www.newszap.com: Older HOAs face problems with contradictory CC&Rs


Residents of Devonshire Estates are at odds over whether a neighbor should have been allowed to build a 950-square-foot RV garage in his backyard. The HOA board approved the project and the resident got the proper permit from the city. However, when Fannie Jones woke up to the sounds of construction on her birthday in April, she did not like the unexpected gift. "It's a barn in my backyard," said the 60-year-old Ms. Jones, who was one of the neighborhood's first residents when she bought her home in 1989. The RV garage, owned by Charles Baker, is about 18 feet tall and blocks his neighbor, Ms. Jones', eastern view.While some homeowners' associations vigorously enforce community laws, other neighborhoods are a bit more relaxed. Problems can develop as board members and policies change without updating the covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs). When HOA members attempt to enforce what they think is in their CC&Rs, they may discover the documents have outdated or contradictory language...



-------------------------------
This sort of thing is fairly common and it poses quite a problem. There aren't many lawyers who understand the law on CIDs, and even when they do the interaction between the language of governing documents and state law is often difficult to figure out. The CC&Rs may have been written 25 years ago, and since then a lot of things have changed.

CBC News:Condo owners win Supreme Court case over religious structures
The only problem is that this is the Supreme Court of Canada.

OTTAWA - A group of Jewish condo owners in Montreal have won a ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada allowing them to put up temporary, religious structures on their balconies. The case goes back four years, when four Orthodox Jews were told by their condominium association they weren't allowed to put up Sukkot huts, also known as sukkahs, on their balconies. Condo rules had prohibited any construction on balconies or patios.
But in a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that religious freedoms take precedence over co-ownership contracts. It said the association's arguments about aesthetics and safety were questionable and that the Jews' religious rights should be upheld.

The University of Montana School of Law: Robert G. Natelson
I was right. Here's his web page. Check out his publications list and tell me he shouldn't be allowed to teach constitutional law. Good grief.

Natelson seeks regents' help in clash with UM Law School

HELENA - University of Montana professor Rob Natelson, accusing the Law School of discriminating against him for years because of his conservative political views, has asked the state Board of Regents to overturn a decision denying him the opportunity to teach constitutional law. Natelson, who has twice run as a Republican for governor and led several ballot-issue campaigns to limit taxes, filed a formal appeal this week with Regents Chairman John Mercer of Polson. He asked that the regents consider his request or assign it to Higher Education Commissioner Sheila Stearns rather than allow it to be heard on the UM campus. He asked the regents to reverse the Law School decision and order him to be transferred to the constitutional law teaching vacancy. Natelson urged the regents to admonish the Law School "to reassess its policies and practices to assure that faculty members of all viewpoints receive equal opportunity and treatment in hiring, promotion, work practices, merit pay and faculty awards, and that there is greater viewpoint diversity among faculty." In addition, he asked the regents to order the Law School to file "a plan of affirmative action (but not preferential hiring) to assure that the goals of equality opportunity, equal treatment and intellectual diversity are met." This may include, he said, "reassessment of intellectual political bias, faculty sensitivity training and basic education in federal and state provisions against illegal discrimination."


The article goes on at considerable length from there. Unless I am badly mistaken, Prof. Natelson is the author of a fascinating law review article that I have cited numerous times. It is: Robert G. Natelson, "Comments on the Historiography of Condominium: The Myth of Roman Origin," 12 Oklahoma City University Law Review 17 (1987). He debunks the industry-promoted false history of condominiums that says they date back to "the hills of ancient Rome." Instead, he shows, the origins of condominium property lie in medieval German law. He traces the idea through history, until he shows that condominiums arrived in the US in the early 1960s by way of Puerto Rico. If you want more, you can read about German "story property" in Rudolph Huebner's A History of Germanic Privat Law, published back in 1918 and re-issued by Augustus M. Kelley in 1968.
Anyway, I think Prof. Natelson is quite a capable scholar, and if he is being denied the opportunity to teach constitutional law because of his political beliefs it would be a sad state of affairs.

USATODAY.com - Housing crunch revives old cities
USA Today produces yet another excellent piece on housing trends. This one is co-authored by Haya El Nasser, who is as knowledgeable about housing trends as any journalist in America, and it includes analysis by Bob Lang of Virginia Tech, who is on my short list of A Number One urbanists.
-------------
The quest for affordable housing is fueling the explosive growth of suburban cities in the Sun Belt and even reviving some old industrial cities in the Northeast, according to population estimates out Thursday.Census numbers for 2003 show that cities grow when jobs are plentiful and housing costs are relatively low compared with the rest of their regions. (Related story: Rejuvenated cities capitalize on location) "It's the scramble for value," says Robert Lang, urban expert at Virginia Tech and author of Boomburbs, an upcoming book on large, fast-growing suburbs. "People are finding back doors into the hot places." The hottest places are still concentrated in the Sun Belt. Since 2000, eight of the 10 fastest-growing cities with more than 100,000 people are suburbs of Phoenix, Los Angeles and Las Vegas: Gilbert, Chandler and Peoria, Ariz.; Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana and Irvine, Calif.; and Henderson and North Las Vegas, Nev. The other two are Port St. Lucie and Cape Coral, Fla. The hunt for affordable housing also has helped reverse declines in older cities within commuting range of strong job centers. Cities in New Jersey and Connecticut are enjoying some of the spillover from New York's prosperity. Immigrants who are first-time homebuyers often gravitate toward older areas that offer comparatively cheap housing and good transportation to major job markets.



------------
This is a good story, and so is the related one about smaller "micrometropolitan" areas taking advantage of these trends. I suggest following the link to the story and reading the whole thing. Thanks to Fred Pilot for sending me this link.

Catching a Wave Out of Pricey California
By Stephanie Simon and Lianne Hart, Times Staff Writers
AUSTIN, Texas — Soaring property values in California have made many homeowners there rich — and many real estate agents here delighted. In an exodus that some demographers say could reshape the American landscape, young professional families are increasingly fleeing the exorbitant coast for Austin, Dallas or San Antonio, for Atlanta, Denver or Phoenix, for Charlotte, N.C. They're selling their cramped "starter homes" in California, some worth $500,000 or more, and buying luxury homes, for cash, in the nation's interior.


------------------
Folks like this have been leaving California for fifteen or twenty years, and there is much more than home price differentials driving them out (although that is obviously a major incentive). There are other negatives, such as crime, high taxes, an anti-business political climate, massive illegal immigration that is swamping local government with social service burdens, failed public schol systems, and nightmarish traffic problems. On top of it all, the state's political leadership has been a complete disgrace for a long time, proving itself incapable of solving any major problem except self-perpetuation, which is why Der Governator was swept into office. I lived in California for almost thirty years before my wife and I left in 1990, and it is sad to see what has happened to it since. But California's loss is some other state's gain, so all these young professional types will presumably make Arizona, Nevada, Utah, or some other state a better place to live.

