NEWS.com.au | Public must keep clear of Madonna (June 19, 2004)
MADONNA has won her bid to stop walkers from traipsing over large parts of her £9 million ($24 million) country estate in England.

The singer's lawyers had argued before a public inquiry that a demand from the Countryside Agency to let ramblers onto areas regarded as open countryside would bring strangers close to her home at Ashcombe House, compromising both her privacy and her security.

The inquiry ruled today that the public had no right of access to 15 of 17 contested segments of land on the 548-hectare estate on the border of Wiltshire and Dorset.

But the Countryside Agency claimed a partial victory, saying the two parcels of land where walkers must be allowed accounted for 54 hectares of the 142 hectares under dispute.

"Almost half of the land contested at the public inquiry has been classed as open count," the agency said.


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Where to begin? But isn't her name Esther or Divinity or Abstinthe or something now? Anyway, now that she has clearly established her right to keep the stinky public off her land, what does she think we should do about Iraq? I, for one, don't feel comfortable voting until she tells me what to do. Do you?

Many back dog owner as condo chief quits
A battle over an elderly woman's Chihuahua has roused legions of supporters for the widow and forced the resignation of a condominium board president who fears for his safety after enforcing a no-pets rule. The uproar comes after 85-year-old Bernadette Casale was ordered to give up her pooch, Cha Cha. As news of her plight spread, scores of supporters have inundated the Bridgeview condominium in suburban Delray Beach with angry phone calls and e-mails. "It's getting pretty scary," Casale said. So scary that board president Chris Termini has resigned after serving 12 years on the board. Termini declined to comment Thursday to avoid stirring more controversy. "One letter said to the effect, 'If Ms. Casale loses her dog, my face will be the last face you see,' " said Joe Conigliaro, board vice president. Conigliaro said exempting Cha Cha would be unfair to other residents who must follow the no-pets rule, which was first implemented about a decade ago after a community vote.

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One neighbor has already announced that if Ms. Casale gets to keep her dog, "I'm going out tomorrow and buying me one." This whole episode would make sense if it were on The Sopranos, but it's real life.

ABC13.com: Officials order woman living in two-room home to give up 130 pets


By The Associated Press
(6/15/04 - HOUSTON) — A Liberty County woman found with more than 130 animals in her two-room house and on her half-acre lot has been ordered to surrender the pets to an animal rights organization. Patsy Boucher, 58, lived on her property with 121 dogs, eight birds, a cat and several pigs and guinea pigs. A justice of the peace told her to turn over the animals because of concerns for their well-being.


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See what happens when you live in a neighborhood without an HOA? On the other hand, Ms. Boucher blames the County for this situation because she says they don't have an animal shelter. I guess you could call this a form of privatization after all...

Arizona Capitol Times: George Starapoli assesses the legislative accomplishments of this session
George is the honcho of Citizens Against Private Government, and was heavily involved in the AZ legislative goings-on this year, and moderator of the HOAs group on Yahoo. Here's his opinion on the various things that did and did not pass:

Legislature Responds With HOA Reforms – Or Did It?

There were some 16 homeowner association “reform” bills submitted in this year’s legislative session after only two last year and one two years before. Many, including some advocates, are shouting “Fantastic! Arizona has seen the light.”

Is this a step forward?

The answer is yes. Progress has been made because the Legislature realized that it could no longer ignore advocates’ demands for reform after years of industry-backed bills that only purported to aid homeowners.

But, what was asked of the legislators? More association/industry-favored bills or HOA reform bills? What was the mix, or quality, of these bills? Were only good bills passed and harmful bills killed? Of the 16 bills, nine were passed (56 per cent). Was that good or bad?

Some examples of bad bills:

• H2402 was watered down to permit the loss of homestead exemption and draconian foreclosure methods.

• H2377 was a “due process” bill that would have required a justice of the peace’s ruling on the legitimacy of HOA violations.

• H2381 allows the director to vote after declaring a conflict his interest.

Some examples of better bills:

• S1137 did away with the need for a quorum of homeowners to sue the board.

• S1125 requires registration of HOAs.

• H2380 requires “truth in home buying” with written disclosure to the buyer.

