FOXNews.com - Dog Shoots Owner in the Back in Memphis, Tennessee
Today's "dog shoots man" story. There is an incriminating photo of the assailant.

Homeowners say lenders should be more forgiving - Yahoo! News
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. homeowners who fall behind on mortgage payments say lenders have grown slightly more flexible in scheduling late payments but are less accommodating than they ought to be, according to a study released on Wednesday.

UnionDemocrat.com - Copper man fights for home addition
Fred Pilot tracked this down. Check out how this fellow got injured, and look how his HOA is treating him.

A Copper Cove man who made Calaveras County-approved additions to his home to make it more handicap accessible may be forced to tear down the improvements if the Copper Cove and Lake Tulloch Owners' Association has its way.Ken Gutman, a 61-year-old retired hydraulic engineer and former peace officer with "a worn out hip," completed the 1,100-square-foot addition to his house just weeks before the association's lawyers told him to stop building. And now, the association board of directors has voted to impose daily fines and suspend his homeowner rights if he doesn't remove the add-on."I'm the kind of guy who obeys the rules, and if I break one I make things right," Gutman said. "But, my contractor followed the rules to the letter on this project, and I just can't believe what the association wants to do to me." Gutman took a bullet in his right hip when he worked as a Santa Cruz County sheriff's deputy in the late 1960s.

Local & State News - Tampa Bay's 10 - tampabays10.com

Fred Pilot sent this little slice of life about how as he notes, even the rule-breakers are moving into CIDs now. Should make for an interesting future, especially for attorneys.

In Westchase, a color palette committee has just approved new shades of exterior house paint. "The color I chose was not on the palette, but its one I found and I submitted it to them and they were okay with it. But to be honest, I painted it before they checked," homeowner Sandra Rodgers said with a laugh. The rules are no secret to homeowners like Rodgers. Signs are everywhere: “No” this, “don’t” do that. "It took me a long time to make the decision to move out here, because I am not a real rule-oriented person," she said. But even rule breakers are caving. More people are moving into planned communities.

wcbstv.com - NYC Health Officials Move To Get Babies Off Bottle
I have heard the term "Nanny State" before, but until now I never fully understood that it was literally true.

(CBS) NEW YORK First they moved against smoking, and then trans fats. Now, city health officials are taking on the bottle -- as in a baby's bottle. On Tuesday they announced a new campaign to promote breastfeeding instead of using formula. Baby bottles beware. City hospitals don't want you around. Instead, they want infants to eat at Mom's instead. "We're producing it. Why not give it to the baby," new mother Mashia Nelson said. The push toward breastfeeding means a ban on freebie formula when you leave the hospital.

Gulfnews: Condominium Law is in highest stages of consideration
Just in case you think condos are just for Americans, here is some news from the Middle East:

Dubai: The all-important regulatory framework governing Dubai's property sector took a huge leap forward last week with the introduction of trust accounts safeguarding home buyer's payments for off plan purchases. Attention is now focused on preparing the market for a long-awaited law which will dictate management of the common areas of housing developments. A draft of the Condominium Law (also known as Strata Law) was submitted to Dubai's highest authorities some time ago and is in the "highest stages" of consideration before official approval, said Dubai Land Department.

American Home Can't Fund Mortgages, Shares Plummet
uly 31 (Bloomberg) -- American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. shares plunged 90 percent after the lender said it doesn't have cash to fund new loans, stranding thousands of home buyers and putting the company on the brink of failure. Investment banks cut off credit lines, leaving American Home without money yesterday for $300 million of mortgages it had already promised, the Melville, New York-based company said in a statement today. It anticipates that $450 million to $500 million of loans probably won't get funded today, and the lender may have to sell off its assets.

FOXNews.com - Ohio Mother Files Complaint Against Condo That Barred Young Kids From Pool - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News
I've been teaching civil liberties and civil rights for about 16 years or so, and I would have sworn that potty training isn't mentioned in the Constitution. Somebody show me where it is.

AKRON, Ohio — An Akron mother and the Fair Housing Advocates Association have filed complaints against her condo association, charging that the group denied swimming pool use to children who are not potty trained. Suzanne Malcom filed complaints with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission this month after Seven Stories East Condominiums told her that her one-year-old son Lucas wasn't welcome in the outdoor pool, she said.

Condos tangled in legal battles- al.com
Sounds like a jolly old legal free-for-all with attorney fees raining from the sky.

GULF SHORES -- Months after getting the keys to their units in the 18-story Lighthouse Condominium tower, the owners of the 252 Gulf-front condos are snarled in a four-way legal battle over $1.26 million that contractors say they are owed for construction work. The litigation pits the owners, developers, contractors and the $60 million project's bonding company against each other in a crisscross of claims over the unpaid construction bills, which have clouded titles to the condos. At the same time, the owners are suing the building's developers over construction quality and accounting issues.

AMENDMENTS TO UNIFORM COMMON INTEREST OWNERSHIP ACT: Homeowners Bill of Rights Act
These are the provisions of the full act (see previous post) that are designated as the owners Bill of Rights.

AMENDMENTS TO UNIFORM COMMON INTEREST OWNERSHIP ACT
As we speak, the National Council of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws are meeting in Pasadena, CA, and on the agenda is whether to adopt this amended UICIOA. It has some expanded protections for owners, such as an explicit statement that the BOD can use discretion is deciding whether to take collections actions for unpaid assessments and enforcement actions for alleged rule violations. This is important, because boards may take actions in de minimus cases out of fear of being sued for breach of fiduciary duty if they don't act. Also, the BOD must approve each foreclosure action, and foreclosure is allowed only after 3 months of unpaid assessments, and foreclosure isn't allowed for fines alone unless there is a personal judgment against the owner. There are also four different versions of some election changes that the commissioners will choose from. And there is a pretty expansive power of owners to recall directors.

But many owner activists don't think the protections are adequate. I'll have more about this depending on the outcome of the meeting.

Move to create affordable homes is 'blocked by housebuilders'
I need to get myself a big "OBVIOUS" symbol for items like this.

Britain's leading developers have been accused of blocking government plans to force them to build more affordable housing.

cbs2.com - Garlic Farms Getting Cleared Out Of Gilroy
Land use pressure in Gilroy? No garlic? What is the world coming to? My kids and I just got back from California. We were driving up and down the coast highway and Highway 101, and got pretty close to Gilroy when we spent the night in Watsonville. (If you are in the Monterey or Watsonville area, check out Phil's Eatery and Fish Market in Moss Landing, by the way.) Anyway, we weren't close enough to Gilroy to smell the garlic. But if you look at the place on a map,you will see that anybody who tries to commute from there to San Francisco had better pack a lunch.

AP) GILROY, Calif. People enjoying the Gilroy Garlic Festival Saturday may not know that while the garlic may seem plentiful the area's garlic farms are disappearing. Only three growers remain in Santa Clara County because of land-use pressure, economics and plant disease.

ABC News: Surveillance Cameras Win Broad Support
Seems as though we shouldn't expect the housing market to reject gated communities anytime soon...

