Fascinating line drawings of suburbia

http://www.citylab.com/design/2015/02/an-artists-dark-but-loving-graphic-ode-to-suburbia/386309/?utm_source=SFTwitter

This is an article about an artist whose ambivalent feelings about suburbia are reflected in his art.

Neighbor from hell nominations, part deux

From Mystery Reader comes this formidable candidate.  Was she spending too much time watching Fox News?  Stay tuned.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/02/12/3642246_boise-woman-arrested-on-malicious.html?rh=1

"Marguerite Haragan, 58, pressed her foot into the throat of a Jewish woman while saying she'd "better accept Jesus," an Ada County prosecutor said during Haragan's arraignment Thursday. Haragan's verbal harassment of the woman - identified in court by her initials, "AG" - had been ongoing, including through phone calls, according to the prosecutor. But on Feb. 5, it reportedly escalated to violence.According to the prosecutor, AG reported that Haragan visited her home that day, banged on her front window and yelled that she'd "better believe in Jesus, and that she was not going to leave until she did." AG opened the door to take down Haragan's license plate number and ask Haragan to leave, the prosecutor said. Haragan then allegedly slapped AG in the face, pulled her hair, yanked her to the ground and began kicking her in the stomach and thighs. Haragan yelled that AG needed to believe in Jesus to stop the assault, the prosecutor said.  The prosecutor said Haragan pressed her foot into AG's neck and pulled her hair, causing a neck injury that still pains AG. "Eventually, the victim had to comply" to escape the attack, the prosecutor said.According to the charges against Haragan, she returned to AG's home Feb. 7 and scratched a phrase including the word "death" into her mailbox."

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/02/12/3642246_boise-woman-arrested-on-malicious.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

Turns out Americans don't want tiny homes after all

Which should come as a surprise to nobody.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/26/your-house-is-too-small_n_6762938.html

Many people aspire to being the neighbor from hell. Few achieve their objective.

But sometimes one bold individual rises above the crowd and rings the bell.  To wit, this individual:

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"A California man has become the neighbor from hell by plastering swastika-covered Israeli and American flags across the front of his home and refusing all demands he take them down.

The Sacramento homeowner also fashioned a soldier out of wood and green cloth and strung up a Palestinian flag above the house.

He calls it his art, neighbors say, and there's nothing the police will do about it."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2969779/Neighbor-hell-decorates-home-swastika-covered-Israeli-American-flags-s-police-do.html#ixzz3SpPmqrRP
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2969779/Neighbor-hell-decorates-home-swastika-covered-Israeli-American-flags-s-police-do.html

HOA Hall of Shame inducts Aliante - www.ktnv.com

HOA Hall of Shame inducts Aliante - www.ktnv.com: North Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- It's a case of lost and not found. A homeowners association can't find a couple's money, and now, they could lose their home.

Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears has the newest member of our HOA Hall of Shame.

"This is the home that God blessed my husband and I with that we are trying to hard to protect."

Tamela and Edward Ketchmore don't owe their homeowner's association a dime.

"We have never, ever missed a payment."

But their HOA doesn't see it that way.

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Apparently acceptable proof of payment is at the heart of this incident leading to the latest dishonor of a privatopian principality, Nevada sector. Film at 10 on KNTV, Las Vegas.

Study reveals common development pattern in ancient and modern cities

http://www.voicechronicle.com/201502-study-reveals-common-development-pattern-in-ancient-and-modern-cities

The main factor that has driven the rise of common interest housing is that it facilitates increasing population density, which is profitable and efficient for developers and cities.  Residents often become unhappy with these high-density shared ownership arrangements, but here's evidence that these patterns have persisted from ancient to modern times.

"Researchers from the Santa Fe Institute and the University of Colorado Boulder have revealed that a common pattern of development and similar characteristics can be observed in ancient as well as modern cities. Large populations and dense areas are the features of modern cities, which were also exhibited by ancient cities. As per the new study, the inhabitants of ancient cities having bigger and denser settlements were more efficient. The study has been detailed in the journal PLOS ONE."

