Oxberry pays HOA dues to get neighborhood support for luxury retail project - Houston Chronicle

Oxberry pays HOA dues to get neighborhood support for luxury retail project - Houston Chronicle:

Here you go, folks. Local democracy in action. Money for votes.



"Oxberry Group compensated nearly 200 residents in a deed-restricted neighborhood to approve plans for a high-end shopping center in the Tanglewood area.

The Houston developer donated $100,000 to the Briarcroft community association and paid one year’s worth of HOA dues — about $625 per household — to any Briarcroft homeowner who voted in favor of its Shops at Tanglewood project. It also held neighborhood meetings, sent informational mailers and knocked on doors to get signatures.

Sean Jamea, an Oxberry co-principal and an attorney, said there’s “nothing wrong” with swaying votes in this manner.

“It’s been happening in Florida for decades,” he said. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. We wanted the Briarcroft neighborhood to prosper with us as we build this shopping center.”"

Getting Started – Choosing Between a Co-op and a Condo - The New York Times

Getting Started – Choosing Between a Co-op and a Condo - The New York Times:

If California gets serious about building more high-density housing (see my post below), they should consider housing cooperatives. New York City has more co-ops than condos. Chicago has lots of co-ops, including limited equity co-ops that remain affordable.

------
"There is no question that there are more co-ops than condos in New York City, but the gap has been narrowing in recent decades. 'In Manhattan, it’s about 75 percent co-op versus 25 percent condo,' said Jonathan J. Miller, the president of the Miller Samuel appraisal firm. 'In the early 1990s, it was about 80/20, and in the mid-1980s it was 85/15.'”

In California, Momentum Builds for Radical Action on Housing - CityLab

In California, Momentum Builds for Radical Action on Housing - CityLab: "Cities around the world are dealing with severe housing shortages and inflated housing costs. But nowhere is housing such a potent political issue as in California, whose unique geography, state policies, and activist culture have combined with a poorly distributed economic boom to create a “perfect storm”—the chosen words of multiple sources for this story.

"

--------------------

This is what political scientists call a "policy window," a time when legislators are looking for solutions and there is an opportunity for interest groups who may have been ignored to get the ear of somebody looking for a bill to push.  Ideas that can be framed as solutions to the "housing crisis" will be considered. The most obvious problem is that owner-occupied housing in much of California, especially southern California and the San Francisco Bay area, is insanely expensive. Why? Many people say it is all about the law of supply and demand, and that the supply of housing is inadequate to meet the demand. The solution they propose is for cities to allow construction of more high-density housing. Cities are generally reluctant to do this, so State Senator Scott Weiner is proposing that the state should force cities to issue building permits for high-density construction near transit hubs. That would mean condominiums and apartment buildings. Condominiums are the go-to idea for legislators every time somebody proposes to make owner-occupied housing more affordable. But the problem is that we just found out the hard way, when the housing market tanked in 2006-2007, that selling condominium housing to people of moderate income is a  risky proposition.  I could go on about this, but I think I've made that point enough times for now.  However, that experience won't stand in the way of doing the same thing all over again, because when it comes to home ownership in this country, there is no mistake that we won't repeat.

You Care About the Subdivision Regulations, You Just Don't Know It (Yet) — Strong Towns

You Care About the Subdivision Regulations, You Just Don't Know It (Yet) — Strong Towns: "Basically, local subdivision regulations govern the division of land, which includes everything from a simple lot split to the creation of new neighborhoods from pastureland.  Among other things, they establish rules for the creation of lots, blocks and streets, and provide for the establishment of easements, parks, and public rights-of-way.

Making modest, intelligent changes to this document can have enormous impacts because new neighborhoods tend to be mass-produced at a large scale.  If your city hasn’t re-evaluated its subdivision regulations in a while, you’re probably still replicating bad ideas from the 1970’s — creating inflexible, and auto-centric places.  If this is the case, it's time for a change."

---------------------

Middle Class neighborhoods must be focus for some cities

Middle Class neighborhoods must be focus for some cities:

Interesting question--should cities focus on helping distressed neighborhoods, or strengthening middle class neighborhoods?

