New Joisey: More on the pending adoption of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act
Fred Pilot sends the link to this update...

A bill being considered by the state Senate that would change the way homeowners associations operate received mixed reaction from residents of Rossmoor on Wednesday.
The bill, called the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, would create uniform practices in the areas of alternative dispute resolution, bidding and elections.
If approved, the bill will require homeowners association board meetings, including work sessions, to be open to the public, public forums would be required in any meeting where votes are held and elections would have to be tabulated unanimously and run independently.
In addition, executive boards would be required to explain to their constituents why they accepted a bid, however they need not select the lowest bidder.

ABC13.com: Angry resident paints giant lemons on her condo's windows in protest
Nancy Levy sends this lemony-fresh slice of home-grown, vitamin C-enriched, protest.

Attorney General Crist Joins Cruiser Conflict - Yahoo! News
From Fred Pilot: followup on the HOA that thinks a police car is bad for property values.

The state attorney general is joining in a conflict between a police officer who parks his cruiser in his driveway and the homeowner's association that doesn't want him to. The Carton Ranches Homeowner's Association is threatening legal action against Miami Beach police officer Kevin Millan. The association wants Millan to stop parking his police car in his driveway because they say it is a "commercial vehicle" and an eyesore.

Broad Beach Sand Battle Results in Denials, Outrage
Fred Pilot sends this long roundup on the sand grab in Malibu that suggests the rich HOA residents are trying to keep the public away from their sacrosanct property:

Following years of litigation between the California Coastal Commission and the Trancas Property Owners Association over public access issues at Broad Beach, a new dispute arose last week after the homeowners association contracted skip loaders to move tons of sand from the shoreline along Broad Beach and form berms near private beachfront homes. As first reported in last week's Los Angeles Times, the Coastal Commission quickly issued notice-of-intent orders that abruptly put an end to the sand relocation, but not before a large sand berm, approximately eight feet in height in some places and 1.1 miles long, had already been constructed. Immediately following the construction of the large berm, water began to get trapped in and around the beach's tidal zone-the section of beach where the public is allowed to congregate-making public access to the beach extremely difficult...

Philocrites: Domino's founder's dream: A Catholic utopia.
From Beth Young comes this link to Philocrites, with a story about a proposed Catholic HOA.

Ave Maria won’t be just a university, he continues. It will also be a new town, built from scratch, in which the wickedness of the world will be kept at bay. "We’ve already had about 3500 people inquire on our Web site about buying a home there — you know, they’re all Catholic," Monaghan says excitedly. "We’re going to control all the commercial real estate, so there’s not going to be any pornography sold in this town. We’re controlling the cable system. The pharmacies are not going to be able to sell condoms or dispense contraceptives." A private chapel will be located within walking distance of each home. At the stunning church in the center of town, Mass will be said hourly, seven days a week, from 6 a.m. on. "So," Monaghan concludes, with just a hint of understatement, "it’ll be a unique town." As he exits the stage, the applause is thunderous.

Giscard regrets proposed EU constitution sent to French people

Sounds like the same theory we use with CC&Rs--you're stuck with it, even though it's impossible to understand.
It was a crucial mistake to send out the entire constitution to every French voter, the architect of the EU's first constitution Valéry Giscard d'Estaing has said in an interview. In an interview with the New York Times, his first since the French rejection of the constitution two weeks ago, the former French president apportions most of the blame to president Jacques Chirac for failure in the referendum campaign. One crucial mistake was to send out the entire three-part, 448-article document to every French voter, said Mr Giscard...Over the phone he had warned Mr Chirac already in March: "I said, 'Don't do it, don't do it'". "It is not possible for anyone to understand the full text".

Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005
A condominium association, cooperative association, or residential real estate management association may not adopt or enforce any policy, or enter into any agreement, that would restrict or prevent a member of the association from displaying the flag of the United States on residential property within the association with respect to which such member has a separate ownership interest or a right to exclusive possession or use.

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So says this bill introduced in the United States House of Represenatives by Rep. Roscoe B. Bartlett of Maryland. It is currently in the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. Thanks to Fred Pilot for notifying me about this. The same bill was introduced last Congress under the number H.R. 5301 but it didn't get anywhere.

Bronze calf dedicated in politician's honor - billingsgazette.com
From Montana comes evidence that some people need to take a look at the Old Testament. Coming soon: a plague of locusts hits Butte. Oh, and the honoree is a Republican.

CHEYENNE - A bronze calf was dedicated Thursday to former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Clifford Hansen for his contributions to Wyoming and the farm and ranch industry.

Mount Mt. Clemens, Michigan: Residents hit street to fight prostitution

Here's an example of some serious volunteer action:

North Gratiot Neighborhood Watch members spent two days this week posing as streetwalkers and vagrants in an area north of the Mount Clemens downtown section known for its street crime. When potential customers pulled over, the activists handed out a flier that said, "If you're soliciting sex and/or drugs in this neighborhood, you are being videotaped. Stay tuned for the 11 (o'clock) news. Zero tolerance."

Buffalo News - Packets will offer advice on how to be good neighbor
From Fred Pilot comes this news of this HOA program. I wonder if the "lessons" include a warning about what happens to you if you let your grass grow too long.

Lessons on how to be a good neighbor will be spreading to new areas of Cheektowaga this month. A package of information delivered last year by volunteers to 2,500 homes in the Pine Hill-Walden area will be distributed this year to the Harlem-Kensington-Cleveland and Cedar Grove Heights communities. "Everybody wants a clean, safe neighborhood," said Stanley Kaznowski III, president of the Town Park Homeowners Association. Homeowners will be reminded to keep the lawn mowed, repair the gutters and windows and put the garbage cans out the night before pickup. Renters will get a list of their responsibilities and where to call if the landlord doesn't live up to his. Kaznowski and the Town Park Homeowners Association initiated the distribution last year. "It just gives people hope that people care about the neighborhood," Kaznowski said.

Indiana: Gary Urban Enterprise Association still avoiding inspection: Critics question whether new board has fulfilled state mandates

Nancy Levy send this story, noting the way non-profits sometimes decide that "non" part is just a meaningless little prefix that shouldn't prevent them from making money when they get the chance...

The new Gary Urban Enterprise Association board and its lawyer have slipped through a crack in open-door laws and are refusing to provide state-requested reports on the embattled nonprofit agency...No one appears able -- or willing -- to provide basic factual information on the nonprofit, whose former directors allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars for personal travel and shopping sprees. After The Times obtained parts of a preliminary fraud investigation report by Crowe Chizek, the board has not sent anything further to the state, which must provide public access to the documents.

Californians taking big risks to buy homes, report warns | The San Diego Union-Tribune
From Fred Pilot comes this cautionary tale. But Obi-Wan Greenspan says this is just "froth," and nothing to worry about. Personally, I wouldn't buy a $600,000 home in San Diego with an adjustable rate loan if you held a gun to my head.

Desperate to enter the housing market before prices soar even higher, Californians are taking on larger and riskier mortgage debts, Harvard University warned today in its annual report on the nation's housing...In high-cost markets such as San Diego County, most purchases are made with adjustable-interest-rate loans...

Residents want say in subdivision group
Fred Pilot sends this story about a developer who seems reluctant to give up control of an HOA, far beyond the 3 years or 75% sold time limit imposed by state law. This is about ten miles from where we live, up here in Lake County, IL:

ROUND LAKE — Homeowners want control — control of their homeowners' associations, that is. More than a dozen residents from the Remington Trail subdivision showed up at Monday's Village Board meeting to ask for board help gaining control of their association from the developer. "We would appreciate any help you could provide," said John Gutknecht, alleging the association is being mismanaged by three employees from Remington Homes. "They've been totally inadequate to respond to us," Gutknecht said, adding association control was promised to the homeowners once 90 percent of the homes in the development were sold. "They have been at 89 percent for the last two years," Gutknecht said. Gutknecht presented a petition which he said had 33 signatures. With the 15 residents in the audience, he said, that represented 55 percent of Remington Trail owners. By state law, Gutknecht said, the turnover percentage should be at 75 percent sold or after three years, not 90 percent and five years.

Boca Dunes residents want to take control from Country Club
From Fred Pilot, this story about folks who want to form an HOA to clean up the area, because the golf club that has the job of enforcing CC&Rs isn't doing it up to par. Includes picturesque language from two residents:

"It'd help bring a better class of people in here and prevent people from owning 80 pit bulls and parking broken cars in their driveways," she says..."A homeowners association would really keep people in line more. You wouldn't have the cars and the mess. And if you live normal, then you don't have to worry about the HOA coming after you," she said.