Crime-fighting beats privacy in public places: Americans, by nearly a 3-to-1 margin, support the increased use of surveillance cameras — a measure decried by some civil libertarians, but credited in London with helping to catch a variety of perpetrators since the early 1990s. Given the chief arguments, pro and con — a way to help solve crimes vs. too much of a government intrusion on privacy — it isn't close: 71 percent of Americans favor the increased use of surveillance cameras, while 25 percent oppose it...Seniors are most apt to support the increased use of these cameras, with under-30s, least so; Republicans more than Democrats; women more than men; higher educated people more than the less educated; and whites more than African-Americans. Through a political lens, support for increased use of surveillance systems is lowest, 62 percent, among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents who support Barack Obama for president — and highest of all, 86 percent, among Republicans who support Rudy Giuliani, who made his name as New York City's crime-fighting mayor.

FOXNews.com - Illinois Town Makes Bid to Build World's Largest Ketchup Packet
Is there a list of "Most Ignominious Attempts at Municipal Distinction"?

China builds modern neighborhood -- chicagotribune.com
Mystery Reader sends this Chinese housing story. Given the pace of housing construction in China, mainly in common interest housing developments, energy conservation measures there would really amount to something.

BEIJING - It's easy to overlook the small community of houses rising northwest of this sprawling capital. But these aren't just any suburban homes. They will be some of the cleanest and most energy-efficient structures in China -- or almost anywhere else in the world -- when they are completed this year. Wind turbines and solar panels will power the 10 houses, which will also use innovative techniques to save water. The project uses green technology from the United States, Europe and elsewhere in an effort to showcase building methods that could be used more widely in China.In a country with 1.3 billion people and massive migration from the countryside to the cities, the stakes are high. Over the next 20 years, as many as 400 million more Chinese are expected to move to urban areas.

America's Fastest-Growing Suburbs - Yahoo! Real Estate
These are in general areas where HOAs are prevalent in new housing, or even mandated by local government. Gilbert, AZ, is one of the places where HOAs are practically an extension of local government and they ask HOAs to register with the city and they have a "Congress of Neighborhoods." Check out the subdivision names. My favorite: "Agritopia."

The fastest-growing suburb in the country is Lincoln, Calif., just outside Sacramento. Its population jumped from 11,746 to 39,566, or an increase of 236%. The fastest-growing big suburb (with a population of 100,000 or more) is Gilbert, Ariz., outside Phoenix, which expanded from 112,766 people to 191,517. While not cheap by national standards, the growth in Sacramento's outerlying areas is strong because it's a less-expensive alternative to Los Angeles, San Francisco or San Diego. The Phoenix area saw the greatest positive domestic migration of any American metro last year, with 115,000 more people moving into town than leaving. Affordable housing and a growing economy draw a lot of people to the city. Rounding out the top 10 fastest-growing suburbs after Lincoln were four Phoenix suburbs: Buckeye, Surprise, Goodyear and Avondale; Plainfield, outside of Chicago; Beaumont, outside San Bernardino, Calif.; Frisco and Wylie outside of Dallas; and Woodstock, outside of Atlanta.

The full Twin Rivers decision
Here is some language directly from the opinion, confirming that citizens of New Jersey can assert free speech claims against HOAs, even without meeting the "state action" requirement:
As
noted, our constitution’s free speech provision is “broader than
practically all others in the nation.” Green Party, supra, 164
N.J. at 145. Consequently, we have not followed the approach of
other jurisdictions to require some state action before the free
speech and assembly clauses under our constitution may be
invoked. Even in the absence of state action, we must determine
whether the acts of a homeowners’ association violated its
members’ free speech and association rights in the setting of
this private housing association...Our holding does not suggest,
however, that residents of a homeowners’ association may never
successfully seek constitutional redress against a governing
association that unreasonably infringes their free speech
rights.

The opinion goes on to state, among other things, that restrictive covenants that violate an important public policy are void, and that constitutional rights are an important public policy. So I see why Frank Askin calls this a mixed outcome.

NJVoices: Frank Askin reacts to the Twin Rivers decision
Frank Askin, who represented the plaintiffs in the Twin Rivers case, has a not-so-negative take on the ruling, even though it was against his client, the Committee for a Better Twin Rivers, as to the three specific HOA restrictions on resident expressive liberties. Frank thinks the ruling establishes an important principle: that residents can make such claims against private HOAs. Interesting reading, and it coincides in a way with Tom Skiba's comment in the post below. I suggest reading Frank's article in the entirety.

Residents of homeowners' associations seeking free speech rights within their communities lost the immediate battles but may have won the war in the decision issued yesterday by the New Jersey Supreme Court in the Twin Rivers case. In the most significant sentence in the obtuse 37-page opinion, the Court said that the more than one million residents of common-interest communities in New Jersey may "successfully seek constitutional redress against a governing association that unreasonably infringes their free speech rights."It is the first state high court in the country to rule that private homeowner associations may be subject to the free-speech provisions of a state constitution.

JCC offers homeowners' association seminars -- dailypress.com
Now, this is something that should be applauded. I wish more local governments would do this.

JAMES CITY (I think it is in Virginia--EM) - Life under a homeowners' association can be a delicate balancing act. James City County is here to help. The county recently announced it will present seven homeowners and condominium association education seminars beginning this fall. The seminars will mostly be free for county residents; non-residents will be asked to pay either $10 or $35 depending on the seminar.

Link to Twin Rivers syllabus
(rewritten for clarity--EM) Here is a snippet from the summary, taken from the Court's website, of how the Court analyzed the facts under the Schmid decision, having to do with state constitutional rights on private property. As Tom Skiba notes in his comment, there is a recognition of owners' expressive liberties, and a recognition of the regulatory power of the association, but a ruling that in this case the expressive rights were not violated. I agree on the existence of the liberties and the power to reasonably regulate, but I believe the Court reached the wrong conclusion in applying the test.

Under the first Schmid factor, the nature, purposes, and primary use of Twin Rivers’ property is for private purposes and does not favor a finding that the Association’s rules and regulations violates the Committee’s
constitutional rights. Under the second factor, the limited nature of the public’s invitation to use the property does not favor a finding that the Association’s rules and regulations violated the Committee’s constitutional rights. Under the third Schmid factor, the Court finds that the Committee’s expressional activities are not unreasonably restricted.
The relationship between the Association and the homeowners is a contractual one, formalized in reasonable covenants that appear in all deeds. The mutual benefit and reciprocal nature of the rules and regulations and their enforcement is essential to the fundamental nature of the communal living arrangement that the residents enjoy.
Thus, this factor does not weigh in favor of finding that the Association’s rules and regulations violated the Committee’s constitutional rights. (Pp. 26-30)
4. Neither singularly nor in combination is the Schmid/Coalition test satisfied in favor of concluding that a constitutional right was infringed in this case. In balancing the Committee’s expressional rights against the Association’s private property interest, the Association’s policies do not violate the free speech and right of assembly clauses of the New Jersey Constitution. (Pp. 31-32)

Court: Free speech is not guaranteed
This is very unfortunate:

The state Supreme Court ruled today that residents of homeowners associations are not entitled to free-expression rights guaranteed by the Constitution. In the unanimous decision, the court overturned an appeals court ruling and reinstated a decision by a Mercer County trial judge that said the residents of Twin Rivers, a 10,000-unit housing development, did not have their rights violated when the homeowners association placed restrictions on where residents can post signs, and who can use the community room and newsletter.

cbs2chicago.com - Video Library: The case of the poisoned tree...
Mystery Reader sends the link to the video of the poison tree mystery mentioned below. You pick it out of the list on the right. The plot thickens...

