High Property Taxes Driving New Revolt - CBS News
Fred Pilot sent this story, which actually originated in the Christian Science Monitor. So now we have a second wave of the property tax rebellion to go with the anti-Kelo/eminent domain backlash. Sounds like middle-class homeowners increasingly feel that they are being milked like dairy cows by municipalities and school districts. (Not to put too fine a point on it or anything.) But local governments are having a hard time balancing the books, so they are using HOAs and other mechanisms to generate or save money, and of course tax and fee for service increases are part of the picture. The tug of war continues...

Welcome to the flip side of the real estate boom. Years of rising home values have boosted property taxes steadily. Now, homeowners across the United States are fighting back. "Real estate growth and real estate boom seem to be happening all over the country and [property-tax revolt] is an inevitable consequence," says Roger Sherman, a property tax expert in Boise, Idaho. This year, legislative proposals, citizen initiatives, and lawsuits are on the agenda in at least 20 states. These new efforts reflect both residents' distrust of how their property tax dollars are being spent and concerns that rising assessments are driving working-class people out of popular towns and cities.

It's A War Of Words: From The Tampa Tribune
Another HOA trolling successfully for bad press? And note that the press is now referring to HOA board members as "officials."

TAMPA - Before David Kelley went to Iraq, he bought his wife a "Support Our Troops" sign to display outside the couple's home in the Westchase subdivision...But officials of Westchase, in northwest Hillsborough County, view the sign differently. They say the 2-foot-high sign violates community rules. Stacey Kelley, 24, received a letter from the homeowners association last month stating she could be fined $100 a day if she does not remove the sign.

The Beaumont Enterprise - News - 02/28/2006 - Cartoon flap no joke for resident
Now, here's what I'm talking about. If the property values don't plummet in this neighborhood, then political signs ought to be OK for everybody, right?

BEAUMONT, TX- John Caffery called it an act of cowardice by U.S. newspapers for not publishing controversial Muslim-based cartoons, so the local resident decided to take matters into his own hands. On the corner of Daisy and Norwood drives, Caffery erected a large sign Sunday afternoon with one of the cartoons. It also carries a message about the subsequent rioting throughout the world caused by the publishing of the cartoons in a Danish newspaper...The sign is four feet by eight feet, according to Caffery's estimation, and was made as "large as it feasibly" could be made, he said. A cartoon of Muhammad's head shaped like a lit bomb is depicted to the left and a statement on the right reads "For This Cartoon In Danish and Nowegian [sic] Newspapers Muslems [sic] Worldwide Have Rioted, and Killed and Now Offer $11 Million Reward to Kill The Cartoonist." At the beginning of the statement, an arrow points to the cartoon...City Planning Manager Steve Richardson said Caffery is within his rights to display the billboard and it doesn't violate any ordinances. The political message on display across from his residence didn't bother Ray Bradshaw. Caffery's neighbor can't see the sign from his Norwood Drive home and as of Monday afternoon he hadn't walked over to read it. The 81-year-old man, who's lived in the neighborhood for 22 years, said the sign doesn't bother him. "Every one of us is entitled to our own belief and opinions," Bradshaw said. "If you've got an opinion about something, well, that's all right by me."

Arizona Department of Real Estate...at your service!
Just read it. That's all I ask. Here you have the Arizona Department of Real Estate posting a web page on their site that says, point blank, there is no agency of the State of Arizona that is interested in hearing owner complaints about HOAs--go hire a lawyer. And the statement "These types of complaints are addressed under Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 33" is no help. Title 33 is the Arizona Property Code, which goes on forever. This is a great big brush-off.

George Starapoli found this web page (actually I think the State referred George to it as some sort of non-response to his questions directed at them) and Fred Pilot sent it to me. Don't you think every potential HOA buyer needs to know this? The State authorizes the construction of privately-governed housing units in order to facilitate development through privatization of local government functions. But then the State disclaims any responsibility for hearing about cases where the private governments they authorized are dysfunctional. Instead, they tell you to go hire a lawyer, which means spending $100,000 in legal fees and waiting for three or four years for a resolution.

That summarizes the situation pretty neatly, I'd say. But what is going to be done about it? Does anybody--except the association attorneys who are getting rich off this situation--think it is OK to leave owners with no effective recourse?

There's no amendment for owning pets? Doh!
Fred Pilot sent this link to an AP story about a survey that I saw in the morning's paper and was groaning about over my bagel and coffee. It's no wonder people don't read their CC&rs. They haven't read the US Constitution.

About one in five people thought the right to own a pet is protected by the First Amendment, and 38 percent said they believed the right against self-incrimination -- part of the Fifth Amendment -- is found in the First Amendment right, the survey found.

Condo, homeowner association bills head to debate in capital: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Don Nordeen sent along this link that shows the lineup of forces in the Florida legislature, between the industry, led by the Becker-Poliakoff law firm, and owner activists represented by Cyber Citizens for Justice.

Representing boards again this year is the Community Association Leadership Lobby, or CALL, an arm of the Fort Lauderdale-based Becker & Poliakoff law firm. On the other side is Cyber Citizens for Justice, or CCFJ, a grassroots organization for unit owners. Taking over the job of steering bills friendly to unit owners through the Legislature is Rep. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah.

East Brainerd, TN, Man Countersues Homeowners' Association

This story, sent by Fred Pilot, is from the Chattanooga area. Not what you normally consider a hotbed of HOAs, but that just shows you how this is no longer a retirement-belt issue. And the issue is interesting because of the HOAs claim that political signs hurt property values. I think that's a tough case to prove, but let them try.

Paul and Linda Gearinger's attorney has filed a counter lawsuit against the Hamilton Mills Homeowners' Association. The association sued the Gearingers for breaking a sign covenant and for creating a nuisance in the neighborhood. Part of the sign read, "Bush Lied; Soliders Died." The association's lawsuit claimed the sign was creating problems for a nearby homeowner tyring to sell their house. The suit states a potential buyer was turned off by the anti-Bush sign. Now, the Gearingers are counter-suing the homeowners' association, claiming it's using deed restrictions as a way to control and limit speech it does not like.

Overlawyered: Sued for taking baths too early
Mystery Reader sent this link to Overlawyered. Ah, the joys of owning one's very own condo.

Shannon Peterson, a special education teacher in the Arvada, Colo. public schools, "can't believe she's being sued for bathing before leaving for work." But the elderly couple who lives upstairs from her Denver condo unit have been complaining about noisy pipes, and unfortunately for Ms. Peterson they happen to have a son, Sheldon Smith, who's an attorney at the large law firm of Holland and Hart. Represented by their son, the Smiths "sued Peterson just before Christmas, citing the 'reckless and negligent use of her bathtub.'" Before that, the younger Smith had fired off a letter to Peterson, saying her "intransigence ... and tortuous conduct have resulted in incredible sleep deprivation for Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Your obstinacy has ruled the day. That will now cease." According to the Denver Post, his demand letter insisted that Peterson not run water in her bathtub before 8 a.m. Peterson says she can't afford steep legal fees on a schoolteacher's salary; a judge has scheduled a hearing on the suit for March 22. (Mike McPhee, "Lawsuit: Baths swamp sleep", Denver Post, Feb. 21).

Number of Unsold Homes Hits Record High

If the housing market is cooling off, which is becoming the general consensus, then watch for condos to start hurting first as people who bought them for investment purposes start dumping them before prices fall...which of course causes prices to fall.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The backlog of unsold new homes reached a record level last month, as sales slipped despite the warmest January in more than 100 years. The Commerce Department reported Monday that sales of new single-family homes dropped by 5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.233 million units last month. That was the slowest pace since January 2005 and left the number of unsold homes at a record high of 528,000. Analysts viewed the new data as further evidence that the nation's red-hot housing market, which hit record sales levels for five straight years, has definitely started to cool.

George Starapoli's collected quotations from appellate court opinions about HOAs and state action
This came from George by way of Fred Pilot. Interesting reading.