Bush signs bills to protect owners from boards: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
That would be Jeb, not George. This is a big year for HOA owner's rights activists in Florida as well as California, and (see below) now Texas.
--------
Beginning Oct. 1, homeowners and condo owners will have greater protection from abusive boards. In the first major reform in a decade, Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday signed two bills that would create the job of ombudsman to hear condo complaints and ban homeowner associations from foreclosing if owners don't pay fines. Homeowners will have the right to fly flags in front of their homes and associations won't be able to sue members for speaking out.Condo boards will not be able to change rules on rentals for existing owners. Homeowners and their associations will face mandatory mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution to prevent them from battling in expensive lawsuits.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS
????????????
No. 02-0492
????????????
Geneva Brooks, et al, Petitioners,
v.
Northglen Association, Respondent

Here's a Texas Supreme Court victory for attorney David Kahne, who represented famous activist Geneva Brooks, who passed away about two years ago. The main issues were increases in assessments without approval of the members and board-imposed late fees (for non-payment of assessments) when the CC&Rs authorized only interest.
Excellent legal work by David, with whom I have had a number of interesting conversations over the last few years. Congratulations!

New U.S. Home Sales Leap to Record High

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of new U.S. homes surged well past expectations in May to a record high, as generally rising mortgage interest rates did little to restrain home buying, a government report showed on Thursday.

Sales of new homes jumped 14.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.369 million units from an upwardly revised 1.192 million in April, the Commerce Department said. It was the biggest monthly climb since April 1993.

Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting sales to rise more modestly to 1.12 million units from the originally reported 1.093 million pace on the strength of mortgage applications.

Sales of new homes reached a record high 663,000 annual rate in the South, the region with the greatest volume of activity. They rose to a 121,000 rate in the Northeast, the highest level since January 1989.


-------------
Those common interest housing units are just jumping off the shelves, no matter how many stories there are in the press about taking away people's pets and tearing down their flags. Go figure.

KTLA.com | LA's WB | Television Los Angeles | Condo Ban on Pets Is Upheld
The homeowner victory in the legislature over foreclosure reform is tempered by the loss in the California Supreme Court last week. The Terifaj case, that I have posted about earlier, went against the homeowner. She even has to pay the association's attorney fees:

The California Supreme Court on Monday upheld a Palm Springs condominium ban on pets over the objection of a dog lover who bought in before the exclusion was put in writing.

The Villa De Las Palmas Homeowners Assn. had repeatedly warned Paula Terifaj that she was violating the rules, according to the opinion. The court upheld the association's power to exclude pets and ordered Terifaj to pay $15,000 to cover the association's legal fees.

Terifaj, a Brea veterinarian, argued on behalf of the 6.7 million California households with pets that owning them benefited human health and well-being.

In the unanimous opinion written by Justice Carlos Moreno, the court ruled that "all homeowners are subject to use restrictions contained in amended [association rules] irrespective of when the amendment was passed."

The homeowners association argued that there had been a long-standing, though unrecorded, rule banning pets since 1962, and that Terifaj was aware of it.

Terifaj bought a condo in 1995 and moved in with her dog, Lucy. After Lucy died in 1998, Terifaj brought another dog onto the property.

The association had repeatedly told Terifaj to remove each dog from the premises. In 2000, the association approved a recorded rule banning "animals of any kind, including, without limitation, dogs, cats, birds, livestock, reptiles or poultry."

State law that took effect in 2001 gives residents in "common interest developments" the right to keep a single pet. Those developments include condominiums, planned housing developments and cooperatives.

The court ruled Monday that the benefits of pet ownership were irrelevant. Instead, the issue was whether "subsequently enacted and recorded use restrictions may be enforced against a current homeowner."

In upholding the 4th District Court of Appeals in Riverside, the high court also concluded that Terifaj must pay the homeowners association $15,000 in attorney fees.

SB 1682 Senate Bill - AMENDED
Here's the version of SB 1682 that passed committee.

SB 1682 Assembly Bill - Status
The Ducheny bill that would eliminate foreclosure for assessment collection under $2500 has passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee 8-3. I haven't looked this up, but I'm told that it was a party line vote, with Democrats for and Republicans against. Now the bill has passed the Senate and is headed for the Assembly floor, I would assume.

Las Vegas SUN: 1st Private, Manned Rocket Set for Launch
MOJAVE, Calif. (AP) -

Aviation enthusiasts began gathering Sunday in the high desert in hopes of seeing the first flight into space by a privately developed, manned rocket. Thousands of people were expected to be watching early Monday when an exotic jet-engined airplane named White Knight was set to take off from Mojave Airport carrying the rocket-propelled SpaceShipOne. If SpaceShipOne is successful, designer Burt Rutan and his Scaled Composites development company will use the craft to make a run at the $10 million Ansari X Prize, a formal competition intended to spur commercial development of spaceflight.


------------
The privatization of space travel proceeds apace. This reminds me of the film "Alien," where "The Company" is mining in outer space and, of course, has an evil ulterior (profit) motive to exploit the Alien's hardy predatory nature for "the Weapons Division." Call me if White Night comes back with a xenomorph.

The Outer Banks Sentinel: Archaeologists plan search for lost Roanoke Settlement

This goes on my cool list. I've wondered about the lost Roanoke colony since I first heard about it in the sixth grade.

The search for the settlement site of Sir Walter Raleigh's Roanoke colonies of the 1580's, including the mysterious "Lost Colony," will resume later this year if plans now being made by archaeologists and historians are realized.

----------------
Perhaps you recall this as well. The colonists landed at Roanoke Island in 1587, founded the Cittie of Raleigh, and in 1590, when ships returned, they found the place deserted and the word "Croatoan" carved into a tree. Nobody has ever been able to figure out what happened to them. X-files material, but real.
Here's the story in more detail--From a cool site called "Packet."

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.


-------------------
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.

------------------
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.


-----------------
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.
---------------------
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


-------------
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.

----------------
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.

-----------------
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.
------------------
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.


---------------------
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...
------------------------
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.

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

------------------------------
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)

Why I have been off the air since Thursday.
I just got back from Montreal after a truly excellent conference titled "Private Neighborhood Associations and Liberty." It was sponsored by The Liberty Fund, an organization that puts on many conferences dealing with liberty. This one was proposed and put together by Robert Nelson, the University of Maryland economist who has written a great deal about the use of HOAs as a replacement for municipal governments. There were 15 people at the conference, and a very distinguised group it was (not counting me), including law professors, economists, and a few from other backgrounds, such as Linc Cummings, one of the founders of CAI. Some of the attendees are libertarians or so inclined, but others were coming from quite different perspectives. We had two full days of lengthy and intense conversations. All told, it was the best meeting I have ever attended on this subject. I will talk more about this, but for now I have to get some rest as it has been a long four days.