Losses Climb for Homeowner Groups - washingtonpost.com
Another one of those isolated instances:

RICHMOND, July 19 -- At least $2 million was stolen from Northern Virginia condominium and homeowner associations, probably by a top executive of the Fairfax City company hired to manage their finances, a forensic accountant told state regulators at a hearing Thursday. The losses sustained by customers of Koger Management Group between 2004 and 2006, described in a report to the Virginia Real Estate Board, far exceed earlier estimates of $800,000. The total may grow as more homeowner associations conduct audits, said Jeffrey D. Barsky, the accountant appointed by the board to investigate the matter.

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > North County -- City will pay condo owners $12.5 million

The city of Carlsbad will pay $12.5 million to residents of the La Costa de Marbella condominium complex to settle lawsuits stemming from a landslide that destroyed eight condos in March 2005...Homeowners of the 58-unit condo complex, on the south side of La Costa Avenue east of El Camino Real, sued, saying city pipes that ran under the project's driveway gushed water into the ground, causing it to cave beneath the eight condos. The slide also lifted the sidewalk along La Costa Avenue.

Homeowners Associations: CAI-CLAC opposition to AB 952
Here is a link to AHRC's posting of the email the Community Associations Institute sent out explaining why they oppose California bill AB 952. Here is CAI's summary of the bill's effect:

AB 952 would allow a mere handful of owners to VETO any increase of a homeowner association assessment (excluding emergency assessments) where the majority of homeowners have determined that an assessment increase of more than 20% of the current assessment is necessary to maintain the value of their homes.

cbs2chicago.com - Fight Over Aurora Pine Tree Spills Into Court
Mystery Reader sends this story about a real mystery...who poisoned the tree?

But the home owners association believes the tree, which was still standing when a CBS 2 crew first showed up, was purposely killed possibly by someone who drilled poison into its trunk. In a letter sent to residents last month, the home owners association decried what it described as a malicious act of vandalism aimed directly at the community

FOXNews.com - Report: Man with Almost No Brain Has Led Normal Life
I'm glad he managed to find a walk of life that suited him...

French doctors are amazed that a 44-year-old civil servant with an abnormally small brain has led a normal life with a slightly lower than normal IQ, according to a report on Physorg.com.

Charlotte Observer | 07/19/2007 | Residents: Sign enforcers go too far
Another Fred Pilot link to a story of a city behaving like an HOA:

Charlotte zoning enforcers are responding to neighborhood association requests to crack down on illegal portable signs, but residents of least one neighborhood are worried the city has gone too far. In the 12 months ended June 30, city inspectors investigated and resolved 7,385 zoning violations, more than twice the previous year. Some were related to portable signs, said code enforcement manager Walter Abernethy, but he could not specify an exact number. Among the portable signs that have drawn inspectors' scrutiny are yard signs for home improvement services that homeowners agree to post once work has been contracted. Six families clustered around Belvedere Avenue in Plaza-Midwood recently received warnings for architects' and landscapers' yard signs. Some residents said the warnings, which carry no fines, had vague inspector comments and the codes they violated are subject to interpretation. Without knowing exactly what law they broke, they said, they cannot prevent future citations that come with fines.

AB 952 Assembly Bill - Bill Analysis
CAI is vehemently opposed to this bill and has issued a call-to-arms for members to get busy. Here is the summary:

This bill provides that a regular or special assessment that is subject to a vote within a Common Interest Development must be approved both by a majority of all residents and a majority of owner-occupants of affordable units and requires an association to establish a payment plan for all regular and special assessment imposed on affordable units for those owner occupants who requestmone.

Allotment holders have been told they could be liable if trespassers injure themselves on their land.A link from Mystery Reader concerning premises liability in Great Britain.

Dear Piece Of Trash: - July 19, 2007
This Smoking Gun link was sent my way by Mystery Reader. This is some choice venom from a public official to one of his constituents.

cbs4.com - Bird Lakes Residents Continue Fight Against HOA
Fred Pilot sent this link to a story of resistance to being conscripted into an HOA.

Idiocy
Monica Caruso sends this link to a light-hearted poster that epitomizes the problem with people in groups, including an undetermined percentage of HOAs. This underscores my puzzlement at the popularity HOAs have among some libertarians. Normally, they view the individual as the source of all wisdom and the group as the source of...well, look at the poster.

Miami Condo Glut Pushes Florida's Economy to Brink of Recession
In the middle of the biggest glut of condominiums in more than 30 years, Miami developers keep on building. The oversupply will force prices down as much as 30 percent, the worst decline since the 1970s, and help push Florida's economy into recession as early as October, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at West Chester, Pennsylvania-based Moody's Economy.com, who owns a home in Vero Beach, Florida. ``Florida is the epicenter for all the problems that exist in the housing industry,'' said Lewis Goodkin, president of Goodkin Consulting Corp. and a property adviser in Miami for the past 30 years, who also foresees a recession. ``The problems we have now are unprecedented and a lot of people will get burnt.''

APP.COM - Condo fee at closing legalized under bill | Asbury Park Press Online
Did you hear a loud "KA-CHING"?

FREEHOLD — What started out as litigation here is now legislation in Trenton that will limit but also legalize a standard practice of charging an upfront fee to condominium buyers.

The bill, which has passed both chambers of the Legislature and is now on the governor's desk, will allow condominium associations, only through their master deed or bylaws, to charge a one-time, nonrefundable "capital contribution fee" upon closing.

For condo associations, charging this fee is nothing new. However, the bill, if signed, will allow associations to charge up to nine times the amount of a unit's monthly maintenance fee, in addition to legally protecting the practice. The amount was amended in the Senate from 18 times the monthly maintenance fee.

Plague rats being used to supply restaurants | NEWS.com.au
OK, so they ate the snakes and the owls that were eating the rats, so now they need to eat the rats? Do you remember the song about the old lady who swallowed a spider?

Live rats are being trucked from central China, suffering a plague of a reported two billion rodents displaced by a flooded lake, to the south of the of country to end up in restaurant dishes, Chinese media has reported...Local governments in Hunan have been grappling with the rats, which had already destroyed 1.6 million hectares of crops and could spread disease, according to media reports. A lack of snakes, also a popular dish in the south, and owls, a traditional Chinese medicine, was held partly responsible.

All-white schools told to mix with other races or be labelled 'failing' | the Daily Mail
Interesting contrast between the recent USSC decisions that made it harder for schools to take race into account in assigning students to schools, and this British policy.

The Buffalo News: Northern Suburbs: Pig roast in garage sparks $150,000 fire
Here is a headline you don't read every day. Even the most creative attorney would never have thought to write a covenant banning pig roasts in the garage.

Fighting for their home- NOLA.com
We have tax auctions here in Illinois, but there are protections against this sort of thing. I guess Louisiana could use a cleanup on aisle common sense.

The Atwoods' nightmare began when they learned in 2000 that their four-bedroom, two-bath home had been sold in 1997 through a tax sale for the $1.63 in unpaid taxes, plus 10 cents interest and $125 in costs associated with the sale.

Boing Boing: Cardboard Chinese food
Mystery Reader sends this warning about Chinese food. Does this have anything to do with being hungry again 20 minutes later? However, the food I had in Beijing was great, so if it was cardboard I wonder what the chefs can do with edible ingredients.

If you're in Beijing and eat steamed buns that taste like cardboard, they just may be cardboard. According to an undercover investigation aired on China Central Television, one particular supplier was filling his buns with 60 percent cardboard until cops shut down his operation.

