Study: Cut in delta water use needed for fish

Study: Cut in delta water use needed for fish: "The amount of water pumped out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta would have to be cut in half if vulnerable fish populations are going to be preserved for future generations, a state report declared Tuesday."
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The Central Valley of California, one of the nation's most productive agricultural areas, is covered with brown fields because a judge in the delta smelt case ordered the water flow from the delta reduced. That massive litigation continues. Meanwhile, here is the state water board saying it is necessary to cut the flow by half, permanently.

I think water wars are going to be front and center in US and international politics for a long time, and what is happening right now in California is part of the front line.

Record number of Illinois families on food stamps - chicagotribune.com

Record number of Illinois families on food stamps - chicagotribune.com: "CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — More Illinois families are receiving food stamps than ever before as a result of the deepest recession in decades, state officials said Monday.

More than 780,000 Illinois families got food stamps in June, up 11.9 percent from a year earlier, the Illinois Department of Human Services reported. Nationally, 40 million Americans -- 18.7 million households -- use food stamps."
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And because the state legislature hasn't even started to get realistic about cutting the budget, the fact is that this state's economy will continue to get worse for at least another two years.

Interactive map of unemployment since 2007

multimediafinal
This is why the Democrats are panic stricken about the November elections.

Forget What We Said About Inflation, Say Big Investors -- It's DEFLATION You Should Be Worried About

Forget What We Said About Inflation, Say Big Investors -- It's DEFLATION You Should Be Worried About

Over the past six months, the smart money has gone from trying to cash in on the coming hyper-inflation the US will suffer as the Fed desperately tries to re-inflate the economy and destroys the dollar in the process...to reversing course and trying to cash in on a coming deflation.

For example, here's PIMCO guru Bill Gross in the Wall Street Journal:

"Deflation isn't just a topic of intellectual curiosity, it's happening," says Mr. Gross, who runs the $239 billion mutual fund Pimco Total Return Fund, citing an annualized 0.1% decline over the past two years in the U.S. consumer-price index. "It's an uncertain world that's tipping toward deflation."
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This article shows sophisticated investors with no experience with deflation and who worried about inflation their entire lives are having trouble wrapping their minds around the notion that prices can also enter a downward as well as an upward spiral. Federal Reserve policymakers have also been grappling with the depressing prospect of deflation. Their challenge is like that of pilot trying to precisely determine how much throttle to give a plane on the verge of stalling -- which is where the economy is now. Too little and the aircraft stalls and begins falling to the ground. Too much throttle and the engine races out of control, overheating the economy and setting the stage for another crash.

AP analysis: US economic stress heads back up

AP analysis: US economic stress heads back up

After easing for four months, the nation's economic stress worsened in June because more bankruptcies in the West and foreclosures outside the Sun Belt outweighed lower unemployment, according to The Associated Press' monthly analysis of conditions around the country.

The setback halted a drop in month-to-month stress readings that had begun in February. In May, economic stress had declined from the previous month in 33 states. And in April, stress fell in every state but two.

But in June, bankruptcy rates rose in Utah, California, Colorado and Idaho. Higher foreclosures spread to the Midwest, particularly Illinois. This occurred even as foreclosures eased in states that have suffered most from the housing bust, such as Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada.

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It's an economically stressful summer in Privatopia -- the states where the misery index is highest.

A Camry or a Condo?

Condos that cost less than cars

The housing bust has taken down the national median home price by about 23% since 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). But condo have fallen even further, down about 25%.

In Sacramento, Calif., condo prices have fallen 59% from what they averaged in 2007, according to NAR. Miami condo prices have plunged 65%, and in Las Vegas they are off 66%.

Prices of individual units are down even more. One condo in Deerfield Beach, Fla., that sold for $115,000 five years ago now lists for $25,000. That's a drop of nearly 80%.

Much of these price drops can be attributed to over development during the boom. Much of that came in Sand State markets such as Las Vegas Miami and Phoenix, where prices for all properties are have fallen precipitously.

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This tends to happen in a down real estate market. Condos end up going for about the same as a vehicle.

Have jobs become a leading indicator?

Have jobs become a leading indicator?