The Advocate - Murder victim's father sues condo complex
Here, from Nancy Levy, is a example of the kind of potential liability a condo association can incur by having "gated community"-type security measures...if they aren't effective. It is common now to have a guardhouse that is never manned, because it looks like security, but doesn't require a paycheck...

STAMFORD -- The father of Anna-Lisa Raymundo is suing the waterfront condominium complex where she was brutally murdered in 2002, claiming it didn't have the proper security in place. Renato Raymundo of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., says there is a guardhouse at the Palmer Landing Community on Harbor Drive, yet no one was manning it on the day of the murder. "The guardhouse is never manned," his lawsuit states.

Chicago Tribune: Chief zoning official fired in condo probe


From Nancy Levy comes this article on further carnage in the Daley administration. Daley is being treated like a huge success by the national press and other big city mayors. Somehow the numerous corruption investigations that are going on regarding multiple city departments (with hundreds of millions of dollars involved) doesn't affect their opinion. In this case, a condo project mysteriously got built in an area zoned for manufacturing, and several city officials just coincidentally happen to have had a nice vacation in Brazil with the developer of the condo project. But of course, Daley himself knows nothing about any of these incidents. We know that because he invariably says so.

Mayor Richard Daley's administration fired a high-ranking Zoning Department official Friday, saying he refused to answer questions from city investigators who are probing a controversial condominium project west of the Loop. John Quinn, who received $83,000 a year as chief zoning inspector, was put on paid administrative leave last week pending the investigation into the 44-unit condo development at 373 N. Morgan St...The firing follows the resignations last month of two top Buildings Department officials who faced scrutiny in the same probe. Kimberly Brown, the department's $124,700-a-year first deputy commissioner, resigned after officials learned that she made a vacation trip to Brazil earlier this year with the project's developer, Jerry Cedicci, and his brother.

Feliciano v. 7-Eleven, No. 29564--West Virginia Supreme Court
Feliciano was employed at a 7-11. He disarmed a robber and held her for police. 7-11 fired him for violating company policy, which requires that the employee not subdue or otherwise interfere with the robber. Held: employees right to self-defense trumps the terms of the employment contract. He can sue 7-11 for wrongful discharge.

When an at will employee has been discharged from his/her employment based upon his/her exercise of self-defense in response to lethal imminent danger, such right of self-defense constitutes a substantial public policy exception to the at will employment doctrine and will sustain a cause of action for wrongful discharge.
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Significance for HOAs? Well, it's nice to see a court find some limits to this notion that the terms of a contractual relationship are always sovereign. The state Supreme Court found the employment relationship limited by fundamental public policies, in this case the right of self-defense. But how do you like the trial court's holding (reversed), that "self-defense is not a substantial public policy in West Virginia"? Is that scary, or what?

Philippine HOAs invited to participate in policy making
This, from Nancy Levy, should be read by those who keep saying HOAs are entirely private organizations. In my view, this sort of explicit relationship between HOAs and municipalities is the shape of things to come.

The Quezon City government will be sponsoring the First QC Subdivision Forum today to encourage homeowners associations to participate in the formulation of policies and programs aimed at enhancing the delivery of the city’s basic services.

NBC 4 - Weather - Malibu Beach Battle Erupts Over Homeowners' 'Sand Grab'
Fred Pilot sends this fascinating story from Malibu, California. Is it privatization when an HOA takes sand from a public beach and piles it on their property?

The Broad Beach homeowners association has used skip loaders to move tons of public beach sand, as high as eight feet in some places, in front of their ocean-front homes. The California Coastal Commission sent a letter to the homeowners, ordering the work stopped. The commission says not only has public access to the beach been blocked, but moving the sand has harmed local wildlifre and put adjacent public beach under water. Broad Beach homeowner and former coastal commissioner Marshall Grossman says the homeowners weren't trying to block public access, but were restoring sand dunes that had washed away during last winter's storms.

Found: Europe's oldest civilisation
Archaeologists have discovered Europe's oldest civilisation, a network of dozens of temples, 2,000 years older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids. More than 150 gigantic monuments have been located beneath the fields and cities of modern-day Germany, Austria and Slovakia. They were built 7,000 years ago, between 4800BC and 4600BC. Their discovery, revealed today by The Independent, will revolutionise the study of prehistoric Europe, where an appetite for monumental architecture was thought to have developed later than in Mesopotamia and Egypt. In all, more than 150 temples have been identified. Constructed of earth and wood, they had ramparts and palisades that stretched for up to half a mile. They were built by a religious people who lived in communal longhouses up to 50 metres long, grouped around substantial villages. Evidence suggests their economy was based on cattle, sheep, goat and pig farming...The multiple bank, ditch and palisade systems "protecting" the inner space seem not to have been built for defensive purposes - and were instead probably designed to prevent ordinary tribespeople from seeing the sacred and presumably secret rituals which were performed in the "inner sanctum".

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Comments, anybody?

Chicago Tribune: Condo plan would raze McCormick birthplace

Nancy Levy sends this link (it is also in the dead tree edition of the Trib sitting on my kitchen table) about a battle between developers and preservationists. I have no strong feelings about this one way or the other, but I love the line from one of the preservationists: "McCormick, who died in 1955, 'was an eccentric, but he was our eccentric,' Moran said."

Preservationists seemed resigned Thursday to the demolition of the Streeterville birthplace of longtime Chicago Tribune editor and publisher Col. Robert R. McCormick to make way for a condo and retail tower.

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > North County -- Damaged condos' lawyer blasts city
Interesting wrinkle in a landslide case--thanks to Nancy Levy for the link. Seems the condo association got itself a new attorney, who doesn't like the repair deal that had been worked out:

CARLSBAD – A city official said a contractor is ready to begin stabilizing a landslide at the Marbella condominiums today, but the attorney for the homeowners association said he will not allow workers onto the property to begin repairs. Patrick Catalano, who replaced another firm as the homeowners association's attorney on the slope collapse two weeks ago, called a news conference yesterday to accuse the city of breaching an agreement to repair the slope.

Newsday.com: Neighbors by choice
Nancy Levy forwards this story written by a reporter who is smitten with how idyllic life can be in a condo because you don't have to mow the lawn. Wait until these owners put up the flag on the Fourth of July.

Here's the advantage of being bilingual--talking out of both sides of your mouth
Wondering if Bill Richardson is running for president? It depends on which language you speak. "I want to be very clear about this presidential stuff," Richardson, the Democratic governor of New Mexico, said at yesterday's New Hampshire Latino Summit. "No, I will not run for president." Then, switching to Spanish, he told the heavily Hispanic crowd, "Segura que si, voy a ser candidato!" Rough translation: You bet I am!

kingcountyjournal.com - Goodwill ends after man takes chain saw to neighbor's trees
I have a huge backlog of great links that people have sent me, but I have been too busy to attend to this high-paying job of maintaining a weblog. Sorry. In the meantime, here's something I ran across. I have only included the lead, because it is a work of pure genius that deserves to be taught in journalism school for the next half-century.

Looking to improve his territorial view of Bellevue, Shaohua Li took a chain saw to his neighbor's cypress trees.

Fiscal guru didn't pay the mortgage
It's so nice here in Illinois ever since we put the Chicago Democratic machine in charge of the entire state government...

In a matter of months, a $60,000-plus campaign contributor to Gov. Blagojevich went from defaulting on a mortgage to heading up a state agency that annually doles out $3 billion in loans. Ali D. Ata and three partners took in more than $3.2 million from taxpayers by leasing a West Side office building to the state over 10 years, records show. Despite that income, they fell behind on mortgage payments, and the property was foreclosed upon in September 2003. In January 2004, Ata landed a $127,000-a-year job as executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority, one of Blagojevich's showpiece government streamlining initiatives. He left that post after a little more than a year amid a critical audit, but then almost immediately was awarded a $55,200-a-year contract to be a consultant for the agency.

nbc4i.com - Family - Texas Developers Creating Sex-Offender-Free Neighborhood
Ah, the advantages of private government. Here's something no municipality can do--exclude sex offenders.

LUBBOCK, Texas -- The sales pitch for a planned subdivision promises safety: criminal background checks for homeowners and, guaranteed, no convicted sex offenders. It's a concept that might prove right for the times, said first-time developer Clayton Isom, one of three partners in a company that's creating Milwaukee Ridge on the outskirts of this West Texas city.

Governor signs new condo laws - 2005-06-03
A Nancy Levy/Fred Pilot submission about action in Hawaii. There's something about the name "Linda Lingle" that sounds like a character in a comic book. Lois Lane, Peter Parker...and now Linda Lingle.