Fear of a global 'coldening' | The Daily Telegraph
LAST month Australians endured our coldest June since 1950. Imagine that; all those trillions of tonnes of evil carbon we've horked up into the atmosphere over six decades of rampant industrialisation, and we're still getting the same icy weather we got during the Cold War.

Manhattan parking spot�going for $225,000 - Jul. 12, 2007

Churchill dropped from England's history syllabus - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Sir Winston, who was British prime minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955, was famous for his defiance to the Nazis, stirring oratory and trademark cigar and "V for victory" sign. In 2002, a BBC poll with more than one million votes saw him voted the Greatest Briton of all time.

N.J. senator proposes toy gun ban--Would make it illegal for anyone under 18 to purchase toy gun7Online.com: New York City and Tri-State News from WABC-TV

"The margin between a child's stupid mistake and a tragic ending is far too thin," said Sen. Nicholas Scutari.

OK, but what is the margin between a legislator's stupid idea and a nanny state?

cbs4.com - Homeowners Fees Turns Into Foreclosure Nightmare
Fred Pilot sends this example of what we have been told doesn't really happen: impending foreclosure over an unpaid $106 maintenance fee and $4000 in HOA attorney fees. Check out the video.

East Valley/ Scottsdale Tribune: Mesa HOA's towing prompts lawsuit
Fred Pilot sent this account of a strange public/private connection: in Mesa, AZ, where HOAs are mandatory in new construction by government policy, HOAs are towing cars from public streets and dunning the owners for payments. A state legislator tried to ban the practice but failed.

FT.com / Capital markets - US mortgage problem fears spark sell-off

This may lead to higher interest rates for home loans.

Fears of further problems in the US mortgage industry and the broader economy flared on Tuesday, triggering a sell-off in credit markets as investors sought safe havens. Markets were rattled when Standard & Poor’s, the ratings agency, threatened to downgrade the credit ratings on some $12bn of bonds backed by US subprime home loans. This raised concerns of a broader repricing of risk in credit markets, leading to heavy losses for some investors, particularly in derivative markets.

Global warming strikes again: Buenos Aires sees rare snowfall

Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, has seen snow for the first time in 89 years, as a cold snap continues to grip several South American nations. Temperatures plunged to -22C (-8F) in parts of Argentina's province of Rio Negro, while snow fell on Buenos Aires for several hours on Monday. Two deaths from exposure were reported in Argentina and one in Chile. In Bolivia, heavy snowfall blocked the nation's main motorway and forced the closure of several airports. In Argentina, several provinces in the Andes have been placed under a storm alert, according to the national weather centre.

This fence makes angry neighbors | floridatoday.com | Serving Brevard County and Florida’s Space Coast

The "Space Coast"?

Residents in Wickham Forest are fuming about a 10-foot-tall stockade fence erected recently by Melbourne businessman Larry Dennison. Paralleling a shared property line, the 48-foot-long fence comes within inches of the homeowners' association's century-old oak tree. Moreover, the barrier likely would keep northbound motorists from seeing the association's planned $20,000 entrance sign.

Top Global Warming Advocate: Jupiter & Saturn Closer To Sun Than Earth
No wonder people are skeptical. He really said this:

ALEX JONES: "The polar icecaps of Mars are receding at several miles a year, much faster than ours and that the moons of Saturn and Jupiter are melting, in fact several of their moons were ice and are now liquid seas - how are SUV's causing that David Rothschild?

ROTHSCHILD: "Because those planets are closer to the sun, my friend."

Fast-Growing Common Interest Developments Spurring
Cottage Industry for Homeowner Advocacy: Northwest Reporter
Fred Pilot sent this piece, which has a plug for Joyce Starr's self-help book, and also a few choice comments from yours truly if you keep reading:

Love 'em or loathe 'em – homeowner associations (HOAs) are a part of the everyday lives for a rising number of Americans. The growth of Common Interest Developments (CIDs) and "managed communities" is spurring the emergence of homeowner advocacy groups, watchdogs, legal specialists, books, blogs and other resources aimed at helping individual owners assert their constitutional and property rights. One such book is described by its author as "the first self-defense guide for condo and homeowner association members." Not surprisingly, Dr. Joyce Starr, the author/publisher, was inspired to share her experiences and insights after winning a two-year legal battle with her condo board involving toxic mold, whistle blowing and pets. "Defend Your Condo & Homeowners Rights! What You Must Do When the Board Turns Your Life Upside Down" is sold separately or as part of a trio of works on "homeowner defense strategies." In addition to the "Defend" title, the 3-part set includes "Creating Home Owner and Condo Association Documents: How to Protect Your HOA and Con-Dough" by David Goldenberg, Ph.D., and "Condo Board Elections Revolt," by Valmore Lucier, "the first Condominium Ombudsman in America." (For ordering information: www.drjoycestarr.com)

Condo boards, residents tangle | Home News Tribune Online
Fred Pilot found this. But I thought these things were "isolated incidents"?

In July 2002, Vastola had put up a white Pella Midview storm door, pretty much the same style she had seen around her complex — one was even in teal blue. Members of the condo association told Vastola the association's rules prohibit that style of storm door, and hers would have to be removed. They were right. Vastola's case is hardly an isolated incident. In fact it's one of a legion of conflicts on record for residents of condominiums throughout the nation — residents who often find themselves fighting grievances with condo boards that some residents believe have too much power and too little accountability. Those who live in condominiums sometimes buy their units without reading the regulations that can contain strict rules. Conflicts arise, and owners are frequently stunned to find themselves in violation of such provisions as the design of a storm door, or their ability to put political sign on the lawn in front of their dwelling.

And note the summary of where things stand on the legislative front in New Jersey:

Vastola credits the Common-Interest Homeowners Association for helping her through her fight with her condo association. The C-IHC is an independent, nonprofit organization that was founded to bring reform to residential associations. Measures designed to address problems between condo association boards and their homeowner members have stalled in the state legislature. State Sen. Ron Rice, D-Essex, said he is working on getting a homeowners' bill of rights out of his Senate Urban and Community and Affairs Committee this year. The bill (S1608), called the "Owners Rights in Common Interest Developments Act," or ORCID, seeks to bolster existing laws in the areas of condo board elections, improve ease of access to records of condo boards and establish a mechanism for alternative dispute resolution. Rice's bill is at odds with another bill (A798), called the "Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act," or UCIOA. Its acronym is pronounced "yew-KWI-ah," and it was sponsored by Assemblyman Wilfred Caraballo, D-Newark. UCIOA has already passed the Assembly, and its backers are hoping now for its passage in the Senate in the form of S805, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Doria, D-Jersey City, and Sen. Nicholas Asselta, R-Vineland.

Boing Boing: First Amendment mob of photogs hit Silver Spring on July 4
Thanks to Mystery Reader for this amazing photo of photographer civil disobedience, a followup to the news about Silver Spring, MD, privatizing public space and the first amendment going bye-bye, from Boing Boing.

Officer suspended after arresting woman in clash over dry lawn in US - International Herald Tribune
Fred Pilot sent this. Here is another municipality acting like an HOA. These requirements to water your lawn during drought conditions are a point of contention in many HOAs out west. Here is a municipal ordinance to the same effect.

The mysterious case of the disappearing plastic men
More signs of impending anarchy in Maryland. You'd think with all those HOAs around that people would have learned to behave themselves.

Barking fines as noisy New York repents | International News | News | Telegraph
A better headline would be, "Fussbudget Mayor Runs for President...and not of his condo association." This just proves what I've been saying: cities are emulating HOAs.