Can mass timber help California build its way out of the housing crisis? - Archpaper.com

Can mass timber help California build its way out of the housing crisis? - Archpaper.com:



Mass timber means using wood for the load-bearing structural components of buildings up to 18 stories high. California's housing costs are insanely high and there is a housing shortage. There aren't enough millionaires to buy the currently housing stock, apparently.  Thoughts are turning to high-rise, high density residential construction made of wood.

Ben Carson's housing agency drops pledge to end housing discrimination | US news | The Guardian

Ben Carson's housing agency drops pledge to end housing discrimination | US news | The Guardian: "The US housing department, helmed by the former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, has proposed a new mission statement in which the pledge to build “inclusive” communities “free from discrimination” is removed.

The proposal comes just two weeks after the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services changed its mission statement to eliminate a passage that described the US as “a nation of immigrants”."

-----------------

What's next? Maybe they will hang a sign around the Statue of Liberty that says "Whites Only."

Bills Affecting Community Associations | CAI Illinois

Bills Affecting Community Associations | CAI Illinois:
Here's one:
HB5744 (Rep. Drury) ATTORNEY FEE AWARDS TO UNIT OWNERS/ELIMINATION OF FEES IN DEMAND NOTICES. The bill amends Section 9.2 “Other remedies” of the Illinois Condominium Property Act. The bill would require that attorney’s fees incurred in sending and serving a collection demands under the Forcible Act be EXCLUDED from an owner’s assessment account. Additionally, contrary to most governing documents, the bill provides that if an owner is the “substantially prevailing party” in any litigation or arbitration (including a collection action) involving an association or its board, the court shall award that owner his or her attorney’s fees and costs. On February 16, 208 this bill was referred to Rules Committee. This bill is identical to HB3755 introduced in 2017 by Representative Drury.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=5744&GAID=14&GA=100&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=111835&SessionID=91

'

Homeowners facing $20 million jury verdict over swing set that left boy disabled demand answers from Lamplight Village HOA - KTNV.com Las Vegas

Homeowners facing $20 million jury verdict over swing set that left boy disabled demand answers from Lamplight Village HOA - KTNV.com Las Vegas:

The association turned down a policy limits demand of $2 million and then lost the trial and got hit with a $20 million verdict. Guess who is liable to pay the debts of the association, including massive verdicts like this? The owners. And of course everybody is shocked to discover that this the way things work in a common interest community. I've been talking about this liability problem for a long time now, but every time it happens, people act surprised. 

Creekside Golf Club owners sue HOA board for reserve fund spending

Creekside Golf Club owners sue HOA board for reserve fund spending

"Creekside Golf Club’s owners have asked a judge to remove the board of an adjacent homeowners association and put the HOA into receivership. It’s the latest volley in a two-year legal battle that will decide whether the club’s owners, developers Larry Tokarski and Terry Kelly, can close the South Salem championship course and turn it into a residential subdivision. The developers say the six members of the Creekside Homeowners Association Board, all of whom own golf course-view homes, illegally used the association’s reserve account to pay for an April 2016 lawsuit alleging the course must remain open indefinitely. That bankrupted the association, raising monthly assessments for the many homeowners whose property values would not be affected by the course’s closure, the lawsuit alleges."

-----------------

I haven't looked up any of the pleadings, but this looks like an unusual situation. The golf course owners seem to be claiming there is no contractual or property rights connection between the golf course and the residential properties, so they can turn the course into a subdivision if they want to.  But the HOA said that buyers were promised in their original covenants that there would be a golf course next door.  Deborah Goonan did a long post on HOA conflicts involving golf courses that mentions this case and others.

Autonomous Vehicles Are Coming, and California Isn’t Ready – Streetsblog California

Autonomous Vehicles Are Coming, and California Isn’t Ready – Streetsblog California

"Reynolds, testifying to the committee, said that as currently worded the federal act would prohibit states and cities from adopting, maintaining, or enforcing “any rules or standards regulating the design, construction, or performance of AV systems with respect to safety, data recording, cybersecurity, human-machine interface, crash-worthiness, post-crash behavior, or automation function.” It would also prohibit states from promulgating any rules on any other issue regarding AVs, including requiring any of them to be electric or subjecting them to VMT fees. It would nullify S.B. 1298, which in 2012 called for the California Department of Motor Vehicles to create safety rules for testing AVs in the state, and it could potentially nullify the rules that resulted from that law as well as prevent the DMV from updating them—although they sorely need updating, and the DMV is in the process of doing so. The act, said Reynolds, “jeopardizes the state’s ability to regulate safety, congestion, and environmental benefits of AVs. Preemption is a feature, not a bug.”