The main failing with most of these bills remains the lack of enforcement by rogue boards who, today, ignore the laws, and we believe will continue to ignore the laws because there is no “motivation” in terms of penalties.

In general, advocates are pleased with the results of this year’s legislative session. After three years of failing to enact any HOA reform legislation we now have the beginnings of reform activity.

Still, many feel that more needs to be done to bring justice and the equal protection of the laws to homeowners living in HOAs.

We will be back next year, and the next year until there is justice and the equal treatment of homeowners living in HOAs.

(by George K. Staropoli, Citizens Against Private Government, HOAs Scottsdale)

San Bernardino County Sun: Rialto watches condo cleanup--Decaying complexes might be targeted for potential legal action
By BRAD A. GREENBERG, Staff Writer

RIALTO - The city has 12 troubled multiple-family residences, where walls crumble, ceilings sag, trash piles up and safety wanes. A run-down Eucalyptus Avenue condo complex is being used as a testing ground by city housing officials for a more authoritative method of achieving building rehabilitation. If Foothill Terrace continues to improve, the city might take legal action on some of the other troubled complexes, officials said.
....................
"It looks like a third-world country,' said John Walton, a building inspector with Rialto's Economic Redevelopment Agency.
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People keep asking me for specifics when I say that there is an increasing risk of many more failed HOAs in the near future. Here's one example-12 complexes in one city.

Yahoo! News - Gasoline Price Drops Below $2 a Gallon
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The average price U.S. drivers pay for gasoline dropped below $2 a gallon for the first time in five weeks, with costs in some cities falling more than 10 cents, the government said on Monday. The national price for regular unleaded gasoline fell 4.9 cents over the last week to $1.985 a gallon, according to a weekly survey of gasoline stations by the Energy Information Administration


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Still more good news.

Yahoo! News - Mortgage Delinquencies Lowest in 4 Years
By Richard Leong

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage delinquencies slipped in the first quarter of 2004 to their lowest level in nearly four years, helped by a robust housing market and improving job conditions, a U.S. mortgage industry group said on Monday. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its measure of outstanding mortgages that were delinquent fell to 4.33 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the first quarter from 4.49 percent in the fourth quarter and 4.85 percent a year ago. The first-quarter delinquency reading is lowest since 4.11 percent for the second quarter 2000, according to a spokesman for the group.

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There's some good news. Now how will Kerry, et al., spin this into the worst economy since Herbert Hoover?

Yahoo! News - Holy Condominiums, Batman!

Churches Selling As Luxury Condominiums
By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer

BOSTON - When St. Peter and Paul's Church was sold to a developer, there was a lot of resistance in South Boston. Not only was the beloved church closing, it was being turned into something that was an anathema to the working-class neighborhood: luxury condominiums.
As the Boston Archdiocese prepares to put 60 churches up for sale, developers and real estate brokers predict they will be scooped up and converted into condos because the market is hot for trendy, distinctive real estate.

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This is a fascinating story. It seems that all the publicity about priestly dalliances with young parishioners has cut into church attendance and funds, which has led to church closures. What to do with empty churches? Sell them to developers. This should lead to some interesting community dynamics. The area residents are used to thinking of the place as their church. The yuppies who now live there think of it as, let's say hypothetically, Priestly Acres, with the coolest hot tub in the neighborhood. Hard to reconcile those two perceptions, don't you think?

REALTOR: Calif.: Illegal Condo Conversions Brings Headaches, Lawsuits

Fred Pilot sent me this link to the latest developments in a story I posted on some time ago:
The City of Huntington Beach, Calif., has started a criminal probe to find the reason for up to 120 illegal condominium conversions in the Orange County city. Among the latest victims of an allegedly fraudulent conversion are Scott and Renee Tarnow, who learned earlier this year that their condominium hadn't been legally converted after spending $80,000 in improvements to the unit, according to The Los Angeles Times.

TheDenverChannel.com - News - Here's why people move to gated communities...
Accused Arsonist Mugs For Camera
DA: Dinsmore Wandered Neighborhood Setting Cars On Fire

POSTED: 1:23 pm MDT June 11, 2004

DENVER -- A 21-year-old Denver man was formally charged with arson Friday after police said he wandered around a Denver neighborhood, setting fire to cars.
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By all means, follow the link and take a look at the mug shot.