The News-Press: Local & State - Some Island Club residents set to sue
Builder misled them about decks, they say

By DENISE L. SCOTT, dscott@news-press.com
Published by news-press.com on June 6, 2004

Some residents of the Island Club in Estero plan to sue the builder they claim misled them into thinking it was legal to build lanais, decks and concrete pads on property they don’t own.

About 150 homeowners attended the informational meeting Friday night, which was meant to raise a legal fund against builder Ronald L. Davis, owner of RLD Homes.

Resident Michael Towns, who organized the meeting, said 207 of the 250 homes have either concrete pads, lanais or decks — all in violation of county code for extending onto common property. The lanais and decks also were built without permits.

“I’m no builder, but somebody knew you don’t build lanais on property you don’t own. It says it in (county) code,” Towns said.

The county had been negotiating with the community for two years to bring the structures into compliance. However, Commissioner Ray Judah recently ordered that the structures be torn down because of safety and flooding concerns.

Towns said his group, which is separate from the homeowners association board, hasn’t yet determined whether it will include any government agencies in the lawsuit.

“There’s also culpability with the county,” Towns said. “There were inspectors crawling all over the community, but people weren’t paying attention. They weren’t insisting the rules be followed.”


------------------
When you get an HOA, a municipality, a homeowner's organization, and a few lawyers in the mix, I'd say major litigation may not be far behind. What do you think?

Buying into a community group

For many, homeownership means abiding by HOA regulations
BY MICHAEL GARTLAND
Of The Post and Courier Staff

(This story includes some quotes from me and also from Shu Bartholomew. It is interesting because the reporter went into the issue of municipal dependence on HOAs. Here's the whole story because the link requires registration.)

Ben Allen didn't worry much about the rules he and his neighbors would have to follow when he moved into his Snee Farm home in Mount Pleasant five years ago.
"We picked the house first and read the covenant last," he recalled.

The letter of the development's law became more important to him last summer, though, when a neighbor decided to install a pre-fabricated garage.

"We wanted construction to stop," he said. Allen lobbied against it, saying it wasn't permissible under Snee Farm's covenant, but the Snee Farm Community Foundation, his homeowners association, had already approved the project.

The neighbor building the garage happened to be a member of the association's board of directors.

"We felt because he sat on the board they showed him more leeway, so we challenged it" in court, he said.

His story is not uncommon. In Charleston County, homeowners association disputes often wind up in small claims court. Last year, the county's small claims magistrate heard about two cases every week.

There are about 500 homeowners associations in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties; across the country, about 250,000. Most act as small governments, handling responsibilities such as landscaping, zoning enforcement and road and drainage repairs. They have the power to exact fines on residents, put liens on homes, and some can foreclose if all other discipline fails. Some even sue the cities within which they're situated.

In Snee Farm, the homeowners association sued the town for installing speed humps, a traffic calming device that some residents opposed.

Often people who buy a new home--and into an HOA--aren't aware of the powers such organizations wield. Some don't allow flags to fly or satellite dishes to be visible. Others forbid open garage doors and cars propped up on cinder blocks. Problems also can arise when the people running the associations, which have budgets that often reach into the millions, don't have the training or staff to handle the financial responsibilities.

Evan McKenzie, a political science professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, has been tracking and studying homeowners associations for 20 years and has written a book about it titled "Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government."

Part of the reason HOAs have increased from 500 in 1960 to a quarter million today is because cash-strapped municipal governments can't always afford to build roads and other necessities that new developments require, McKenzie said.

HOAs often pay for landscaping and roads previously financed by cities and towns.

"It's like a subsidy for local governments," McKenzie said. "Governments actively promote it."

Not only do municipalities save money on costs absorbed by HOA fees, but some charge developers fees for the impact on infrastructure that development brings.

Mount Pleasant Planning Director Joel Ford said homeowners associations have benefited the town over the years.

"We would have needed more in tax dollars to support (that) development," Ford said.

Typically, local governments don't exert much control over homeowners associations. North Charleston Planning Director Bill Gore said the city formally recognizes HOAs but has no say over how contractual disputes are resolved within them. Such disputes could involve zoning and infrastructure matters, issues typically seen as the purview of government.

"They have to attend to those agreements on their own," Gore said.

Developers benefit from the relative independence their communities have from local government. Paying for their own infrastructure enables developers to have more control over scale.

"It's very lucrative for builders to build this way because they can get much higher densities," McKenzie said. "Streets are a large expense. If you can make streets 5 or 6 feet narrower than the town allows, then that's all profit."

In the long run, though, these benefits can translate into problems for residents. Shoddy infrastructure often comes back to haunt residents who pay for repairs out of increased homeowners fees. Problems also can arise because some HOA directors have no experience handling the money or problems that accompany a planned development.

"They don't get any training, they don't know what they're doing, and they've got a lot of responsibility," McKenzie said.

Complaints about how property is managed have been common at Snee Farm. Some residents and members of the HOA's board of directors said decisions are made without voting, and that Michael Hart, the board's head, has taken on responsibilities that are not his to assume.

Hart said he does not manage the property, but enforces covenants and restrictions. He added that the community has never looked better.

"Nobody is claiming fraud or any other crime, but we are concerned with mismanagement," said Emilie Carey, who is on the board of directors and has lived in Snee Farm for 10 years.

The lawsuit filed against the town of Mount Pleasant over speed humps is central to the issue, and is yet to be resolved. Carey claimed the board never voted to sue or to hire a lawyer, but Hart denied this. "Everything is voted on by the board," he said.

Not all associations are as contentious as Snee Farm's.

Jim Trusso, president of the Little Oak Island Condominium Association at Folly Beach, said the biggest issue the group faces is homeowner ignorance of community living.

"People don't know or have a good grasp of what condominium or community living is all about," he said.

Michael Parades is trying to change that. He's a local property manager and the South Carolina chapter president of the Community Associations Institute. Educating homeowners and the 3,500 HOAs in the state, he said, is key to making them work smoothly.

"We're trying to get more homeowner participation," he said. "Most homeowners don't understand what they've bought into when they buy into a homeowner association."

Reaching out to untrained HOA managers is also key to making sure the communities are run more efficiently.

"Community managers need to know a lot of things. They need to know legal (matters), they need to know about insurance, they need to know about maintenance," he said. "In South Carolina, there's nothing that says you can't get into community management."

Many HOAs hire property managers to handle chores such as maintenance and tracking down residents who are overdue on fees.

At Bayview Farms on James Island, the homeowners association only gets involved if legal action seems imminent.