Gov. Linda Lingle signed two bills on Thursday that make some major changes to condominium laws...[Act 93]expands the types of disclosures that sellers must make, specifying the contents of the developer's report and clarifying requirements for binding sales contract.
The act clarifies the basis upon which a buyer can rescind a condominium sales contract.
The act also provides condo associations the power to evict a tenant if a tenant violates rules, even if the owner fails to do so, after notice and a reasonable opportunity to be heard.
Act 92, the second bill the Gov. Lingle signed, allows a broader range of condominium disputes to be heard by a dispute resolution pilot program in the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Long Beach Mayor Worries About Division Over Condos
Fred Pilot and Nancy Levy sent this story. Please note that even in Mississippi the municipalities are using impact fees from condo projects to fund public infrastructure. The problem is that new development changes the community.

It's the hottest political issue in Long Beach this election year, but you won't find it on the ballot. The discussion about high rise condominiums is creating quite a division in "the friendly city". Mayor Billy Skellie doesn't have to worry about re-election. He's unopposed this Tuesday. But he is worried about the division over condo development, an issue he fears could hurt the city's image and it's future...Skellie says city leaders worked hard on an ordinance to regulate condominiums and charge the developers with funding necessary improvements to the city infrastructure. Condo projects will pay for a new fire station and pumper truck. "It will all be built, like the infrastructure on water and sewer, also on police and fire, will all be accomplished as funds come in from developers. And it's not going to cost the citizens a penny," the mayor explained.

Pahrump, NV: 700 homes planned for Sheri's Ranch
PLANNING COMMISSION APPROVES PROPOSAL TO BUILD RV PARK IN AREA ZONED FOR SEX TRADE
From Nancy Levy, a story from Art Bell's "Kingdom of Nye" that poses the eternal question, "BROTHEL OR SUBDIVISION?"

Netherlands town bans blasphemy - Yahoo! News
Who do these dad gum ramifrazit @%#%&$#@@ busybodies think they are--HOA trustees, or something?.


AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The name of the Lord may no longer be taken in vain in the Dutch village of Staphorst. Staphorst, in the so-called Dutch "bible belt" of eastern towns where religion holds sway, approved a ban on swearing by 13-4 council votes

WHEATON, IL: The 109-year-old DuPage County Courthouse in Wheaton will be converted to condominiums
Now, that's what I call privatization. But they will need a courthouse later when the lawsuits start flying (thanks to Nancy Levy--and you have to scroll halfway down the page to get to this story):

The 109-year-old DuPage County Courthouse in Wheaton will be converted to condominiums. The building has long been retired from its career as a judicial institution. The courthouse was constructed in 1896 on land donated by the city's founding father, Warren Wheaton.

Operation Condo Conversion Invades San Diego
From Nancy Levy comes this opinion piece by a fellow who sees the good and bad of condo conversions:

Condominium conversions in San Diego and all of Southern California are increasing with both positive and negative implication. On the plus side, they offer more affordable housing which allows more people to purchase a home. On the negative side, they can displace renters who may have a hard time finding a new apartment.

Zoning investigator put on leave as city probes trip with developer
Chicago Sun-Times story forwarded by Nancy Levy. How could a thing like this happen in Chicago, of all places?

Another high-ranking city official -- the $82,800-a-year chief investigator for Mayor Daley's Department of Zoning -- was placed on administrative leave Thursday after being questioned about a spring break trip to Brazil he allegedly took with a developer who mysteriously got a permit to build a condominium in the heart of a planned manufacturing district.

NAMC Newswire - Vegas Grand Condo Lawsuit
Nancy Levy forwarded this press release about a class action in Vegas. This release seems to come from the law firm that filed the suit. I don't have anything to post from the other side, but the press release has links to the complaint and other things:

Five individuals who executed Reservation Agreements to purchase specific high-rise condominiums at Vegas Grand, a Las Vegas high-rise condominium development, have filed a class action lawsuit against developers who unilaterally cancelled their agreements. In 2003 and 2004, the original purchasers paid deposits up to $25,000 for their reservations of specific condominium units at Vegas Grand at specified prices.The lawsuit was filed after the developer notified buyers on April 25, 2005 that their current Reservation Agreements are cancelled effective May 11, 2005, and that unless they agreed to substantial increases in the prices for their condos by May 10, 2005, that their units would be offered to the public at newly announced higher prices. The developer has scheduled a sales event for Vegas Grand at the Wynn Hotel on Friday, May 20, 2005. The purchasers are concerned that their condominium units will be resold on May 20th to unsuspecting new buyers at almost double the price of their original purchase reservations.

Growing Numbers of Master-Planned Communities Create More Special Utility Districts, Reports Dallas ULI Conference

This is a press release from the Urban Land Institute, forwarded by Fred Pilot, that is well worth reading. I have been arguing for twenty years or so that HOAs are part of a larger transformation of local government, from large general purpose governments to small special purpose districts. Well, here is the blueprint, laid out at at meeting of the leading real estate development think tank.

The evolving popularity of large master-planned communities is a major catalyst in the development of more Special Districts (Municipal Utility Districts or MUDs) and special water districts in North Texas, according to some of the Southwest's most knowledgeable developers and land planners. Special Districts in the North Texas residential market, along with hospitality trends in North Texas, were two major focus points of the Urban Land Institute's North Texas 1-Day Conference last week in Las Colinas. "Special Districts are now the trend for large master-planned communities," said Phillip Huffines of Huffines Communities Inc. Huffines, whose two communities, Providence and Savannah, had 771 combined annual starts in 2004 in Special District communities, said the new type of utility design has become necessary in order to fund the amenities and infrastructures that consumers want.

Chicago Tribune | Glenview, resident fight on over village's legal-fee rule
Mystery Reader urges me to post this nasty neighborhood dispute, non-HOA related it seems, that has led to a lot of legal action. Plus, it's a Chicago-area story, so how can I ignore it?
[update: MR was not, in fact, urging me to post this, but merely pointing out the relevance of this story to the theme I was posting about: "larger transformation of
local government, from large general purpose governments to small special purpose districts." Which, MR argues, is closer to the mark than my occasional Monty Python references. Can't argue with that.]

Michael Zwick's problems in Glenview began when he complained that a fence his neighbor built in 1998 posed a security concern. She fired back that he plowed snow onto her property and let his weeds grow a foot high. Zwick eventually wound up with 186 municipal citations for putting his bright red recycling bins by the curb in the public parkway near her house. Now the dispute has escalated into a legal skirmish involving Glenview's declared right to recoup legal fees for taking Zwick to court. A Cook County circuit judge fined Zwick more than $9,000 in 2003 for violating the Glenview trash ordinance. But the court sided with him in dismissing Glenview's claim that he should pay the village's legal fees, which amounted to more than $30,000. The Illinois Appellate Court upheld that decision. Unwilling to give up, Glenview recently asked the Illinois Supreme Court to consider the issue.

AZ: HOAs oppose possible move by thrift shop


From Nancy Levy, this story about organized HOA opposition to a thrift store. The race for "Best Example of Acting Like the Stereotypical HOA" is on, between these folks and the ones in the story immediately below.

At least two homeowners' associations have initiated petition drives against the proposed relocation of the Country Fair White Elephant, saying it would bring too much traffic, "possible litter" and "an opportunity for less desirable persons" to visit the area. In addition, Portillo Place Homeowners' Association President Paul Reiser wrote a May 19 letter to White Elephant board President Robert Freckmann, saying that several homeowners told him that if the thrift store moves to their neighborhood "their home would be on the market before a spade of dirt was moved."

City To Rewrite Code After Cruiser Conflict - Yahoo! News
Because of this supremely idiotic HOA behavior, the city is going to change the city code section that these jokers claim they are "enforcing." Check out the real reason for this ridiculous behavior. Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

During his off-duty hours, a Miami Beach police officer parks his cruiser in front of his home in Carlton Ranches in Davie. More than a week ago, Local 10 Problem Solver Jeff Weinsier reported that the Carlton Ranches Association board wants that police car out of sight. The association said that it classifies the car as a commercial vehicle, and because of that classification, they will not allow the car to be parked in a driveway overnight. The officer disagreed -- so the association assessed residents of the community $350 each to take the fight to court. They even assessed the officer himself...Council Member Susan Starkey said, "I believe it's insane."...The association members say that they think the cruiser creates a perception of a crime problem and would bring property values down.

Trump Group Selling West Side Parcel for $1.8 Billion - New York Times
A consortium of Hong Kong investors and Donald J. Trump are selling a stretch of riverfront land and three buildings on the Upper West Side for about $1.8 billion in the largest residential sale in city history and in the latest example of a rocketing housing market...The deal comes as the average condominium price in Manhattan has soared to more than $1.2 million and as developable land has become increasingly rare, even as some economists worry that a housing bubble will soon burst.