California Supreme Court ruling in Terifaj case coming on Monday
VILLA v. TERIFAJ
S109123 (E029449; Riverside County Superior Court No. 1NC13318)
Argued in Los Angeles 4-06-04
This case includes the following issues: (1) Is a restriction on the keeping of
pets that is adopted by a homeowners association and is recorded after the purchase of
a unit in a common interest development enforceable against the owner of the unit as
an equitable servitude under Civil Code section 1354? (2) What is the proper
standard that governs the validity of such a restriction, and is the restriction at issue
here valid?
Opinion(s) in the above case(s) will be filed on:
Monday, June 14, 2004 at 10:00 a.m.

Financial Times:Greenspan says Fed ready to act on inflation
Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, on Tuesday indicated that interest rates might have to rise faster than expected to keep inflationary pressures under control. Speaking from Washington via satellite link to a conference in London, Mr Greenspan said he remained confident that the Fed could afford to remove monetary stimulus from the US economy gradually but that he was ready to take stronger action if necessary. Although the reaction in financial markets was muted, economists said the comments marked a significant shift in Fed rhetoric, with inflation starting to take centre stage.


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So, those of you with adjustable rate mortgages might wish to sprint for the nearest finance company without stopping Go or paying 9% interest.

WFTV.com - News - Beekeepers Remove 700,000 Bees From Man's Home
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Lake Worth resident Norm Gitzen didn't mind the more than half-million bees living in the roof of his house until recently.Rather, he said, they were "kind of mesmerizing," and he often sweetened his morning coffee with honey dripping from the hives. But when the bees started coming into the house, stinging him and his nephew, his love of that cohabitation changed. Local beekeepers started removing at least 700,000 bees from a tower above his breakfast nook on Tuesday, filling four buckets with honey weighing close to 65 pounds...
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See why people need HOAs? And you thought it was just so your neighbor couldn't rebuild his 1960 Rambler on the front lawn over a two-year period.

baltimoresun.com - 24-hour camera surveillance in city is part of bigger plan
This is cute:
Financed by homeland security grants, new network aimed at fighting terrorists as much as drug dealers
By Doug Donovan
Sun Staff
Originally published June 10, 2004
From the Inner Harbor to the Bay Bridge, local and state homeland security authorities are beginning to build a regional network of 24-hour surveillance cameras that will first go live this summer in Baltimore.

The closed-circuit video surveillance system of public spaces will begin in the Inner Harbor by summer's end, and a $2 million federal grant accepted by the city yesterday will expand the cameras into downtown's west side by early November.

"We're trying to build a regional network of cameras," said Dennis R. Schrader, director of homeland security for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

What of privacy concerns raised by groups opposed to cameras constantly monitored by retired police officers or college students?

"We're at war," Schrader said.

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There's more, so by all means read it all. But I bolded that last little bit to show how cavalier government officials are about privacy these days. Gated community leaders will have to get busy if they are going to even keep pace with the security measures now in place in many major cities. The old days when the GC types had the edge are long gone. Soon you will be under more surveillance walking in downtown Chicago or Baltimore than when you enter Security Pointe Villas.

CAI Seeks Extension of Terrorism Insurance Support

(this is a press release from CAI that I am passing along)

ALEXANDRIA, VA, June 10, 2004 – Community Associations Institute (CAI) is urging the U.S. Department of the Treasury to extend and expand provisions of a law that enable community associations to obtain reasonably priced insurance coverage for acts of terrorism.

CAI wrote treasury officials June 4 urging an extension of the "make-available" requirements of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) of 2002. Passed by Congress in response to the September 11 attacks, the act ensures that the federal government will partner with insurers to cover losses resulting from a catastrophic terrorist attack. The make-available provision is scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2004.

TRIA stipulates that federal government resources will be used to protect insurance companies from ruinous financial losses as a result of catastrophic terrorist attacks. With that backing, insurance providers are able to provide affordable and comprehensive terrorism coverage. Without it, few if any insurance providers would be willing to offer terrorism insurance.

TRIA limits insurance industry liability to the deductible, which is established by law, and 10 percent of further losses up to the capped limit.