Karen Rapchick has served on the homeowners board at Bayview for three years and said that usually a small claims court notice is enough to get residents to cough up fees. Sometimes, though, they have to go to court.

"We just started using the smalls claims court two years ago for dues issues," she said.

Other associations will foreclose on homes.

Michael Michalak is vice president of the Autumn Chase and Lakes Homeowners Association and said that while this West Ashley community hasn't taken anyone to court, it has forced one resident to move.

"We foreclosed on two places," he said. "They paid. One stayed, and one moved."

Nationwide, there are few laws governing HOAs. Local governments typically take a hands-off position, McKenzie said. Over-regulation is certainly a consideration, but McKenzie fears under-regulation could lead to trouble for the associations and the people who depend on them.

Since HOAs are private, they don't have the safety net that relatively small municipal governments have. Town, city and county governments can be bailed out in case of a financial emergency.

"Who's going to bail out a homeowners association?" McKenzie asked. "They have no institutional friends."

Shu Bartholomew started a radio show devoted solely to homeowners association issues after serving on one. Her show, On the Commons, is broadcast in northern Virginia on Saturdays and on the Internet. The show allows people from all over the country to have discussions about problems that arise in home ownership and in homeowners associations.

"We've been able to put a lot of issues on the table," Bartholomew said.

Five years after moving into Snee Farm, Ben Allen hopes he can resolve some issues of his own. The case regarding his neighbor's garage, a case he brought last October, is still being heard in Charleston County Court of Common Pleas. He hopes it will be resolved soon through mediation.

"We got a better understanding, basically by digging a little bit," Allen said.


Michael Gartland covers East Cooper. Contact him at 937-5902 or mgartland@postandcourier.com.




Click here to return to story:
http://www.charleston.net/stories/051104/loc_11hoa.shtml

PLANETIZEN: Is Suburbia Killing Us?


As national and North Carolina overweight and obesity rates climbed to 59 percent in 2002, and runaway health-care costs hit the economy, writes University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Endeavors magazine writer Neil Caudle, many researchers looked beyond the usual suspects of ''fast food and too much television'' and began to implicate ''the 'built environment,' much of which was built around cars'' and gradually morphed into the ever-farther suburbs. ''We grow up with the understanding that the only way to travel is by car, and the only way for communities to develop is with a separation of uses,'' but the time has come for governments and businesses to grasp the value of mixed uses and ''the economic advantage of having people out and about without cars,'' stresses UNC School of Public Health's Department of Health Behavior and Health Education Associate Professor Rich Killingsworth.


------------------
So...suburbanites drive too much, and that leads to obesity, and that leads to death? I'd have to read the study to be sure, but I'm starting out with a good deal of scepticism. Are suburbanites really fatter than people who live in central cities?

FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Private Rocket to Try Reaching Space
MOJAVE, Calif. — A privately developed manned rocket will attempt to reach space this month, its builders said Wednesday. It would be the first non-governmental flight to leave Earth's atmosphere. SpaceShipOne (search), created by aviation designer Burt Rutan and funded by billionaire Paul Allen (search), will attempt to reach an altitude of 62 miles on a suborbital flight over the Mojave Desert (search) on June 21. The rocket plane reached an altitude of about 40 miles during a test flight May 13. Suborbital flights are essentially up and down. The craft does not reach speeds fast enough go into orbit around the Earth. If the attempt is successful, SpaceShipOne will compete for the Ansari X Prize, a competition in which $10 million goes to the first reusable rocket able to carry three people into space on a suborbital flight, return them safely to Earth, and repeat the feat within two weeks with the same vehicle. A number of other private organizations are also developing contenders for the prize.


------------------------
I think SpaceShipOne is a weak name. How about....Moonraker?

Update from California Law Revision Commission
Here's some updated information from the CLRC on two of the bills they proposed, both of which are in the legislature at present. One is AB 1836, dealing with alternative dispute resolution, and the other is AB 2376, that would implement the CLRC's recommendations on architectural review and rulemaking.

The CLRC, by the way, is in the Governator's sights. He wants to abolish it as a money-saving measure.

Darwin Award Nominee?
A Lee's Summit man nearly drowned Monday morning while trying to recover his keys at Longview Lake. The Missouri Water Patrol gave the following account: The man, 54, used a garden hose as a breathing tube and jumped into the lake with a rope and a 20-pound anchor tied to his waist. He went underwater once and came up without the keys. He went down a second time, lost the garden hose and ran out of breath. A person on the surface realized something was wrong and pulled the man out with the rope. The victim was unresponsive for a short time but began breathing on his own. He refused medical treatment.


--------------
Some details are missing from this account. First, did he refuse treatment for anoxia or no-brain syndrome? Second, has he filed his lawsuit yet? The garden hose company, the manufacturer of the "anchor," whatever that was, the HOA if a private lake or municipality if public, the rescuer...did I leave anybody out?

Alderman tricked by her gang lover

This is a member of the Chicago City Council who claims she didn't know her loverboy was a major league gang-banger. Do you believe that? I don't.

Embattled Ald. Arenda Troutman (20th) has told associates she was searching for a long-term romance and thought a fugitive gang kingpin she believed was a legitimate businessman "might be the one" -- and now she feels "like she's been tricked." The associate described Troutman as "scared to death, a nervous wreck" after being questioned about her love affair with Donnell "Scandalous" Jehan by federal investigators probing the Black Disciples street gang. ...Two weeks ago, the feds wrapped up a six-year investigation of the Black Disciples with the arrest of 32 men. They were accused of presiding over a criminal empire that peddled up to $300,000 a day in cocaine and heroin and laundered the profits through legitimate investments, including real estate, construction and a recording studio. The FBI has identified Jehan, who is now on the lam, as the No. 3 man in the Black Disciples. Also known as "Big Scan," he's accused of controlling drug sales in a turf that stretched from the Dan Ryan Expy. to Cottage Grove and from 61st to 71st

----------------
This is the same alderman who gets free police protection outside her home, and who says, "Damn right...I deserve it!" I posted on that a few weeks ago as an example of the arrogance of government officials. Now Troutman has rung up another mention by being literally in bed with organized crime, and being so brazen as to claim she didn't know who she was sleeping with. In Chicago, I assure you she can get away with this. This will not hurt her standing with her constituents at all.

AB 2598 Assembly Bill - Status
Steinberg's bill banning non-judicial foreclosure, referred to in the previous post, has been sent to the Senate Rules Committee for assignment.

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > State -- Assembly votes to ban nonjudicial foreclosures in associations
Here's a good explanation of the Steinberg bill by Jim Wasserman of the Associated Press.

Supreme Court Justice's in-Laws Told to Remove Flag; 'I'm Not About to,' He Says - from TBO.com
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Every morning since 9/11, Donald Lamp has hung his American flag from his apartment balcony. Managers of his retirement community want it gone, citing policy on building appearances. The case makes Lamp one of many Americans who, because of housing covenants, are discouraged from flying their flags this Memorial Day weekend. But Lamp is different from the rest. He is the father-in-law of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.