Dutch Voters Reject EU Constitution - Yahoo! News
Big government takes it in the teeth for the second time in a few days. Does this mean that even Europeans prefer governments to be a little closer to home?

Maybe they need an ombudsperson...

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Five Thai Buddhist monks have been defrocked and fined after a brawl with monks from a nearby temple, police and newspapers said Tuesday.The street fight was the culmination of years of antagonism between monks from the two temples who had often exchanged curses, insults and rude gestures as they collected alms on different sides of a road, the Manager newspaper said. "When an ordinary person is given a middle-finger sign, he will be mad. So am I," it quoted one of the defrocked monks, Boonlert Boonpan, as saying after the brawl in the northeastern state of Nong Khai Monday.

Angry Apartment Residents Throw Grenade at Noisy Neighbors - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM
How many of us have felt like doing this? And of course if you don't have an HOA to complain to...

Residents in the city of Khabarovsk in Russia’s Far East threw a grenade at youths who were having a noisy nighttime party near their apartment block, Interfax news agency reported. Two young men, aged 21 and 16, and a 17-year-old girl have been hospitalized with fragmentation wounds. An investigation into the incident was launched, but local police are still unable to determine who threw the grenade.

HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE :: Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries
Any nominations?

From Illinois: Bill requires homeowners associations to alert members of meetings

Does it seem at all strange to anybody else that the state legislature has to force HOAs to do this?

A bill by state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Woodstock, could force homeowners associations to be more open by requiring them to notify members of upcoming meetings. The bill, which passed the Illinois House unanimously May 19, would make association boards publicize meetings by notifying their members by mail, delivery or posting at least 48 hours before convening.

HOAs can ban your political signs in TX anymore...
Passed along by Fred Pilot. Don't mess with Texas.
AUSTIN - Want to stick a sign in your front yard endorsing a favorite political candidate? Go ahead, no homeowners association will be able to stop you.

Hiker uses martial arts to fight off grizzly bear
I just had to post this.
An Alberta man on a Bible retreat successfully used his Brazilian martial arts training on the weekend to fend off a charging grizzly. Lyle Simpson was hiking through the bush with friends west of Calgary on Saturday when the bruin started chasing him, he said. “It just burst out of the bush, charging right away. There wasn’t much time to think,” said Simpson, 32, who added there was a cub nearby. The hikers quickly ran in different directions, but as Simpson was trying to escape, he tripped and landed on his back. “I put my arm up as the bear was coming on down towards me. The bear tried to bite my arm.” That’s when Simpson’s training instincts took over and he kicked the bear in the face.“I think I stunned it just enough. I really think it saved me from a mauling.”

Only who can prevent fires? Homeowners seek federal funds to protect land themselves
Local News - The Coloradoan
Nancy Levy sent this piece on what appears to be HOAs getting federal fire prevention money. Yet another example of these organizations providing public services, with the difference being that here they are using public funds to do it.


Bud Duryea's view sparked his drive to protect his subdivision from wildfire, and the federal government paid for it. "Three-and-a-half years ago we became aware of the beauty of Rams Horn Mountain and the notion that fire and bugs don't respect property lines," said Duryea, the Windcliff subdivision homeowners association president, who lives in Pittsburgh and has a second home in Windcliff. Since then, homeowners in the Windcliff subdivision near Estes Park have used government money to thin the forest around their homes. The 240-acre subdivision houses about 254 people with 37 lots still unbuilt. The money that aided Duryea's group came from the National Fire Plan, an August 2000 directive to provide more money for fire fighting and reducing risky fire conditions in and around the nation's forests.

Prayer for Peace, Memorial Day, 2005
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

On Memorial Day, we honor the men and women in uniform who have given their lives in service to our Nation. When the stakes were highest, our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen answered the call of duty and made the ultimate sacrifice for the security of our country and the peace of the world.
[more]

A Bane Amid The Housing Boom: Rising Foreclosures
From Nancy Levy, with some speculation that, although this article isn't specifically about HOAs, it could be a tast of things to come.

Will patriotism trump condo association anti-flag rules? Bill would allow all Pennsylvanians to fly the American flag -- even if it's against homeowners' association regulations

From Fred Pilot--and some pungent remarks from Mr. Clifford G. Hughes:

Hughes, a Marine Corps vet who served during World War II and the Korean conflict, said if he and his fists were a few decades younger, they'd take the folks from Forest Glenn out back and teach them a lesson. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to have some jerk tell me I can't fly the flag," said Hughes, 81. "This is, I think, still America." Forest Glenn's bylaws say that condo owners can fly the flag only on six holidays, including Memorial Day. But Hughes says a condo owner ought to be able to display the colors year-round.
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...at Hughes' request, state Rep. Mark Mustio, R-Moon, has introduced a bill that would give Pennsylvanians the right to fly the U.S. flag, and state and military flags, even if the person has signed a homeowner's agreement forbidding flag display.

It's Not a Bubble Until It Bursts - Yahoo! News
I wonder if all the press chatter about the bubble bursting is going to make it happen.

Prominent policymakers and academics, including Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, have recently warned about bubbles in regional markets. A recent nationwide Gallup/Experian poll of consumers showed that nearly four in 10 said they expected a bubble to burst in their region in the next three years. Across America, water cooler or cocktail party conversations often include talk about those who have made a killing in real estate, and whether it's now too late to get in on the action. However, none of the experts or novices knows for sure when and how a bubble might burst. Bubbles throughout history, including tech stocks in the late 1990s, often go on for years, and crash when few expect it. Many experts and media pundits have been predicting a downturn for the last three years — and home prices have continued to rise, up nearly 70% since 2001 in the hot Southern California market.

Developers Try to Limit Speculative 'Flipping'
Nancy Levy sent this Washington Post article on a subject I've been hearing about from several sources. Developers are trying to limit the number of speculator-buyers. I've heard (not in this article) of including covenants that commit the purchaser to not selling until at least a year has passed:

For the past few years, it has been a way to make easy money: Sign a contract to buy a property when it is still nothing more than a few squiggles on a builder's plans. Then, when there are four walls and a floor, or even before, flip it to another buyer, making a profit without ever moving in or even being a landlord. With prices and demand climbing around the Washington region, such investors could make hundreds of thousands of dollars during the two years or so that it takes to build a condominium complex, townhouse or housing development, with just a small down payment at risk...

Chicago Tribune | Debate sizzles on the wiring of U.S. towns
Here we have municipalities fighting to get involved in providing broadband services as a public utility. The private providers for these services already exist, obviously. I guess the municipalities see the money to be made. See a contradiction here? Where profits are to be made, munis want to get into the business world. But for things that require taxing and spending for the general welfare--street construction, maintenance and lighting, policing, building code and nuisance-type law enforcement--munis are content to turn things over to HOAs. This is a reversal of the way things are supposed to be in a liberal democracy, isn't it? In any event, it seems the ISPs are getting protection from state legislatures:

Kutztown [Pennsylvania], with a population of 5,000, had grown frustrated that its local telecom providers were slow to offer residents, and especially businesses, the kind of high-speed Internet access commonly available in urban centers. So Kutztown launched its communications network in 2002, financed by a bond offering and a loan from its municipal electric utility. The Spostos' firm now buys business-class Internet service for $40 a month. That is about half the price paid by businesses in neighboring communities for comparable service, but at a slightly slower speed, provided by regional Service Electric Cablevision. Kutztown uses a broadband fiber-optic network that allows faster connections than those customarily available from either DSL or cable modem. But if the country's telephone and cable TV companies have their way, cities and towns eager to emulate Kutztown will find it difficult, if not impossible, to establish municipal communications utilities. This spring, telecom giants SBC Communications and Verizon Communications, along with cable providers such as Comcast and Mediacom Communications, lobbied 12 state legislatures--including Illinois'--to urge passage of laws restricting municipalities from building such networks. Fourteen states, including Wisconsin and Missouri, limit or prohibit cities and towns from pursuing such enterprises.

British Medical Experts Campaign for Long, Pointy Knife Control - New York Times
This is not satire. When American Supreme Court Justices, such as Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer, start waxing eloquent about how we in the US should start learning from the wisdom of foreign law and policy, consider examples like this one. The UK has very strict gun control laws (of the sort many American liberals advocate), and their violent crime rate is soaring. Answer? Knife control.