"Employment typically lags the business cycle, but that doesn't have to be the case," said Karen Dynan, a former Federal Reserve economist now at the Brookings Institution. "The loss of momentum in labor markets in recent months was one of the signals that we weren't entering a self-sustaining recovery."

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Employment is classically a lagging indicator of improved economic activity. But it can also be a leading indicator of continued economic weakness and a W shaped recovery as this article posits.

Layoffs to gut East St. Louis police force

Layoffs to gut East St. Louis police forceGang activity. Drug dealing. Cold-blooded killing. Tracy worries that a decision to shrink the police force by almost 30 percent will bring more of everything.
The pastor voiced his concern on Friday at a raucous special City Council meeting at which East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks announced that the city will layoff 37 employees, including 19 of its 62 police officers, 11 firefighters, four public works employees, and three administrators. The layoffs take effect on Sunday.
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East St. Louis is a high-crime city to begin with. laying off 1/3 of the police force is the last thing they need. I notice they only got rid of three administrators.

So long, middle class - NYPOST.com

So long, middle class - NYPOST.com: "Compared to the rest of the world, American workers are extremely expensive, and the government keeps passing rules, regulations and taxes that make it even more difficult to conduct business here. What has developed is a situation where the people at the top are doing quite well, while the average family barely gets by. Entitlement programs are expanding at unprecedented rates, but it is the people in the middle — who shoulder the costs of these programs, while their salaries stagnate — who are being squeezed in a sea of depressing statistics."
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No kidding--and I get the feeling that a whole lot of these middle class folks understand that they have a big bulls-eye on their chest.

New playground rules: No lone adults - Miami Beach - MiamiHerald.com

New playground rules: No lone adults - Miami Beach - MiamiHerald.com: "Beginning Sunday, anyone 18 or older could face a fine -- or at least get shooed away by police -- if found in a Miami Beach playground without a child.

Intended to protect children from predatory adults, the new rule is part of a national trend -- a municipal corollary to kids-required policies for grown-ups at children's museums."
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Interesting--the article goes on the say that New York City and San Francisco have laws like this already. Hard to see why San Francisco would bother. There are hardly any children there to protect. It's basically just the homeless and the yuppies and their dogs. All the kids seem to be in the Exploratorium, but I saw plenty of "unaccompanied" adults there...very suspicious.

Upscale community may hire coyote trapper | Weird news stories, bizarre news, strange but true stories: Bizarre Florida | tampabay.com & St. Petersburg Times

Upscale community may hire coyote trapper | Weird news stories, bizarre news, strange but true stories: Bizarre Florida | tampabay.com & St. Petersburg Times
Gator trappers do a brisk business in Florida, and now a homeowners association in Parkland is contemplating hiring a coyote trapper, SunSentinel.com reports. Area residents say coyotes are slaughtering their cats, sheep and a dog. (We’ll assume the sheep are not in the gated, upscale CypressHead community.)
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A few years ago, an HOA here in Lake County, IL, hired some meatball who tramped around with a .44 magnum trying to find the mountain lion they were sure was lurking nearby. He never found anything but he did get his name in the paper. Other HOAs have hired people to shoot geese and deer. If you buy a house near Mother Nature, you get animals. Personally, I like the fact that we have coyotes, deer, foxes, possums, raccoons, ground squirrels, herons, red-tailed hawks, owls, and snapping turtles in and around our back yard. I never got this perspective that you can just eradicate any animal species that displeases you.

Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

Regulators close banks in Fla., Ga., Ore., Wash. - Business - msnbc.com

Regulators close banks in Fla., Ga., Ore., Wash. - Business - msnbc.com
Regulators on Friday shut banks in Florida, Georgia, Oregon and Washington, lifting to 108 the number of U.S. banks to fail this year as the industry has struggled to cope with mounting loan defaults and recession.
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And so the recovery continues.

Texas soldier gets home back after foreclosure | texas, dallas, foreclosure - Online Extras - Brownsville Herald

Texas soldier gets home back after foreclosure | texas, dallas, foreclosure - Online Extras - Brownsville HeraldDALLAS (AP) — The Frisco soldier and his family who lost their home to foreclosure while he was serving in Iraq will get the house back.

Army National Guard Capt. Michael Clauer and his wife, May, lost their $315,000 southwest Frisco home in May 2008 after falling behind on Heritage Lakes Homeowners Association dues.