Barking dogs and lawn mowers are among the main targets of anti-noise laws which have just come into force in New York. Having cleaned up the city's smoking and eating habits, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's civilising tendencies have turned to its famous din. From now on construction companies will have to put up "noise mitigation plans" at building sites explaining how they intend to minimise machinery and other noise. Rubbish trucks must stay at least 50ft from residential buildings between 11pm and 7am while ice cream vans can only play their jingles when the vehicle is moving.Noisy dogs will be penalised whether moving or not. Pets that bark continuously for more than five minutes at night or 10 minutes during the day could leave their owners with fines ranging from $50 to $175 for a first offence. Lawn mowers cannot be used before 8am and after 7pm on weekdays, or before 9am and after 6pm on weekends and public holidays. Loud music will be subject to fines ranging from $50 for a portable stereo offender up to $24,000 for a restaurant which ignores a first warning.

Boing Boing: Silver Spring's downtown is "private property" - no photos allowed
Amazing story from Mystery Reader about privatization run amuck. Who was that crazy guy who said that privatizing public space was leading to loss of civil liberties?

The town of Silver Spring, Maryland gave a private company $100,000,000 to redevelop its downtown area. Now the company claims that the entire downtown is a shopping mall, under its absolute control, without any civil rights. It has barred photography by the public, and insists that it has the right to treat citizens as mere customers.

Headlines: Owners ordered to vow HOA support or face suit | board, hoa, covenants - Gazette.com
Fred Pilot sent this charming story of HOA combat:

BLACK FOREST - Along the trickling headwaters of Cherry Creek, just beyond the pine trees of Black Forest, homeowners are squaring off against each other. A judge will decide who runs the Cherry Creek Springs Homeowners Association and its three-member board of directors. In the meantime, the HOA board is trying to force residents to take sides. Many residents of the upscale homes on 5-acre lots are outraged. “They are making us sign a loyalty oath,” said Haze Hutmacher, who built his home in 1998 and is among the original owners in the subdivision.

Telluride Daily Planet -At Ski Ranches, a subdivision divided
Fred Pilot sent this along:
This is your neighborhood, the Ski Ranches, an idyllic subdivision riven by boiling rhetoric, complaints about spending and charges that the homeowners’ board has been illegally seated. Welcome home. Of course, not everyone’s leaping into the lobster pot. Many of the residents, part-timers and investors who make up this community of 148 homes and 55 lots, are staying out of the fray. Board members blame a “vocal minority” for sparking the turmoil. Still, the conflict has left bruises, residents said. Finding volunteers has gotten harder, and one board member is stepping down to get out of shooting range. Some owners are even reluctant to build, and real-estate agents are hesitant to show homes in the Ranches.

Todays Local News for Logan Utah and Cache County
Thanks to alert reader Neil A. who found this article addressing the issue parking on one's lawn, noted below in a post on Houston TX. This one is from Utah.

Notes on HOAs in China
Since Friday, June 22, I have been in Beijing, China, attending the “International Conference on Community Governance: Multicultural Perspectives.” The conference was held at Renmin University, which translates as “People’s University,” an institution that has traditionally been the place where future Communist Party officials are educated. The conference was organized by the University of Southern California’s School of Policy, Planning, and Development, which was formed fairly recently in a merger of the School of Public Administration and the School of Urban Planning. These are my unedited and hasty thoughts on the conference, started in the Beijing Fellowship Hotel and finished back home in Lindenhurst, IL.

The actual purpose of the conference is to come to a better understanding of the rise of private communities in China. The conference brought together a variety of American, British, and Chinese scholars of political science, law, and urban planning; a number of Chinese practicing attorneys and community organizers; and many Chinese homeowner association members, consumer activists, and other concerned citizens. We spent two long days, running from 8:15am until late in the evening in formal and informal presentations and meetings. The USC delegation visited the homes of some Chinese homeowner association members and leaders. All told, we have learned a great deal about events in China, and I hope we have been able to convey a good understanding of the US and British experience. I am setting this out descriptively, but in truth this has been an intense experience with some dramatic testimony. I am going to summarize what I have learned without attributing particular statements to individuals.

It is important to understand that the current situation, while far from perfect, is probably an enormous improvement over the past, and the country is making progress. Hundreds of millions of people are now able to become owners of property (that means something different than in the US—see below), and to use that property as a financial asset that they can sell down the road. Also, millions of people have moved from the countryside and the hard agricultural life to work in cities, where they are saving money and thus accumulating wealth, even though by American standards it might seem that the wages are very low. Keep in mind that nearly all these folks are buying units in high-rise condominium buildings.

However, there are some pretty significant problems, and that is why this conference was organized and a lot of western social scientists and planners were brought over to talk about the situation.

From my standpoint, it has been important to understand how private communities work here in China. There are similarities and differences as compared with the US experience. Let me first explain who the players are and then try to explain how they interact. There are basically six key participants:

1. Local government: also referred to as “subdistrict” government
2. Real estate developers: these are private entities, but many of them were government and/or Communist Party officials in the past
3. Property management companies: these entities manage the private communities and have a great deal of power. Many of them were in the past government employees charged with managing public housing projects on behalf of the state.
4. Resident councils or committees: these are officially recognized organizations that are supposed to be owner organizations, but in reality they are an arm of local government, and they are for the most part led by Communist Party members.
5. Homeowners: the owners are struggling to be recognized as such. They pay assessments to the management company. They do not chafe at living under restrictions, as many Americans do. But they are very concerned about the way their money and property are being (mis)used in many cases.
6. Homeowner associations: these are voluntary organizations set up by owners to assert their rights as owners collectively.

In China, people do not actually own land. Agricultural land is owned by agricultural collectives. All urban land is owned by the state, and where residential land is concerned it is owned by the local government, which has the power to sell the right to use the land to real estate developers for a term of years. The developer in turns sells that right to the homeowners. Recent changes to the law at the national level provide for renewal of those rights, but it remains unclear what the term of renewal is to be, and whether those who have purchased housing units from the developers will have to pay the local government again for that renewal.

Clearly the national government wants to create a genuine real estate market. The hitch is that local government is making money off some practices that may make it harder to get there. The local governments want to attract developers, many of whom are former government officials. That’s fine in itself, but the opportunity for local officials to profit from that situation is obvious. The developer hires the property management company which runs the development, and in theory you have the government-affiliated resident council to represent the owners. No problem, if everybody took their job seriously. But they have the problem of what seems to be fairly widespread corruption, where people use their positions as local official, developer, or property manager to profit handsomely at the expense of the owners, who are at the bottom of the ladder in terms of political influence and economic power.

What about the HOAs? Well, these are voluntary organizations, for real, that are actually created by the owners to represent their real concerns as property owners, because they feel that the resident councils are part of the government, the government is eager to keep the developer happy, and the management company is an extension of the developer. The HOAs do not have the power to enforce the rules and regulations, which is done instead by the PM. These PM firms are very powerful and politically connected. They also control the ubiquitous private security firms that police the projects. Some of the HOAs, though, have filed and even won lawsuits to enforce their rights as owners.