The authors of an editorial in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal have called for knife reform. The editorial, "Reducing knife crime: We need to ban the sale of long, pointed kitchen knives," notes that the knives are being used to stab people as well as roasts and the odd tin of Spam.The authors of the essay - Drs. Emma Hern, Will Glazebrook and Mike Beckett of the West Middlesex University Hospital in London - called for laws requiring knife manufacturers to redesign their wares with rounded, blunt tips. The researchers noted that the rate of violent crime in Britain rose nearly 18 percent from 2003 to 2004, and that in the first two weeks of 2005, 15 killings and 16 nonfatal attacks involved stabbings. In an unusual move for a scholarly work, the researchers cited a January headline from The Daily Express, a London tabloid: "Britain is in the grip of knives terror - third of murder victims are now stabbed to death."

Thousands of homes destroyed to make way for Olympic tourists

Just to put HOAs and American municipal governments in perspective, here's what reallytyrannical land use controls look like:

YE GUOZHU used to own two restaurants in Beijing. Both were razed in 2001, as was his home in the Yongdingmen district of the city two years later, to make way for parks to beautify the Chinese capital for the 2008 Olympics. Last year Mr Ye sought permission to protest against such forced evictions. He was arrested for “disturbing social order” and sentenced in December to four years in jail. His family have not seen him since and do not know where he is held...Building an Olympic Games infrastructure is the kind of ambitious project at which China’s communist rulers, with the benefit of years of central planning behind them, are particularly adept. The plans include an Olympic Green covering nearly 2,800 acres — 1,680 acres of park and 1,000 acres for the Olympic Centre. The National Stadium, a controversial project resembling a bird’s nest that has been halted once for modifications, will seat 80,000 people. Not content with building 19 sports stadiums and refurbishing 13 others, city planners have seized the opportunity to reshape the landscape of Beijing.

What's the difference between a libertarian and a conservative?
I had a private post or two from people asking for an answer to that question. This link goes to a New York Libertarian Party site that talks about how libertarians would reply (although others may characterize them differently). Libertarians say that normally we think of people being either liberal or conservative, and fashion a one-dimensional continuum of left-to-right. But to understand libertarianism, they tell us, you need to think in two dimensions, as this passage explains:

A breakthrough came when David Nolan, a graduate in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, published "Classifying and Analyzing Politico-Economic Systems" in the January 1971 Individualist. The Nolan Chart shows the highlights of the chart he introduced in that article. Nolan divided human action into two categories, economic and social, so his chart has two axes, one to measure the degree of freedom in economic affairs, the other to measure the degree of freedom in social affairs. Then he plotted the positions of various political groups to see how they related. Maddox and Lilie suggest a matrix approach with four quadrants: liberal, conservative, populist and libertarian. Their research indicates 17 percent of Americans fit in the libertarian quadrant, with baby boomers more heavily libertarian (22 percent), as are college graduates (32 percent).

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The easiest way to understand this is to take a look at the chart itself. The point is simple, though. Libertarians say that conservatives are people like Bill Bennett, who believe in a leaving the economic system relatively free from government control (high score on economic self government) but are comfortable with goverment controls on things like drug use, prostitution, abortion, and other non-economic liberties (low score on personal self government). Libertarians say that liberals are the opposite of that, because they support heavy government restrictions on economic activity (minimum wage, taxation, workplace and environmental safety laws, etc.) and a high degree of freedom from government where personal liberty is concerned. But libertarians (according to their self-definition) want both a high degree of economic self government and a high degree of personal self government. They want individuals to be free to structure their own relationships in economic an non-economic matters.

That's where HOAs come in. To most libertarians, HOAs represent freedom from coercive municipal governments and an opportunity to live under rules that represent self-government. And they believe that if you don't like the rules in one HOA you can move to another, or change the rules. This, they believe, makes HOAs a better way to provide for collective needs than municipalities.

I understand all this, but it is just theory, sometimes reality gets in the way of theory. I'll post more on this later, but what do you say about liberals who believe in free speech for themselves but not for conservatives? And what about HOAs that are mandated by local government?

Comments?

Salsa Dancers and Stunt Men? Must Be a Miami Condo Project - New York Times
Nancy Levy forwarded this link to an article about the remarkable lengths to which developers will go to sell condos in Miami...

In the last month alone, you could salsa with dancers in fringed hot pants at Aqua, hear a drag queen D.J. at Cynergi or watch stunt men ricochet off a trampoline at Soleil...These were launch parties for condominium projects, one of the stranger forms of nightlife in a city obsessed with real estate...Deep-pocketed developers, forced to be ever more creative in the pursuit of buyers for condos still years from being built, pay for these lavish affairs...

Lawyer winds up Britain's longest ever legal speech after 119 days - Yahoo! News
Is he getting paid by the word? And this is just his opening statement. Wait until he gets to closing argument.

LONDON (AFP) - A top lawyer for the Bank of England is set to finish what is believed to be the longest speech in British legal history, which lasted 119 days, a newspaper said. Nicholas Stadlen is finally due to sit down after spending the past few months delivering his opening remarks from 125 files in the central bank's defence of an 850-million-pound (1.6 million dollar, 1.2 million euro) compensation claim by creditors to collapsed bank BCCI, the Guardian reported.

Gate guarded - against each other
Too many modern neighborhoods are, well ... not all that neighborly
Nancy Levy sent this link, which requires registration.
It's an interesting account of life in a gated HOA in Orange County, CA:
...Hopefully not everyone shares my experience with the guarded-gate community where I lived in San Clemente. Within these invisible walls, over a period of 12 years I visited the home of just one neighbor. For an exorbitant monthly fee the guard would not allow my own mother entrance because my phone was busy. As we fortify ourselves against the undesirable element on the outside, so too we are protected from individuality within. Homeowners' associations, instead of creating peaceful harmony and a non-threatening manner in which to meet those who share the street where we live, accomplish the opposite. On the four boards on which I enjoyed the dubious honor of serving, I witnessed consternation, condemnation and confrontation, sprinkled with refreshments and an overall unwillingness to accommodate varying opinions. It is virtually impossible to require that individuals who are as different from each other as the colors they might want to paint their houses to lose themselves in a sea of sameness and anonymity, which is in many cases today's neighborhood. Consequently, no one gets along. Trust evaporates when one man attacks another for his weeds and threatens a lawsuit. Never mind that the man is holding down two jobs to pay for landscaping; the CC&Rs state the yard must be complete within 90 days. To make an exception would be setting a precedent. But there is hope despite our identical roofing, colorless walls and vistas void of foliage; there is that occasional person who forsakes the fear of lawsuits for friendship. I now have the privilege of living next to Karen and Ken, a doctor and nurse who, considering that they operate in a world of suspicion and malpractice insurance, might seem unlikely candidates to extend an unhesitating hand.

ACSBlog: The Blog of the American Constitution Society: Guest Blogger: Nominee Brown's Views Rejected by Justices Scalia and Thomas
The other day I mentioned some of the objections to Janice Rogers Brown based on her libertarian views. I was speculating that she might be a pro-HOA justice because, like most libertarians, she would object to government interference with the terms of CC&Rs, which are contracts that structure private property rights. Here is a link to a post on ACSBlog by Lauren Sanders, an attorney at the National Senior Citizens Law Center. This post explains why her dissent in San Remo Hotel L.P. v. City and County of San Francisco, 27 Cal. 4th 643 (2002), is considered so radical. She said (the poster argues) that government infringements on property rights should be evaluated under the "strict scrutiny" standard, which is the highest level of scrutiny, rather than the "rational basis" test, which is the lowest. In other words, property rights should be treated like freedom of speech, press, association, and other "preferred position" liberties deemed essential to the functioning of a democracy. If her view became law, it would mean that a state infringement on private property rights would only be upheld by the courts if the government could show that the infringement was necessary to advance a compelling government interest. That's hard to do. Right now, under the rational basis test, all the government needs is a rational relationship to any legitimate government interest.

My guess is that if she does hold that view, she'd take a dim view of legislative action that tampered with the relationships set up in CC&Rs (such as the duty to pay assessments and obey rules and live under the discretionary governance of an HOA), and would hold property owners in HOAs and condo associations to the terms of their original deal. In other words, the recent wave of reform legislation in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida would probably be suspect under the standard that she believes in, if the post I linked to is correct about her views. She is on the California Supreme Court. She agreed with the court in Villa De Las Palmas Homeowners Assn. v. Terifaj, 33 Cal. 4th 73 (2004) where it was held:

We conclude that under the plain and unambiguous language of sections 1354, subdivision (a), and 1355, subdivision (b), use restrictions in amended declarations recorded subsequent to a challenging homeowner's purchase of a condominium unit are binding on that homeowner, are enforceable via injunctive relief under section 1354, subdivision (a), and are entitled to the same judicial deference given use restrictions recorded prior to the homeowner's purchase. We also conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding attorney fees to the homeowners association as the prevailing party.