--------------

The rest of the developed world is enjoying high-speed rail, and we are dithering while trains go off the tracks, bridges teeter on the edge of collapse, and we have a multi-trillion dollar deficit in just fixing the infrastructure we already have. The rest of the developed word is planning cities around a (very near) future of electric, self-driving, shared vehicles, with homes powered by solar energy. We are under the boot of a federal government that is bought and paid for by big oil.

What's Missing From the Housing Recovery? New Condos | realtor.com®

What's Missing From the Housing Recovery? New Condos | realtor.com®: "With the last financial crisis now firmly in the rearview mirror, builders are swinging their hammers again and putting up sorely needed new homes. But something’s missing amid all the scaffolding: condos.

Their absence is already being felt by first-time and cash-strapped buyers contending with record-high home prices thanks to the lack of properties on the market. Condos, which are often more affordable than traditional single-family houses with backyards, may seem like a solution. But builders are shying away from putting them up, even in urban areas, where they're often the most concentrated. Why?"

-----------

To put it bluntly, the answer is because growing income inequality makes it more attractive to build luxury homes for rich people, and because building cheap condos leads to construction defect litigation.

Roads to nowhere: how infrastructure built on American inequality | Cities | The Guardian

Roads to nowhere: how infrastructure built on American inequality | Cities | The Guardian:



'via Blog this'

Trump administration wants to sell National and Dulles airports, other assets across U.S. - The Washington Post

Trump administration wants to sell National and Dulles airports, other assets across U.S. - The Washington Post:



This kind of privatization amounts to selling off valuable public assets to rich investors. Trump and his cronies are strip-mining the public sector. Public lands and public infrastructure are set to be plundered by the 1%. Anything that can turn a profit will be lost to the public and converted to private ownership, put under a long-term lease, or subject to private extraction rights for mining, grazing, logging, etc.

Bundy-backing Vegas councilwoman threatens critics at meeting: ‘If I hear a boo I will have marshals remove you!’

Bundy-backing Vegas councilwoman threatens critics at meeting: ‘If I hear a boo I will have marshals remove you!’

This is right-wing, gun-toting, Cliven Bundy supporter Michele Fiore again. The article says that she became angry after a citizen asked her why she was checking her phone during the meeting. As this article notes, she received some attention a while back, when she was running an HOA meeting and did the same thing. It's interesting that she considers herself a great advocate for freedom from tyrannical government, but when she is the one wielding power, she threatens people with arrest for disagreeing with her too vigorously for her taste. At the HOA meeting, "Fiore quickly ordered city marshals to remove someone who asked her a question about the sale, and a disabled veteran who lives nearby decided to start recording video on his phone."

Trump unveils infrastructure plan: Here's what's in it - Feb. 11, 2018

Trump unveils infrastructure plan: Here's what's in it - Feb. 11, 2018:

You can read the whole thing if you want to, but it doesn't amount to much. Let me boil it down for you.

1. It claims to be a $1.5 trillion dollar federal infrastructure plan.

2. It isn't.

3. It proposes that the federal government would spend only $200 billion dollars, spread over ten years.

4. The rest of the money would magically appear from state, local and (of course) private sources, because...incentives!

5. The American Society of Civil Engineers says we need to spend $4.59 trillion in order to address our aging, inadequate, underperforming, and in some cases dangerous infrastructure.

6. So this proposal is ridiculous. Even if the federal government were actually putting $1.5 trillion to this purpose, it would be less than one-third of what is needed. To chip in $200 billion over a decade is a joke. And to expect cash-strapped state and local governments to pony up these sums is absurd.

7. As for the magic of the private market, all I can see here is the usual Republican smoke and mirrors. They want to sell off public assets (privatization), and create "incentives" for banks to lend and for vendors to do what government should be doing. 70% of the criyeria for obtaining federal funding is getting private money. "The evaluation criteria would be—

o the dollar value of the project or program of projects (weighted at 10
percent);
o evidence supporting how the applicant will secure and commit new, non-
Federal revenue to create sustainable, long-term funding for infrastructure
investments (weighted at 50 percent);
o evidence supporting how the applicant will secure and commit new, non-
Federal revenue for operations, maintenance and rehabilitation (weighted
at 20 percent);
o updates to procurement policies and project delivery approaches to improve
efficiency in project delivery and operations (weighted at 10 percent);
o plans to incorporate new and evolving technologies (weighted at 5 percent);
and
o evidence supporting how the project will spur economic and social returns
on investment (weighted at 5 percent)."