Here are some examples of practices that Chinese HOAs complain about:
a. The property manager and/or developer convert 16 residential units to rental units that they lease to commercial enterprises and pocket the money
b. The PM and/or developer sell the common area, such as open space, to somebody and pocket the money.
c. The developer sells most of the units and then never finishes the building to the point where it can be occupied, so the owners can’t move in. The developer disappears.
d. The owner of a top floor unit in a 25 story building knocks out the roof and adds a story to the building, giving himself a two-story unit. The PM doesn’t do anything about it, presumably because he/she was greased in advance.
e. The owner of a unit knocks out load-bearing walls to enlarge his unit. The roof of the floor below begins to crack badly and water leaks in. The owner of that unit is afraid to complain for fear of being beaten (see below). An engineer recommends putting somebody on the roof if it snows to sweep off the snow so the weight doesn’t make the building collapse.
f. When owners complain or get involved with their HOA, the property management firm has the private security guards beat them up.
g. Owners can’t get to see the records of their own development, which are kept by the management firm. So they have no idea how their money is being spent. It seems that often some of it being pocketed by the PM and/or developer.
h. Owners can’t fire the developer’s property management company and hire one they trust without a difficult court fight.
i. Owners with the right connections don’t pay their monthly fees and get away with it.

The HOAs have a problem getting people to become involved because they are afraid of physical violence and they believe they have no chance of success. However, it seems that they have in fact rung up some lawsuit wins, and we heard from one attorney who specializes in representing HOAs in these fights (interestingly, he said when he was in the US he couldn’t find any lawyers who represent the owners—a familiar story). Some of the present and former HOA leaders we met are very impressive people.

Obviously there is room for this situation to improve. The single most important improvement, I think, would be to professionalize the property management firms so that they do their jobs instead of profiteering on their own behalf and that of the developer. They should not be extensions of the developer at all, but should be independent and guided by standards of professional responsibility. Beyond that, somehow the general problem of corruption has to be addressed. It undermines the integrity of the whole institution of property ownership. Everybody knows this, but making it happen will take some time.

Yet, somehow people are so determined to become home owners that they brave all this and put their capital at risk. In China people do not like to borrow money to buy homes, so they save and put cash into it. They find our 10% down and 90% loan arrangements absolutely bizarre. So, we have a lot of owner enthusiasm despite a level of risk that would probably deter most American buyers.

I will try to post more on this, but here you have the big picture.

Civic groups embrace plan banning lawn parking | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
For Houston, this is progress. Next up: a ban on refrigerators in the back yard?

Jet Pack - 2 New Rocket Belts On Sale - Personal Flying Machine - Popular Mechanics
I've been waiting for this since I was 9 years old. But I was expecting more than 33 seconds of air time.

California Looms | New West Network
California is a trendsetter state. Much like the weather, every Californian fad eventually makes its way over the Sierras and diffuses into the intermountain West. That’s wonderful, and it’s frightening, because there are some pretty disturbing things going on in the Golden State right now.

Star-Telegram.com | 06/15/2007 | Three barred from trailer homes
There's a headline you don't see every day. It takes some serious dysfunction to get tossed out of a trailer park.

Kibort met with complaints at first meeting - Glendale Heights, IL - Glendale Heights Press
The reception for Glendale Heights’ newest Village Board member during his first board meeting was hardly a warm one. While some fireworks were expected on the board in light of longtime village critic Scott Kibort’s election last month to the District 3 trustee seat, the bulk of the action last Thursday came not from him or his fellow trustees, but from residents. Shortly after officially assuming his seat, Kibort was met with complaints from residents who accused him of spreading lies in an attempt to drum up support to disband a local homeowner’s association.

Couple denied parking space receives $7,000
KIHEI – Following a finding of discrimination by a condominium manager, a couple involved in a dispute over their need for a wheelchair-accessible parking space have received $7,000 in compensatory damages in a settlement with the Menehune Shores Condominium.
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One of the great joys of condo living is having your BOD expose you to unnecessary liability.

2 arrested in multi-million dollar fraud scheme at Hallandale Beach condominium: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Another isolated anecdote...

TCPalm: Local News: condo association manager arrested for lack of license
Nice mug shot.

HOA Takes Exception To Memorial Day Banner
Isolated anecdote Number 25,487.

Condo owners looking for fraud: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
More of those isolated anecdotes...

TCPalm: Real Estate:Views vary on legislative and homeowner and condo association bills
That headline shows a genius for understatement.

Zen and the art of management - Los Angeles Times
Life increasingly begins to resemble a Dave Barry column:

The Los Angeles Housing Department has paid thousands of dollars to a Zen Buddhist priest from Hawaii for management training that includes teaching breathing with sphincter control, learning "how to stand" and playing with wooden sticks. Norma Wong, a former Hawaii state legislator and leadership consultant, has been paid $18,819 since 2005 to conduct at least four training sessions for executives and other staff. The most recent one was last week. Mercedes Marquez, the general manager of the department, said the training was designed to help "center" Housing Department managers and teach them to react nimbly to problems such as the city's housing shortage

Allstate to stop insuring Calif. homes - Yahoo! News
More good news for California homeowners, to go with the falling prices, bad schools, high taxes, HOA assessments, and loss of the traditional perks of ownership.

Pasco: Homeowner groups and county clash over lawns
There's a drought on. Watering is allowed just once a week. So the homeowners are being told they'd better water their lawns - and they'd better not. "It's a Catch-22," Dick Ortiz, the county's code enforcement director, said on Friday. "Either we write them a ticket for watering or the association writes them a ticket for not watering. So what do they do?"

Around globe, walls spring up to divide neighbors | In Depth | Reuters.com
Looks like the world is turning into a patchwork quilt of gated communities.

Circulation at the Top 20 Newspapers: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance
This is amazing. Of the 20 largest newspapers, only two show an increase in circulation--USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. The rest are in serious decline. The LA Times circulation is down 4.2% in the last six months, in one of the fastest growing regions of the nation.
PS: I'm backlogged with posting here despite having a load of great things sent to me by many people. I am struggling with end of the academic year logjam, which happens every year. I'll get caught up tomorrow or Wednesday with a little luck.

Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB1878
This bill just passed the Illinois House of Representatives today by an overwhelming vote. It is called "The Bill of Rights for the Homeless Act."

No person's rights, privileges, or access to public services may be denied or abridged solely because he or she is homeless. Such a person shall be granted the same rights and privileges as any other citizen of this State.

Then it goes on to list all the rights and privileges. It goes on forever. It includes the right to refuse medication and, of course, the right to keep all the details of their lives confidential.

Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Man No Longer Allowed To Hunt For Food...in his back yard
This is like something Ernest Hemingway would have done.

A judge in Easton yesterday ordered a couple to stop shooting in the backyard of their Lower Saucon Township home. The preliminary injunction prevents the two die-hard hunters from firing at targets or pigeons or whatever. And why did the neighbors seek an injunction against the backyard hunters? "How would you like to have a picnic at your home and have this guy shooting 18 feet away?" But things aren't all odd quotes designed to elicit a "I wouldn't like it" response. Township police filed 19 gun charges against the hunter, Richard Seruga, but 17 of them were thrown out since he didn't violate any local gun laws. The township responded by banning shooting within 450 feet of any residence. Sergua is, naturally, claiming conspiracy and has filed a lawsuit. Ain't this country grand?

Lindenhurst Choice 070415 PRESS RELEASE: Betustak supporters steal opposition signs
Bystander catches thievery on camera;
DeAngelis boasts of taking signs
You may recall that I posted a while back about a contentious election in Lindenhurst, IL, where the incumbents are being taken to task by a slate of challengers over the (mis)handling of a major real estate development proposal, and the incumbents proposed a mutual ban on yard signs. That would have benefited the incumbents, of course, so the challengers refused to do it. Well, check this out. The incumbents' supporters seem to be taking down the challengers' signs. The article has a neat photo showing one of the culprits walking down the street with a sign under his arm.