Las Vegas SUN: All is lost in brutal game: Association picks up the chips
Fred Pilot sent this sad Las Vegas story about a woman who staged an assessment strike over a parking disute and now has lost her house and her retirement savings.

Homeowner group "regulation" advances in New Jersey
Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link. Owner activists think this bill is no good:
Several opponents argued the legislation needed further study in light of a court ruling two weeks ago declaring New Jerseyans do not sign away their constitutional rights by purchasing a home in a community governed by a private association. That state appeals court instructed a trial judge to determine whether rules adopted by the Twin Rivers Homeowners Association in East Windsor violate the free speech rights of its 10,000 residents. Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said that ruling rejects the "cornerstone" concept of Caraballo's bill: that someone who buys property in a community association agrees to live by its rules. "You cannot require people to sign away their fundamental American liberties just because they want to live in a particular place," Jacobs said. She told lawmakers Caraballo's bill is "unconstitutional" and, if enacted, "will be challenged and overturned by the courts, at great cost to the state and its taxpayers."

'Pizza pope' builds a Catholic heaven
This is about the Catholic-themed planned community. Will this be the only religiously-themed HOA? Don't bet on it.

A FORMER marine who was raised by nuns and made a fortune selling pizza has embarked on a £230m plan to build the first town in America to be run according to strict Catholic principles. Abortions, pornography and contraceptives will be banned in the new Florida town of Ave Maria, which has begun to take shape on former vegetable farms 90 miles northwest of Miami. Tom Monaghan, the founder of the Domino’s Pizza chain, has stirred protests from civil rights activists by declaring that Ave Maria’s pharmacies will not be allowed to sell condoms or birth control pills. The town’s cable television network will carry no X-rated channels.

NPR : New Jersey Homeowners Fight Aesthetic Rules
...where you can listen to me, among others. This is NPR's take on the Twin Rivers case.

TUPCA.ORG Texas Uniform Planned Community Act
Look what's brewing in the Lone Star State. Thanks to Sharon Reuler, the TUPCA Coordinator for the Texas College of Real Estate Attorneys, for the pointer.

Uniform Law Commissioners' website on modifications to Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act

Don Nordeen sent me this link a while back and I forgot to post it. This is worth keeping track of. Adoption of UCIOA is on the legislative table in New Jersey at this moment.

American Bar Association Journal Report: PRIVATE CONDO GROUPS SUBJECT TO FREE SPEECH RIGHTS
The ABA takes notice of the Twin Rivers case with an interesting perspective from David L. Hudson, Jr. Thanks to Don Nordeen for this link:

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan wrote a Harvard Law Review article in 1977 calling for the use of state constitutions as a greater protector or "font" of individual liberties. The former justice from New Jersey likely would have smiled at a recent groundbreaking ruling from his home state. The New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, ruled Feb. 7 that privately owned homeowner associations may be subject to free speech and other guarantees under the state’s constitution. Committee for a Better Twin Rivers v. Twin Rivers Homeowners’ Association, No. A-4047-03T2.
...

WFTV.com - News - Police: Man Angry About Slamming Door Killed Neighbor
BELLEVIEW, Fla. -- It's an unusual motive for murder. Investigators in Belleview said slamming the door drove a man to kill his next-door neighbor in Marion County. Investigators believe Betty Shepperd was murdered over something that sounds extremely trivial. They said 45-year-old Vito Loiacono was irritated that Shepperd was slamming the door at night and waking him up.

CAI: New Jersey Appellate Court Hands Down Significant Constitutional Ruling
Thanks to Don Nordeen for this link. The Community Associations Institute has now revised their earlier reaction to the Twin Rivers decision, which I linked to some time ago. Now they have a more detailed legal analysis of the case that emphasizes the ways BODs are still allowed to wield enormous power over residents, even with the constitutional limits on infringing expressive liberties. The lawyer who wrote it, Michael Karpoff, correctly points out that the business judgement rule still applies to non-expressive conduct.

He also emphasizes that "there is no need for governing boards to panic" over the decision. Think about that. If boards had to respect the New Jersey Constitution, they might panic? Why aren't New Jersey's municipal officials in a perpetual anxiety attack? They have been respecting the state Constitution ever since it was written.

Karpoff concludes with this: "Moreover, the Twin Rivers defendants plan to appeal the appellate court's decision to the New Jersey Supreme Court, so the final word on members' speech rights still has not been spoken." So, CAI is still hoping that the New Jersey Supreme Court will silence these disobedient association members for good and all, and put their expressive liberties at the mercy of their board of directors as nature intended. I imagine CAI will drag out the usual parade of horribles that will ensue if HOA members are allowed to display political signs, use their community meeting room, and have fair access to the association newspaper.

I can add one more item to Karpoff's list of reasons for HOA boards not to panic: it's an appellate court decision, and boards frequently disregard those anyway. :-)

Homeowner boards can't exclude democracy
Nice op-ed by law prof Paula Franzese and Twin Rivers plaintiff Margaret Bar-Akiva. Thanks to Gregory Machyowsky for the link. Registration required.

Throughout the nation, private residential subdivisions controlled by homeowner association boards have become Goliath-like manifestations of a phenomenon known as privatization. Increasingly, we are witnessing the rise of "fortress America" as, behind gates and walls, residents agree to relegate to private contract and governing boards a host of matters traditionally considered to be within the public and governmental domain. The resultant loss of individual autonomy comes at a dear price, while the divide between the "us," however conceived, and the "them" widens. More than 250,000 homeowner associations now exist, and more than 50 million Americans live in a condominium, cooperative, planned, walled or gated community. These "privatopias can be anything but. Often preying on residents' desires for security, stability and preservation of property values, homeowner associations have created privatized regimes of governing rules to regulate everything from architectural style, the color of one's shutters, the permissibility of pets, screen doors and basketball hoops to the posting of signs and the flying of flags.

LA Daily News - Mystery blob eating downtown

A mysterious black blob attacked downtown Los Angeles on Monday with a tar-like goo that oozed from manholes, buckled a street and unmoored a Raymond Chandler-era brick building, firefighters said. About 200 residents were forced to flee as a hazardous materials team and dozens of firefighters worked throughout the day to identify what was first deemed "a black tarry substance" and later morphed into a "watery mud." While outside temperatures struggled to break 60, sidewalks in the vicinity steamed at 103 degrees, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Ron Myers said.

States Curbing Right to Seize Private Homes - New York Times
This is a very encouraging reaffirmation of property rights, as state legislators work to protect us against municipalities abusing the power of eminent domain under the horrendous Kelo v. New London decision.

In a rare display of unanimity that cuts across partisan and geographic lines, lawmakers in virtually every statehouse across the country are advancing bills and constitutional amendments to limit use of the government's power of eminent domain to seize private property for economic development purposes. The measures are in direct response to the United States Supreme Court's 5-to-4 decision last June in a landmark property rights case from Connecticut, upholding the authority of the City of New London to condemn homes in an aging neighborhood to make way for a private development of offices, condominiums and a hotel. It was a decision that one justice, who had written for the majority, later all but apologized for.

LA Downtown News Online: Conversion Confusion--Concerns Arise When a Rental Complex Goes Condo

Nancy Levy sent this on, and it includes a little from me:

...residents said the process so far has been difficult, with confusion over the precise timing of the transition. While representatives from building owner Hammer Ventures defend their work and say care has been taken to keep everyone informed, the situation exposes the Achilles heel of condo conversions: miscommunication and rumors...Evan McKenzie, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the author of a book on homeowners associations and urban developments, said that when an apartment building goes condo, many tenants feel as if they are being kicked out, although myriad state and local laws strictly forbid such a practice. In fact, condo conversions require approval from the city, at least a nine-month process in Los Angeles. McKenzie said that rumors start when tenants aren't up to date with housing laws or the terms of their lease. "Sometimes they don't understand what their rights are," said McKenzie. "A lot of times this is confusing because people don't read things or understand them."