CAI told treasury officials that a lack of adequate insurance coverage diminishes the ability of community associations to obtain loans and comply with the insurance requirements on existing loans. That’s because many financial institutions require terrorism coverage as a hedge against default and massive losses.

"Thousands of community associations – and millions of Americans who live in them – will be put in a tenuous situation if TRIA isn't extended," says Thomas M. Skiba, CAI's chief executive officer. "The federal government needs to fill this void until these complicated issues can be resolved by the insurance industry."

The underlying problem is the inability of anyone to assess the true risk of a terrorist attack. According to CAI and the insurance industry, this has hindered the ability of insurance providers to develop accurate risk assessments and to price terrorism insurance accordingly. In fact, TRIA was created in part to give the insurance industry a transitional period to create, price and provide terrorism coverage.

CAI cited the dilemma faced by insurance carriers: "If the federal government cannot predict the probability and scope of terrorist events, the insurance company should not be expected to pull out the proverbial crystal ball to gather the same information."

The cost of property and liability coverage for community and condominium associations has as much as tripled in many regions of the country, according to CAI. These costs could "skyrocket" in high-risk areas without the make-available provision and without federal government backing, CAI said, "adding to the already-monumental costs of property and liability coverage."

CAI and the insurance industry are also urging treasury officials to recommend that TRIA be expanded to cover losses resulting from nuclear, biological and chemical terrorist attacks. TRIA does not require that reasonably priced terrorism be made available to cover these particular forms of terrorism.

In testimony before a Congressional subcommittee in April 2004, the General Accounting Office (GAO) warned of insurance industry reluctance to offer terrorism insurance. Without the TRIA caps, GAO said insurance providers likely would be "unwilling to sell terrorism coverage because they have not found a reliable way to price their exposure to terrorist losses." GAO told the panel that current risk models "do not have enough historical data to dependably estimate the frequency or severity of terrorist events, and therefore cannot be relied upon for pricing terrorism insurance."

CAI is the only national membership organization dedicated to fostering vibrant, responsive, competent community associations. The 16,000-member organization and its 55 chapters represent managers, community association volunteer leaders, management companies and professionals who provide products and services to association-governed communities.

For members and general inquiries, contact the CAI Direct customer service team:
Community Associations Institute
225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 300
Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: 703-548-8600
Fax: 703-684-1581
Email: CAIdirect@caionline.org


MEDIA CONTACT: Frank Rathbun
Phone: 703-548-8600, ext. 261
Fax: 703-684-1581
Email: FRathbun@caionline.org

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My comments: Federal subsidies to make sure HOAs have insurance against terrorism? Is that privatization in action? Or has somebody just figured out another handy use for big government?

Peter Levine's blog: June 06, 2004 Archives
Peter Levine, who is an economist at the University of Maryland and is not a libertarian, was one of the participants at the Liberty Fund conference in Montreal on "Private Neighborhood Associations and Liberty." He has posted some of his thoughts on his own weblog at the link above. The discussion he started is continuing at the web log Crooked Timber. I'd suggest first following the link to Peter's comments on his blog, and then going to the ensuing discussion on Crooked Timber.

AB 2598 Assembly Bill - Status
The foreclosure reform bill that passed the Assembly and is now in the Senate has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Tick, tick, tick...

AB 1836 Assembly Bill - Vote Information
SB 1836 (see below for explanation) has passed unanimously in the Senate Housing and Community Development Committee and has now been referred to the Judiciary Committee. This is the ADR bill that incorporates the recommendations of the California Law Revision Commission.

AB 1836 Assembly Bill - Bill Analysis
This is the alternative dispute resolution bill that passed the Assembly and is now in the Senate Housing and Community Development Committee. This particular bill would enact the recommendations of the California Law Revision Commission on ADR. Thanks to Fred Pilot for flagging this as I somehow managed to forget to subscribe to the automatic notification service for this bill.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Satellite images 'show Atlantis'
How cool is this? And it's sort of a gated community, to boot:

A scientist says he may have found remains of the lost city of Atlantis.
Satellite photos of southern Spain reveal features on the ground appearing to match descriptions made by Greek scholar Plato of the fabled utopia.
(read the whole thing--it even has a photo)