(Lindenhurst, IL)—After attempting, in vain, to get the Lindenhurst Choice Party to refrain from using signs in its campaign against incumbent Mayor Jim Bestustak, members of his Lindenhurst Community Party have found another way to achieve their goal. At least two of Betustak’s supporters have taken about 60 Lindenhurst Choice opposition campaign signs from county and village locations.

The Nonprofit Industrial Complex
Here is something to make you think. It's by Gerard Alexander and is in the Weekly Standard. He focuses on universities and foundations, but he could have added in almost 300,000 residential private governments.

Western countries have already been transformed by industrialization, the rise of the service sector, and the growth of big government. The result has been wealthy economies, middle-class societies, and vast bureaucracies. Our country might now be transformed again by the spread of what Richard Cornuelle dubbed the "independent sector." The growth of nonprofits--from the Getty Museum to Seattle's Children's Hospital, Emory University, and your aunt's country club--has created the world's largest sector that is neither business fish nor government fowl. It has the private sector's diversity and independence but the government's lack of a profit motive. It is a different way of doing business. It may be a different way of making a country. But is it a wholesome one?

Homeowners association loses bid to keep $60,000 trucks under wraps
Fred Pilot sent this along. Man, would I love to have that truck in my driveway. How can a luxury vehicle hurt property values? And what a ridiculous rule, anyway.

PALM CITY — For two years, Mark Kirk and his 2002 Cadillac Escalade EXT lived the perfect suburban life. Kirk swung the luxury sport utility truck in and out of his driveway in his gated community with little more than compliments from neighbors and friends. But in 2005, on the heels of a leadership change in his community's homeowners association, Kirk and another Escalade owner received messages from community leaders. Because the cargo areas on their $60,000 trucks made them look like pickups, association leaders said, they would be able to keep their vehicles only if they stashed them as far out of public view as possible. Association leaders took their battle against the Escalade owners to court, asking a judge in September to grant an injunction forcing Kirk and another homeowner, Darrell Willson, either to shove their 19-foot trucks into their 20-foot garages or get rid of them. The dispute culminated in a weeklong trial before Circuit Judge Robert Makemson last year. An attorney for the Preserve at Hammock Creek homeowners association argued that the Escalade owners violated association rules against "boats, trailers ... motor homes, golf carts, motorcycles, pickup trucks or recreational or commercial vehicles" in any area visible to passersby outside the home. Stuart attorney Bill Ponsoldt, representing Kirk and Willson, brought in documents from General Motors and local dealers who classified the vehicles as either a sport utility vehicle or a sport utility truck. On Friday, Makemson issued ruling in chambers siding with Ponsoldt and the Escalade owners, saying that if the makers of the EXTs don't classify the cars as pickups, neither should the homeowners association.

Snow won't dampen global-warming rallies
Right. Neither will any other form of evidence.

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Business -- March home sales down, but prices go up
San Diego got hit hard by the real estate slump. Here's some mixed news, which is better than all bad news. But take a look at the little snippet on HOA dues at a place called "Bridgeview." Does $180 a month seem low?

March home sales turned in their biggest year-over-year decline since 1995, but the region's median sale price rebounded to $490,000 in a possible sign that San Diego County's housing slump is easing...The overall median price of $490,000 was up $10,000 from February, but still 4.9 percent below the median a year earlier...The monthly homeowner association dues [at Bridgeview], relatively low at about $180, also are considered a plus.

Chicago Business News, Analysis & Articles | ComEd proposes condo association relief | Crain's
ComEd wants to help? Sounds like that old joke about the scariest words in the English language being "I'm from the federal government and I'm here to help you." Read closely and you can see the proposal is that ComEd will satisfy itself with a 24% increase in condo rates if the state legislature agrees not to pass a law to roll back the increase to last year's rates.

Commonwealth Edison Co. told state lawmakers Thursday that it wants to help condominium associations socked with higher-than-expected electric bills since the utility’s rate hike went into effect this year. At a hearing in Chicago before the Illinois House Electric Utility Oversight Committee, ComEd President J. Barry Mitchell laid out a $4.5-million plan that would bring increases for about 850 condo buildings, mainly in Chicago, in line with the 24% average hike being paid by most Chicago-area households. The proposal is part of a funding package being negotiated by Senate Democrats and ComEd, its parent Exelon Corp. and Downstate utility Ameren Corp. to aid those hardest-hit by this year’s electric rate hikes. The condo aid won’t be available if there’s no overarching deal with lawmakers, a ComEd spokeswoman says. A deal would be aimed at heading off legislation to roll rates back to last year’s levels and freeze them there for at least a year.

Benny L. Kass - A To-Do List to Keep the Condo's Books - washingtonpost.com
Benny Kass is one of the few community association law specialists who represents owners as well as associations. He has always seemed to me to be a level-headed and very knowledgeable attorney. Here is his latest Washington Post column with some advice on avoiding misuse of association funds.

Florida Attorneys David G. Muller and Yeline Goin Named Co-Directors of Community Association Leadership Lobby

This is the organization that was set up by the law firm of Becker and Poliakoff to counter the influence of CCFJ and other real HOA owner organizations, who regard CALL as "Astroturf Roots" as opposed to grass roots. Both these attorneys are with B&P.

E! News - Martha Stewart Living with Opposition - Martha Stewart
Mystery Reader put me onto this story. Interesting situation:

Martha Stewart's plan to trademark the name of her hometown of Katonah, New York, is not a good thing, at least as far as some of her neighbors are concerned. The Katonah Village Improvement Society voted Monday to allow its trademark committee to take the necessary steps to block the domestic diva from securing rights to the town's name. The vote authorized the committee to spend up to $200 in legal costs in order to file formal opposition to Stewart's trademark application. The town has until Apr. 11 to make its case before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The homemaking maven has been the subject of ongoing controversy in the posh Westchester County community since revealing in January that she wanted to license the town's name for use in her various business ventures.

George F. Will - Fuzzy Climate Math - washingtonpost.com
Tom Skiba referred me to this George Will column. It has been unseasonably cold, and on Wednesday here in Chicago we got hit with a major snow storm. I was giving a talk on HOAs at a conference on urban theory at UIC. I started it by speculating that Al Gore must be in town giving a talk on global warming. Remember "the Gore Effect"? As I sit here Saturday the snow is still melting off.

In a campaign without peacetime precedent, the media-entertainment-environmental complex is warning about global warming. Never, other than during the two world wars, has there been such a concerted effort by opinion-forming institutions to indoctrinate Americans, 83 percent of whom now call global warming a " serious problem." Indoctrination is supposed to be a predicate for action commensurate with professions of seriousness.

Realty Times - Canada: Consumer Complaints Drive Amendment to Condominium Law

Fred Pilot sent this. It was originally posted to the HOAs Yahoo group. Did you know that 40% of the new housing in Ontario is in condos?