Condo developer arrested in securities fraud, theft case - OrlandoSentinel.com
Thanks to Nancy Levy for this link:

An Isleworth resident and condominium developer has been arrested on state charges of securities fraud and grand theft in a $60 million real-estate scheme targeting seniors nationwide. Patrick B. Kirkland, who boasts Orlando Magic player Grant Hill as one of his neighbors, is being held at the Orange County Jail with bail set at $1 million. His secretary, Laura Wade, was being held at the jail with bail set at $250,000. They were arrested late Thursday.

'There was no compassion for my kids':Joliet HOA evicts woman, 3 children over $262
But...but...the industry says this never happens! (Thanks to a reader in Olympia Fields who sent this link.)

A Joliet [Illinois] subdivision's homeowners association turned a woman and her three young children out onto the street this week over $262 her estranged husband owed in fees.

Comments disabled temporarily
I have disabled comments because some semi-literate individual thought this blog would be a great place to post insulting comments about people. I will re-activate comments when I get that stuff off. In the future I will moderate the comments.

Westlake wins reimbursement for services
Fred Pilot sent along this link to a New Jersey story that illustrates how the Condo Services Act (also known as the Municipal Services Act) works in that state. The law requires municipalities to reimburse condos and HOAs for the cost of certain specified muni services that the residents pay for like everybody else (through property tax) but don't receive because, for example, the trash trucks can't drive down the private streets.

Jackson officials have settled the township’s debt with residents of the Westlake adult community for more than a quarter million dollars. That is the amount owed in reimbursement from 2000-05 for unused municipal services. Under the terms of an agreement provided by Township Attorney Kevin Starkey, a total of $279,112 will be remitted in installment payments to Westlake Master Association Inc. to cover reimbursement of street lighting and snow removal that residents paid for through dues to their homeowners association as well as in their property tax payments to the township.

Rockwall Herald-Banner (Texas)--City limits HOAs
Take a look at the language I put in bold print. I keep telling people that cities are driving the spread of HOAs. Read wihat Councilman Mike Scott said. This story is from Fred Pilot.

The City Council recently approved an amendment to the subdivision ordinance that allows for review of homeowners association documents. The provision allows Rockwall an opportunity to check for conflicts with city regulations, including the use of city rights-of-way and public easements — namely streets. Most cities, including Rockwall, usually review homeowner association regulations to check for maintenance agreements for common areas, Planning & Zoning Director Robert LaCroix said. “They’re horribly written most of the time,” Scott said. “I went to law school, and I don’t understand half of them when I read them.” Scott suggested a couple of other amendments. No association could prohibit homeowners from displaying yard signs advocating political candidates, political parties, bond elections “or similar matters of public importance.”...“Some people have gone nutty with these HOAs,” he said. “If you’re going to form an HOA in the city of Rockwall — which, by the way, we require everyone to do — we’re not going to create a monster for future citizens.”

USATODAY.com - Metro home price gains soar to record
WASHINGTON — Home prices in 72 metropolitan areas showed double-digit increases in the fourth quarter last year, a record that was probably the peak in this real estate cycle, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. The number of metro areas with double-digit price increases surpassed a previous record of 69 areas with double-digit price gains in 2003's third quarter. The hottest area at the end of last year was the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale region of Arizona, where the median home price soared 49% to $286,400. As a state, Florida held five of the top 10 markets with the fastest price appreciation, led by the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area with a 48% jump in the median home price. "I don't want to say this is the last hoorah, but it certainly reflects the peak of the boom in terms of price appreciation," said David Lereah, the NAR's chief economist. "It wasn't the highest quarter for price appreciation, at 13% (nationwide), but it covered a big part of the country – 72 metros is enormous." But he cautioned that the market is cooling fast. ..

Banner day for home rule
Couple not buying `For Sale' sign ban
Nancy Levy sent this link to another New Jersey story on freedom of expression, of a sort, in an HOA:

Planting a "For Sale" sign on the front lawn is one of the first things people do when they decide to sell their homes. It's practically the American way. But Joan and Kenneth Tencza, who live in the Locust Hill adult community in Hamilton, can't. Their homeowners association won't allow it. So after receiving two threatening letters from the association's management company -- one for posting a "For Sale" sign in their front window and another for a sign they put on Yardville-Hamilton Square Road, just outside the entrance to the development -- the couple has found an innovative way around the rules. They've hung a festive red and white flag outside their home to let people know the house is on the market.

Chicago Flame gives shameless plug!
Nancy Levy found this link to a student newspaper right here at UIC that ran a story on the Twin Rivers case. Now, why didn't I find that, considering that there are fifty gazillion copies of the paper right next to the classroom I just taught in?

Don Nordeen's blog has Twin Rivers links and commentary
Check out Don's blog,Governance of Property Owners Associations for a roundup of links and commentary on the Twin Rivers case. Thanks, Don.

EDITORIALS: Free speech in suburbia
Thanks to Nancy Levy for this link to a great New Jersey newspaper editorial lauding the Twin Rivers ruling. The last paragraph makes the main point well:

The decision may not affect the power of homeowners' associations to regulate such mundane activities as bike riding or choice of housepaint color, but it takes aim at clear violations of the right of expression. In 2003, for example, Ralph and Dori McIlvaine of the Evergreen development in Hamilton were fined $1,000 by their homeowners' association for disobeying the association's order not to fly a POW-MIA flag after Army Pvt. Jessica Lynch was taken prisoner in Iraq. In 2004, George Shafer of the Village Grande community in Bordentown Township was forced by his association to pay $600 for putting a Bush-Cheney campaign sign on his lawn. It's to be hoped that the court's ruling eventually will put an end to this kind of anti-democratic limitation on free speech.

CAI's take on the Twin Rivers decision


Here is what CAI has to say:
While CAI believes that associations should be reasonable in creating rules regulating the free expression of homeowners in their associations, the breadth of the opinion in the Twin Rivers case could be problematic

Let's cut through the PR. CAI filed an amicus curiae brief in this case in support of the association. They were behind the association and against the owners all the way. This "while CAI believes associations should be reasonable" business is part of CAI's ongoing effort to, on the one hand, appear to be the voice of reason while, on the other hand, they argue at every turn in every state legislature for virtually unlimited board authority over the residents. It is an attempt to let CAI portray itself as supporting limits on association abuses, while in fact the organization opposes just about any form of oversight or regulation that would actually serve as a real limitation on unfettered BOD discretion. "Be reasonable" without any oversight is just another way of saying that owners shouldn't have any rights, and association boards should be free to do whatever they want, without any meaningful oversight and with nobody to hold them accountable to any standard other than their own view of what is "reasonable." Some associations disregard not only the law, but their own governing documents. The Hanrahan report that is discussed in the Twin Rivers case talks about these out-of-control associations, and the lack of any way to rein them in.

The Twin Rivers case is about an association government that limited display of political signs, kept the insurgents out of the meeting room, and turning the development's newspaper into a one-sided platform where the challengers were regularly (and viciously) vilified. That, and more. All this had the effect of keeping people from effectively challenging the ruling elite. And CAI sided with them. Does that seem reasonable to you?

One final point. CAI correctly picks out the key paragraph of the Association's brief:

The Twin Rivers Homeowners' Association argued to no avail that subjecting the association to constitutional standards would "alter the very nature of planned developments, create chaos, erode private property rights, limit the freedom to contract, discourage new development, cause associations to lose their flexibility, and infringe the rights of the majority."

That is really the essence of the association's (and CAI's) argument. They tried to scare the justices into believing that if they allowed people to post political signs the sky would come crashing down around us all. Now, does anybody besides CAI find it unusual that this ridiculous argument was "to no avail"? How could any rational human believe that forcing associations to respect the simple expressive liberties that this country was founded to protect could possibly bring about this parade of horribles? This case is about power, and that silly argument is just part of the usual effort to dissuade courts from limiting the power of association directors (aided by their attorneys) over the residents.

