Little Pink Houses...
Tired of living in a gray house among dozens of other gray houses, Debra Cullom painted her family's Leawood, Kan., home pink. We're fun, friendly and loving people, and we wanted our house to show that," she says. "It was pretty boring and bland before."

But neighbors are red hot about the new paint job and are circulating a petition to demand a change. Homes association members are debating the color choice.

"We have no list of approved colors or blacklisted colors," says Danne Webb, an at-large director of the neighborhood association. "However, the board's position is that the paint color isn't in harmony and conformity with the neighborhood."

Meanwhile, colorful exteriors are popping up in other young subdivisions where neutral hues have been the norm. Paint manufacturer Behr is selling lots of butter yellow, pale green and light blue exterior paint along with the standard taupe at Home Depot. Large, newer homes are being repainted in unusual colors like peach, purple -- and pink.
[more]

Poverty in the Suburbs
Yesterday it was rats. Today it's poverty. Fred may be right after all. Check out this article in The Nation from political scientist Peter Dreier:

Hidden in a Census Bureau report on poverty released in late August is a factoid with significant political and social consequences. Poverty has moved to the suburbs. Or, more accurately, poverty has expanded to the suburbs. Today, 13.8 million poor Americans live in the suburbs--almost as many as the 14.6 million who live in central cities. The suburban poor represent 38.5 percent of the nation's poor, compared with 40.6 percent of the total who live in central cities.

Las Vegas SUN: Rats haunt residents of upscale community
Fred Pilot think this may be evidence of a Biblical curse being visited on HOAs. I say you have no proof until you have a plague of locusts. What's your opinion?
Residents of the upscale Sun City Anthem retirement community in Henderson tolerate the coyotes, jack rabbits and desert squirrels that try to hang on to what once was their habitat, but homeowners draw the line at rats.

Roof rats, non-indigenous rodents that over the last decade have haunted posh Las Vegas communities including Spanish Trail and the Scotch 80s, are trying to establish themselves in Anthem at the south end of the Las Vegas Valley, scurrying about properties and at times working their way into million-dollar homes.

Several residents of the Pulte Homes/Del Webb community of more than 5,000 residences believe its homeowners association is not taking strong enough action to control the problem that has caused some homeowners to avoid their own backyards at night.

The developer and a homeowners association member say they are taking aggressive action to control the problem, noting that not only do they have to deal with the roof rats, but also indigenous rats as well as other desert critters.
[more]

Homeowners gaining rights | The Arizona Daily Star ?
Fred Pilot caught this good article, loaded with links to material on the new laws in AZ:

Associations finding their powers curbed
By Scott Simonson
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

When a Midtown homeowners association made Michael Bryan take down the sign in his window supporting Howard Dean for president earlier this year, Bryan struck a blow for thousands of homeowners in the Tucson area.

Bryan, who was finishing law school at the University of Arizona, did some research and found out that the no-signs rule in the Crest Ranch Homeowners Association, near North Campbell Avenue and East Prince Road, had state law on its side.

So Bryan talked to Rep. Tom Prezelski, D-Tucson, and they changed the law.

Bryan put up another political sign in front of his home on Wednesday, a day when eight of 10 new state laws took effect to regulate homeowners associations.

That sign will stay up, thanks to the new law that says homeowners associations in Arizona must permit political signs around election time.

The new laws also expand other rights for homeowners and require associations to assume more of the responsibilities of public governments, such as holding open meetings and avoiding conflicts of interest.

More changes may be on the way, according to two Tucson-area state representatives who helped sponsor much of the recent legislation, as HOA issues continue to be a topic in the new legislative session.
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Missoulian: Natelson wins UM dispute
I blogged on this a while back. Robert Natelson is a law professor who wrote, among other things, an important law review article on the origins of the condominium form of ownership. He wanted to teach Constitutional Law at the University of Montana, where he teaches Property and other things. They wouldn't let him. He argued that it was because of his political conservatism--in other words, it was viewpoint discrimination. Now, here is the resolution of his complaint:

Conservative activist Rob Natelson, who claimed he was the victim of political discrimination at the University of Montana, has triumphed in a campus battle to teach constitutional law.

University President George Dennison announced Natelson's new teaching assignment Thursday after accepting a hearing officer's report concluding Natelson, a UM law professor since 1987, had been treated unfairly at the Law School. Hearing officer Donald Robinson found Natelson had been unfairly denied the opportunity to teach constitutional law, but stopped short of addressing the professor's complaint of discrimination based on his personal politics. Dennison appointed Robinson, a Butte attorney, as hearing officer after Natelson sought to take his complaint to the state Board of Regents in July. The regents declined to intervene.