The Clauers sued the association and subsequent buyers in federal court. A court-ordered settlement conference led to an agreement this week that gives the house back to the Clauers.

A gag order prevents those involved from sharing details.
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Gag order? The episode is enough to make anybody gag. And the Texas state legislature is stirring itself into possible action, so stay tuned. But the state-by-state struggle to get simple protections for owners against their HOAs just goes on and on.

Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

States going deeper into debt - Jul. 30, 2010

States going deeper into debt - Jul. 30, 2010
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The states are broke, and like many consumers, they're borrowing big time to get out of their fiscal binds.

The amount of debt that states are carrying spiked 10.3% last year to $460 billion, according to Moody's Investors Service. The debt is paid for through taxes and fees, making residents ultimately responsible.
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Honestly, it amazes me that this situation is getting so little attention. While the press covers Chelsea Clinton's wedding plans, half the states are becoming insolvent.

Congratulations to Marjorie Murray and the Center for California Homeowner Association Law!

Evan: we want to share this announcement with you and with the readers. We look forward to seeing it posted on your blog and your website! We see small claims court and unbundled legal services as crucial tools for achieving justice for homeowners in the courts.

Please do visit our website: we have LOTS of new material on it – including a video of our small claims court workshop.

Regards –

Marjorie Murray, President
Center for California Homeowner Association Law
Oakland, California
www.calhomelaw.org
510.272.9826

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The Center for California Homeowner Association Law (CCHAL) announced today that it has been nominated for the Louis M. Brown award given annually by the American Bar Association.

This national award honors advocates across the country, whose innovative programs improve access to legal services for the working poor and for moderate income people, that is: people who may not qualify for legal aid or pro bono legal services, yet do not have sufficient resources to pay for full-service attorneys.

Announcing the nominees, the Bar Association said, “The sole unifying element of the Brown Award nominees is their dedication to improving access to legal services for those who cannot otherwise afford it and thereby advancing access to justice for all.”

The Center has campaigned for better access to justice by making it possible for homeowners to bring certain issues into small claims court and for training homeowners in small claims court procedures. The Center is also training attorneys to provide “unbundled” or limited scope services. "Limited scope" holds promise as a more affordable way to deliver legal services to the working poor, to seniors, and to others of modest means.

A California superior court judge with in-depth knowledge of the Center’s work, nominated CCHAL for this national award.

Some of the small claims suits filed by homeowners are on the CCHAL website. [Keyword: small claims.] The CCHAL training video on small claims is also on the website. Trainers are two attorneys who are experts in preparing small claims suits. A DVD on preparing a small claims action is also available by mail from CCHAL.

CCHAL NewsBrief
July 20, 2010

Few in U.S. move for new jobs, fueling fear the economy might get stuck, too

Few in U.S. move for new jobs, fueling fear the economy might get stuck, too: "Labor mobility has nearly ground to a halt in the past two years, and policymakers are increasingly worried that the slowdown is not just a symptom of the nation's economic struggles but also a barrier to overcoming them.

With many people locked in homes by underwater mortgages, only 1.6 percent of Americans moved between states in a one-year period that ended in March 2009 -- a labor stagnation not seen in half a century."
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Thanks to Shu Bartholomew for this link. People aren't buying homes because they can't sell the one they have. How can they move to another city without a job to go to, and without selling their home?

AP survey: A bleaker outlook for economy into 2011

AP survey: Economists turn more pessimistic for coming year, but most say rebound will endure

Economic growth the rest of this year and early next year will be weak -- less than 3 percent. For the April-to-June quarter, economists pegged growth at 2.8 percent. That's far below the 3.7 percent pace predicted just three months ago.

-- The unemployment rate will be no lower at the end of the year than it is now -- 9.5 percent. A majority think it will be 2015 or later before the rate falls to a historically normal 5 percent.

-- State budget shortfalls pose a "significant" or "severe" risk to the national economy. The loss of tax revenue has forced state and local governments to cut services and lay off workers.

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Memo to Prof. McKenzie: The economy is indeed post recessionary based on the growth figures above. But it's no great shakes as you are noting from the trailing indicators including unemployment and state budget shortfalls.

President of St. Louis Federal Reserve concerned by prospect of deflation

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Debate is intensifying at the Federal Reserve over how best to cope with a weakening recovery, with momentum growing for a concrete plan to prevent a backslide into recession.