I don't know whether this appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court will actually happen. Of course, the decision is up to the Twin Rivers HOA and their attorneys (there were three of them taking my deposition). But CAI may fear losing the case in front of the highest court in a major state. At this point I suppose they can continue to criticize the decision as an aberration from a "liberal" panel (whatever that means), and go on doing business as usual. But losing it in the court of last resort (for New Jersey law and the New Jersey Constitution) would put a stop to that once and for all.

ps:
As I have said many times, I believe that CAI performs valuable functions in its capacity as an organization that supports the professionals who work for community associations. Training lawyers and managers is extremely important, and CAI is the pre-eminent organization in that capacity. It is also important as a networking organization for these professionals. Certification of managers, who in most states aren't even licensed, is valuable as well. But in its activities as a lobbying organization, I think CAI continues to take positions that are very troubling and are inconsistent with CAI's own stated views on local democracy. In my opinion, if CAI believes in local democracy within community associations, as it always says it does, the organization should be filing its amicus briefs in support of expanding expressive liberties for owners, instead of supporting the power of BODs to restrict those liberties. Without free and open discourse, democratic procedures are just a hollow shell. As we all know, they had meaningless elections in Iraq before the fall of Saddam. They had meaningless elections in the USSR. No, I don't think community associations are that bad. But the principle holds. You can't argue that association boards should be able to restrict expression according to what they think is "reasonable" and then argue that association elections are a meaningful expression of local democracy, and therefore no outside oversight is needed. The opposite is true. If we could be sure that the elections in associations were based on free and open debate, with fair procedures and protections for minority rights, then there would be less need for outside intervention in the affairs of community associations. The underlying structural problem is that CAs are corporations. We are delivering local government services through an organizational form that is designed for top-down direction and efficiency, not democracy. The challenge is to make them more democratic without producing paralysis, endless debate, and inefficiency. But too much democracy in HOAs is not the problem right now and I think we can cross that bridge if we ever come to it.

Windsor-Hights Herald - 02/10/2006 - Twin Rivers residents win battle; board to continue war
Nancy Levy sent this link to a good article on the aftermath of the Twin Rivers appellate court ruling. The HOA, despite having lost, says nothing is going to change. Their lawyer says if the plaintiffs don't like things the way they are, they should move. Charming. If I were going to appeal to the state Supreme Court, as the HOA says it will, I'd be a little more respectful of the judiciary. But this highlights is a major problem: HOAs routinely ignore their legal responsibilities. That's why owner-activists are so negative toward the entire institution. It always seems that there is no law HOA boards and their attorneys won't just ignore if it suits their purpose. That's because they are used to shooting fish in a barrel. 99% of the time these lawyers go up against unrepresented owners who can't enforce their legal rights. This situation breeds arrogance.


EAST WINDSOR — A group of Twin Rivers residents won a constitutional argument this week related to a lawsuit challenging, among other things, restrictions on posting political signs and a voting system based on property values.
But their lawsuit against the homeowners' association has yet to be finalized as it has been remanded to a lower court and the association plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
"If they're not happy with these policies," said association attorney Barry Goodman, "they should look elsewhere to live."... "Twin Rivers will continue to operate the way it has," he said. "It doesn't matter what standards apply, the Twin Rivers' regulations will be upheld."
------

Boy charged with felony for carrying sugar
I post stories like this every now and then to make the simple point that constitutional public local governments are just as capable of doing completely ridiculous and abusive things as the HOAs I usually write about. And here's an example of extending the "all jokes will be taken seriously" policy that originated in airport security to the public school system. The sugar became a "look alike drug" in the eyes of the school and the police because the boy told some friends, jokingly, that it was cocaine, then said, "Just kidding." I wonder if we have a cultural problem here, which is that people in positions of authority increasingly seem to misunderstand that each and every one of them has a limited governmental function to perform. Common sense, for example, once imposed limits on school officials' actions. Now, with "zero tolerance" policies, they have abandoned that limitation and behave like tyrannical robots. The officials here claim that they can't tell the difference between real drugs and look-alikes. If these school officials are incapable of correctly identifying a bag of sugar, I respectfully suggest that the local school board might want to inquire into whether these folks have the intelligence needed to run a middle school.

A 12-year-old Aurora boy who said he brought powdered sugar to school for a science project this week has been charged with a felony for possessing a look-alike drug, Aurora police have confirmed. The sixth-grade student at Waldo Middle School was also suspended for two weeks from school after showing the bag of powdered sugar to his friends. The boy, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, said he brought the bag to school to ask his science teacher if he could run an experiment using sugar. Two other boys asked if the bag contained cocaine after he showed it to them in the bathroom Wednesday morning, the boy's mother said. He joked that it was cocaine, before telling them, "just kidding," she said.

Power to the homeowner
Fred Pilot sent me a link to a story that I should already have known about, because it's right here in Illinois:

SPRINGFIELD — Homeowners stand to gain more rights under legislation proposed by House Republican Leader Tom Cross of Oswego.

Cross' proposed Homeowners' Association Act would establish formal ground rules for the operation of neighborhood groups that have increased in number throughout the Fox Valley with each new subdivision but occasionally create more conflicts than they resolve.

"I am introducing this legislation because of the many abuses homeowners have suffered," Cross said.

"Given that homeowners' associations have the power to collect association dues, create rules for the use of one's property, and levy fines or place a lien on a person's property for not paying dues or following association policies, it makes sense to create a law giving association members basic rights."
...

JURIST - Paper Chase: New London mayor proposes eminent domain compromise
Thanks to Nancy Levy for this link to a follow-up story on the Kelo v. City of New London situation. But what do you make of the compromise offered by Mayor Beth Sabilia:

Under Sabilia's plan, the homeowners would be allowed to remain in their homes provided they pay the city to continue to live there. The homeowners would also have to surrender ownership rights to the city.

-----I thought the whole point of the city going all the way to the USSC to grab this land was that they just absolutely had to have it so they could knock down the homes and put up ritzy condos and a business park and a health club, thereby saving the City of New London from becoming like Newark. But now it turns out that the homes can stay if the former owners agree to become renters? What gives?

Charlotte Observer | 02/10/2006 | Trickle-down tactic: No dues? No water
Nancy Levy sent this link to a story about a dramatic showdown between a condo association and two owners. The association decided that cutting off the water supply was more humane than foreclosure. Oh..and also cheaper and faster.
--------------
In a move that is apparently a first for North Carolina, a condominium association on Thursday cut off water to two south Charlotte homeowners who were thousands of dollars behind in paying their homeowners' dues. The Princeton at Southampton owners association, which controls the development's master water meter and pays the neighborhood's water bill, decided a shutoff was preferable to the traditional approach of taking someone's home through foreclosure, said association president Michael Kan.
So it hired a plumber to sever lines that deliver water to the Ballantyne-area townhomes.
...

Boing Boing: Posh kids' clubhouse themed to look like a Li'l Raskals' treehouse
Mystery Reader sent this link to a picture of a luxury treehouse...and the name, it seems, is..."Evan's Clubhouse." Is MR trying to get me to rename this blog?

Sorry about the missing links...
Don Nordeen kindly informed me that the hyperlinks were missing from my Twin Rivers posts. I don't know how that happened, but they are all fixed now. Thanks, Don.

N.J. homeowners groups must recognize residents' free speech
A former student of mine, Shawn Healy, sent this link to the First Amendment Center's web site, which has some other good things on it that people may want to look over. The story is basically the AP wire story I linked to yesterday.
TRENTON, N.J. — A state appeals court panel ruled yesterday that homeowners associations must recognize residents’ rights to freedom of speech under the New Jersey Constitution.

Breyer Says 'Zero' Politics on the Court - Yahoo! News
I just had to post this one. And this is NOT from The Onion.

[United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer] said, however, that he hadn't detected any split on the high court along Republican and Democratic ideological lines. "I haven't seen that kind of politics in the Supreme Court. Zero. It doesn't exist," he said.

Victory for dissident residents
Two articles from Fred Pilot on the Twin Rivers victory:
A state appeals court has ruled that members of homeowners associations are entitled to constitutional rights to engage in free speech that is critical of their governing boards even though the associations oversee private property. The ruling could affect the more than 1 million state residents who live in "common-interest" developments and who may find themselves at odds with their homeowners associations.Legal experts said the ruling Tuesday by the state Superior Court's Appellate Division was the first of its kind in the country and raised new questions about the reach of constitutional rights in the operation of the associations.
The case has been watched closely by residents of the Radburn neighborhood in Fair Lawn, who have been lobbying for election reform on its board of trustees.