"I am very pleased," Natelson said. "I think it's time to put the acrimony behind us."

Natelson's faculty colleagues reacted coolly to the decision, but Law School Dean Edwin Eck vowed to move beyond the contentious issue for the sake of students.

For Natelson, the outcome settles a long struggle with his employer. His grievance, which covered two distinct themes - political discrimination and violation of department hiring procedures - was given an expedited hearing at Dennison's request.

Natelson, who has twice run as a Republican for governor and led ballot-issue campaigns to limit taxes, accused UM of discriminating against him once his conservative political views became public in 1993.

That discrimination, he said, made itself known every time he requested to teach constitutional law and denied that opportunity as well as other job benefits.

After reviewing the conclusions crafted by the hearing officer, Dennison agreed that UM's Law School gave preference in the past to a few faculty members seeking internal transfers, a practice which Robinson identified as "collegial preference."

[more]

AB 2598 Assembly Bill - Status
This bill is now back to the Assembly, where it originated, and where they now have to concur in the amendments made in the Senate.

AB 2598 Assembly Bill - Vote Information
The Steinberg bill, which passed in the Assembly 69-10 on May 27, has now passed the Senate, 33-1. See my post yesterday (8/27), where I linked to the latest analyis after amendments. This is a major reform bill that changes the rules for foreclosure quite significantly, and also addresses signage and record access for owners. Here's the lead of the analysis:

"This bill enacts numerous changes to the Davis-Stirling Act. Most significantly, this bill prohibits the use of judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure to collect unpaid assessments under $2,5000 and implements new procedures to be followed when judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure is used to collect unpaid homeowner association assessments $2,500 and over. It changes the minimum bid price for a separate interest being sold in nonjudicial foreclosure to 90 percent of the exterior-only appraised value minus senior liens, and creates a 90-day right of redemption for a separate interest sold in nonjudicial foreclosure.This bill also extends the areas on which a separate interest owner may display certain noncommercial signs, posters, flags or banners, expands the categories of association records the members are entitled to inspect and copy to include contracts to which the association is or has been a party, and expands the categories of association records the members are entitled to inspect and copy to include the records of community service organizations."

TheStar.com - Man lay dead in bed for two years:Condo fees and bills were still being paid

Now, here's an example of good condo citizenship. He was dead, but he kept paying his assessments. Unfortunately, his condo community wasn't quite as solicitous about him as he was about them. They didn't check into where the heck he was. Note the way the condo board president allegedly reacted when the deceased's long-term absence was called to her attention...


WINNIPEG—His telephone number was still listed in the telephone directory and his condominium fees and bills were automatically being withdrawn from his bank account.

No one knew Jim Sulkers had died in his bed almost two years ago.

Neighbour Sam Shuster said residents in the complex often wondered where the man they knew only as Jim had gone, but were told his condominium fees were still being paid. "How can that happen, for God's sake. Two years!" Shuster said yesterday of the man who had been a resident in the building since the mid-1980s.
"I used to ask the president of the board of directors where in the hell is he? She said all she knew was the bank gets the monthly money so we don't worry about it."
[more]

AB 2598 Assembly Bill - Bill Analysis
This bill has been amended again. Here's an analysis of the way it stands now. Note that the prohibition on foreclosure for fines and penalties has been removed.

Citizens for Legal Responsibility - Exposing Attorney and Judicial Misconduct
Homeowner activist Monica Sadler of Moline, Illinois, lets fly with a web page for a new organization.

BocaNews.com:High cost of insurance giving condo associations a real headache
As president of the Casa Del Rio Condominium Association in Boca Raton, David Trimble says that he and the other 260 condo owners are actively looking for a way to curb their skyrocketing association insurance rates.
“We haven’t filed a claim in about nine years. Our insurance rates have gone up about 40 percent over the past five years,” Trimble said.
The association currently pays about $105,000 per year to insure their property.
“It is supposed to have gone down by $4,000. As far as I’m concerned, it’s legal thievery,” he said.
Trimble said he is awaiting a decision that would allow the property to be re-classified as not being within a flood zone. He hopes it makes a difference in their insurance rates.
Trimble said their rates have gone up as much as $20,000 in previous years and last year were increased by about $9,000.
He blames the high insurance rates on a number of factors – including costs that are passed on to the customers.
“A hot water heater exploded in one of the units and the contractor cost $4,500 but were only here two and one half hours to clean it. They charged the insurance company for that,” he said.
Mostly, Trimble says there’s just not enough competition between insurance providers.
“I’ve been told they’ve signed a pact that they won’t take customers from each other and that puts a monopoly on things,” he said.
[more]

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But...but...that would be (gasp)...WRONG!

