Watch young children crash dad’s important Skype interview with the BBC | WGN-TV

Watch young children crash dad’s important Skype interview with the BBC | WGN-TV:

Best BBC interview ever.

HOA buys personal alarms for kids following attempted abduction - Story | WOFL

HOA buys personal alarms for kids following attempted abduction - Story | WOFL:

"The community is not waiting for law enforcement to increase their sense of security.  Instead, they are footing the bill for each kid to have a personal alarm. "We've raised over $2,000 in the past couple of days," said parent Stephanie Lerret.  "It's a dual-button switch where the student has to hit both buttons to activate if they're in an uncomfortable situation."
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I can't tell from the article whether or  not this headline is correct. "HOA buys" suggests that the association is using their funds to buy the alarms. But the body of the article seems to suggest that parents, or the association BOD, are raising money from voluntary contributions and buying the alarms with those funds. The latter approach seems more likely to me, given that using money from assessments for an expense like this could be questioned.

These States Aren’t Waiting for Trump to Get Funds for Infrastructure

These States Aren’t Waiting for Trump to Get Funds for Infrastructure: "Republican leaders from at least six states are pushing to raise gasoline taxes or other fees to pay for upgrading roads and bridges, saying they can’t count on President Donald Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan to deliver what they need.

“If a giant golden goose with a red and white and blue flag on it flies over Indiana and drops a golden egg, first we’re going to make sure it’s a golden egg and not some other dropping,” said state Representative Ed Soliday, a Republican who is helping to lead an effort that would raise the state gas tax in Indiana to 28 cents per gallon (from 18 cents), increase registration fees and explore tolling."

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See the post below on the nation's crumbling infrastructure. Tax increases, folks. There is no way around it.

America's infrastructure still rates no better than D+, engineering experts say | US news | The Guardian

America's infrastructure still rates no better than D+, engineering experts say | US news | The Guardian: "America is literally falling apart. The most authoritative report of the nation’s infrastructure gave the country’s crumbling roads, bridges, dams, schools and other essential underpinnings a D+ grade on Thursday. Not a single element of America’s framework received an A grade. The American Society of Civil Engineers’ quadrennial infrastructure “report card” painted a grim picture of the US’s backbone. According to the organization’s analysis, there hasn’t been much improvement in the state of America’s transportation, water, energy, education and waste management programs since the last report was released, in 2013...The report comes after Donald Trump pledged to rebuild America’s broken infrastructure on the campaign trail, plans that appear to have stalled amid a backlash against government spending. It also comes after a series of disasters, including lead in the water of Flint, Michigan, and other municipalities, and the evacuation of 20,000 in California after the near-collapse of a major dam."

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We are drowning in fake crises that politicians use to generate fear so they can control people. Here's a real crisis, and one that only government can solve. Trump talks about it, but has no proposal that will work. Shoveling more tax credits to big business is not going to lead them to suddenly start paying for rebuilding bridges and constructing high-speed rail.

Miami Worldcenter secures bond financing through community development district - South Florida Business Journal

Miami Worldcenter secures bond financing through community development district - South Florida Business Journal

"The $74.1 million was one of the largest CDD bond issuances in South Florida in recent years. For Miami Worldcenter, the CDD bonds will fund street improvements, modernized mass transit stations, new landscaping, widened sidewalks, more water and sewer capacity, electrical work, and new street lights. Located on the north side of downtown Miami, the $2 billion Miami Worldcenter will include condos, apartments, retail, restaurants, and a hotel/convention center."

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Florida has hundreds of these multiple-function special districts that are the building industry's new substitute for cities. Special districts like this can issue bonds and do most of the things that municipalities can do, but they don't have to operate on the one person, one vote principle. They can allocate voting control on the basis of property ownership. That way developers can make all the decisions for the district as long as they control most of the acreage, which might be forever.  That comes in handy. Imagine that the subdivision has the same boundaries as the special district. If you buy a home in the subdivision, you are a taxpayer for the district and there is a line on your property tax bill for the amount you pay to the district. Developers have been known to make nice deals with themselves before they sell any of the lots.  They have the district they control purchase the common elements from themselves (as owner of all the property in the subdivision). Then tens of millions of dollars from the bond sale goes straight into the developer's pocket, and the bondholders get paid off over the next few decades from the property taxes paid by the residents of the district, who are none other than the people who buy the units in the subdivision. 