-------------
Oops. Now maybe we'll get some action from the United States Supreme Court on deprivation of basic constitutional liberties by homeowner associations...

SB 1682 Senate Bill - History
SB 1682, that passed the California Senate on May 18, is now in the Assembly committees on Judiciary and on Housing and Community Development. This bill bans nonjudicial foreclosure for assessment amounts under $2500.

So: Ducheny's bill (SB 1682) has passed the Senate and is in committee in the Assembly. And Steinberg's bill (AB 2598, see post immediately below) has passed the Assembly and is in the Senate, but has not been assigned out to committee yet.

Things must be getting rather hot in Sacramento right now...

AB 2598 Assembly Bill - Status
Steinberg's bill just passed the California Assembly and is now headed to the Senate. This is the one that would ban nonjudicial foreclosure for collection of unpaid assessments.

Chicago Tribune | Mold tied to trouble breathing, little else
Mold can contribute to respiratory problems--especially in people with asthma--but there is no evidence that a host of other maladies is spawned by the fungi that thrive in damp, dank quarters, a long-awaited report concluded Tuesday. The 281-page study by the National Academies of Science is the most definitive look to date at the national controversy over mold, which has prompted hundreds of lawsuits, millions of dollars in cleanup costs and claims that the fungi breed a variety of illnesses. The scientific review found no proof that mold causes memory loss, fatigue, seizures, inhalation fevers, skin outbreaks or other conditions that many people say they've experienced as some experts have hyped the fungi as a modern-day plague. "The consequences of being exposed to toxic mold have largely been overstated," said Dr. Karin Pacheco, assistant professor of occupational and allergic disease at National Jewish Medical Research Center in Denver. The National Academies' report did, however, confirm well-documented and generally accepted claims: that symptoms for people with asthma can be exacerbated and that healthy people can develop coughs, wheezing and upper respiratory symptoms because of mold. It also shined a spotlight on a wide range of health hazards associated with dampness in buildings, and recommended the need for prompt action when water or moisture is discovered.

-----------------
That sound of breaking glass you hear is plaintiffs' attorneys jumping out of windows all over the nation.

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > State -- Judge ousts two flocks of peafowl from Palos Verdes Estates
A Los Angeles judge said Palos Verdes Estates is illegally "keeping" peafowl by maintaining flocks of the free-roaming birds in two neighborhoods. Superior Court Judge Jane L. Johnson said in a six-page tentative decision made public Monday that the citywide homes association didn't give the city valid permission to keep the peacocks and peahens deemed a nuisance by many homeowners. The association wields unusual influence in the wealthy community, including powers over the color of homes. The board passed a resolution after the initial trial a year ago that gave the city written permission to "keep" the birds. In the original trial, Johnson held that proper permission had not been granted. But the resolution didn't constitute valid permission either, the judge said, because the association's own rules require that such decisions be made uniformly. In other words, the judge ruled, association members must be treated equally and one association member (the city) cannot be granted a right no other is accorded.


Must be nice for an HOA to have its own city.

AB 2598 Assembly Bill - Bill Analysis
Here's an explanation of the bill, and I note that it seems to have passed the Judiciary Committee:

SUMMARY : Seeks to give homeowners more reasonable protections
in their dealings with their homeowners' associations, leading
to a more balanced "playing field." Specifically, among other
things, this bill :

1)Prohibits the use of the non-judicial foreclosure process by
homeowner associations in collecting overdue assessments when
the underlying debt is for the failure to pay association
assessments or dues.

2)Permits any member of a homeowner association to file a civil
action against the association should the member be denied
access to needed association records, including accounting
documents and membership lists, for inspection and copying;
provides for an award of attorney's fees to the resident if
she or he prevails in a civil action brought against a home
owners' association for a breach of this provision; authorizes
the court to impose a civil penalty of up to $500 per
violation of this provision; and clarifies that associations
may, consistent with existing law, redact information relating
to identity theft or attorney-client privilege.

3)Makes a technical correction to legislation enacted last year
(AB 1525, Longville) to comport with the Legislature's intent
in that law to protect a homeowner's right to express views
from their homes by using traditional methods of communication
such as window signs and lawn signs.

AB 2598 Assembly Bill - AMENDED
The bill still includes a ban on HOA nonjudicial foreclosure. The language that would have made association contracts available for copying by members has been deleted. The language limiting regular and special assessments increases to the annual CPI is gone.

Tom Miller strikes again: 20 Los Angeles Homeowners Recover $1.32 Million for Hearing Their Neighbors Snore
Construction defect attorneys Tom Miller and Brian
Kabateck have just landed a settlement mid-trial based on lack of soundproofing . This is a press release, so adjust your filters accordingly:

LOS ANGELES, May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Downtown Los Angeles loft owners recovered $1.32 million for the luxury of hearing their neighbors at all hours of the day and night. When homeowners at the Toy Warehouse lofts moved into their new homes in 2001, they began to hear their neighbors cooking dinner, talking, watching TV, snoring in their sleep and even using the bathroom. When they looked into the problem, they found that the builder never followed the building plans and omitted soundproofing between the walls and the floors. The owners were left with no option but to a claim with the builder on January 1, 2003. The case went all the way to trial. Two weeks into trial, just at the Plaintiffs rested, the case was settled for $1.32 million. The developer offered a mere $125,000 before trial to settle the case. This case was fully resolved in less than 16 months. According the owners' attorney, Thomas E. Miller of The Miller Law Firm, "It is not uncommon in this kind of dense living for people to hear their neighbors in certain situations. But, this was just another blatant example of how builders cut corners and the consumer pays for the these mistakes."...

--------------------
The release says the "lead trial counsel" was Brian Kabateck, of Kabateck & Garris. Kabateck had this to say:
"In order to keep developers and their insurance companies honest and to continue to pay for consumer claims for shoddy construction, it becomes necessary to try these cases. Trial by jury is the ultimate protection for the home buying public and the fact that this case was resolved in less than 16 months is a boost for California consumers."

Newsday.com - Former HUD chief, politicians form coalition to oppose federal housing policy


NEW YORK (AP) _ A group of Democratic politicians, anti-poverty advocates and nonprofit organizations announced on Monday the formation of a coalition to fight changes in federal housing policy and threatened to sue unless the changes are reversed. The new Coalition to Save America's Affordable Housing charged that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development interpreted provisions in a congressional appropriations bill in a way that enabled it to limit reimbursements to state agencies for the Section 8 voucher program, which helps poor people pay their rent. The coalition, headed by former New York Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo, said the Bush administration, not Congress, mandated the changes...On April 22, HUD announced it would reimburse housing authorities for vouchers based on Aug. 1, 2003, costs plus an annual inflation adjustment that would cover 2004. Critics complained that the department's reading of the budget was incorrect and that the government should continue to update voucher costs every three months to more accurately reflect cost-of-living increases.