HOA refuses to let woman charge her electric car

http://www.10news.com/news/hoa-refuses-to-let-woman-charge-electric-car

This reminds me of the San Diego area HOAs that told people they had to rebuild their houses with wood shake roof shingles, after the houses burned down because the wood shake shingles caught fire from flying sparks. By all means, let's not do anything intelligent!

Monica Sadler has passed away

http://www.qconline.com/obituaries/monica-sadler/article_aa78d5a3-18c8-526e-91f4-8fa77efda92f.html

My dear friend Monica Sadler died last week.  She was one of the most tenacious fighters for the rights of HOA and condo owners who has ever set foot in a courtroom. We fought a number of legal battles together and she didn't know the meaning of "quit."  She was also a true friend and one of the most considerate and giving people I have ever known.  I will miss her, and so will Shu Bartholomew and many other people who knew her.

Here is the obituary, and following that you will find a piece I wrote for the Cyber Citizens for Justice website about the case we took to the United States Supreme Court. If you want to read the petition for writ of certiorari, it is linked from the CCFJ page:

Monica J. Sadler, 58, of Moline, passed away Friday, Feb. 20, 2015, at her home.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 27, at Rafferty Funeral Home, 2111 1st St. A, Moline. Visitation will be 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home. Entombment will be at St. Mary's Cemetery, East Moline. Memorials can be made to the Rock Island County Humane Society.

Monica was born Oct. 22, 1956, in Dayton, Ohio, the daughter of James and Betty Anderson. She married Jim Sadler on Feb. 15, 1986 in Tulsa, Okla.

Monica attended Calvary Church of the Quad Cities, Moline. She had a passion for gardening and fishing and loved her dogs, Tinker Bell, Tillie and Buddy. Monica had a heart of gold and never thought twice about helping a stranger. She loved being outdoors and was surrounded by wonderful friends and a loving family.

Survivors include her husband, Jim; son, Andrew (Amy) Sadler, Moline; mother, Betty Anderson, Sunrise Beach, Mo.; and sister, Donna Braddom, Dayton.

Condolences may be left at RaffertyFunerals.com.

http://www.ccfj.net/USSupremeCourtMJSadler.html

On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Illinois Appellate Court, Second District

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PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI

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The Story Behind Monica J. Sadler v. Illinois Commerce Commission

By Evan McKenzie

Published September 17, 2007

How would you feel if you had to pay a water bill every month, but your property was not even connected to the water system, and your CC&Rs said you didn’t have to pay for water until that connection was made?

This is the situation that faced Monica Sadler and thousands of other owners at the Oak Run development in eastern Illinois .  It had been going on in Oak Run for over 25 years when, in 2005, Aqua Illinois filed a request with the Illinois Commerce Commission to raise the water rates in Oak Run, including the charge for “availability” of water to thousands of lots that weren’t even connected to Aqua’s water system.

You may be asking yourself, “Didn’t the HOA object to this rate increase?”  The Oak Run Property Owners’ Association challenged various aspects of the proposed increases.  But they didn’t raise the basic unfairness of forcing people to pay charges that appeared to be prohibited by the terms of the covenants—especially when they weren’t even receiving any water.  The board of directors of ORPOA was controlled by people who had homes in Oak Run with water meters, not “availability” customers who owned undeveloped lots.

As soon as she understood the situation and realized that the ORPOA wasn’t going to protect the interests of availability customers, Monica took it upon herself to go to Springfield and point out to the ICC that there were contractual provisions in the CC&Rs prohibiting the availability charges. An ICC employee suggested that she raise this issue by intervening in the ongoing rate proceeding. 

All by herself, Monica began to review the 6000 page electronic record of the rate proceeding and research the rules for intervening in an administrative action.  Soon she had a Petition to Intervene on file in the rate increase proceeding before the ICC.  In the petition, she made it clear that her reason for intervening was to introduce in evidence the CC&Rs and ask the ICC to rule that the availability charges were a violation of the terms of these contracts.

The Administrative Law Judge eventually granted her Petition to Intervene.  But in the same order, he marked the record of the proceeding “heard and taken” two days before the date of her intervention. That meant that, while Monica was now a party to the proceeding, she could not present any evidence.  The contracts would not be allowed into the record.

