HOA president arrested for gun threat

OAKLAND, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Michael Hudzik, 65, president of the John's Cove subdivision Homeowners Association in Oakland, was arrested on Tuesday, accused of threatening a father and son with a gun.

"We're citizens here! We're just trying to have a peaceful life! You're going to threaten a family with a gun?" asked neighbor Lazina Joyner.

Tino Alonzo says the father and son were in the neighborhood visiting his son to go jet skiing at the nearby lake, as they were leaving police say Hudzik felt they were driving too fast.

"He started waving a gun at him, said 'Get back in the truck, or I'm going to shoot you,'" Alonzo said.

HOA president arrested for gun threat: MyFoxORLANDO.com

------------------
Another HOA boss allegedly uses a heater to assert his authority over the inmates. Seems there was a similar incident posted here recently involving a Phillipine HOA.

The Mayor’s Kill Shot on Suburban LA

The Mayor’s Kill Shot on Suburban LA
Indeed, the State as well as the city of Los Angeles has all but abandoned the idea of promoting the development of stand-alone single-family housing, of yards front and back.  Opting instead for “smart growth” developments that make for higher concentrations of people all throughout the State and especially here in Los Angeles throughout the past decade, State and civic leaders have demonstrated a preference for transit hub development and densely-packed mixed-use corridors, even in edge cities and collar counties.
------------------------
A "kill shot" for single family homes is a big shot in the arm for common interest housing, with all its problems.  

Pa. homeowners group says seeing eye dog has to go

READING, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania housing development with a one dog per household rule said a family must give back a seeing eye dog they're training.

Steve and Annette Yerger's daughter was trying to earn a $1,000 college scholarship by raising Ives, a 4-month-old retriever mix, for one year. But the family already has a pet dog.

The Oak Meadows Homeowners Association in Berks County denied the family's request to keep Ives until December, when he'd return to the Seeing Eye program for the next phase of his training by professionals.

------------------------
More bad press for Privatopia.

North Las Vegas HOAs and homeowners trade blows - View - ReviewJournal.com

North Las Vegas HOAs and homeowners trade blows - View - ReviewJournal.com

Joe Salvatore likens life in the Autumn Chase Homeowners Association to “a terrorist state.”

Police officers have randomly knocked on his door and asked questions.

He records constantly to document his whereabouts in his own neighborhood.

And he will get the mail only at 1 a.m.

His behavior might seem paranoid to some, but to Salvatore, a North Las Vegas homeowner, it covers his tracks.

-------------------------

Thanks to Rodney Gray for this link to yet another bizarre owner vs. hoa story.

Man gets 3 years in defrauding of condo associations - News - Crain's Chicago Business

Man gets 3 years in defrauding of condo associations - News - Crain's Chicago Business

(Crain's) — An Arizona man was sentenced Tuesday to three years in federal prison for his role in defrauding 48 Chicago condominium associations of about $2 million.

Jay Strauss, 76, of Scottsdale, Ariz., also was ordered to pay $2 million in restitution, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney in Chicago. The judge, Robert Dow Jr., noted in court that it is unlikely restitution will ever be paid.

Mr. Strauss pleaded guilty to defrauding the condo associations, made up of more than 700 individual unit owners, by falsely claiming that his property management company, Chicago-based Regent Realty Group Inc., was using association payments for property maintenance. The funds actually were being used to pay off debt on other real estate owned by Mr. Strauss and a partner.

----------------------------------
Thanks to Chicago Tribune real estate reporter Pam McKuen for this link. As she says, it's about time and it should have been a longer sentence.

Mike Bloomberg's New York: Cops in Your Hallways | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone

Mike Bloomberg's New York: Cops in Your Hallways | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone
Have you heard about the "Clean Halls Program"?  It seems that in NYC landlords can turn their buildings into Constitution-free zones.

In effect since 1991, it allows police to execute so-called "vertical patrols" by going up into private buildings and conducting stop-and-frisk searches in hallways – with the landlord’s permission.

According to the NYCLU, which filed the suit, "virtually every private apartment building [in the Bronx] is enrolled in the program," and "in Manhattan alone, there are at least 3,895 Clean Halls Buildings." Referring to the NYPD’s own data, the complaint says police conducted 240,000 "vertical patrols" in the year 2003 alone.

If you live in a Clean Halls building, you can’t even go out to take out the trash without carrying an ID – and even that might not be enough. If you go out for any reason, there may be police in the hallways, demanding that you explain yourself, and insisting, in brazenly illegal and unconstitutional fashion, on searches of your person.

Sacramento-area home prices remain in a rut

Sacramento-area homes are cheap. Interest rates are low. The inventory of new homes is tight.

But prices stubbornly refuse to rise.

"It's a very strange time," said Doug Covill, immediate past president of the Sacramento Association of Realtors. "I question if we've ever seen anything like it before – to see this low of an inventory where values aren't going up."

---------------------
If the demand side of the market is sufficiently suppressed, the usual operation of the law of supply and demand is curtailed. In this snapshot of one of the nation's most distressed residential real estate markets, the suppressing factors are ultra conservative lending standards, high unemployment and reduced household income and weak consumer confidence.

Wendell Cox: California Declares War on Suburbia - WSJ.com

Wendell Cox: California Declares War on Suburbia - WSJ.com
Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link to a planner who opposes the current plans for higher density housing, which would of course lead to lots of condo and townhouse construction and hardly anything that isn't in a CID.  He says:

"To understand how dramatic a change this would be, consider that if the planners have their way, 68% of new housing in Southern California by 2035 would be condos and apartment complexes. This contrasts with Census Bureau data showing that single-family, detached homes represented more than 80% of the increase in the region's housing stock between 2000 and 2010."

Here is how he identifies himself:  "Mr. Cox, a transportation consultant, served three terms on the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission under the late Mayor Tom Bradley."  That seems to suggest that he is a Democrat, like Bradley. But if you check out his wikipedia page, you see this:  "He has authored studies for conservative think tanks such as the Cato Institute, Heartland Institute, Heritage Foundation,[1] and the Reason Foundation,[2] and for industry groups such as the American Highway Users Alliance, a lobbying and advocacy group for automobile-based industries."

I think that gives a little clearer picture of where he is coming from.