----------
Oh, the horror. This is worse than Abu Ghraib.

Andrew Cuomo was Clinton's HUD Secretary after Henry Cisneros went out in a scandal. After Bush was elected, Cuomo ran an unsuccessful candidacy for NY governor in 2002. He withdrew from the race for the Democratic nomination after the Clintons and other heavyweights decided to back Carl McCall (who was kicked brutally to the curb by George Pataki--McCall ended up with only 33% of the general election vote ).

As long as we are strolling down Memory Lane, Henry Cisneros, you may recall, lied to the FBI about payments he made to a mistress. Cisneros copped to one misdemeanor count in 1999, and Clinton pardoned him just before leaving office.

Section 8 was central to the Clinton Administration's "deconcentration" policies aimed at knocking down the big housing projects and scattering the families around the metro area. The vouchers let the former public housing tenants rent from private landlords.

Pasco: Pasco neighbors seeing yellow over dogs
This story not only shows the nuttiness of some HOAs but gives a historical lesson on pooper-scoopers and related doggy-doo trivia.
----------------------
Vivian Bogul always picks up after her female dogs, a beagle mix and a Labrador mix that accompany her on morning walks through Autumn Oaks, a deed-restricted subdivision off County Line Road. It's the urine that's the problem."If you don't water it and dilute it, it kills the grass," said Ron Ruppe, a retired New York police officer who lives down the street. "If that happens, you're in violation of the deed restrictions because your grass is dead." The problem gets worse when other dogs sniff out the spot and decide to mark it, too, he said. That's why some neighbors are questioning whether public pet urination violates the deed restrictions in Autumn Oaks. Neighbor Tom Contino cites this passage in the community's covenants: "No noxious or offensive activity or nuisance shall be carried (out) on, in or about any lot, unit or common area." The homeowners association's attorney is reviewing the matter, and the board of directors could decide at its June 2 meeting whether that passage applies to Mrs. Bogul's dogs.


-----------------
Things kind of go downhill from there...

BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | South West Wales | Schoolboy digs up medieval ring
A 10-year-old boy could soon have a boost to his pocket money - after finding a medieval ring in a field in Pembrokeshire. Nathan Duffield, from Milford Haven, was out metal detecting with his father when he unearthed the ring, thought to be 600 years old.


--------------
Authorites are waiting to see whether Sauron files a claim on it, and ask that you please report any sightings of Riders in Black.

More oppression of a homeowner: Bruce Willis Told To Put Pants On


Hollywood hunk Bruce Willis has reportedly been told to stop hanging around naked by his Californian neighbours. The Die Hard star has allegedly angered locals near his Malibu home because he keeps walking down the nearby secluded beach without any clothes on. One source tells Britain's Daily Sport newspaper, "Bruce found some not-so-polite notes in his mailbox asking to keep his shortcomings secret."


------------------------
No word yet if a tyrannical HOA is involved...

Titus v. Canyon Lake POA: 4th DCA, California
Here's an appellate court decision from California (thanks to Fred Pilot for alerting me to this) that finds an HOA and a security service to have no possible legal liability for wrongful death where a drunk driver ran off the road and hit a tree, all on association property, and killed his passenger. The court sustained these defendants' demurrers where the plaintiff alleged that the association and security service had a "special relationship" to its members giving rise to a duty to protect them by getting the drunk driver--a young man living with his father, who was a unit owner--off the road or out of the community based on knowledge of his previous behavior.

The court says, "...we conclude that the allegations do not support the existence of a special relationship sufficient to justify the imposition of duties to eject or arrest Incorvia." The demurrer was sustained without leave to amend, and the opinion was published, so the case is over and it has precedential value. Significant win for HOAs in general, because it means that having security services doesn't mean you get sued when a crime is committed.

AB 2598 Assembly Bill - AMENDED
This bill passed the California Assembly Committee on Judiciary and was read on the floor for the third time. It has a number of things in it, and also a foreclosure reform, like SB 1682 (see below), but it is much harsher in that it bans nonjudicial foreclosure by HOAs. It will be interesting to see how this works out now that SB 1682 has passed the Senate and gone to the Assembly. Here is a legislative analysis of the bill.

SB 1682 Senate Bill - AMENDED
Here's what I think is the language of SB 1682 as it passed the California Senate. This is the bill that reforms HOA foreclosure.

Missing Money: A News 3 Homeowner's Association Investigation
Here's part one of the investigation referred to in the following post.

Missing Money: HOA Managers Accused of Embezzling Funds
Sixty percent of all people in the Las Vegas Valley live under the rules of some sort of homeowner's association. The mini-governments watch over developments, collect fees and fines from people who break the rules. But as News 3 Investigator Darcy Spears found, the associations can't always be counted on to manage that money properly. You might call the subject of our story a property "mis"manager. He's been hired by many associations over the past 14 years, but has essentially operated under the radar screen. He's had some blips here and there, but nothing that sounded the alarm until now. And that may be the root of the problem. Picture this, a property manager is accused of stealing about $100,000 from a homeowner's association...


-----------------
Of course, I have no idea whether this is true of this manager, but the story illustrates the basic public policy problem. Community association management is a profession that is (a) new, and therefore lacking in clearly established professional norms; (b) easy to enter, (c) largely unregulated, and (d) loaded with opportunities to handle other people's money. Add that up and you have the potential for abuse. CAI tries to get managers to join and get certified through extensive training, but it seems to me there has to be mandatory state licensing in order to force all people doing CA management to comply with training requirements.

Daily Review Online: Kids versus frogs and snakes? An easy call for...EarthJustice!