That case is a big time reaffirmation of Nahrstedt v. Lakeside Village Condominium Assn. (1994) 8 Cal. 4th 361, by the way, which is one of most pro-HOA rulings from any state supreme court.

Odd U.S. state laws ban owning skunks, swearing - Yahoo! News
I think it's good to balance out all the stories about HOA rule-madness with an occasional reminder about wacky laws passed by state and local governments. Besides, it's fun to read.


The legal codes of U.S. states, counties and cities are replete with archaic, sometimes nonsensical and often humorous laws, many of which were passed decades or even centuries ago for a reason that seemed good at the time but has long since been forgotten or faded into irrelevance.

KCBS: Plan To Revitalize Downtown L.A. Approved
Just what LA needs...high rise condos. Wouldn't you just love to be on the 50th floor when the San Andreas Fault decides to relocate itself a few hundred feet lower?

A plan that would alter the downtown skyline by creating a dense urban center of high-rises, shopping centers and parkland around the Disney Concert Hall was approved by the city and county. Authorities hope the Grand Avenue project approved Monday will provide a nucleus for the kind of core that Los Angeles has lacked -- a place where people both work and live. Currently, the area empties at night as workers return to the suburbs...The project calls for five high-rises -- four 30-story condominium buildings and a 40- to 50-story hotel and condominium complex. There would be a 16-acre park linking Bunker Hill and the Civic Center, a supermarket and 400,000 square feet of retail space that would include a bookstore and multi-screen movie theater.

Median price for S.D. home: $593,000
And half the homes in the entire state of California now cost more than $509,000. Well, there is always the option of not having kids (see below, re San Francisco)...
The median price of an existing home in San Diego County was $593,600 in April, slightly higher than the previous month and up 12.6 percent from a year ago, a real estate group reported today...In neighboring Orange County, the median price for an existing home last month was $682,200, a 2.2 percent increase from March, when the median price was $667,200. The median price rose 5.7 percent from $645,590 in April 2004...Statewide, the median price of an existing home in April was $509,230, marking the first time the median cost has topped the half-million-dollar mark, according to CAR President Jim Hamilton.

BostonHerald.com - Local/ Regional News: Cops nail 'parking Nazi': JP neighborhood was victimized by vigilante for years
Who does this guy think he is...the president of his condo association or something?

A self-appointed traffic judge who allegedly meted out street justice by vandalizing cars in Jamaica Plain for everything from expired stickers to parking violations was arrested yesterday after he was caught on camera keying the side of a police decoy van...His punishments featured dousing cars with chocolate syrup, spray paint and feces for infractions including out-of-state plates in residential parking spots and even offensive bumper stickers...
A search warrant was being executed last night at the condo Feest has shared for the past 11 years...

Child Population Dwindles in San Francisco - Yahoo! News
Fred Pilot sends this disturbing story about how San Francisco is becoming an adults-only community. I understand why people with kids are leaving, but how about the choices people make that allow them to stay? If there weren't so many households willing to dump all their income into buying an overpriced house or condo in order to stay in that city (instead of perhaps living someplace where they can afford to raise a family or just have more disposable income), prices wouldn't be so high. In other words, there wouldn't be a housing bubble in San Francisco if there weren't so many buyers--many of whom I suspect are making bonehead decisions to purchase houses and condos that they can't afford, and that may turn out to be bad investments. It is also amusing to see Mayor Newsom's approach to this: more public services, which means higher taxes. As if high taxation were not also part of the reason families are leaving.

San Francisco has the smallest share of small-fry of any major U.S. city. Just 14.5 percent of the city's population is 18 and under. It is no mystery why U.S. cities are losing children. The promise of safer streets, better schools and more space has drawn young families away from cities for as long as America has had suburbs. But kids are even more scarce in San Francisco than in expensive New York (24 percent) or in retirement havens such as Palm Beach, Fla., (19 percent), according to Census estimates. San Francisco's large gay population — estimated at 20 percent by the city Public Health Department — is thought to be one factor, though gays and lesbians in the city are increasingly raising families. Another reason San Francisco's children are disappearing: Family housing in the city is especially scarce and expensive. A two-bedroom, 1,000-square-foot starter home is considered a bargain at $760,000. A recent survey by the city controller found 40 percent of parents said they were considering pulling up stakes within the next year.

Irate Parent Rams Van Into School - Yahoo! News
Who says civility is on the decline in this country?

PHILADELPHIA - A woman apparently upset over the treatment of her children by other students rammed her minivan into the front of the Huey Elementary School in West Philadelphia this morning.

Home Sales Up 4.5 Percent in April
So says the National Association of Realtors. And this is why people are now talking about the housing "bubble" going pop.

Sales of existing homes rose 4.5 percent in April to the highest sales pace on record as low mortgage rates continued to fuel a housing boom, a national trade group reported Tuesday. The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of single-family homes and condominiums climbed to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.18 million units last month, the fastest pace on record. The increase was far above the small 0.2 percent advance that had been expected and was credited to further declines in mortgage rates. The strength in sales last month was accompanied by further upward pressure on home prices. The median price for an existing home sold last month rose to a record $206,000, up 15.1 percent over the median price a year ago. That represented the biggest 12-month gain in home sales prices since November 1980 and was certain to add to concerns that the housing industry could be experiencing a speculative bubble similar to the stock market bubble which popped in the spring of 2000.

No changes for condo and homeowners associations: Legislature's failure to act on proposals means current policies remain in effect.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Nancy Levy sends this very interesting piece on the Florida legislative wrapup, and the proposed legislation that would have given HOA residents access to the condo ombudsman:

Homeowners still face foreclosure even if they owe their association $25. Directors of condominium and homeowners associations are still not required to learn the law before spending owners' money.The state still can't regulate homeowners associations or provide an ombudsman to mediate their disputes, as it does for condo owners. This year's battle in the state Legislature featured those who want state law changed to make boards more responsible to owners and those who oppose change. When the session ended in Tallahassee on May 8, almost everything remained the same as it was before it began in March.

Residents help police resolve neighborhood disputes
Nancy Levy sent this piece that seems to suggest a cozy relationship is growing between Phoenix area HOAs and the municipal government. The article starts by talking about "residents" who "try to prevent or resolve neighborhood disputes on their own." This makes it seem like some miraculous outpouring of social capital. Maybe--I have no idea. But when you read further, it seems as though HOAs are somehow involved. We all know that HOAs enforce document provisions governing behavior that could also be called in to the police as a public nuisance (noise, parking, etc.) The question that interests me is to what extent people like Officer Barnhart are working with or through HOAs to handle this sort of low-level complaint.

...according to Phoenix police Officer Robert "Barney" Barnhart, the Community Action Program coordinator, most Ahwatukee Foothills residents try to prevent or resolve neighborhood disputes on their own. Party planners often head off complaints by letting neighbors know there will be a band, cars parked up and down the street and when a party is expected to end. They may go door-to-door as a personal touch or leave a note of explanation with their phone number and address in case there is a problem..
..Many homeowners associations can help with ongoing problems. Some Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions (CC&Rs) contain a nuisance clause covering loud parties and barking dogs as well as rules about roaming pets, property infringement and parking situations. An HOA can be the go-between when neighbors want to avoid a confrontation, said Robert Blakesley, general manager for the Ahwatukee Board of Management, which oversees 5,100 homes in 54 subdivisions. "HOAs are not the ultimate enforcement, but we try to do what we can to help the person," Blakesley said. "We will send a letter, then call the complainant back and see how it's going, and sometimes we send a second letter."

States target property taxes as home prices zoom (phillyBurbs.com)
Fred Pilot sends this. Add the HOA assessments on top of the property tax, for many folks. But there is no relief in sight for that "double taxation" situation.

"People are facing being taxed out of their homes," said Ted Harris, a 69-year-old retiree living on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, whose taxes climbed from $2,200 in 1990 to $12,000 last year. "Government simply swallows the money and finds lots of reasons to spend that money." From Texas to Illinois to Pennsylvania, lawmakers are weighing property tax caps, limits, exemptions and other ways to ease the burdens for homeowners - whose tax bills are the down slide of home values increasing. Proposals to change the system have become part of the gubernatorial campaigns in New Jersey and Virginia, the only states with governor's races this year.

TheKCRAChannel.com - News - South Natomas Home Covered With Sheet Metal: Residents Claim Neighbors Bombarding Them With Radiation

Here's another thing you can't do in an HOA, or even in their municipality as it turns out. And we have been able to confirm to our great relief that this is not Fred Pilot's house.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A home in Sacramento's south Natomas neighborhood is surrounded by sheet metal, and neighbors are calling it an eyesore. The [name deleted] family lives in the home on Timberwood Court, and claims the aluminium pieces are necessary to protect them from unknown neighbors who have been bombarding them with radio waves and making them sick.