That came into view Thursday as James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, offered a specific proposal. He said the Fed should revive a crisis-era program to buy government debt if the country seems headed toward a bout with deflation.

Bullard, a voting member this year on the Fed's main policy-setting committee, worries that the United States could tip into a Japanese-like bout of deflation if the economy weakens. Deflation is a widespread and prolonged drop in prices of goods, values of homes and stocks, and in wages.

For now, Bullard thinks the deflation risk is still low. But the danger could grow. Buying government debt would energize the economy and nip deflationary forces.

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I believe deflation is a very real and present danger to the economy given the paralyzing gut shot it has taken over the past two and a half years that has sucked out all the money and consequently left a large amount of slack in the economy. All that excess capacity of goods and services can't be bought up because consumers and small businesses don't have a lot of dollars in their pockets to spend on them. They become devalued as a result.

It will be difficult for the nation and its economic policymakers to cope with deflation after four decades of being geared to counteract the threat of inflation starting in the 1970s.

Foreclosures up in 75 percent of top U.S. metro areas | Reuters

Foreclosures up in 75 percent of top U.S. metro areas | Reuters
Foreclosures rose in 3 of every four large U.S. metro areas in this year's first half, likely ruling out sustained home price gains until 2013, real estate data company RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

Unemployment was the main culprit driving foreclosure actions on more than 1.6 million properties, the company said.
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I guess all of us will just have to stay put for another three or four years...

Books - Mission Creep - Administrative Glut - NYTimes.com

Books - Mission Creep - Administrative Glut - NYTimes.com
In 1976, for every 1,000 full-time students, there were 42 professional administrative staff members, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. By 2008, the most recent year available, there were 84. At the same time, the number of full-time faculty members for every 1,000 students has declined, from 65 to 55, due to the greater use of adjuncts and teaching assistants.

While fewer undergraduates are being taught by full-time professors, the number of administrators keeps growing.
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So say political scientist Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus. And they are right.

Tow fees: Chicago suburbs cash in on towing - chicagotribune.com

Tow fees: Chicago suburbs cash in on towing - chicagotribune.com
Great expose by the Chicago Tribune that blows the lid off the auto impound racket. Municipalities have laws that allow the police to impound any vehicle involved in any way in any misdemeanor or felony, or some specified list of crimes, even something as trivial as an expired license or not having proof of insurance. Doesn't matter who was driving, ever if the owner was at home sleeping when it happened. The car gets impounded and then you have to pay hundreds of dollars to get it back. If you don't pay, you lose the car for good.

This is another of those municipal money grabs, like red light cameras and mandating that all new construction has to be in CIDs. There is also a map that shows the entire Chicagoland area with the details of all the various laws.

Thanks to Fred Pilot and Shu Bartholomew

I can't thank Shu and Fred enough for keeping this blog lively while I was away on vacation with my children. I was able to check in from time to time, even though we were driving, camping, sight-seeing, and spending great times with family. The posts and comments were full of insights and what Bruce Lee used to call "emotional content." Great stuff.

I hope they will continue to post things here from time to time as the mood strikes them.

BBC NEWS | Business | How can water be fairly distributed?

BBC NEWS | Business | How can water be fairly distributed? I think issues related to water will be at the center of politics at all levels in the decades to come.

Homeowners Association Spends $300,000 In Legal Fees Over A Pick-Up Truck - The Consumerist

Homeowners Association Spends $300,000 In Legal Fees Over A Pick-Up Truck - The ConsumeristA homeowner in Florida was awarded $187,000 in legal fees from a years-long court battle over the right to park a pick-up truck in his driveway. Now the homeowners association is going to have to pick up the tab for $300,000 in fees.
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How do you react to a story like this? Do you cheer for the owner who won? Or do you lament the fact that every owner in the development now has to pay for the folly of their governing board? In any event, thanks to Mystery Reader for sending it along.