Portland homeowners win reprieve from maintaining city's trees | OregonLive.com

Portland homeowners win reprieve from maintaining city's trees | OregonLive.com

"Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler plans to quash an effort by city bureaucrats to quietly expand homeowners' responsibilities to care for trees on city-owned land.The proposed new rule would have required Portland property owners to cut down dangerous trees on city property adjacent to their land, even if the trees were located far from the private property...The change would have, for instance, cost at least three Southwest Portland homeowners as much as $3,500 by making clear that they are responsible for cutting down trees more than 50 feet away and inaccessible from their property Current code requires property owners to take care of dying or dangerous trees on their own property, "any adjacent sidewalks, planting strips and trees fronting or upon such private property." The changes would have added "adjacent unimproved or partially-improved rights-of-way" to the places where private property owners are required to remove problem trees."

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I have always found it interesting that city governments impose on homeowners the responsibility to maintain public property. It is common to require them to shovel snow from sidewalks, for example. But dealing with dangerous trees is a much bigger responsibility. It is expensive and requires judgment. And extending that responsibility to adjacent areas is quite a step.

Lake Charleston homeowners ask HOA for security cameras in neighborhoods after attempted abductions - wptv.com

Lake Charleston homeowners ask HOA for security cameras in neighborhoods after attempted abductions - wptv.com

Now Harman says he and his wife are pushing for security cameras in the Lake Charleston Community.  "One camera for their AC unit, one camera for their clubhouse," said Harman naming the surveillance that exists at the community clubhouse. "Nothing for security wise for the community itself." 

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So before making a decision, the HOA is asking the Sheriff's office to do a survey to find out what other associations are doing. I find that a strange request. Are the public law enforcement officials supposed to serve as private security consultants for HOAs? 

HOA critics: Proposed Missouri legislation won’t protect homeowners | The Kansas City Star

HOA critics: Proposed Missouri legislation won’t protect homeowners | The Kansas City Star: "Missouri homeowners longing for more accountability in their homeowners associations and protection from overzealous HOA boards may not find the answers they want in legislation recently proposed in the state House and Senate.

While proponents say the measures will safeguard homeowners and ensure that they know what they’re getting into when buying a home in an HOA, some homeowner advocates say the proposals — one is called the Missouri Homeowners’ Bill of Rights — are so watered down that they instead protect the $85 billion HOA industry."

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Toward the bottom the article notes that there is pending legislation in a number of states now. So are we in the middle of a new wave of attempts at HOA/condo reform?  There is a certain predictability to this. The people who identify themselves as "homeowner advocates" are opposed to anything CAI is for, but they don't have a well-defined counter-agenda of their own. They are divided between abolitionists who want to destroy the entire institution of common interest housing and reformers who think it can be made to work better.  That's why the outcome of these struggles is are almost always either CAI-backed bills that pass, or nothing at all passes.

Why Cities Can't 'Manage Decline' - CityLab

Why Cities Can't 'Manage Decline' - CityLab: "Policy, in its simplest form, is just jargon for group desire, marshaled through influential people. Desire comes down to fear or hope, as Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza famously insisted. When fear is your dominant driver, the policy becomes one of scarcity and security. When hope is dominant, the policy is viewed through possibility and aspiration. The key, here, is while “serious” policy decisions are supposed to be “smart,” they are derived viscerally. No wonder so many gut decisions on things like urban renewal end poorly."

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So why, says Richey Piiparinen, should cities like Cleveland assume that they will continue to decline, when nobody knows what the future may hold for any city?