Illinois pension debt worst in nation - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Illinois pension debt worst in nation - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star: "The state’s pension debt will exceed $44 billion this summer, increasing at a rate of about $120 per second, according to Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration. The debt already tops $42 billion — enough to give every one of Illinois’ 12.8 million residents a check of $3,300 or buy 937,000 Cadillacs at $45,000 a pop.

The combination of debt in terms of both money and percentage gives Illinois the infamous distinction of having the nation’s worst pension problem, according to an Associated Press review of records and interviews with experts. And there’s no solution in sight."
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The problems that HOAs and condo associations are starting to have with finances are coming at a bad time, because a number of state and local governments are in trouble. Illinois is a fiscal basket case. When the bozos in Springfield do the annual budget Kibuki play, they speak in terms of a $2 billion or $3 billion dollar deficit that they have to cover. They ignore the fact that they have systematically refused to make their full payments to the five state employee pension funds for about 20 years running. Now the pension debt is $44 BILLION.. And climbing.

Not to mention the fact that private pension plans are hurting. And the baby boomers start to hit retirement age in 2011, which is only 3 years away.

Oh--and the generation that is supposed to keep Social Security alive for us is convinced that the human face looks great with five pounds of metal stuck through it.

American Murder Mystery

American Murder Mystery: "While crime rates in large cities stayed flat, homicide rates in many midsize cities (with populations of between 500,000 and 1 million) began increasing, sometimes by as much as 20percent a year. In 2006, the Police Executive Research Forum, a national police group surveying cities from coast to coast, concluded in a report called “A Gathering Storm” that this might represent “the front end … of an epidemic of violence not seen for years.” The leaders of the group, which is made up of police chiefs and sheriffs, theorized about what might be spurring the latest crime wave: the spread of gangs, the masses of offenders coming out of prison, methamphetamines. But mostly they puzzled over the bleak new landscape. According to FBI data, America’s most dangerous spots are now places where Martin Scorsese would never think of staging a shoot-out—Florence, South Carolina; Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Reading, Pennsylvania; Orlando, Florida; Memphis, Tennessee."
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Fred Pilot sent this along. The author suggests that the problem is caused by dispersal of former public housing tenants who are now using Section 8 vouchers to move from big city projects to smaller cities and suburbs.

Towns push sex offender limits - The Boston Globe

Towns push sex offender limits - The Boston Globe: "...this spring, Weymouth joined a growing number of communities across the Commonwealth by banning Level 3 sex offenders - those deemed most likely to re-offend - from living within 1,500 feet of any school, park, daycare center, or recreational facility. And in doing so, Weymouth officials not only made it almost impossible for Level 3 sex offenders to live in town, they managed to stoke fears in other communities that predators, unwelcome in Weymouth, may be headed their way."
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Another town that wants to become a gated community. I guess one town at a time all the places sex offenders can live will disappear until there is only one town left, and all of them will be there. Kind of like musical chairs. What unlucky community will be home to all the nation's sex offenders? I figure it will have to be someplace with an appropriate name, like Toad Suck, Arkansas.

Police checkpoint at Rolling Meadows apartment complex gets mixed reviews -- chicagotribune.com

Police checkpoint at Rolling Meadows apartment complex gets mixed reviews -- chicagotribune.com: "An aging Rolling Meadows apartment complex became a closed community of sorts this week when police blocked off every entrance but one, placing two officers there for eight hours a day and stopping all vehicle traffic coming in."
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Mystery Reader sent this along. I saw this in the Tribune but thought I was reading The Onion.

Business - Home Front: Remodeling projects still thrive, but with smaller size and cost - sacbee.com

Sacramento Bee: HOA sues hero Chuck Yeager: "[Famed test pilot and American legend Chuck] Yeager is being sued by his homeowners association, Pocket-area Park River Oak Estates, which claims he owes $12,000 in back association dues and fees. The suit, filed last month in Sacramento Superior Court, alleges that Yeager and his wife, Victoria Scott Yeager, have owned two condo units since 1998 and have not paid monthly dues for four years. Dues in the gated community are $240 per lot and cover costs of maintenance, repairs, security, landscaping and lighting.

A statement from the Yeagers says the lawsuit 'has no merit and is frivolous.'"
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Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link. This HOA had better be careful. They may end up getting accidentally strafed by an F-18.

Police look to ban daggers following deadly stabbing spree in Akihabara - Mainichi Daily News: "The National Police Agency (NPA) is set to draft a bill to amend the Firearms and Swords Control Law to recognize daggers as illegal swords.