This is a good example of the kinds of concessions that local governments try to get from developers before they will issue building permits. What I find interesting here is the way matters got more complicated through the involvement of an environmentalist group...EarthJustice! By Michelle Meyers, STAFF WRITER

HAYWARD -- Conservationists who have been blamed for putting millions of dollars of school funding in jeopardy by getting an injunction to halt the Blue Rock Country Club project have offered what they consider a "win-win" solution. EarthJustice attorney Greg Loarie, on behalf of co-plaintiffs Hayward Area Planning Association and the Center for Biological Diversity, proposed a compromise this week that -- if agreed to by the developer -- would allow grading and construction of the Walpert Ridge project's 614 upscale homes and elementary school. The injunction would still block the expansive golf course that crosses into a critical habitat area for the endangered Alameda whipsnake and California red-legged frog. "If the developer is willing, the school and the housing construction can proceed while the court decides the habitat issue," said HAPA chairman Sherman Lewis. Blue Rock developer Steve Miller, who hadn't had much time Tuesday to contemplate the proposal, said initially that "you can't just lop off a piece of the project" without affecting other components like environmental review, mitigation, water runoff and engineering. "The golf course isn't a separate project, it's a part of the total project," Miller said, adding that he couldn't agree to dropping the golf course without getting approvals from all of the related agencies.The school district, along with other community members, recently jumped into the legal fray between the parties because the injunction, as it stands, will result in the loss of $8.7 million in state bond funding for the proposed school.
The school district, along with other community members, recently jumped into the legal fray between the parties because the injunction, as it stands, will result in the loss of $8.7 million in state bond funding for the proposed school. That money is forfeited if the school district can't show the state by June 17 that the project is progressing. The $8.7 million is the difference between a new bare-bones Blue Rock elementary school for 350 students that the developer is required to build, and a much needed new state-of-the-artBlue Rock elementary school for 650 students. The school district is in a state of fiscal crisis, must make $8.5 million in budget reductions to avoid state takeover and is facing a serious overcrowding problem.


-------------------
So, we have multiple agencies and a school district all making demands on a developer, and here comes EarthJustice! to jump into the middle of it, Lorax-style, and try to squelch the golf course. I suppose that is one of the major selling points of the development, so the developer doesn't want to build without it. And the school district needs that money or they get taken over by the state. But, hey, let's get our priorities straight. Kids can learn, even with 50 or 60, even a hundred, to a classroom. And maybe the houses will sell just well with a swamp instead of a golf course. The main thing is, how can we even imagine a world without lots of Alameda whipsnakes and California red-legged frogs slithering and hopping around?

From AHRC STUNNING DEFEAT FOR CAI IN CALIFORNIA SENATE
Here's how the American Homeowners Research Center, an HOA owner-activist group, is billing the passage in the California Senate of SB 1682:

Community Association Institute(CAI)lawyers suffered a major blow today when the California Senate voted unanimously in favor of Senate Bill 1682. This bill prohibits the use of non-judicial foreclosure for unpaid assessments in homeowner associations for amounts less than $2,500. Homeowner advocates were both happy and cautious. They praised the skill and dedication of the bill's author, Senator Ducheny, in securing passage through the Senate. However, they cautioned that CAI will be waiting for the bill when it goes to the Assembly. CAI is already on a high state of alert, having sent a newsletter to all its members asking them to buttonhole their representatives...

---------------------
This has to be seen as a victory for the owners-rights activists, but we'll have to see how it fares in the Assembly. The impetus for this bill was the foreclosure on a retired Calaveras County couple last year over a lousy $120 in late assessments. I know it is bad manners to say, "I told you so," but...I told you so. Many times, and for over fifteen years, I have been telling the industry that unless they rein in the collections lawyers who abuse the foreclosure process, they will get hammered by state legislators. And it won't stop here. The press is ready, even eager, to publicize these incidents. When the fit hits the shan, it does no good to say that these are isolated incidents, and that most community association lawyers don't behave like this. That's true, but that defense won't work after it's on the front page, anymore than it is working for the Bush administration defending the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. No, I'm not equating them--foreclosure is legal, prisoner abuse is not (I do think losing your home might be worse than having panties put on your head, but I haven't experienced either so I can't say for sure). But if the President of the USA, and Leader of the Free World, can't get a scandal off the front page by saying it was only 7 soldiers out of 135,000 (which apparently is true), how can the industry successfully defend against these foreclosure incidents by saying, year after year, that people hardly ever really lose their homes (which is also true)? Here's the bottom line (no pun intended): there are enough real cases to keep the pot boiling, and once the cases are in the media, they are fodder for the state legislature, especially in an election year.

If the industry won't take these abusers to task, formally or informally--and everybody knows who they are--then what other course is there except to put legal limits on the foreclosure power? What else can you expect the state legislature to do? Somebody from the industry, please tell me where I'm wrong here. Because I don't see any other course open to them, once these cases hit the press and stay there. Are the people's elected representatives supposed to publicly condone having seniors kicked out of their paid-for homes onto the street for a couple of hundred dollars in late assessments?

This bill could light a fuse that could burn all the way from California to Florida. I'll be watching the Assembly action closely.

April Home Prices Set Southland Record
From the Los Angeles Times:
Southern California home prices in April soared more than 25% — the largest annual increase in more than 16 years — to a record high as surging mortgage rates pushed buyers into the housing market before rates and prices head higher, according to a real estate report today. April's red-hot real estate market, however, is expected to cool off later this year as mortgage rates are projected to continue to move up from record lows, according to industry analysts.The median price of all houses and condominiums sold in Southern California in April hit $307,000, on a 7.3% increase in sales, according to DataQuick Information Systems, a real estate research firm. The 25.7% year-over-year increase in the median sales price was the largest since DataQuick began tracking the information in 1988.


-----------------
Note that the median price of $307,000 includes both houses and condos, and it includes all of southern California. With prices like this, that often include 50-mile-plus trips to work, no wonder people are moving to Nevada and Arizona (not that there aren't other perfectly good reasons for moving to those states).

MAJOR DEVELOPMENT: Property owners win one in Senate
Bill limits homeowners association foreclosures
By Jim Wasserman, Associated Press


SACRAMENTO -- A bill greatly restricting the use of home foreclosures to collect late homeowner association assessments passed the Senate without opposition Tuesday, representing a major initial victory for homeowner activists in more than 36,000 privately governed California neighborhoods.

The Senate voted 34-0 to end a widespread practice of allowing homeowner associations to foreclose on homes when owners get slightly behind on assessments, which has provoked growing opposition in California and nationally. The new bill requires that for amounts less than $2,500, most associations must take the matter to small claims court or put a lien on the property.


--------------------
This is big. And as Jim Wasseman says, there are national implications.

Mika Sadai's comments on newspaper article about her litigation

Mika Sadai sent me the following proposed op-ed piece that the Arizona Daily Star declined to publish. The op-ed represents Mika's reaction to an article that the Star published on April 23 about her litigation with her HOA. In an e-mail to me, Mika said she would "send you in a separate email my rejected Op-Ed, and request that you give it publicity in your blog, together with the exposure of the Arizona Daily Star policy. I know that I don't have to convince you that the subject IS interesting..."
The reference to the "Arizona Daily Star policy" concerns the decision not to publish it, which they justified by saying the op-ed was "not very interesting."

So, here it is. I have no personal knowledge of any of the facts contained in the op-ed, but it should interest a good number of people, in that there are many bitterly disputed elections in HOAs, in AZ and elsewhere. This piece presents Mika's side of the disputed election issue in detail, and her beliefs concerning the relevance of that issue to the entire lawsuit.