Of course, this frustrated the entire purpose of her intervention. She was in the action, but she couldn’t prove the claims that were her reason for intervening.  She filed motions to challenge this ruling. She cited sections of Illinois law that required the utility to introduce all relevant contracts, that allowed the Administrative Law Judge to request that such evidence be produced, and that required all rate setting proceedings to be fair to consumers.  She also argued that these proposed rate increases violated the constitutional rights of availability customers.  The U.S. Constitution prohibits states from impairing the terms of private contracts, and from depriving people of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.  She raised “contract clause” and due process claims before the ICC. 

Every claim that she raised was denied.  The Administrative Law Judge ruled that she had intervened too late in the proceeding, and that hearing evidence and argument from both sides on the contract claims would take too much time.   Acting on his rulings, the Illinois Commerce Commission raised water rates in Oak Run, including the availability charges.

Monica then retained my services, and we appealed from this ruling to the Illinois Court of Appeals for the Second Appellate District.   We raised a variety of issues of Illinois administrative law and also, of course, the constitutional claims of impairment of contract and due process of law that had never been considered by the ICC because Monica was not allowed to place the contracts in evidence.

The appellate court ruled against us, and accepted the argument that the ALJ had discretion to rule that it was too late to hear more evidence.  But, amazingly, the court also held that Monica had not even raised the constitutional claims before the ICC.  In a petition for rehearing, we pointed out with infinite specificity the exact locations in the record where she raised these claims. She had even gone so far as to quote the entire text of the contract clause, word for word, in motions before the Administrative Law Judge, and all this was in the record of the administrative proceeding.

The petition for rehearing was denied.  We then petitioned the Illinois Supreme Court for leave to appeal. That, too, was denied.  The Illinois Supreme Court has the power to decide which cases it is going to hear, and it declined to hear this one without ruling on the merits one way or the other.

The only avenue left was the United States Supreme Court. 

Consider the position Monica found herself in.  She had by this time asked the Administrative Law Judge, the Illinois Commerce Commission, the appellate court, and now the Illinois Supreme Court just to read and consider the contracts that appeared to prohibit the availability charges that people had been paying for decades. She had tried to get these agencies of state government to at least consider that these charges violated the contracts and constitutional rights of thousands of Oak Run residents.  But every arm of state government had refused even to hear that claim.  The rate proceeding was like a railroad train speeding down the tracks, and it seemed that a statutory and constitutional claim brought by a single property owner was not going to be allowed to stand in its path. 

Monica decided that she wanted to petition the Supreme Court for a Writ of Certiorari, and we have done so.  We argue in the petition that the ICC and the Illinois courts have violated Monica’s rights under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.  We contend that the state has misinterpreted its own administrative law rules in order to avoid having to consider an important federal constitutional claim. 

We know that the Supreme Court receives almost 10,000 petitions every year and ends up granting full review with briefing and oral argument to fewer than 80 of them. Another 100 or so will be summarily decided without oral argument. The rest will just be denied review, without explanation.  Petitioning the Supreme Court is always a long shot, no matter who you are.  The Supreme Court has enormous discretion to hear whatever cases it chooses.  The Court does this by having law clerks read the petitions and make recommendations to the justices, and then the justices take a vote. It takes four votes out of nine for the Court to review a case.  The decision to review a case is not based on whether an error appears to have been committed, because the Supreme Court is not in the business of correcting errors by lower courts. The Supreme Court is a policy making court.  The decision to take up a case is based on the importance of the issue to four members of the Court.   We have tried to convince the Court that this case matters, because the Court should protect the rights of individuals who dare to stand up to a powerful utility company, a powerful state agency, and a powerful state court.

We know that the odds are long. But Monica is one of those rare people who are guided by a strong sense of right and wrong.  She refuses to accept injustice if there is any way to fight it.  Most of all, she stands up for other people who are victims of injustice and for whatever reason are not able to stand up for themselves.  And her view of this situation is that thousands of Oak Run owners, without their knowledge or understanding, have been gouged for decades by a regulated utility company, in violation of their contracts and their constitutional rights. 

Their homeowner association is not going to represent their interests or defend their rights. Neither are the state regulators or the Illinois courts.  So, Monica has petitioned the highest court in the nation to correct what she sees as a massive injustice. 