U.N. Official Calls U.S. 'Ungainly Giant,' and UN a "neighborhood association"
Got that? The United Nations is just a big, warm, fuzzy neighborhood association. Sort of like a global HOA. So says Kofi Annan's chief of staff:

"This ungainly giant of a nation that has led the world in advancing freedom, democracy and decency, cannot quite accept membership in the global neighborhood association, and the principle of all neighborhoods — that it must abide by others' rules as well as its own," Malloch Brown said at the commencement address to Pace University law students.

Civic leaders fight group on home, condo owner law: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Nancy Levy sends this remarkable article about organized opposition to the homeowner advocacy group, Cyber Citizens for Justice. The interesting question is, who got all these folks organized? I don't know. But as you read toward the end of the article, you see a carefully-worded mention of attorneys, and another mention of the Community Associations Institute and how many clients their member lawyers have. I'm reading between the lines, but is the journalist suggesting that CAI (which is an attorney and manager dominated trade association) is organizing their client association directors to oppose CCFJ? In other words, is the author of the article suggesting that this an example of business-organized grassroots lobbying? Does anybody have information on this?

Though this year's legislative session recently ended, leaders of this new coalition plan to start talking to their legislators in coming months to win their support. The coalition, tentatively called the Coalition of Community Associations, wants to make sure Cyber Citizens activists do not dilute homeowner and condo laws. Formed in 2000, Cyber Citizens has grown increasingly influential in Tallahassee. Among the group's successes: a condominium ombudsman who serves as a neutral resource for unit owners, associations and board members, and a law that prevents boards from foreclosing on homes because of unpaid fines...

Bergemann and a legislative ally, Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami, contended that attorneys are pushing the new coalition. While there are some attorneys involved, Spears said they are not driving the coalition. "These are basically homeowners," he said. "We're not interested in filling the pockets of attorneys." Community associations already have the Community Association Leadership Lobby, which represents 4,000 clients of the law firm Becker & Poliakoff.

My Way News: Scientists Say Sunshine May Prevent Cancer

So, Del Webb had it figured out after all. I guess Sun City is the place to be, according to the latest scientific findings.

Do you ever wish that these scientific pinheads would just quit trying to tell us what is good and bad for us and how we should live, and get busy curing colds or something? For thirty years dermatologists have been saying that we should cower in the basement covered with sunscreen like a freaking vampire. Now all of a sudden the sun is good for you. Wine is bad. Wine is good. Fat is bad, except if you're French, in which case foie gras is the key to longevity. Salt is bad, but now it's good. Drink lots of water, except if you drink too much you die while you're running a marathon, which is good and bad for you also. Moderation is good for you, except if you have too much of it. Then it's bad because you need to be extreme once in a while.

Got it?

Living in a Retirement Village, Back Home With Mom and Dad - New York Times
How would you like to be a young person living in a retirement community? Nancy Levy sends this NYT article that gave me claustrophobia.

Many adult children moved back into the nest in the 1990's, after being hit by layoffs and the bursting of the dot-com bubble. But in a twist on the phenomenon of extended adolescence, some sons and daughters are now sampling the leisurely lifestyles of their aging parents. Driven by skyrocketing house prices, uncertain job prospects and extended stays in higher education, some young adults figure they can save money while enjoying golf lessons, fancy clubhouses and clay tennis courts...Only a sliver of young adults live in retirement communities. But with the growth of age-restricted developments, it is more likely that homeward-bound adult children will land in one of them. There were 1,274 such "active adult" communities in 2004, six times greater than the 204 in 1995, said Bill Parks, a consultant to homebuilders who works in Scottsdale, Ariz. Many have sprung up near Boston, Chicago and New York, making it easier for the offspring of baby boomers to come home again and still keep their big-city jobs.

Calvert News October 2004: Creating Community in Planned Communities

Don't ask me where Fred Pilot found this document, because I have no idea how he comes up with these things. This is the transcript of a conference. Wayne Hyatt is on the program, along with Donald Stabile, the economist who wrote a book on HOAs that relied heavily on Byron Hanke's recounting of events in the early 1960s. This transcript is well worth reading to get the original rationale for this kind of housing, back when there was hardly any of it to be found.

More on Justice Brown...
Fred Pilot takes issue with my speculation about Justice Brown, where I consider how she would view HOAs if a case involving them came before her. I'm reproducing our comments here because some people don't get to the comments and perhaps we can start a discussion:

Fred says: "You are mixing two different and very important things here. Local government privatization today is no longer simply about the right of a developer to impose deed restrictions as in the early days of American common interest developments when they were used to keep out racial and ethic groups not wanted by the developer. Rather than being driven by developers, local government privatization is now land use policy adopted by muncipalities and counties to effectively privatize their traditional governmental obligations. It has nothing to do with developers'rights."


McKenzie responds: I know the municipal mandate situation changes the dynamics here, but it doesn't seem to change the way libertarians view HOAs. My point is to consider what Justice Brown, as an obvious libertarian, might say about HOAs. Therefore I'm adopting for purposes of discussion the perspective they take on HOAs in general. Libertarians--at least nearly all the ones I know--defend HOA living as an example of contract-based service provision, and argue that it is better than the taxation-based service provision of municipalities. Why? Because (they say) HOAs are voluntary organizations. I know, I know...municipal mandates, lack of choice, lack of disclosure...but that's what they say. And the initial declaration of CC&Rs is universally viewed by courts as a contract. It is a contract that is made by one party (the developer), and accepted by another (the original purchaser," and it "runs with the land," meaning that all subsequent purchasers must accept the same contract. Libertarians believe in freedom to contract for whatever relationship you want, even if it is exploitative. They support legalized prostitution, drug use, gambling, and even contracts to pollute. So the issue remains: does Justice Brown think HOAs are voluntary organizations, whose contract-based relationships (structured by the developers and purchasers and based on their rights to freely contract) should not be tampered with by the courts? My guess is, "yes."

If I had my druthers, libertarians would recognize that the facts don't fit their theory. Choice is restricted, municipal mandates to build HOA-run developments constitute government involvement, the CC&Rs are written by one party and non-negotiable by the buyer, the CC&Rs are often incomprehensible, etc. But I assure you, libertarians are by and large pro-HOA. In fact, they think HOAs are an example of Robert Nozick's private protective associations, as envisioned in his classic work of libertarian philosophy, Anarchy, State, and Utopia. If they had their way, libertarians would replace municipal governments with HOAs, so we'd all be living in them. If you don't believe me, read Bob Nelson's article.

Comments, anybody?

Janice Rogers Brown
I have received a couple of forwarded posts about Janice Rogers Brown, the California Supreme Court Justice who has been nominated by President Bush to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but who has been filibustered by Senate Democrats. The Democrats, in support of their claim that she is "out of the mainstream" [I can't find that language in my copy of the Constitution for some reason], cite one decision. Here's some typical opposition language from the web site of People for the American Way. It is a quote from her dissent in the San Remo Hotel v. City and County of San Francisco case, followed by PFAW's characterization of the majority's ruling:

[P]rivate property, already an endangered species in California, is now entirely extinct in San Francisco…I would find the HCO [San Francisco Residential Hotel Unit Conversion and Demolition Ordinance] preempted by the Ellis Act and facially unconstitutional. …Theft is theft even when the government approves of the thievery. Turning a democracy into a kleptocracy does not enhance the stature of the thieves; it only diminishes the legitimacy of the government. …The right to express one’s individuality and essential human dignity through the free use of property is just as important as the right to do so through speech, the press, or the free exercise of religion. [Dissenting opinion in San Remo Hotel L.P. v. City and County of San Francisco, 41 P.3d 87, 120, 128-9 (Cal. 2002)(upholding San Francisco ordinance calling on hotel owners seeking permission to eliminate residential units and convert to tourist hotels help replace lost rental units for low income, elderly, and disabled persons)][

The claim that she is an extremist seems to be based on her outspoken libertarian sentiments. Now, which way does that cut if you are an HOA unit owner? Does she come down for individuals to use their own property as they see fit, despite what their privatized local governments says, or (as I suspect) does she support the rights of the developer to create any rules he or she wants, and the rights of the purchasers to be forever bound by them if they make the "free" choice to buy an HOA unit? Libertarians seem to be coming down in favor of HOAs as private governments. At least, the ones I know do.

Loose chickens subject neighborhood to fowl play
That's what you get for moving into a neighborhood called "Barnside." From Fred Pilot:
The Barnside neighborhood in Columbia is living up to its name. Since March, Barnside residents and police have been frantically trying to track down nearly 20 chickens and roosters who have run amuck in the community - clucking, crowing and waking residents up in the early morning hours. "They wake people up at 5 in the morning," said Gerrie Bischoff, the president of the Barnside Condominium Association, which is located near Howard Community College in the heart of Columbia. "We had one man come into our meeting demanding to know who was raising chickens."