Community group must honor rights:
A state appellate court ruled that homeowners' associations have to recognize free speech.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

TRENTON - A state appeals court ruled yesterday that homeowners' associations must recognize rights to freedom of speech under the New Jersey Constitution.

The three-judge panel unanimously backed residents of the private Twin Rivers community in East Windsor who sued their homeowners' association to be able to put political signs on their lawns, to have equal access to a newspaper run by the community's board of trustees, and to meet in a community room. Frank Askin, a Rutgers University Law School professor and lead counsel for the Committee for a Better Twin Rivers, said the appellate court was the first to rule that such private communities were "constitutional actors" and must respect members' freedom of speech. "The court recognized that, just like shopping malls are the new public square, these associations have become and act, for all practical purposes, like municipal entities unto themselves," he said in a statement. The case had been dismissed by a state Superior Court judge. The appellate panel said: "Expressive exercises, especially those bearing upon real and legitimate community issues, should not be silenced or subject to undue limitation because of changes in residential relationships, such as where lifestyle issues are governed or administered by community associations, in addition to being regulated by governmental entities."

Twin Rivers opinion: a big win for HOA residents in New Jersey
The opinion is here. I will have more to say after I read it more fully, but it is a definite win for the Committee for a Better Twin Rivers and for all New Jersey HOA residents.

Supreme Court and Appellate Court Opinions
When the Twin Rivers opinion is posted, I think it will be on this hyperlink. Remember...tomorrow, as in Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2006. I'm hoping it will be a day to remember.

Twin Rivers ruling to be announced tomorrow
From the website of the New Jersey Court System:

EXPECTED APPELLATE OPINIONS for
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
PUBLISHED OPINIONS
A-4047-03T2 ** COMMITTEE FOR A BETTER TWIN RIVERS, ET AL.
VS. TWIN RIVERS HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION,
ET AL.
(MERCER COUNTY AND STATEWIDE)


----------------
I am very optimistic that the Appellate Court will do the right thing. As many readers know, I served as the expert witness for the Committee for a Better Twin Rivers. The New Jersey branch of the ACLU, in the person of elite constitutional litigator Frank Askin (director of the Constitutional Litigation Clinic at the Rutgers Law School), has done a tremendous job on this case. The CBTR seeks to establish that city-like HOAs should be held subject to certain provisions of the New Jersey Constitution. It would be a major step in advancing the rights of HOA residents in New Jersey, and if the precedent can be followed elsewhere, perhaps nationwide. I'll be watching and waiting for this decision tomorrow. Cross your fingers.

local6.com - News - Councilman Wants To Ban Smokers From City Jobs

Official California Legislative Information - Bill Information SB 551--CID ombudsman
Fred Pilot alerted me to the passage by a 23-13-4 vote in the California State Senage of the (presently toothless) CID ombudsman bill. This is a pilot program for an official with no law enforcement or election observation powers. It would be nice if this new official could do more than serve as a CID law webmaster. May not be in the cards, though.

Request for assistance...
I'm working on a new book on HOAs, covering things that have happened since Privatopia was published. There is an issue I want to write about, but I haven't been able to find a source on it, and I'm hoping some reader may remember this or know where to find information on it.

Way back in the late 1990s, I recall reading that in Florida a controversy had erupted between HOA/condo lawyers and property managers over whether managers were qualified to interpret CC&Rs. The lawyers, of course, took the position that you have to be a lawyer to interpret the covenants. This cuts against the other argument lawyers make: that any and all owners are legally assumed to have read and understood those very same covenants that no PM can accurately interpret. Can anybody tell me if my memory is accurate on this, and if so where can I document it? I have already checked the opinions issued by the Florida Attorney General and found nothing on this.

Thanks for whatever you folks can come up with.

UIC News Release
May as well give UIC a little plug, since I work there:
Study Finds McHenry, Will Counties Lead Nation in Homeownership

Two of Chicago's collar counties -- McHenry and Will -- lead the nation in homeownership rates, according to a report by University of Illinois at Chicago researchers. Owner-occupied units make up 85 and 84 percent, respectively, of housing in these counties, compared to a national average of 69 percent. The other three collar counties -- Lake, Kane and DuPage -- ranked 19, 21 and 29 among 230 counties nationally for which data were available. Cook County, the metropolitan core, ranked at only 188, with 61 percent owner-occupied units. Other large urban counties had similar rankings. Such widespread homeownership in outlying areas implies that sprawl is caused by low land prices and growing prosperity rather than by highway expansion, according to Siim Soot, director emeritus of UIC's Urban Transportation Center, and Joseph DiJohn, director of the Metropolitan Transportation Support Initiative at the center.

Castle Coalition: Interactive Map & State Overviews
This website is from the Institute of Justice, which represented Suzette Kelo in the Kelo v. City of New London decision. The clickable map lets you see where alleged eminent domain abuses are going on. Too bad there is no such map for HOA abuses.

Real estate advice: Development's prices fall just before closing

I found this link at The Volokh Conspiracy. It goes to a Bankrate.com item in a Q and A column:

Q. Dear Real Estate Adviser,
I have a contract to buy a new town home for $800,000, but recently I learned that since I signed, the builder has reduced the price of the same type of town home by $100,000.
A. ...As a general rule, values of new-construction multifamily housing -- including townhomes, condos and co-ops -- are a little more mercurial than single-family homes and can suffer losses faster than conventional homes when a market softens. But in the last few months, some single-family home builders have cut prices up to 25 percent in a few previously red-hot markets such as Las Vegas. These scenarios usually occur when speculators quit investing. Until recently, investors accounted for as many as one in four transactions in several of the hotter markets.

Real estate advice: Development's prices fall just before closing
I found this link at The Volokh Conspiracy. It goes to a Bankrate.com item in a Q and A column:

Q. Dear Real Estate Adviser,
I have a contract to buy a new town home for $800,000, but recently I learned that since I signed, the builder has reduced the price of the same type of town home by $100,000.
A. ...As a general rule, values of new-construction multifamily housing -- including townhomes, condos and co-ops -- are a little more mercurial than single-family homes and can suffer losses faster than conventional homes when a market softens. But in the last few months, some single-family home builders have cut prices up to 25 percent in a few previously red-hot markets such as Las Vegas. These scenarios usually occur when speculators quit investing. Until recently, investors accounted for as many as one in four transactions in several of the hotter markets.

December new home sales rise 2.9 percent - CNN
Sales are up, but it looks like the prices were lower. But here's a paragraph written either by or for the statistically challenged:

The latest Census Bureau report shows median prices for new residences sold in December fell 1.5 percent from the previous month to $221,800. Half of the homes sold for more than the median, the rest for less.


------
Well, I can't argue with that.

'A Straightforward Decision' - January 26, 2006 - The New York Sun - NY Newspaper
Here's a new approach to resisting the Kelo decision:
BB&T Corporation, the nation's ninth-largest bank with operations in the South and mid-Atlantic, announced that it will no longer lend to commercial developers who exploit the government's power of eminent domain for their projects.

TIME.com: Vegas Condos Go Cold -- Page 1
Sorry about this, but...
Now that several high rollers in the Las Vegas condo-hotel game, with properties linked to the likes of Michael Jordan and Ivana Trump, are either folding or selling their holdings, a growing number of players are losing their taste for big bets on high-rise residential real estate development.

-----------------
One lurking issue is the rapid increase in the cost of construction materials due to enormous demand from New Orleans, China, India, and Iraq. A friend of mine in the construction business says the cost of materials has gone up 30% in the last year or so, and it's still climbing. Some builders are buying and hoarding now for future projects, which is making prices even higher now.