The current law restricts the possession of swords with a blade 15 centimeters or longer. However, the dagger that Tomohiro Kato, 25, used in the stabbing rampage had a 13-centimeter blade and is not subject to restrictions under the law.

NPA officials said daggers are highly lethal weapons and are hardly necessary in people's daily lives."
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Governments seem to look constantly for excuses to render citizens helpless and dependent on government itself for sustenance, safety, community, and anything else they can find. One nutball goes crazy with a dagger and stabs people. Government response: ban possession of daggers. Here in the US we get the same reflex over firearms. Two simple facts: 1) people will always find ways to kill each other, so that problem is insoluble, and 2) governments will always try to seize as much power over people as they can, so they will never stop using the fantasy of a murder-free world as an excuse to disarm us. The result is that we can't protect ourselves from bad guys, so we are expected to rely on the government for that. They will never, ever, be able to do it, but they will become very powerful by virtue of the false promise of eventual success.

FOXNews.com - Flooding Hits Historic 500-Year Levels in Iowa : "The National Weather Service called flooding in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a 'historic hydrologic event' Thursday as the swollen river poured over its banks at 500-year flood levels, forcing the evacuation of nearly 4,000 homes."
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In Wisconsin, Lake Delton rose so high it broke through its barriers and drained entirely into the Wisconsin River (the photo above is where the lake used to be). The former lake is now a mud flat, leaving the Wisconsin Dells tourist season in shreds just as it was about to start. Plenty of business are going to be ruined. Here in Lake County, IL, we are awaiting an imminent storm, coming on top of the ones that already inundated the area. But that is nothing compared to Iowa, where they are about to float away. After the waters recede people will start to assess the damage and call the insurance company. I wonder how many condo buildings and HOA properties are in trouble.

Mega-mansions are L.A.'s really big show - Los Angeles Times: "Unaffected by the economic woes besetting the masses, the super-rich are going on creating palace-like complexes. One builder says he knows of 20 houses of at least 20,000 square feet in the works."
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As Marie Antionette said, "Let them eat cake."

Well, I for one am greatly relieved to hear that our betters are still able to construct their mansions. I would be heartbroken to learn that they were forced to live in squalor with less than 20,000 square feet at their disposal. I have that much room, if I include the street in front of my house and the park behind it.

When NIMBY's attack...

MyFox Washington DC | Plan to Give Bethesda House to Homeless Family Nixed: "ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) -- The Montgomery County Council has voted to demolish a house located on future parkland, rather than allow a needy family to live in it.

Residents of Bethesda's Hillmead neighborhood had bitterly fought the plan to house a homeless family on the property."
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Sounds like a NIMBY situation.

Who dropped the ball? - Las Vegas Sun: "Banks and other mortgage lenders are turning out to be lousy neighbors. Foreclosed homes featuring brown lawns and fetid swimming pools litter the Las Vegas Valley because the lenders that hold title have failed to keep the properties up.

The epidemic is especially acute in neighborhoods regulated by homeowners associations, whose rules require property owners to maintain their properties. Enforcement of those rules is another matter, however."
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Thanks to Monica Caruso and Fred Pilot who both sent me this. I say hold onto your hat, because this is going to be a long and difficult ride for HOA and condo owners.

Update: Fred Pilot sent a comment to this post that I am taking the liberty of cutting and pasting here in the hope that more people will see it and respond:

"Who dropped the ball? I agree with the macroeconomic analysis that nobody in particular but everyone did. The housing market was fueled by irrational exuberance and its cousin, easy terms and conditions and minimal if any underwriting by the mortgage and financial markets that purchased the underlying mortgage obligations.

"Privately governed HOAs since they tend to have much smaller property tax bases than municipalities and counties will have a far more difficult time than the latter riding out this severe market correction to wring out the excesses of cheap and easy mortgages.

"The supporters and defenders of local government privatization don't seem to understand that in addition to lacking constitutional checks and balances on their exercise of power since they are not political subdivisions of the state, privately governed HOAs also lack sufficient fiscal (and political) economies of scale to easily sustain these kinds of inevitable market cycles. At some point, the fiscal pressures can become so great that the HOA also becomes unviable as a governing entity since no one desires to govern an entity that is effectively bankrupt."