HOA Foreclosures; Necessary Tool or Extortion Racket? - Real Estate Channel Global News Center

HOA Foreclosures; Necessary Tool or Extortion Racket? - Real Estate Channel Global News CenterAlthough the HOA foreclosure crisis is clearly concentrated in the states of Texas, Florida, Arizona and California, the problem is not limited to these states. Some 33 states permit a nonjudicial HOA foreclosure. Unfortunately, we have no reliable statistics on how many of these HOA foreclosure filings actually lead to seizure and sale of the home. The CAI claims that the percentage is very small. Perhaps.

The fact that HOAs are able to file the foreclosure as a threat and then collect several thousand dollars in late fees, interest, fines and attorney fees for a delinquency that may total only $300-$600 has led critics to describe the situation as nothing more than a "shakedown racket."
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Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link to this detailed piece on HOA foreclosures.

Nevada's Economic Misery May Be America's Future

Nevada's Economic Misery May Be America's FutureNevada has a greater concentration of economic misery than any other state. The state's unemployment rate, which in June edged up to 14.2 percent, has risen faster during the past year than it has anywhere else, and nearly six percent of all homes across the state's desert landscape received a foreclosure filing in the first six months of the year.

While the concentration of misery may be greater in Nevada, it was caused by the same unchecked housing bubble and unregulated financial gambling that brought pain to the rest of the country. If present trends go unchecked, Nevada is America's future.
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Now that's a scary thought.

I looked at President Obama's latest job approval numbers and maybe he ought to be scared, too. An average of seven different polls shows that he is currently at 45.7% approval and 49% disapproval. The election is just over three months away.

Home Vacancies Rise as U.S. Ownership Falls to Lowest in Decade - Bloomberg

Home Vacancies Rise as U.S. Ownership Falls to Lowest in Decade - BloombergAbout 18.9 million homes in the U.S. stood empty during the second quarter as surging foreclosures helped push ownership to the lowest level in a decade.

The number of vacant properties, including foreclosures, residences for sale and vacation homes, rose from 18.6 million in the year-earlier quarter, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a report today. The ownership rate, meaning households that own their own residence, was 66.9 percent, the lowest since 1999.
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And yet people keep saying the economy is out of recession--with the housing market still in a trash can and government budgets gushing red ink from the federal government down to the local school districts.

Homesteads and Other Sources of Tax Income - NYTimes.com

Homesteads and Other Sources of Tax Income - NYTimes.comAround the nation, cities and towns facing grim budget circumstances are grasping at unlikely — some would say desperate — means to bolster their shrunken tax bases. Like Beatrice, places like Dayton, Ohio, and Grafton, Ill., are giving away land for nominal fees or for nothing in the hope that it will boost the tax rolls and cut the lawn-mowing bills.

In Boca Raton, Fla., which faces a budget gap of more than $7 million, leaders are thinking about expanding the city’s size and annexing neighborhoods as an antidote. Sure, more residents would cost more in services, but officials hope the added tax revenues will more than make up for it.

And leaders in Manchester, N.H., and Concord, Mass., are taking an approach that might have once seemed politically unthinkable. They are re-examining whether their communities’ nonprofit organizations really deserve to be tax-free.
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Municipal promotion of CIDs is about money, and now cities are getting even more desperate. Soon they will be selling the right to rename the city. BP-Ville! Microsoftburg!

The 18 States Facing The Most Brutal Austerity Cuts

The 18 States Facing The Most Brutal Austerity Cuts
They have Illinois as the third worst, exceeded only by New Jersey and Nevada. I hear the talking heads referring to the "recovery" we are supposedly in, and then I look at the condition of state and local governments and think, "no way, baby."

Professor returns from vacation to find office covered in aluminum foil

News from The Associated PressST. PETER, Minn. (AP) -- A science professor at Gustavus Adolphus College left for a week's vacation this summer and returned to a shiny office. Very shiny. Professor Scott Bur's students had covered his office in aluminum foil. Computer screen, chairs, the ceiling, the floor - all covered in foil. Books and pens were individually wrapped, so was the phone, a ball cap, a bottle and the coffee maker.
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Usually I stick to an aluminum foil hat. Keeps the mind control rays out, you know. Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

Amid Washington Heat Wave, Senator Talks 'Global Cooling'

His Al Gore igloo melted, Sen. Jim Inhofe Not Convinced of Warming Trend

Back in February, when Washington D.C. was buried under record-breaking snowfall and the capital was paralyzed, the nation's chief climate change doubter made much of a small igloo down the street from the Capitol building as he took to the Senate floor to refute climate change.