Family seeks help with speeding vehicles
Here's one family that will probably buy into an HOA next time, after this experience with stereotypically slow response from local government:

The white plastic fence that used to line the front yard of Jon and Tracy Hall's home is long gone, the victim of one of the many cars that have barreled across their lawn after missing a curve near their house.

All that remains of the fence are broken stumps — what were once its main posts — sticking out of the ground.

Since September 2000, when the Halls moved to 1416 Peekskill Hollow Road, at least five northbound cars have failed to negotiate the left-hand curve on a slight hill just south of their house and careened across their front lawn. A stone ledge above one side of their driveway then serves as a launching pad, sending the vehicles flying into the woods.

The Halls have appealed to the town of Kent and Putnam County for help but said the problem persists.

Town Supervisor William Tulipane said he was in their corner and can't understand why the county won't install a guide rail in front of the home, as the Halls have requested.
[more]

AB 1836 Assembly Bill - ENROLLED
AB 1836, Harman. Common interest developments: dispute
resolution.
Existing law provides that a common interest development
association has standing to institute, defend, settle, or intervene
in litigation, arbitration, mediation, or administrative proceedings,
in various circumstances, including enforcement of the governing
documents. The Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act
requires, before a common interest development association or an
owner of a separate interest therein brings certain actions related
to the enforcement of the development's governing documents, that the
parties endeavor to submit their dispute to alternative dispute
resolution, as specified. Existing law defines and regulates
operating rules in connection with common interest development
associations and applies them to association procedures for
resolution of assessment disputes.
This bill would revise and recast the provisions described above
relating to dispute resolution. The bill would specify that a common
interest development association and an owner of a separate interest
may enforce governing documents other than the declaration. The
bill would create a new dispute resolution procedure for conflicts
between an association and a member, to be applied when the dispute
concerns specified subjects. The bill would require an association
to provide a fair, reasonable, and expeditious procedure for
resolving these disputes, as defined by certain minimum standards,
and would provide a procedure for associations that do not have a
procedure of their own that meets the minimum standards, among them
that the member not be charged a fee to participate in the process.
The bill would also require that the association provide notice of
its dispute resolution process, as specified.
This bill would revise the existing dispute resolution provisions,
described above, to clarify their application to other nonjudicial
processes and to broaden their applicability to include actions
enforcing the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act and the
Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation Law. Among other things, the
bill would also provide for the tolling of a statute of limitations
in certain circumstances, expand the permissible methods of service
of a request to submit a dispute to the resolution process, and
change the confidentiality protections applied to these procedures.
The bill would require that a common interest development association'
s procedures for the resolution of all disputes, not only those
related to assessments, satisfy requirements regarding association
operating rules. The bill would make additional technical and
conforming changes.
The bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 1357.120
of the Civil Code proposed by AB 2376 that would become operative
only if AB 2376 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective
on or before January 1, 2005, and this bill is chaptered last.

US wants to build network of friendly militias to combat terrorism
Is this a form of privatization? I'd say so:

The Pentagon has urged Congress to authorize 500 million dollars for building a network of friendly militias around the world to purge terrorists from "ungoverned areas" -- and warned Muslim clerics against providing "ideological sanctuary" to radicals.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a key architect of the Iraq war, told the House Armed Services Committee Tuesday the money would be used "for training and equipping local security forces -- not just armies -- to counter terrorism and insurgencies."

USATODAY.com - An unwelcome mat for free speech
Here's a good piece by Tony Mauro on the lack of freedom of speech in HOAs. There's a mention of yours truly down the page:

One of the bonuses of an election season is the lively debate that takes place on our front lawns. Political signs — some plain, some biting — mark the vitality of our door-to-door democracy.
Yet, for a growing number of Americans, that showcase of democracy is unthinkable. They are among the estimated 50 million people who live in communities governed by some form of homeowner association — gated, planned or retirement communities, cooperatives and condominiums. For the past several years, an estimated four out of five new housing units have fit this category. They are popular for good reason. They include access to shared services and shared property, such as pools and parks, and create a sort of instant community.