County Commission hears complaints about loose dogs--
Fred Pilot says the commissioner's suggestion is "ascanine."

Eastern District Commissioner Bill Farnham suggested to Eversole that the residents in the neighborhood form a homeowners association, by which they could form a board and make rules dealing with dogs in the neighborhood.

Condominiums: they aren't just for Americans anymore...
Nancy Levy forwarded this. From the Saskatchewan area in the land of Eh, you hoser:
Residents of Bridger Drive will have to wait until the new mayor is elected to find out if a condo unit will be built in their area. A three storey condominium has been proposed by Remai Construction Group to Town Council. Remai would like to build an 18 unit condominium on 1 and 2 Bridger Drive. Some of the residents on Bridger Drive are upset by the potential neighbourhood addition. They say they did not expect high-density housing to be built in the area.

245 townhouses OK'd off PGA Boulevard
What's wrong with this picture? Even some board members say they don't like these townhouses, but the board approves them anyway. From Fred Pilot forwarding something Nancy Levy found:

PALM BEACH GARDENS — City Councilman David Levy wouldn't want to live in one. Councilwoman Jody Barnett doesn't like them either. But a majority of city council members agreed Thursday night that 245 Abacoa-style townhouses should be built near PGA and Central boulevards. The development of two- and three-story townhomes, called Southampton, won initial approval from three of four council members, despite concerns that its "traditional neighborhood" style won't fit in with nearby communities.

Newsday.com: Protest stalls bill to raise condo taxes
Nancy Levy sent this, which follows up on an issue I posted something on a few days ago:

ALBANY - State lawmakers who proposed a bill designed to tax some house-style condominiums at the same rate as traditional houses retreated this week after facing a groundswell of opposition from Long Island and Rockland County residents. Senate and Assembly companion bills that critics say would have as much as tripled taxes for some condo owners have scant chance of advancing before the legislative session ends on June 23.

Homeowners divided
Here's a story about some sub-associations seeking their independence from the central authority. Reminds me of 1776. Nobody in the picture looks much like Mel Gibson, though. (From Fred Pilot via Nancy Levy)

Bill offers framework for disputes
From Fred Pilot by way of Patrick's HOA News...it seems the Garden State may be adopting the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA), but it would still have to pass the state senate and be signed by the governor:

Legislation passed this week by the Assembly would codify the way homeowners' associations, including Kings Grant in Evesham, operate. The bill, which is modeled on legislation passed in 16 states, would establish uniform rules for the homeowners' associations of communities like condominiums, townhouses, co-ops, lake associations and time shares.

High interest in interest-only home loans / POPULAR BUT DANGEROUS: If home prices flatten, borrowers could lose
Fred Pilot sent this. Astronomical housing prices have people stretched to the breaking poing...how to afford it? Interest-only loans, usually variable rate, that are extemely risky:

Two out of three Bay Area home buyers are choosing interest-only loans, and some experts warn that the popularity of the controversial form of mortgage debt is a sign that the overheated housing market is boiling over. These loans, which allow borrowers to avoid paying any principal for three years or more, have grown explosively in recent years to become the favored mortgage for buyers in the region, replacing the standby 30-year mortgage preferred a generation ago. They accounted for nearly 70 percent of home purchases in the first two months of the year in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties, up from 18 percent in 2002 and 59 percent in 2004, according to data compiled for The Chronicle by San Francisco mortgage research firm LoanPerformance, a unit of title giant First American Corp... But housing experts warn that these loans are loaded with risk. Borrowers who put down small or no down payments and who do not elect to pay principal rely almost exclusively on price appreciation to build equity. If home prices flatten or fall, borrowers could end up owing more than the home is worth.

Head's up: Bill would ban soccer headers

I may need to create a special section for "Municipal Ordinances That Are So Supremely Idiotic They Rival HOA Restrictions." It seems that a man who suffered a brain injury by falling down the stairs when he was two...

...is asking lawmakers to stop a potentially damaging practice among K-12 students: "headers," or when soccer players hit balls with their heads. "Brain injury or a concussion can change a soccer player's life if all soccer players uses his or her head as a battering ram," Edwards, 54, told the Legislature's joint Education Committee yesterday. Public and private school students also would be required to wear helmets during soccer matches under a bill Edwards crafted.

Six Flags reserves right to kick out sex offenders
Here we have another example (see below) of private property-based exclusions of undesirables.

CHICAGO - Six Flags is warning convicted sex offenders that they're not welcome. The amusement park has added a message to its season passes stating that it can refuse entry to anyone convicted of a sex crime. Six Flags doesn't actually plan to run background checks on everyone who enters its 30 theme parks. However, visitors seen acting inappropriately could be subjected to a check and thrown out. A Six Flags spokeswoman says the warning was added on the advice of the company's attorneys. A ride operator was sentenced to prison in 2000 for molesting three girls. The company has paid nearly $1.5 million to two of the victims.

Caveman shopper hoax: off-topic, but too funny not to post
STAFF at the British Museum have been left with red faces after discovering a hoax exhibit on display: a cave painting of a primitive man - pushing a supermarket trolley [that would be a shopping cart on this side of the Atlantic]. The "rock painting", titled Early Man Goes to Market, depicts the outline of a spear-wielding caveman next to the outline of a pig, with the man pushing a trolley. The painting was planted by anonymous "art terrorist" Banksy, whose work failed to raise eyebrows at one of London's most famous museums.

BBC NEWS | England | Kent | Visitor rise at 'hoodie' ban mall
See the things you can do with private property that you can't do by municipal regulation? Note that they did this after conducting a survey.

Bluewater shopping centre enjoyed a sharp rise in visitor numbers on the first weekend since it banned youths wearing hooded tops and baseball caps.
Some 23% more people visited the Kent mall last weekend than during the same weekend in 2004, the centre claims. Managers introduced a code of conduct on 11 May aimed at clamping down on anti-social behaviour at the complex. It also outlawed swearing. Prime Minister Tony Blair later expressed support for the move.

Better Days in Druid Woods
Way back in March 2004 I blogged about an article called Bad Day in Druid Woods, concerning a Georgia development where the owners were hit with a $7650 special assessment. I just had this message from Dr. Samuel Fernandez-Carriba, who lives in Druid Woods, who has permitted me to post his observations on how things have turned around there. Thanks to Dr. Fernandez-Carriba for the update.



Dear Dr. McKenzie,
I wanted to contact you regarding the article "Bad day in
Druid Woods" posted in The Privatopia Papers last March 2004. I am a
resident and recent Board member at Druid Woods Condominiums in Decatur,
Georgia, and I thought you might be interested in the turn of events that has
taken place at Druid Woods in the past year. I was probably one of the angriest
homeowners one year ago and now I can only be proud and impressed by what
can be done when people work together. We all, including members of the
different Committees, Board Members, etc., all volunteers, have
definitely made of this a better place. A new social committee was created
and it has been extremely active organizing social events for all the
residents: we had a Luau only one month ago that was a complete success. The
old newsletter was reactivated (find attached the most recent edition) and a
web site (www.druidwoods.org) is under construction. Several
landscaping projects have made the property look even better. An Open House
event will take place this Saturday, May 21, to promote the Real Estate
market within the community. And probably more important than all, a reserve
study has been conducted that lists present and future improvement needs,
which will allow us to be ready for what will have to be done. We expect
the future to be better, and we have learned that the best way for a
community to reduce conflict in the face of difficulties is with openness and
communication. Dr. McKenzie, we are having a really "good day in Druid
Woods".

Samuel Fernández-Carriba, Ph.D.

WSJ.com - Debate Pits Private Property Against Powers of the State
Nancy Levy sends this free Wall Street Journal piece on the pending USSC case of Kelo v. City of New London, which I have blogged about earlier. The issue is the meaning of the term "for public use" in the Fifth Amendment Takings clause ("nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation"). Specifically can a city use eminent domain to take private property for the stated "public use" of economic development, and then simply sell or lease it to other private owners who will develop it as a mall, condos, or some other use that is deemed more beneficial than its current use as an old, established, residential neighborhood? The case has been argued and a decision should be coming soon. Some of the briefs are on line. This article is a debate between economist Don Boudreaux and Harvard Law professor David Barron, who I happen to know. Thanks to Nancy for sending this, because it is very informative.

Telegraph | News | Woman kept 246 dogs, 16 cage birds and 7 cats in her home
I have to admit, here is one place where an HOA would be handy.