Fishers, Fierce Predators, Make a Home in the Suburbs - NYTimes.com: "Sinewy, with bushy tails and beady eyes, fishers weigh 5 to 15 pounds and live on land and in trees. They are mainly carnivorous, typically eating squirrels, mice, voles and other small animals, as well as nuts and seeds. Fishers are also one of the porcupine’s few enemies, killing it by attacking its snout and flipping it on its back.

“Fishers are pretty vicious,” said Michelle Johnson, the animal control officer in West Greenwich.

The fisher belongs to the mustelid family, which includes weasels, otters and wolverines. It has the aggressive, carnivorous temperament of a wolverine and can climb trees like a marten. Like weasels, a fisher will kill multiple animals at a time in a confined space. Fishers are nocturnal and not easily spotted."
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These things are nasty. They can drive a bear away from his dinner. On top of the mortgage meltdown, this is obviously one of the last signs of the Apocalypse.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but...

Ms Property Manager: You Suck « Random Inkings

Is the DC checkpoint plan unconstitutional

The Volokh Conspiracy -Orin Kerr says...: "It turns out that there's a fairly specific Fourth Amendment law of automobile checkpoints, and that we can look to those cases to see how the DC law fits in. My bottom line: I think the DC checkpoint plan is pretty clearly unconstitutional."

DCist: Police to Seal Off D.C. Neighborhoods: "Can you say Police State? The Examiner has the scoop on a controversial new program announced today that would create so-called 'Neighborhood Safety Zones' which would serve to partially seal off certain parts of the city. D.C. Police would set-up checkpoints in targeted areas, demand to see ID and refuse admittance to people who don't live there, work there or have a “legitimate reason” to be there."
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You have to admit it--there is something to this idea that municipalities are trying to emulate gated communities.

Report: Ed McMahon's home faces foreclosure - CNN.com

Report: Ed McMahon's home faces foreclosure - CNN.com: "LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The foreclosure problems sweeping the United States apparently have ensnared Ed McMahon, who is best known as Johnny Carson's sidekick on "The Tonight Show... The newspaper reported that ReconTrust, a division of Countrywide Financial, filed a notice of default related to a loan for McMahon's house in Los Angeles County Recorder's Court on Feb. 28. It said his house has been on the market for about two years.
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They say he's $644,000 behind on his mortgage payments. I guess that would lead a lender to start thinking about foreclosure.

L.A. Land : Los Angeles Times : In Escondido: Buy one (house), get one free.

L.A. Land : Los Angeles Times : In Escondido: Buy one (house), get one free.: "In a sign of how difficult it is to sell new homes in Southern California right now, a San Diego developer is offering a 'buy one, get one free' deal, pairing million-dollar homes with less expensive homes."
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Pretty soon they'll be giving you a free house as an inducement to buy a tank of gas.

Man loses home over $580 - UPI.com

Man loses home over $580 - UPI.com: "TAMPA, Fla., June 2 (UPI) -- A Florida man who fell behind on dues to his homeowners association because of illness lost his house in foreclosure over a debt of $580.

Gregory Green said the board of directors of The Glen at River Ridge near Tampa showed little compassion when they voted to foreclose on his property, the Tampa Tribune reported Monday.

While Green's case appears extreme, attorneys say many Florida homeowners are losing their homes over a few hundred dollars in delinquent homeowner assessments."
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Here is yet another example of this thing the industry keeps telling us doesn't really happen. Fred Pilot sent me the link.

New York town repeals ban on clotheslines - Yahoo! News: "The Southampton Town board has lifted a ban on clotheslines that had stood since 2002, when some homeowners complained the laundry on their neighbors' lawns was making the town look shabby."
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Fred Pilot sent this link. I guess for this town saving the galaxy comes before anti-hillbilly laws.

FT.com / World - US home prices fall at record pace

FT.com / World - US home prices fall at record pace: "The gloom enveloping the US housing market intensified on Tuesday as home prices dropped at the fastest annual rate since records began 20 years ago.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller national house price index fell 14.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period a year earlier, a decline that threatens to delay any recovery in the broader economy."
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That's a masterpiece of understatement.

Skipped dues crunch home associations - USATODAY.com

Skipped dues crunch home associations - USATODAY.com: "AVONDALE, Ariz. — A modest housing tract, set amid pecan trees here in suburban Phoenix, faces big problems: About 40% of its homeowners aren't paying their association fees, leaving neighbors with higher assessments and reduced services"
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Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link to yet another story on HOAs taking a hit due to owners not paying assessments. CAI's Frank Rathbun is quoted as saying, "It's happening all over. It's a national problem."