But there is a regrettable price to pay — a diminution of free-speech rights. In pursuit of noble-sounding goals such as avoiding visual clutter or keeping property values high, most such communities require residents to abide by rules against lawn signs, posters and banners of all sorts, including flags in many cases. When these communities were isolated enclaves, these private muzzles seemed less worrisome. But now that entire municipalities are beginning to be dominated by such community associations, and many more will soon be, it is time to be alarmed about what this trend is doing to our freedom to express ourselves.

[more]

Los Angeles Times: Ledger War at Leisure World
The battle between a determined cadre of Leisure World residents and managers of their Seal Beach retirement community escalated Friday after management lawyers vowed to sue to keep financial records secret.

Seven residents — who are members of the nonprofit foundation that runs Leisure World — went to small-claims court in June to compel the foundation to open its books, saying that because they pay monthly dues, they have the right to inspect the books to see where the money is going.

But in a small courtroom Friday, attorneys for the Golden Rain Foundation said they would preempt the residents' argument and file their own Superior Court lawsuit to keep the books out of the residents' hands.
[more]

Russian Alien Spaceship Claims Raise Eyebrows, Skepticism

So...Mulder and Scully were right, all along...

An expedition of Russian researchers claims to have found evidence that an alien spaceship had something to do with a huge explosion over Siberia in 1908. Experts in asteroids and comets have long said the massive blast was caused by a space rock.

The new ET claim is "a rather stupid hoax," one scientist said today. And it's one with a rich history.

The latest claim was written up by news wires and was making the Internet rounds Thursday morning. According to Agence France Presse, the scientists say they've found "an extra-terrestrial device" that explains "one of the 20th Century's biggest scientific mysteries," a catastrophe that flattened some 800 square miles of Siberian forest in a region called Tunguska.
[more]

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What does this have to do with HOAs, you ask? It's all related. You'll see how in the last episode.

Yahoo! News - Living in the clouds
Here is a wonderfully literary article sent my way by Fred Pilot. It is from the San Diego Daily Transcript, the legal newspaper for SD. Note the use of metaphor, imagery, and other things that tell you somebody with a background in English lit wrote it. Not your typical J-school grad, I'll wager.

Hundreds of condominium owners in San Diego own something nobody can see because it isn't really there. It's a fictional cloud in the sky designated as the common area.

The cube of airspace is located 50 feet from the ground above the property. Some people define it as a prism of air, others, a cone or a disk. The cloud is one foot thick and covers the entire property. Cloud condo owners have a shared interest in the airspace and are responsible for its maintenance.

[more--a lot more]

CNN.com - Zombie movie filming at Chernobyl - Aug 10, 2004

Some places are gated communities but don't need to be. Then there are the places that aren't gated, but should be. Exhibit A: Chernobyl, soon to be the set for "Return of the Living Dead IV--Necropolis." Let's take a vote on whether "Necropolis" is a good or bad name for a gated community.





CHERNOBYL, Ukraine (Hollywood Reporter) -- You might have thought that Chernobyl was off-limits, closed to the outside world behind a rigidly patrolled exclusion zone since reactor No. 4 went into catastrophic meltdown April 26, 1986, spewing radiation to the four winds.

Not a bit of it. The reactor's deadly core was buried in a concrete and steel sarcophagus, but the adjoining reactors carried on producing electricity until they were finally decommissioned a couple of years ago.
....
Now, for the first time, a Hollywood feature film -- the zombie movie "Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis" -- has gained access to the infamous site.
....
The zombie-free Chernobyl scenes are for the opening, in which a rogue ex-CIA agent is seen stealing the world's last five canisters of Trioxyn gas, the lifeblood of the living dead.

"Chernobyl is very spooky and serves our purpose -- we are shooting in all these abandoned towns and villages, with rusting equipment lying around everywhere," Fradis says.

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Yes, I'll just be there are lots of abandoned towns and villages around Chernobyl. What, I wonder, is the going rate for acting in a movie being filmed at the location of a major nuclear accident? How desperate for work can you get?

Bombshell from the California Law Revision Commission?

This report lays out the framework for a state agency to oversee common interest developments in California. Whammo. It's just a conceptual paper, but recommendations from the CLRC are taken pretty seriously. With foreclosure reform actually on the doorstep, could state oversight be next?