Homeowners rebel, oust board
Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link:
Grass-roots rebellions against homeowners associations are rare, even though more than half of North Carolina's homeowners live under an association. Most people "don't want to get involved" with their association until dues increase or the board starts aggressively enforcing neighborhood rules, said Jim Laumann, president of the Homeowner Associations of North Carolina. "If everything's going along smoothly, then they're the silent majority," he said. "But if things get out of control, then they're not hesitant to speak up and get involved."

Medina County Gazette - on-line edition: Homeowner associations act to bar sexual predators
Fred Pilot sent this. There have been several examples of this same sort of thing recently. Is it becoming a trend?

JURIST - Paper Chase: Eminent domain activists protest at Souter home
Mystery Reader sent this link to a roundup of stuff on the hilarious effort of some activists to take USSC Justice David Souter's property via eminent domain, in retaliation for his pro-condemnation vote in Kelo v. City of New London.

Spring Valley Lake board refuses to fire manager
This is one of several Fred Pilot links that he has sent me and I have been too busy to post. This is an intriguing piece from the California desert (I think).

Arizona Capitol Times: piece by Fred Fischer
"HOAs are neither a democracy nor a community," he says.

Welcome to CHORE
Pat Haruff pointed me to the spiffy updated CHORE website, which is full of information on the legislative picture in AZ.

Cities call eminent-domain bills too harsh
The backlash against the USSC's Kelo v. City of New London decision continues, this time in Arizona...

Local governments are opposing legislation that would limit their right to seize property for public use, saying it would cripple efforts ranging from road construction to redevelopment.

JournalStar.com: City considers ‘red-tagging’ problem houses

Is it my imagination, or are municipalities starting to become more like HOAs?
City leaders are floating the idea of slapping so-called “red tags” on disorderly houses to serve notice to inhabitants, neighbors and landlords that they’re in trouble with the law.

Thriving under our noses, but stealthily: coyotes
Scientists have long thought coyotes intently avoid cities, but a new study has found the opposite. Groups of the historically maligned dog relatives are thriving in some large U.S. cities: they lurk in darkness and come out at night, probably helping the human inhabitants by eating vermin, the study found.

-------
This study was done in and around Chicago. I see coyotes around, but they are near our home in the boonies, not near my office in downtown Chicago. Or maybe I don't notice them because they dress better when they go downtown.

No Bids for Love Home at Foreclosure Sale - Yahoo! News
Q. What does it mean when they give a foreclosure sale and nobody shows up?
A. That it's Courtney Love's house.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Courtney Love lost the historic bungalow she bought in the late 1990s to a Los Angeles mortgage company after a foreclosure auction generated no bids.

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Top forecaster sees U.S. recession
This prediction, by Prof. James F. Smith of the University of North Carolina, is based on the "inversion" in the bond market that I posted on a few days ago.
The U.S. bond market's most accurate forecaster, who plies his trade 500 miles from Wall Street, says yields are sending ominous signs about the economy.

Banished Words List :: Complete List
In case you need the whole thing...

Banished Words List :: 2006
This blog is a community of learners, dawg. We have our talking points ready, there's no junk science, and we pass the savings on to you.

Boing Boing: "Outlandish" Tacoma, WA house due for demolition
From Mystery Reader comes this saga of a house whose unique appearance is underappreciated. Needless to say, there are photos.

A county judge in Tacoma, WA has declared Vladmimir Deriugin Jr.'s crazy-looking house to be a danger, and has ordered it to be repaired or demolished...The late-1880s-era house, which Deriugin dreamed of encasing in concrete and using as the core for a 500-foot office and condominium tower, will be torn down within the next couple of months, Deriugin said.

nbc4i.com - News - Homeowners' Associations Want To Ban Sex Offenders
Fred Pilot sent this link along. This is a good test of the limits of private government to exclude undesirables. I keep hearing from HOA advocates that, oh, no, there are no secessionist tendencies in privatopia. I think one theory is that excluding people can be a cheap way to enhance property values.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Homeowners' associations are taking measures to keep their residents safe as whole communities shut their doors to convicted sex offenders. Local governments are working to evict sex offenders such as ----- because the house where he lives is too close to a public school. "I'll be homeless because I don't have enough money," ----- said. While courts decide whether ----- can be evicted, some Ohio communities are trying to make sure he can never move into their neighborhoods. Several Ohio homeowners' associations are trying to ban sexual predators from living in their communities. The Columbus Board of Realtors is not sure if the associations can legally impose such restrictions.
"As long as you follow the law by registering, then that homeowners' association probably really doesn't have anything to say about it," said Doug McCloud, the 2005 president of the Columbus Board of Realtors. So far, these bans have not been tested in court. Some Ohio associations said they just want to protect children, but some people wonder if a sex offender ban could affect property values.

New Year Brings Array of New State Laws - Yahoo! News
It's nice to know our public servants are looking out for us. Here's my favorite, right here in Illinois:
Illinois approved a state amphibian, the Eastern tiger salamander, after it won 51 percent of Internet voters, beating the gray tree frog and the American toad. "The toad and the frog kind of split up the vote and allowed the salamander to slip in," Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said.

United Press International - NewsTrack - Home builders try extras to lure customers
The evidence is mounting that the new housing market is maxed out, and we already know that resales are softer than a few months ago.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A glut in homes for sale is prompting Washington, D.C.-area home builders to offer extras to snag customers. Daniel Oppenheim, an analyst with Banc of America Securities, said he's seen freebies worth up to 5 percent of a sales price. That includes kitchen upgrades, interest rate locks and coverage of closing costs or mortgage payments. There are more than twice the number of homes for sale this year than last.

Holy cows remain subject of legal fight
Another non-HOA story concerning differences of opinion regarding what constitutes a family member...moo.
Buffalo, New York - A Hindu couple whose sacred cows were banished from the western New York village of Angelica in 2003 have renewed their fight to bring them home. Stephen and Linda Voith are appealing a state Supreme Court decision that sided with Angelica officials, who cited rules governing farm animals within village limits. The Voiths, members of the Krishna Consciousness branch of Hinduism, insist that their six cows are not farm animals but part of the family and integral to the practice of their religion that protects and celebrates cows.

US home sales data signal end to boom

Not to talk down the US economy in unpatriotic fashion, mind you, but there are lot of unsold HOA and condo units on the market.

Sales of existing US homes dropped 1.7 percent in November while the stock of unsold homes on the market climbed to a 19-year high, the National Association of Realtors said. Admitting a slowdown is now under way, the industry group said existing home sales dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.97 million last month, the lowest since March. "Housing activity has peaked," said David Lereah, chief economist for the association. But he insisted the market will not implode after years of red-hot growth. "There are no balloons popping." Inventories of unsold homes increased 1.2 percent to 2.9 million, the most since April 1986.

'Inversion' in Bond Rates Hits Stocks: The yield on the 10-year Treasury note drops to a level at or below those of shorter-term securities, in what may foreshadow an economic slump.

I don't pretend to understand this tea-leaf reading, but it sounds ominous. Check out what one analyst said about the effect on the housing market. On the other hand, Alan Greenspan says this is not a problem at all. So go figure.

Normally, longer-term bonds pay more than shorter-term issues to compensate investors for the risk of tying up their money for an extended period. When long- and short-term interest rates converge, it often is a sign that bond investors believe the economy will slow ? so they're locking in long-term yields in anticipation that rates overall soon will level off or even head lower...The 10-year T-note yield, a benchmark for mortgages and other long-term rates, ended at 4.34% on Tuesday, down from 4.37% on Friday and the lowest since Sept. 30. By comparison, the Treasury sold new six-month bills at an annualized yield of 4.35% on Tuesday. And the two-year T-note ended at 4.34%, down from 4.36% on Friday...The last time rates inverted was in the second half of 2000. By spring of 2001, the U.S. economy was in recession...AIG SunAmerica's Cheah said he was more pessimistic about the economy because he worried about the effects of a rate inversion on the housing market. Banks, he said, may no longer find it profitable enough to make long-term loans such as conventional mortgages. "I'm betting that ? many banks will stop lending to the housing market," triggering broader economic weakness, he said.

PJM News - Amazon.com Exec to Open Aerospace Venture (6778237/AP)
Further progress toward the privatization of space travel? Got this link from Instapundit.

