Pruning Shears: Utopian colonies and the deep roots of the Occupy Movement

Today's CID housing is frequently marketed to tap into people's yearning for a strong sense of community. What is usually missing from the product they deliver, however, is a common sense of values. But from the late 19th century through the early 20th, many people set up their own utopian communities, some religious and some socialistic.  This blog post points out that some of these socialistic communities were similar in a number of ways to the Occupy movement.  It is in part a reaction to a book concerning authoritarian tendencies on the left.  But the larger issue is how to structure rights, control, and privacy in common living arrangements. Today's CID activists tend to be focused on how abusive current forms of CID government are, and some of them offer state law reforms to protect owners, while others demand abolition. But the greater challenge is how to structure CIDs so that they offer residents a richer social life than they would have living in an apartment or detached single family home in the stereotypical faceless suburb.  Is such a goal realistic, or just a fantasy?   

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"What is really fascinating (and surprisingly relevant) is Ellis’ coverage of utiopian communities that began to form in the late nineteenth century. Inspired in part by proto-science fiction like Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward, these communities withdrew from the larger society in an effort to construct the one they envisioned. While the only separatist type impulses these days seem to be on the right, their governance had striking similarities to Occupy - including its weaknesses....The near-unanimous vote of the general assembly resembles the consensus model used by Occupy. As our group noted last year, a consensus model eventually works to the advantage of those with the most time. Getting 90% approval might represent the overwhelming view of the majority, but it might also might represent 90% of the handful left after an extended and frustrating filibuster."

TV Guide - Today's News: Our Take - Holly Madison Leaves Home After Dispute Over Giant Dog House - DeRidder, LA - Beauregard Daily News - Beauregard, LA

TV Guide - Today's News: Our Take - Holly Madison Leaves Home After Dispute Over Giant Dog House - DeRidder, LA - Beauregard Daily News - Beauregard, LA: Holly Madison's relationship with her homeowners association has really gone to the dogs.

The former Girls Next Door star is selling her home in Southern Highlands, Las Vegas, because of an ongoing dispute with the association over a giant pink dog house she built in her backyard, according to Las Vegas Weekly.

High court rules a house is a house, even if it floats | Nation & World | The Seattle Times

High court rules a house is a house, even if it floats | Nation & World | The Seattle Times: Lawyers for the Seattle Floating Homes Association and a similar association in Sausalito, Calif., praised the Supreme Court ruling.

The San Francisco law firm Munger, Tolles and Olson filed a friend of court brief on behalf of the two floating-homes associations, arguing that they should be regulated as houses and not under maritime law as vessels.

Developer pitches $1B commonwealth for Belle Isle | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

Developer pitches $1B commonwealth for Belle Isle | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com:
Detroit — As the broken city thinks big and radically about its future, a developer is stepping forward with a revolutionary idea: Sell the city's Belle Isle park for $1 billion to private investors who will transform it into a free-market utopia. The 982-acre island would then be developed into a U.S. commonwealth or city-state of 35,000 people with its own laws, customs and currency.
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Here we go again. Another libertarian utopia, to go with Paulville, TX, those proposed oil platform communities out at sea, Glenn Beck's planned utopia, The World (ocean liner), and a bunch of others. Can't we just give them Wyoming or something?

Central figure, conspirators in HOA scheme indicted by federal grand jury - News - ReviewJournal.com

Central figure, conspirators in HOA scheme indicted by federal grand jury - News - ReviewJournal.com: "Leon Benzer, the former construction company boss at the center of a long-running investigation into fraud and corruption at homeowners associations, and 10 other defendants were indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury. The long-awaited indictment is part of the final Justice Department push to charge conspirators in a massive scheme to take over homeowners associations across the Las Vegas Valley between 2003 and 2009."
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There have been 28 guilty pleas so far. Now we have 11 more indictments.  Nevada is one of only a handful of states that has an ombudsperson and/or a government agency with special responsibilities regarding common interest housing. But nonetheless, the most massive HOA/condo association fraud ever uncovered happened right under their noses. What do we conclude from that? How about:  this is what privatization without accountability looks like. This is what happens when state and local governments hand over major responsibilities--including the power to tax, run elections, enforce rules, and make major decisions that affect people's lives--to unpaid, untrained volunteers who have to meet no minimum qualifications and who have no meaningful oversight.  There have been other frauds and embezzlements across the nation. There will be more to come. Will our public policy makers adopt common sense reforms to protect people?

HOA President Threatens To Sue Newspaper For Using Neighborhood’s Name In Article – The Consumerist

HOA President Threatens To Sue Newspaper For Using Neighborhood’s Name In Article – The Consumerist
Followup to the story below from an Indiana newspaper that went into detail about problems with HOA governance, and included by name Stonecreek Arbors, in Vandenburgh County, Indiana.  The Consumerist is reporting that the president of the Stonecreek HOA sent the following to the newspaper, after being interviewed, proving once again (as if any additional proof were needed, after all these years) that many HOA leaders need to get a clearer understanding of the limits on their powers.

“[T]his notice also requires you not to at any measure mention anything regarding my name, any resident of Stonecreek, NOR will we ALLOW any of your printing in any article regarding Stonecreek at any time in any publication… You will be held liable for any violations of this letter and notice/request in this email. If we find/discover you have mentioned Stonecreek in any legal matter their (sic) will be action toward yourself as well as any print paper you represent in the media article.

“You may contact any HOA in the County of Vanderburgh, the State of Indiana, but Stonecreek will not PERMIT OR ALLOW YOU our legal name in any future article.”

Independence Park to be Glenn Beck's 'Galt's Gulch' | Right Wing Watch

Independence Park to be Glenn Beck's 'Galt's Gulch' | Right Wing Watch
"On his program last night, Beck revealed that his intention to "go Galt" is quite literal, unveiling grandiose plans to create an entirely self-sustaining community called Independence Park that will provide its own food and energy, produce television and film content, host research and development, serve as a marketplace for products and ideas, while also housing a theme park and serving as a residential community.

At the center - in the middle of the lake that is itself larger than all of Disney Land - Beck (with the help of David Barton) will create a massive "national archive"/learning center where people can send their children to be "deprogrammed" and elected officials can come to learn "the truth."

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To which I can only say, "Don't let the door hit you where the dog should have bit you."

Woman says HOA demanded microchip in her dog � Evansville Courier & Press

Woman says HOA demanded microchip in her dog � Evansville Courier & Press
With a bunch of quotes from me, which you can read if you scroll down.  Sample:
"If you're going to buy a house, you ought to know well in advance of even making an offer on the house not only that there is an association, but what the rules are and what the finances of the association are," he said.
and:

Homeowners might spare themselves the grief of being under the thumb of domineering, combative HOA officials, McKenzie said, by meeting them before buying. But he conceded they  [the board members] would have no real incentive to agree to such a meeting. "You'd want to find out what the climate is around here, what the attitude is toward owners, really to find out how strictly rules are enforced and how assessments are collected," he said. "You might ask some questions about how strict people are. Is it neighborly, is it friendly?"

Note: The reporter asked me if meeting the board members in advance would be a good idea, and I said it would, but that the BOD members have no obligation to do that and it hardly ever happens. I also pointed out that this sort of meeting does occur in housing cooperatives, and it probably contributes to the lower level of conflict found in co-ops.