ARE HOAs ABOVE THE LAW?
I commend the Star for its front page story ("$200,000 Neighborhood Dispute", April 23) about the rarely covered subject of homeowners associations in general and my legal fight in particular. Oddly, despite the fact that more than one million Arizonans (60 million Americans nationwide) are subjected to HOAs’ regime and the reality that almost all new construction comes with an attached mandatory HOA package, the issue of those private mini-governments takeover of our landscape and lives is hardly ever brought to light or discussed publicly. Unfortunately, this article cannot encompass this highly important subject and is limited to a response to your last Friday story.

Reading your story, one might get the impression that what your reporter has characterized as a "neighborhood dispute" is about a garbage can or some other petty items. Although HOA busybodies are known for their relentless obsession with garbage cans, in reality my lawsuit is about illegal elections that were conducted by my HOA six years ago, and in fact no garbage can has ever even been mentioned during the past six years of litigation.

In a nutshell, A small group of HOA zealots (known in my neighborhood as the "Loud Minority"), who were unhappy with the results of the annual election in 1998 that put them out of power, with the support of a fired management company and its attorney, attempted to undo the election by recalling the board and holding a custom-made special election. The procedure employed, at the direction and instructions of the management’s attorney, was replete with violations of the HOA bylaws and Arizona statutes, and those violations are the essence of my lawsuit.

The reporter mistakenly stated that I was recalled at the special election, whereas in fact the recall attempt failed for insufficient votes. Nonetheless, at the direction of the attorney the association held elections of new directors, in clear violation of the law, and the newly-elected board took over the governance of my association, returning the control and power to the "Loud Minority" gang and reinstating the fired management company.

Fair elections and proper election procedure are fundamental to democracy and public affairs. In a board-controlled homeowner association, elections are the only means for the members to affect their destiny, and violation of the election procedure is a flagrant denial of homeowners rights. My lawsuit requested the court to issue a declaratory judgment as to the legality of the 1998 election and the validity of its outcome.

In six years of litigation, with huge piles of paperwork and a total of more than $500,000 expended by both sides, the court has not yet addressed the illegal election. The association has made numerous attempts during these past years to dismiss the claims on various grounds, instead of adjudicating them on their merits in a trial by jury. Your article mistakenly stated that the suit was eventually dismissed but was filed anew. In fact, the suit that was dismissed was not the original but the new supplementary lawsuit, but was reinstated after said dismissal was reversed by the Court of Appeals.

The failure of the court to address the illegal election has created a monstrous litigation vortex. The HOA, through its illegal board and its insurance-financed attorneys, are making all efforts to avoid a jury trial and adjudication on the merits, because they know they are likely to lose.

Due to the reluctance of the State to interfere with HOAs’ affairs, viewing them as private disputes, litigation is the only means a homeowner has for correcting the wrongs and enforcing the law upon a violating HOA. When a court of law fails to address such violations, it effectively sets HOAs above the law and leaves the homeowners powerless with no means of redress.

Most homeowners are apathetic and disinterested in their HOAs’ affairs since they never actually chose to be members of those mandatory associations that were set up by land developers. Ironically, the State sanctions those private associations and provides them extraordinary unsupervised powers and controls over their subjects – the homeowners – in total disregard of the very few rights provided by law to the homeowners.

Power corrupts, and it’s the duty of the court to prevent such corruption. When the court fails to fulfill its duty, it gives a green light to more corruption and further violation of law. The issue is not a garbage can; the real issue is: Are HOAs above the law?

WSOCTV.com - Special Reports - Legislator Looks At Changes To Homeowners Associations
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Homeowners associations are filing liens and threatening to foreclose on the houses of their own neighbors in communities all over Charlotte. They're doing it legally to members who are late paying their homeowners association dues. Rick Jasinski is one of dozens of people who contacted Eyewitness News, complaining that state law gives homeowners associations too much authority. "It just seems the power they have, it just seems like they've got a little more power than they should," Jasinski said.Homeowners associations have the power to foreclose on homes because the state legislature in Raleigh passed laws that make the foreclosures legal. But after Eyewitness News brought its investigation to Raleigh, some legislators say it's time to take a closer look at how far homeowners associations can go to collect their dues.
---------------------
Here's the typical pattern. The legislature usually decides it's time to convene a special select committee to research the issues and propose a few bills about closing the barn door...while the horse is about three counties away.

SB 1682 Senate Bill - Bill Analysis
This bill would reform HOA forec.osure in California. It would prohibit foreclosure for delinquent assessment amounts of less than $2500, leaving the association recourse to small claims court or filing a lien. For amounts over that, nonjudicial foreclosure is still available but the bill creates a homestead exemption and a redemption period.
My understanding, from Fred Pilot, is that this is headed for the Senate floor.

HOUSE BILL NO. 758 - Homeowners Assn Property Act
Utah joins the parade...

The Seattle Times: Local News: Big monorail fan might backtrack
...or "I voted for the monorail before I voted against it"
When officials from the Seattle Monorail Project pay homage to the monorail movement's grass-roots heritage, they're talking about citizens like Bobby Inshetski.

"I simply love the monorail," he says. Driving under the city's old one-mile monorail on Fifth Avenue, he would cheer when a train passed above the sunroof. He voted yes on the 2002 initiative to build a new 14-mile monorail from West Seattle to Ballard. Then he volunteered for the project, answering questions at Bumbershoot and neighborhood festivals. Inshetski bought a second-floor condominium along the route on California Avenue Southwest in West Seattle last June — at a time when the agency was publishing verdant visions of a train soaring above the center of the street through a canopy of trees. What he didn't know was that the final plan would permit trains to pass as close as 6½ feet from the bay windows at his building. He said overhead tracks would block the only sunlight into the apartments of Inshetski and many of his neighbors in the Serrano, a 34-unit condominium. Now Inshetski is considering whether to join a campaign to repeal the monorail plan."They affected not just all the residents, but one of their most faithful workers," he says. "If they could do that to a volunteer, then how would other people feel?"


------------------
Proving once again that there is a Supreme Being making the big Karmic Justice Decisions up there.

Montreal Gazette - $7 billion Canadian tax dollars at work
A routine safety test at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport went monumentally wrong after an airport employee placed explosives in a passenger's luggage, but failed to remove them before he left the airport. In an effort to test sniffer dogs at the airport Friday, an employees slipped TNT, hidden in a jar of jam, into a passenger's luggage, instead of other baggage normally used during tests. Before the package could be removed, the passenger, who arrived on an international flight, picked up his luggage, passed through customs and security checks, and left. It was only when he arrived at a friend's house in Magog that he discovered the package, labelled "dynamite," and called police, who contacted the bomb squad...Since the World Trade Centre attacks, the federal government has spent more than $7 billion to upgrade national security.

--------------
And Inspector Clouseau "couldn't explain" how this happened. Mais non. Je ne sais pas.