KENT, Wash., Dec. 26, 2005 (AP Online delivered by Newstex) -- Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos expects a rocket-ship complex for his aerospace venture Blue Origin to open early next year. City records show that an office and warehouse he's revamping in this south Seattle suburb will be used to design and build spacecraft and engines. Blue Origin has released few details about the project. But a Texas newspaper editor who interviewed Bezos earlier this year said the billionaire talked sending a spaceship into orbit that launches and lands vertically, like a rocket, and eventually building spaceships that can orbit the Earth _ possibly leading to permanent colonies in space.

Kansas man appeals ticket over anti-war signs
Not in an HOA, either. This happened in...

PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. - A suburban Kansas City man is appealing a ticket Prairie Village gave him for homemade yard signs opposing the war in Iraq. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri is helping David Quinly appeal the citation in Johnson County District Court. Quinly sought the ACLU's help after losing an appeal in municipal court. At issue is a Prairie Village ordinance prohibiting signs bigger than 5 square feet and limiting the total area of temporary signs displayed on a property to 10 square feet. Signs can't be up more than 60 days.

Abiding by rules of your neighbor: Disputes increase as more live under home associations - baltimoresun.com
From Nancy Levy comes this link to a Christmas day story about conflict in HOAs. It is worth reading and has quotes from me, Bob Nelson, and other suspects. Unfortunately it starts with the "good fences make good neighbors" line. I have to digress here. I wish reporters would give poor old Robert Frost a rest and switch to somebody more pithy, such as Edgar Allen Poe. How about starting a story on HOAs with a long quote from Poe that is appropriate to the subject, such as "...the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think." That's from The Masque of the Red Death.

See? Now here you have wall, gates, authoritarian government, and separation of the fortunate few from the rabble. That would get the reader's wheels turning. But I digress. Here's a passage from the Baltimore Sun story (did you know that Poe lived and died in Baltimore?):

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

Favored by developers and local governments, community associations are also popular among home-buyers because they usually help keep up the neighborhood. But they can be nightmares for the unwary, who learn the hard way that their homes are not their castles. And politics in homeowner or condo groups can sometimes make the former Soviet Union seem democratic. Associations represent a "de facto privatization of local government," says Evan McKenzie, a political scientist at University of Illinois, Chicago. The problem is, he says, these entities designed for economic purposes often conflict with the civil liberties and accountability Americans expect...Half of all new housing built since 1980 has been in community associations, estimates Robert H. Nelson, a professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland and author of a recent book on the phenomenon. The growth of what he calls "private neighborhoods" is transforming how people live and govern themselves, he suggests. "Americans may want less government," says Nelson, "but that's at a higher level. At a lower level, they want more government. They're voting with their feet."

Condo alliance heads to capital -- Coalition targets homeowner association laws

Fred Pilot sent this link. Some sort of evil pop-up ad that will not die goes with the link, but it's a good story. The emergence of this new group comes on the heels of legislative successes over the last two sessions by owner activist groups like Cyber Citizens for Justice. Note that the Coalition's policy goals amount to a rollback of some of those very victories. Anybody who has information one way or another on this group is invited to comment.

The newly formed statewide Coalition of Community Associations is readying for its first descent on Tallahassee. With representatives from nine counties, including Palm Beach and Broward, the coalition is looking to spread its influence to legislators who write homeowner and condo association law. The group formed earlier this year as a way to counteract the influential consumer group Cyber Citizens for Justice, which advocates for homeowners battling their associations...For a coalition that believes in less state intervention, this spring's legislative session will be the first test of its political prowess. Some of the issues the group will pursue: ensuring a board's ability to place a lien on owners who fail to pay dues, eliminating mandatory mediation for homeowners and boards and adding standards of objectivity to the condo ombudsman's office.

Judge upholds Chicago's pigeon ban
A federal judge has ruled that Chicago's ban on keeping racing pigeons is constitutional.

------------
The article explains that Chicago adopted the ban in 2003 and is the only city in the nation with a total ban on domestic pigeons. Somebody forgot to tell the fifty billion wild pigeons that are pooping all over the city. Which is why I think this is an uncommonly stupid law. It's about as effective as Chicago's gun ban.

A Man's Home May Be His Castle, but Only to a Point
Here's a link to the New York Times article on HOAs, with a quote or two from me:

To Evan C. McKenzie, an associate professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the squabble over the house is yet another expression of "privatopias": the growing power of homeowner associations that, he said, are "completely transforming the definition of home ownership."

Professor McKenzie, author of "Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government," noted that in a regular municipality, the Duffields' application to build a 72,000-square-foot house "would have to be evaluated according to the guidelines that applied at the time." But because of the power wielded by homeowner associations, he said, the Bryan Ranch residents were able to "basically move the goal posts."

"Home ownership has always meant a sense of dominion and control over the intimate parts of one's life," he said. "But when you buy into a homeowners association, it's a different form of government. It's not a liberal democracy."

BREITBART.COM - New Home Sales Plummet in November
It seems obvious that the real estate bubble is losing air in a number of markets. Yet for some reason this has become a partisan issue with some conservatives, who argue on the radio and in the press that anybody who points out that fact is talking down the economy in order to help Democrats in the 2006 elections. If there is a more ridiculous argument, I haven't heard it. Facts are facts, and it sure looks to me as though the housing market is in for some tougher times. I don't see a collapse, but there is no way the insane prices in some markets can keep going up, and that spells trouble for some people who are betting everything they have on continued housing price inflation.

Sales of new homes plunged in November by the largest amount in nearly 12 years, providing the most dramatic evidence yet that the red hot housing market over the last five years is starting to cool down. The Commerce Department reported Friday that new single-family homes were sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.245 million units last month, a drop of 11.3 percent from October, when sales had surged to an all-time high. Last month's decline was even bigger than the 8.7 percent drop-off that Wall Street analysts had been expecting. While sales of both new and existing homes are still on track to set records for a fifth straight year in 2005, analysts are forecasting sales will decline in 2006 as the housing boom quiets down.

Private Cities: Global and Local Perspectives...
...is now out, selling for a mere $130.00 (!) That is the new book edited by Chris Webster, Georg Glasze, and Klaus Frantz about the internationalization of the gated community/private neighborhood is out. I have a chapter in it. The Amazon link is here.

City probes neighborhood's upkeep - The Clarion-Ledger
Fred Pilot sent this piece about "Who picks up maintenance bill after homeowners group dissolves," a question I think a lot of municipalities will need to answer as the years go on...

Home Is Where The Rules Are
Bob Nelson's Op-Ed in the Washington Post, giving a boost to his new pro-HOA book...thanks to Nancy Levy for the link.

Did you know that this planned community was the set for "The Prisoner"?
Patrick McGoohan's series was shot here. How's that for planned community trivia?

Our Continental superiors leave the homeless to die in the streets?
People walk past as a homeless person takes cover from the cold on a Paris sidewalk November 28, 2005, as six homeless have died in France since the arrival of winter temperatures.
--------
Mais non! This cannot be! First the riots in the suburbs, and now homeless corpses frozen to the sidewalk. I thought we boorish, selfish Americans were supposed to be taking instructions in social policy from Les Francais. And their enlightened approach was to be the core of the policies of the European Union, wasn't it?

Residents Put Gates On Road
Fred Pilot sent this link to a story of an HOA that decided to fort up by building the Black Gates of Mordor at the entrance, but unfortunately didn't actually, technically, uh...own the street they tried to close. Oops.

WESLEY CHAPEL -- In their effort to privatize their streets, Grand Oaks residents have built a new gatehouse and installed black metal gates at the subdivision's entrance on County Road 54. But, according to Pasco County, Grand Oaks' streets remain public and can't be gated. "They can put up the structures. They can't close the gates," said Richard Sliz, real estate manager for Pasco County, which officially owns Grand Oaks' streets. Grand Oaks is one of a handful of Pasco communities trying to remove their streets from the public domain.

How Condops Differ From Condops - New York Times
You learn something new every day. Nancy Levy just provided me with this neologism: "condops." Check it out.