Rosario Marchese, MPP for Toronto's Trinity–Spadina riding, has put forward Bill 185, An Act to amend Ontario's Condominium Act of 1998, which is currently working its way through the legislative process. On March 22, it passed second reading and was referred to the Standing Committee on General Government. This system relies on MPPs receiving consumer feedback to encourage their support or rejection of such a Bill. Those with personal condominium experiences to share, should contact their MPP. Marchese believes that the intensity of debate and attention focused on creating and passing the current 1998 Condominium Act did not produce a law which fully protects consumers who buy and own a condominium of any type. This Act replaced Ontario's first condominium law enacted in 1978... According to records from the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Marchese justified his Bill by saying:"In fact, 40 per cent of all new housing [in Ontario] is condominium-related, and so it isn't a surprise to me any longer to find that there are a whole lot of condominium owners who are concerned about their relationship to developers in particular ... . They think and they believe [that] they are not being heard, and they're right. This Bill is an attempt to address that problem and to address the growth and the lack of changes that have not kept up with that growth."

deseretnews.com | Flag-flier OK under law, official says
Fred Pilot found this one. After 9/11 HOAs across the nation were making people take down their American flags. Dont' ask me why, but they were. So Congress passed a law protecting flag display rights against HOAs. But we still get examples of HOAs trying to do it anyway. If I live to be a hundred I will never understand this anti-American flag nonsense from community associations. Even CAI tells them not to do this.

DRAPER — A Utah homeowners association will be breaking a federal law — or at least the spirit of the law — if it doesn't allow a Draper veteran to continue flying the American flag on the front of his home, a congressional spokeswoman said.
Lisa Wright, press secretary for Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., said the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 was written to ensure that Americans such as Draper's Kevin Capito are able to fly the flag at their homes.
The legislation was sponsored by Bartlett, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush on July 24, 2006.
Capito said he believes that law is being violated by the Village Townhomes homeowners' association, which, through a property-management company, has ordered him to remove the flag mounted at a 45-degree angle above his front door.
Community Management, which manages the townhomes, notified Capito that the external mounting is in violation of the HOA's covenants, conditions and restrictions because it was not an approved exterior improvement.

thedesertsun.com | HOAs bilked; 60-year-old arrested
Another property manager scandal story, from Fred Pilot:
A 60-year-old Cathedral City woman has been charged with embezzlement for allegedly taking more than $361,000 in a homeowners association scam. San Bernardino sheriff's deputies arrested Mary Lambert Clark, also known as Mary Jacquelin Clark, at 57-459 Buena Suerte Road in Yucca Valley on Tuesday, according to San Bernardino County jail records. Riverside County investigators had issued a warrant for her arrest. Clark managed nine homeowners associations with at least two in Palm Springs, according to a felony complaint filed at the Riverside County Superior Court.

Daily Herald - Man claims law lets him display US flag in condo
From Nancy Levy:
DRAPER, Utah -- A man who spent four years serving in the Air Force says his homeowners association told him to remove his American flag from over the doorway of his home, despite a federal law that protects such displays. "Basically, they said they would put a lien on my house if it wasn't taken down," said Kevin Capito. "Personally, I don't feel it's unreasonable to want to fly the flag."

Sip some wine, mingle, maybe buy a house
Think of this the next time somebody tells you that people who buy into HOAs know exactly what they are getting into. Nice photo of prospective homebuyer chugging wine while looking at a picture of the house of his dreams. No copy of the CC&Rs in sight.

It's common enough for an art gallery to serve wine, or a wine shop to show art, but pairing wine with selling homes may be more unlikely. Yet in downtown Kirkland Thursday evening, visitors to Windermere Real Estate's new Living Room sipped shiraz beside paintings of flowers and pictures of local homes for sale. It's a low-key way for people to start a home search, office owner Aaron Shriner said. "This is their opportunity to come, get information, ask questions then tell us who it is they want to work with."
...Shriner pointed out, without being asked, that he's not going to get buyers drunk so he can sell them a home.

Subprime bailouts would get costly - Apr. 13, 2007
What the heck. We bailed out the S&L industry (well, liquidated it might be a better choice of words). Now the proposal is to bail out the homeowners who gambled and lost in the subprime mortgage market on homes that they couldn't afford. I wonder if there will come a time when somebody proposes a taxpayer bailout for HOAs that didn't set aside enough in reserves to maintain their common areas.

NEW YORK (Money) -- Want to pick up the check for every homeowner who got saddled with a risky mortgage? It's a big one - on the order of $120 billion. Lawmakers and consumer groups in recent weeks have been calling for assistance for those at risk of defaulting on their mortgage. On Wednesday, Congressional Democrats led by Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) advocated steering hundreds of millions of dollars into nonprofits to help the growing number of homeowners who are having trouble paying their mortgage. But economists and industry experts say the cost of a bailout would be significantly more than that. Christopher Cagan, director of research at First American CoreLogic, says rising mortgage payments on adjustable rate loans will force 1.1 million homeowners into foreclosure over the next 6 years. He estimates the cost of paying off the debt for those borrowers would be $120 billion.

Rising foreclosures reshaping communities - USATODAY.com
Here is a Fred Pilot find from USA Today on the impact of the high and rising rate of mortgage foreclosures on neighborhoods, not just the folks who lose their homes. From what I have read, I'd say we aren't yet seeing the light at the end of the foreclosure tunnel. And of course many HOAs are trying to figure out how to handle non-payment issues.

And as thousands of homeowners across the nation are learning, it's not only home values that are being affected by the foreclosure crisis. When foreclosures rise, as they have in Water's Edge and other middle-class areas amid the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market, they can unravel the social fabric and reshape neighborhoods. The crime rate can rise while the quality of the schools goes down. Homeowner associations can see their treasuries drained. Nearby businesses close their doors, and local tax revenue suffers. These problems used to be concentrated in poor, urban and minority neighborhoods where mortgage defaults are more common. The real estate boom, turbo-charged by looser lending standards that began in 2000, changed that. Communities across the country, including some exclusive neighborhoods, have begun to feel the collateral damage of the pandemic use of adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, that required little or no down payments or proof of income.

adn.com | wildlife : Frozen bay turns otters into easy prey
More global warming. I think we all need to dismantle suburbia, scrap our cars and make the tires into sandals, and return to a hunting and gathering economy.

An extra-cold winter on the Alaska Peninsula has frozen sea otters out of the bay and pushed them onto the tundra near Port Heiden where they're easy prey for wolves, humans and hunger.

Urban Dictionary: Gore Effect
I found this link on Instapundit. Now I understand why it is so cold.

Gore Effect



The phenomenon that leads to unseasonably cold temperatures, driving rain, hail, or snow whenever Al Gore visits an area to discuss global warming. Hence, the Gore Effect.

- Australia, November 2006: Al Gore is visiting two weeks before summer begins. The Gore Effect strikes: "Ski resort operators gazed at the snow in amazement. Parents took children out of school and headed for the mountains. Cricketers scurried amid bullets of hail as Melburnians traded lunchtime tales of the incredible cold." (The Age)

- New York, March 2004: "Gore chose January 15, 2004, one of the coldest days in New York City's history, to rail against the Bush administration and global warming skeptics... Global warming, Gore told a startled audience, is causing record cold temperatures." (NY Environment News)

Hillsborough: There goes the neighborhood
This is the nightmare that some Tampa Palms homeowners have been dealing with for four months: Cows. Lots of them. Trampling all over their nice lawns and destroying plants in their gated townhouse community called Palma Vista, where homes run from $300,000 to $450,000. The cattle belong to Abram Cuesta, 52, who rents space on the neighboring 640 acres belonging to the widely known Tampa developer, Giunta Group. No one seems to know exactly how or why the cows are getting into the 80-home Palma Vista complex, but people there want it to stop - so much that the homeowners' association recently filed for an injunction to stop the cows and a lawsuit against Cuesta.