8. There is a fundamentally flawed assumption under all this. They always claim that private businesses, that are all about making profits, are going to do things that government has been doing. But the reason government did most of these things is that they are necessary, but not profitable, tasks. So as a general rule, private businesses don't take on such tasks, unless they can make a quick profit and then bail, or unless they can do "cream-skimming" and service only the affluent customers.

8. So if you like expensive toll roads and bridges and tunnels and trains and airports, all of which go to and from places affluent people want to go, then you may get something out of this plan.

9. But for the most part, this "plan" is a bust.

Michigan governor admits his prison food privatization scheme has failed – ThinkProgress

Michigan governor admits his prison food privatization scheme has failed – ThinkProgress

Michigan voters elected this anti-government dunce. Ask people in Flint how that worked out for them. Now he has deprivatized the prison food service because privatization was such a disaster.

Fake homeowners association files real liens on Northland neighborhood after fake bills go unpaid | FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports

Fake homeowners association files real liens on Northland neighborhood after fake bills go unpaid | FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports

"KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- For years, people living in a quiet neighborhood in the Northland ignored the invoices that arrived in their mail demanding payment to a homeowners association. “Just want to let you know it's a scam,” Tony Navarro said he was told when he moved to the Summerfield subdivision. “This is not an HOA neighborhood at all. There are no monthly fees.” But then, just before Christmas, a $445 lien was filed against Navarro’s home and more than 30 others. The reason? For not paying dues to the Summerfield Homeowners Association. An HOA that has no board and provides no services...We tried to talk to Lovell, but she wouldn’t even open the door of her home. Speaking behind a window, she told us she had no comment. Later Lovell’s attorney wrote to FOX4 that Lovell thought the neighborhood should have an HOA to pay for the upkeep of the lot containing the neighborhood’s drainage basin. FOX4 Problem Solvers found it surprising that Lovell cared since she lives in Independence -- far from the Summerfield neighborhood. We also wanted to speak to the other person behind the fake Summerfiled HOA, but he was even harder to reach. Al Roberts is in federal prison, convicted of $3 million in mortgage fraud. "

-----------

With local and state governments taking no responsibility for the conduct of CID private governments, there is all kinds of room for people to move into that vacuum. Fraud, embezzlement, association takeover, financial mismanagement--these things could be made less frequent with proper oversight.

Neighbors owe HOA thousands after missed payment - ABC15 Arizona

Neighbors owe HOA thousands after missed payment - ABC15 Arizona

"Scottsdale - Neighbors Ted Koch and Chad Lakridis don't know each other, but both have the same story.  They live in the Desert Ridge Community Association which they both say is unfairly billing them thousands of dollars because of a $15 late fee."

-----------

The Michigan town where only Christians are allowed to buy houses | US news | The Guardian

The Michigan town where only Christians are allowed to buy houses | US news | The Guardian

"The Christian exclusionary component was introduced in the 1940s. This was a time of heightened racial anxiety and antisemitism in the US, with swaths of Jewish refugees denied asylum from Europe – an act supported by a majority of the American public. The Christian-only clause was introduced together with a white-only clause, which the association eliminated the following decade. Catholics were given a 10% quota, which was eventually dropped. Over the years, however, the Christian-only requirement was, if anything, reinforced. The lawsuit charges that Bay View Association, although private (some private entities including gentlemen’s clubs or the Boy Scouts, for example, historically have been able to discriminate), acts in effect as a governmental entity, endowed with the powers to police and enforce laws. As such, the lawsuit claims, it is engaging in religious discrimination in violation of the US and Michigan constitutions, Michigan’s civil rights act and the Fair Housing Act. Mike Steinberg, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, believes the lawsuit is an “open-and-shut case”.

---------------

Interesting case that raises the question of whether and under what circumstances a private organization should be treated as if it were a government. I will be following this.