Arthur I. Weinstein, a Manhattan lawyer who is vice president of the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums, said that while the term condop was originally coined to describe a legal combination of co-op and condo, the term now seems to have morphed into a way of describing - usually for marketing purposes - a relatively unusual type of co-op. When the term condop is used in the legal sense, Mr. Weinstein said, it describes a building (or a complex of buildings) that is part co-op and part condo. Usually, the entire residential portion of the building (which contains co-op apartments) is legally one condo unit, while the commercial and professional spaces are owned as one or more additional condo units, he said.

Owners paying price at condos without financial reserves

Fred Pilot sent this in. I think inability to pay for major repairs will soon become a big issue for many condos and HOAs. Here's an example. People don't want to pay today for somebody else's room ten years down the road. The article lays that out clearly. Then the inevitable big ticket repair comes along, and it's special assessment time to the tune of about five digits.

But note the incredible comment from Florida's condobudsman Virgil Rizzo, to wit: "I'm against reserves, it puts money into coffers that directors can [illegally] get into," said Virgil Rizzo, the state condo ombudsman. I think that attitude is fairly widespread, but it is a bit strong coming from the condo ombudsman, I think. Distrust of the BOD is yet another reason people vote against assessments that are high enough to maintain adequate reserves. And I suppose all those folks will be quoting Rizzo at the next annual meeting. But look: if Rizzo believes we can't trust directors to handle reserves that are intended for common area repair, and if taking care of the common area is their main function (as it is), then it seems to me he should be working to abolish condos instead of taking a job that is intended to make them work better--shouldn't he? Because what is saying is that we can't trust volunteer directors to carry out their most basic responsiblity (property maintenance), and the only way to fix that problem is to deprive the corporation of a sinking fund. They would just operate on a hand-to-mouth basis, because the directors can't be trusted with anything more than that. That to me is the clear implication of his statement. Any comments on that?

Fairies stop developers' bulldozers in their tracks

Here's a new anti-development strategy from Great Britain that US preservationists and Wal-Mart haters could try:

VILLAGERS who protested that a new housing estate would ?harm the fairies? living in their midst have forced a property company to scrap its building plans and start again.

New-housing market slumping
Building starts and permits drop across the nation
Seems to be a consensus emerging that the housing boom is about over. Better hurry up and buy that $600,000 condo in Fresno with an interest-only variable rate loan before it's too late.

Any doubt that the national housing market is beginning to cool disappeared yesterday, according to some experts. New housing starts and building permits nationwide both saw sharp declines in October, according to data released yesterday by the Commerce Department. It's likely that higher mortgage rates are finally taking their toll on a housing boom that has lasted more than five years, far longer than many expected

Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction
This has nothing to do with HOAs. I just want to publicize this report from the Silverman-Robb Commission, so that people can put in perspective the recent revival of the "Bush lies" rhetoric about the Iraq war and the missing WMDs.

I have posted here (italicized below) the main conclusion of the Commission, which had all the President's daily briefings and other intelligence he relied on. See if you can find there, or anywhere in the report, any indication that President Bush lied to the public or browbeat the intelligence agencies of the USA, France, Great Britain, Russia, and Italy into submission. What you find instead is a conclusion that US intelligence agencies believed, and told the President and members of Congress, that the WMDs were there.

That's why the President believed Saddam had the weapons. That's why most of the Republicans and Democrats in both houses of Congress believed it, too.

Now, Democrats are claiming that Bush somehow "knew" the weapons weren't there, but said they were there, so he could get a vote for war. This is completely implausible. How could Bush have known the weapons weren't there, when the agencies he relied upon were telling him the weapons were there? Upon what factual basis would he have disbelieved this overwhelming consensus?

And if he believed what the intelligence agencies were telling him--that the weapons were there--then he wasn't lying, was he?

So, here's the main conclusion of the Commission:

On the brink of war, and in front of the whole world, the United States government asserted that Saddam Hussein had reconstituted his nuclear weapons program, had biological weapons and mobile biological weapon production facilities, and had stockpiled and was producing chemical weapons. All of this was based on the assessments of the U.S. Intelligence Community. And not one bit of it could be confirmed when the war was over.
While the intelligence services of many other nations also thought that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, in the end it was the United States that put its credibility on the line, making this one of the most public--and most damaging--intelligence failures in recent American history.
This failure was in large part the result of analytical shortcomings; intelligence analysts were too wedded to their assumptions about Saddam's intentions. But it was also a failure on the part of those who collect intelligence--CIA's and the Defense Intelligence Agency 's (DIA) spies, the National Security Agency 's (NSA) eavesdroppers, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 's (NGA) imagery experts.1 In the end, those agencies collected precious little intelligence for the analysts to analyze, and much of what they did collect was either worthless or misleading. Finally, it was a failure to communicate effectively with policymakers; the Intelligence Community didn't adequately explain just how little good intelligence it had--or how much its assessments were driven by assumptions and inferences rather than concrete evidence.

Mold readings spark health concerns in New Orleans
Fred Pilot sent this along. This mold situation is predictable, and I question the wisdom of the local officials saying it's nothing to worry about. But given the abysmal record of New Orleans officials regarding public safety before and after Hurricane Katrina, maybe it's no surprise. They didn't even use their fleet of municipal and school buses to evacuate people from nursing homes and hospitals, and predictably a lot of those who died were in such locations. Does New Orleans get the prize for "Worst Municipal Government in the United States"?

NEW ORLEANS, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Take a flooded building in steamy New Orleans, and within days dark mold blooms on every surface, bringing the stench of decay to much of the hurricane-hit city. Authorities insist the mold is not dangerous to most people, while encouraging residents to wear masks and protective clothing when clearing their homes, especially with dusty work like removing drywall. But an environmental group, alarmed by readings that show mold spores at extraordinarily high levels, said on Wednesday that approach is not enough.

Wild pigs plague Fort Myers community

Thanks to Shu Bartholomew for this mouth-watering story. My son and I would love to have this problem in our neighborhood. We could fix it with the Ruger .44 Magnum rifle. As Ted Nugent says, "Kill it and grill it." Seriously, wild pigs are nasty. They are dangerous and they destroy the habitat by rooting up the ground. Most states have open season and no limit on them because once they get established they are a nuisance. But they do taste good, so let's look on the bright side here.

Dozens of wild pigs are prowling the lawns and streets of Cross Creek condominiums, prompting fearful homeowners to stay indoors after dark and keep a close eye on their pets..."I saw them coming down the cart path one day," she said. "They were about 500 pounds and there were five or six of them. Some were piglets. You just don't know what you will see in your back yard. We are taking a chance just walking on the cart path."

Ontario mom faces $2M libel suit for website about problems in neighbourhood
Can you say "SLAPP suit, Canadian style," eh?
In other news, I'm not able to post from my office because the new computer the university set me up with has now decided to display the blue screen of death instead of booting up. This is not supposed to happen anymore now that we have OSX, right?

CP) - A stay-at-home mother of three who created a website to alert the government about allegedly dangerous environmental problems in her southwestern Ontario neighbourhood is facing a $2 million libel suit by one of the developers she reported on. Louisette Lanteigne of Waterloo, Ont., said she grew sick of what she saw during construction in her new subdivision and what appeared to be questionable building practices and labour-code violations.

Bringing a Law School Down
Should Ave Maria be part of a "Catholic Jonestown"?

That's a bit strong, isn't it? Instead of "Catholic Jonestown," how about "Catholicville"? This is about the goings-on at Ave Maria Law School, recently accredited by the American Bar Association and now perhaps headed to what looks to me like a Catholic planned community. I wonder if the HOA will be "Catholics only"...

Mr. Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza and the school's principal benefactor, has announced plans to build a large Catholic university outside Naples, Fla., along with a residential community. (The ground-breaking ceremony for Ave Maria Town, as it will be called, was delayed indefinitely by the recent hurricane.) Will the law school move to Naples too, from Ann Arbor? The school's dean, Bernard Dobranski, acknowledges that the board is "open to consideration of the idea."