With municipal pay like this, who needs Privatopia?

BELL, Calif. – Residents in this modest blue-collar Los Angeles suburb where one in six lives in poverty were angry: Their city manager was getting paid more than President Barack Obama and the police chief more than the commander of the nearly 13,000-member LAPD.

* * *

Their mayor and three of their four council members, people they see every day at the grocery store or church, approved the contracts, and put an obscure measure on the ballot that allowed council members to pay themselves any amount of money.

And they did: collecting between $90,000 and $100,000 a year as part-time officials.

- - -
What a deal for counties and cities: not only do they shift the cost of providing services onto privately governed HOAs, they get volunteers to run them as well who are paid zip for doing so.

Real estate deflation hits most large California counties

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Assessed property values in California are likely to decline for the second year running, according to a Bond Buyer review of data from the state’s larger counties.

Even though the state’s tax assessment system has the effect of muting the volatility of property assessments, 11 of the state’s 12 largest counties experienced a decline in their property tax roll this year.

* * *

Even the center of the Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County, was unable to avoid a shrinking roll.

“This is far worse than anyone had expected,” County Assessor Larry Stone said in the news release announcing the tax roll. The roll dropped 2.44%, by $7.4 billion.

“This county has not experienced such a devastating drop in property values since the Great Depression,” he said.

- - -

The data show this isn't a typical real estate correction cycle in which prices fall back to earth following a boom. They're actually falling into a deflationary hole in much of California, which along with Nevada has suffered some of the steepest declines in real estate value in the nation.

Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman recently wrote that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who studied the Depression of the 1930s for his doctoral dissertation, so fears deflation that he reportedly said he'd toss sacks of $100 bills out helicopters to prevent it. Memo to the Chairman: deploy a squadron of black helicopters bearing bags of Benjamins to California, starting in my ZIP Code.

Credit card contracts unreadable for most Americans

Credit card contracts unreadable for 80% of Americans"Credit card contracts and other such documents are written in dense prose for a reason: So that the customer will NOT be able to understand it," notes Roy Peter Clark, a national expert on writing and a senior scholar at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. "I may be cynical, but I don't think their writing strategies are accidental, the collateral damage of a bureaucratic mindset. I think those writers know exactly what they are doing."
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Yes. And one might say the same thing about CC&Rs.

Alligator makes a meal of Tempe Town Lake fish | Phoenix News | Arizona News | azfamily.com | Phoenix News

Alligator makes a meal of Tempe Town Lake fish | Phoenix News | Arizona News | azfamily.com | Phoenix NewsTEMPE, Ariz. -- Since the dam at Tempe Town Lake broke and the lake drained earlier this week, one of the big questions has been what will happen to the fish left behind in the drying lake bed.

Well, let's just say an alligator named Tuesday is getting one heck of a meal.
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And he (or she) has a nice smile, no doubt as the result of a full tummy.

Ohio.com - Judge: Ohio man can't form own Indian reservation

Ohio.com - Judge: Ohio man can't form own Indian reservationLIMA, OHIO: An Ohio man who claimed that his American Indian ancestry makes him exempt from city nuisance laws has been ordered to clean up two homes that have fallen into disrepair.

A judge told William Bowersock on Thursday that he has 30 days to take care of the properties in Lima (LY'-muh).

The judge rejected Bowersock's argument that he had seceded from the local government and formed his own Indian reservation, thereby making him exempt from the city's property code.
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Obviously he should have formed a one-man HOA instead.

Man Pulled Gun On Condo Tenant In Shower

A Boynton Beach homeowner's association member was arrested after pulling a gun on someone in the shower Wednesday, police said.

"He had the gun within 12 inches from my face, shaking his hand," tenant James Korienek said.

Korienek said he came face to face with an armed man inside the Boynton Beach condominium where he lives early Wednesday.

Boynton Beach police said Virgil Wilkinson, a homeowner's association board member, broke into the unit.

"I was locked in the bathroom," Korienek said. "I come out, open the door and the gun is pulled on me like this, and he had the Boynton (Beach) police on the phone. He said, 'Just stand back. Stand back.' And I'm like, 'Virgil, it's me, Jim.'"

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Sounds like a scene out of a Hitchcock movie, doesn't it?

