is viable and worth preserving?

Genetic Secrets of Living to 100

A massive genetic study of people who lived for more than 100 years has found dozens of new clues to the biology of aging.

--“It shows that genetics plays an extremely important role at these extreme ages. And it begins to be a not-unsolvable puzzle,” said Boston University gerontologist Thomas Perls. “If we start looking at these genes and what they do, we better understand the biology of extreme longevity.”

--People who’ve reached that mark tend to have lives that are not only exceptionally long, but unusually healthly. Unlike most people, they rarely develop diseases of aging — such as heart disease, metabolic disease, cancer and dementia — until well into their 90s. They’re also more likely to bounce back from disease, rather than entering a spiral of declining health.
That manner of aging is a goal for most people, and a public health necessity. Modern medicine has had success in slowing individual aging diseases, but when one is postponed another soon emerges. Americans are living longer but not healthier.

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I wonder if the scientists will look into the effects of HOA living on longevity?

The big question, in my mind though is whether it is worth living to a ripe old age if it meant being stuck in an HOA ?

Public local government beats private local government -- but sometimes it's like an HOA

Grand Jury Blasts City Council

“Major changes” are needed to a South Lake Tahoe City Council that is constantly bickering, routinely drops controversial issues, and operates at a “barely functional level,” according to the 2009-2010 El Dorado County grand jury report.

— “Constant hostility and bickering among members of the City Council and their unprofessional conduct has resulted in a consistent 3/2 split vote creating two 'camps' of Council members. The voting often appears to be the result of Council members pursuing personal agendas rather than operating in the best interests of the City. The bickering and nitpicking between Council members during meetings, combined with hostile comments to media outlets and behind the scenes ‘back biting' has resulted in the failure to address routine and important business entrusted to the Council by the citizens of the City of South Lake Tahoe.

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Private government such as employed by mandatory membership homeowner associations is a non sequitur. Americans see local government as a public function and expect it to be transparent and accountable. Privatizing government through nonprofit corporation law creates an inherent contradiction and uses the law in a setting in which it was never intended to operate.

Unlike private HOA government, public forms of local government have a well established governance culture and are generally served by experienced, well trained professional staff. By contrast, HOAs are governed by property owners who are typically reluctant volunteers who muddle along from year to year. Turnover is high among board members and contracted, part time professional advisors who may or may not place the HOA's best interests first. This governance gap, I believe, accounts for much of the dsyfunction and abuse of power in HOA governance at the same time HOAs have become deeply ingrained in the structure of local government as the owner of this blog has noted.

That said, public local government isn't perfect. Sometimes their elected bodies resemble amateurish HOA boards as this story out of South Lake Tahoe, Calif. illustrates. However, no grand juries investigate HOAs and issue recommendations on how they can improve such as is the case here.

Missing Links

Sorry folks, I thought I had provided a hyperlink in the titles to the articles I posted. Here they are:

William Gammon: Prosecutor's Not Happy The Accused Child Porn User's Out On Bond
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/06/gammon_child_porn.php

Group Hit In 'Hebrew Race' Discrimination Case
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mostpopular/24094600/detail.html

Bushnell on the Park Condominium Association placed in receivership
http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news13775.html

Group Hit In 'Hebrew Race' Discrimination Case

A civil rights trial against a homeowner's association accused of discriminating against Jewish members has ended in a settlement that is believed to be the largest in Plymouth County history.

The jury awarded the Prescotts $600,000 for the violations of their civil rights and an additional $150,000 for nuisance. Together, with interest, the judgment is in excess of $1.2 million.
The jury awarded Scott J. Hyman $850,000 for the violations of his civil rights and an additional $100,000 for nuisance. Together, with interest, the judgment is in excess of $1.3 million.

In addition, within weeks of an association member's comments that "someone is going to burn him (Hyman) out," Hyman’s home in Middleboro, Mass., was torched and burned to the ground, according to Minchoff. There is an ongoing arson investigation.

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I am guessing Zogby never polled the Prescotts or Scott Hymen to find out if things were going well in their neighborhood and if they were happy with the HOA.