Reform the condominium

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/opinion/reform-the-condominium.html?_r=1

This op-ed by urban planning professor Matthew Lasner follows on the hells of a series the New York times published on a bizarre trend in the condo market:  very rich people, some with shady backgrounds, buying condos in NYC behind shell companies so nobody knows who they are.  Even the condo association doesn't know who the owners are. And the city has been subsidizing this trend because they want more rich people having their pied a terre in New York City. There's a lot more wrong with the condo model than this op-ed describes, but for a short piece it is excellent.
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"FROM New York to Miami, from South Padre Island, Tex., to Park City, Utah, the American condominium has become the hot new investment for global capital. In Manhattan, the trend is so pronounced that a whole new category of real estate has emerged around the southern edges of Central Park: supertall, ultraluxury buildings, with more than half of the homes being sold to anonymous buyers (some perhaps looking to stash ill-gotten gains) who rarely, if ever, occupy them. The city, meanwhile, struggles to produce sufficient housing for those who do live here."

State of Florida subsidizes golf course conversion

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-golf-course-brownfield-incentives-20150125-story.html

This raises some interesting benefits to being a real estate developer in these supposedly "free market" states.  Everybody is supposed to pull him/her self up by bootstraps we don't have except developers, bank, insurance companies, auto manufacturers, and on and on.  It would be one thing if these boondoggles worked, but often it turns out that projects like these are risky and would never be built if the developer couldn't offload a huge tax burden on the rest of us.  For example, as the article points out, the market for golf course developments is old people.  Then there is the environmental risk of such developments, which many buyers are reluctant to bear.  Thanks to Deborah for this link.

"The rolling fairways at DeLand Country Club are about to become shops and houses with the help of state incentives to clean up polluted areas known as brownfields. Developers say Florida's tax credits were essential in transforming the weedy course into Country Club Corners shopping center, anchored by a Publix. It's one of a handful of Florida golf courses that have been redeveloped with financial assistance from the state, and it could signal redevelopment opportunities for owners of struggling and closed courses....State-designated brownfields are a "redevelopment tool" aimed at sparking construction, jobs and green space, according to the Department of Environmental Protection. In exchange for cleaning up a site, developers get corporate-income-tax credits, which they can sell. Developers' incentives increase if they build affordable housing and health-care facilities on brownfield sites. In addition, the state allows $2,500 for every job created on the property and breaks on sales taxes for construction materials."

HOA spat gets nasty as meeting door slammed on owner | TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune

HOA spat gets nasty as meeting door slammed on owner | TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune: Walz said she was standing in the doorway of the meeting room, lodging her protest, as the board members told her to leave.

“I was at the threshold and I said, ‘If he’s allowed to stay here, then I should be allowed to stay,’” Walz said, referring to Calcagni. “Mr. Calcagni must have gotten upset about it.”

Walz said Calcagni rose from his chair and shoved the door closed. She said she shoved back, but the property manager prevailed, and the door shut on her foot. Mitchell said he witnessed the incident.

“He takes his body and pushes his full body weight against her foot,” Mitchell said.

According to the sheriff’s report, Walz told a dispatcher the door shut on her foot but she declined an offer to call emergency medical services.
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HOA managers sometimes act as bailiff in executive sessions. Extra omnes!

Association rules force veteran to remove flag pole

Association rules force veteran to remove flag pole: Foster says she reviewed the View Harbour Neighborhood Association's rules and did not see any restrictions on flags or flag poles.

"When you look through the covenants, the words "flag pole" and "flag" are not here," she said.

So she installed the flag pole in her front yard.

Board members then told her she is allowed to hang flags outsider her home--just not with a pole. They asked her to remove it and to then ask the board for written permission.
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Sometimes a flagpole is just a pole...except in Privatopia.

York County woman fed up with homeowners association - WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC

York County woman fed up with homeowners association - WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC: INDIAN LAND, SC (WBTV) -

Taking on a persistent homeowners association is a battle many have faced before, but one York County mother says she's had enough.

24-year old Betty Lapore and her family bought a house in the Windsor Trace development last year. Since then, she says the homeowners association hasn't left her family alone.