Should Condos have access to privately owned units? Is this an invitation for abuse?

Johnson battles homeowner's association in court

A homeowner's association in Kettering is suing Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) and his wife for allegedly failing to pay assessments to the HOA.

In court papers filed in Prince George's County District Court, the Kettering Community Association is asking for about $1,500 in late assessments and legal fees.

"We had this house for 30 years, paid our dues consistently for 30 years," Johnson said in an interview Friday. "They claim we didn't pay. ... It's only $150 (per year). The next thing I know I get a bill for $1,800 or more ... and [got a notice] they are going to foreclose on my house [from] some lawyer. I got pretty mad. I hired a lawyer representing me. ...

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Mr Johnson says: "There's a pattern that's been really frustrating for us," he said. "You have these developers that come in and they build condominium associations and homeowners associations, but the way the bylaws are drafted, the citizens of Prince George's County never take control over their own communities."

Oh, Mr Johnson, I think the problem is much bigger than that!

Two bodies found in S.W. Reno house that burned after reported explosion

Investigators have found two bodies in the burned-out rubble of a home in an exclusive southwest Reno neighborhood. They have been unable to identify the victims who died in the blaze, which began shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Deputies with the Washoe County Sheriff's Office had attempted to serve an eviction at the home, which was under foreclosure, on Tuesday at about 10:40 a.m. They said they knocked and identified themselves, then heard what sounded like gunfire or an explosion and took cover.
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Thanks to a a friend who alerted me to the story.

No word on whether this was a bank or an HOA foreclosure. Regardless, this is not the first time a homeowner has has self immolated in a burning house they were about to be evicted from. I sometimes think we are a little too cavalier about kicking people out of their own homes in this country.

Petition seeks to have wolves howl across US

Petition seeks to have wolves howl across U.S.

Those wild canines better not howl too close to any exurban HOAs or they may find the HOA will send out the exterminators.

Money missing from St. James HOA leads to embezzlement charge for employee

St. James | Brunswick County Sheriff's Office investigators arrested a Wilmington woman in an embezzlement scheme that siphoned more than $12,000 from the St. James Property Owners' Association.

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Another embezzlement story from Cynthia Stephens.

Carolina Beach woman charged with embezzling $30,000A Carolina Beach woman has been charged with embezzling about $30,000 from homeowners associations

A Carolina Beach woman has been charged with embezzling about $30,000 from homeowners associations whose money she managed.

Michelle Lynn Bowman, 42, of 300 The Cape Boulevard, was arrested June 28 after turning herself in to Carolina Beach police. She is still being held in New Hanover County jail in lieu of $40,100 bond, according to jail officials.

She is accused of using identification numbers from four homeowners associations to get bank cards and withdraw cash, said Lt. Bill Goodson of the Carolina Beach Police Department.

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Thanks to Cynthia Stephens for this story. I wonder how much money is missing from communal coffers in America's hundreds of thousands of residental associations?

California political paradox unveils underlying tension between voters, interest groups

The Los Angeles Times has highlighted a political paradox that's playing out in California and certainly other states and the nation as a whole. While anti-incumbent sentiment remains high (last month, California voters nearly elected an unknown state worker who spent less than $5,000 on his campaign over an incumbent Assemblymember as the GOP nominee for insurance commissioner), it is incumbents whose campaigns are getting funded and not their challengers.

Voters in effect are saying we want new blood and someone not beholden to special interest groups, but we'll elect incumbents over non-incumbents since special interest groups get the incumbents' name out there more than their relatively unknown challengers. The real fight isn't over who gets elected, but between the voters and special interest groups.

The explosion of the Internet, which is already blowing a huge hole in the business models of the mass media, could change the equation. Folks running for office -- particularly in large, populous states like California -- have to raise gobs of money in order to buy political ads from mass media outlets. However, if more voters already sick of junior high school level attack ads decide to ignore them and visit candidates' websites instead, the balance of power is shifted between them and the special interest groups that fund candidates' high priced TV spots.

At Mass this morning, there was a reading from Micah, II,1-3

Sent to me from a friend. Am sharing with permission.
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"Shame on those who lie in bed planning evil and wicked deeds and rise at daybreak to do them, knowing that they have the power!
They covet land and take it by force; if they want a house they seize it; they rob a man of his home and steal every man's inheritance.