"We moved here from a really bad area in Fort Bragg so our kids could have a good life. And I'm not trying to cause problems, i'm just trying to hangout with my kids all day," Lapore said.

Lapore tells WBTV it all started when she decided to paint her front door red, which instantly caught the attention of the HOA.

"They fined us 350 dollars. They threatened to put a lien on our house for that much," Lapore said.
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Yet another HOA channeling Mick Jagger: Sees a red door, wants it painted black. No unapproved colors any more; we want it painted black.

Five major forces driving down mortgage interest rates

http://blog.metrotrends.org/2015/02/major-forces-driving-mortgage-interest-rates/
And they are:
Slow growth and turmoil abroad
Upheaval in the oil market
The US economy is steadily improving
Low Treasury rates, low mortgage rates
Reduced demand for mortgages

Another Florida crumbling condo

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2945412/Squalid-crumbling-Tymber-Skan-condo-community-renters-turn-trapped-slum-lord-owners

Another example of how fragile condominium housing really is. It's not just the ticky tacky construction. It's the over reliance on the owners resources. Many associations were obviously unsustainable from the start but they were profit centers for the real estate and financial sector so they were built and sold anyway. Now the remaining owners and renters are stuck in awful circumstances, others lost their shirts. 

Florida county wants to privatize practically everything

http://highlandstoday.com/hi/local-news/commissioners-following-privatization-goals-20150207/

Highlands County, Florida goes full-on privatization. 

Woman jailed for having messy yard

http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2014/10/16/woman-sent-to-jail-for-overgrown-yard/#.VEK9ehB65yg.email

Thanks to Mystery Reader for this link.  You think your HOA is bad? Try Lenoir City, TN.

Lenoir City, Tenn. (CBS ATLANTA) – An East Tennessee woman who fell behind in her yard work was sent to jail for not complying with city regulations regarding the maintenance of her overgrown lawn.

Condo owners forced to sell for peanuts

Republicans and libertarians delight in complaining about eminent domain.  They think it some sort of tyranny when local governments force people to sell their property at current market value so the land can be cleared for some public use.  But the same people just love HOAs and condo associations, which they think are bastions of freedom because people supposedly consented to the loss of their liberties. I've never found that argument convincing, but how about this, libertarians and Republicans?  Here's the private equivalent of eminent domain, without the due process clause. This sort of thing has been happening all over the country, as failing condo associations get taken over by investors who buy up enough units (usually at foreclosure sales) to control the association, force the remaining owners to sell for a fraction of what they paid for the units (see below--one woman paid $217,500 for her unit and is being forced to sell for $46,500) and terminate the condominium entirely, turning it into an apartment building.  We call that "de-conversion" because its the opposite of converting apartment buildings into condominium projects.  Florida changed the law in 2007 to make it easier for investors to do this--they no longer need 100% consent to terminate the condominium, whiich was the standard rule for decades in most states. It's all perfectly legal.
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"ORLANDO – When Amanda Gonzalez bought her two-bedroom condominium near Orlando in 2006, she thought she was getting a foothold on the America dream. Gonzalez never missed a payment for her mortgage, condo fees or taxes, even after the real estate crash in 2008 and 2009. When she was laid up after an accident, and money was tight, she still kept her books in order. So it came as a shock when the company that sold her the unit told her the complex was being converted into rental apartments ("terminated"), and that she had to accept what the company offered – far less than what she had paid.  Under a Florida law, companies that own more than 80 percent of condo units in one building can terminate a condo complex under certain conditions and turn it into apartments for rent. The companies have to pay the owners they're evicting the "current market value" for their units, which may not even cover their mortgage."

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2015/2/6/florida-condo-law.html?utm_content=main&utm_campaign=ajam&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=SocialFlow

Guilty plea in $1.5 million Henderson, NV, real estate fraud

Another condo-related real estate fraud in Nevada.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/former-henderson-woman-pleads-guilty-real-estate-fraud

HOA sue orthodox Jewish congregation for home synagogue

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2015/02/03/hoa-sues-orthodox-jewish-congregation-for-operating-synagogue-in-home/