Therefore these are the words of the Lord:
Listen, for this whole brood I am planning disaster...

Goodness! I didn't know the CAI-HOA was active then, too!

Texas HOA property owners outraged over lack of transparency, questionable expenditures

The neighbors wanted everyone to know exactly where their dues were going, so they also presented their findings at a recent HOA meeting that got so out of control some people were threatened with arrests.

"People are outraged," exclaimed Peggy Sue Wilson-Schmueckle. She’s the homeowner leading the fight to rid the association of what she calls gross mismanagement of funds by the board. “Once we uncovered it and did an audit, people were very outraged. They want them [the current board] to resign.”

The information we uncovered explain why the homeowners are so bent out of shape. Records detail board meetings at nice restaurants; meetings that were not open to the public. We also found a document showing a $4,200 expense paid to the board president's son-in-law for brush work he did in the neighborhood. Additional records showed the HOA donated thousands of dollars to random charities. The HOA even gave more than $1,300 to a group of HOA lawyers to help them lobby the legislature.

Florida HOA threatens $100 a day fine for unapproved shade of mulch

Lynn of Davie couldn’t believe her eyes, but a letter from her homeowners association confirmed the worst: She faces a potential $100-a-day fine for having the wrong-colored mulch in front of her house.

Lynn tells me that her problems began when the Association made it known it was displeased that home’s mulch had thinned out too much and needed replacing. To appease the board, Lynn and her husband added new match, but apparently the golden shade of mulch the couple chose was not in accordance with what the Association wants. Thus the ultimatum: Put in new mulch or pay $100 a day until you do.

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As the owner of this blog has noted, there seems to be no limit to how frivolous HOAs can be.

Homeowners Associations Get Nasty: Foreclose or Sue to Collect Dues

In 30 states, HOAs have the power to foreclose on homeowners who do not pay up, which has made them even more vilified than the IRS!And now some are resorting to cutting off utilities: A Georgia woman has been living without water for more than a year now, all because she failed to pay her HOA dues.

Texas State Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas), who serves as president of a huge national realty property management firm with $400 million revenue, says the Texas law that permits HOAs to foreclose should not be changed. Tweaked, but not changed. When you sign for your mortgage, he said, you also sign and legally agree to be a part of the homeowners association. That's fair -- you are duly warned and don't have to buy the property if you don't like the association's terms (my words). He advises buyers to read HOA rules carefully before buying. Seek counsel, if necessary. He also says that homeowners who don't pay their share of homeowners association dues force a hardship on other homeowners in the neighborhood, who often have to kick in more for expenses.

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Life is so simple, "if you don't like it, move" or better yet, "Don't live there". If you sign your mortgage docs, you agree to be abused, fined, have your water turned off, get evicted from your own home.

And you thought the IRS was the most hated entity in the country.

Ah yes, more happy homeowners Zogby missed - this time around.

Sailor faces fine for leasing condo

Homeowner's association charges sailor $10 a day CHEASPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) - For three years, the condo on Rivanna River Reach was home for Mike Lukaszonas.
But when the Navy transferred the helicopter pilot to Florida, he started leasing his home to someone else to help pay for the mortgage. He asked his homeowner's association for permission
"They decided unanimously to vote no," said Mike Lukaszonas, "and the reason was never cited in the letter. They just said denied."

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Another genius board at work here.

I wonder if Zogby ever talked to anyone in this haven of happy homeowners?

Power company tells customer she is dead

Power company tells customer she is dead

VIENNA (Reuters) – An Austrian woman has had to convince her electricity supplier that she is alive after the company wrote to her asking for information about her contract following her "passing away."

In a personally addressed letter, the Linz-based company said it had heard of her death through her bank, daily Oesterreich reported on Thursday.

"I am not the dead one," 58-year-old Christine R. wrote back in a fax and email to the company, explaining that it was her neighbor who had died and she was the custodian. She eventually went to the customer center in person to prove her existence.

The Next Foreclosure Fight

CNBC does a segment oh HOA foreclosures. Tom Skiba of CAI defends the HOA's ability to foreclose and Bill Davis does a great job of presenting the other side. You can view the video clip at this link.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?play=1&video=1544519000

HOA Turns Off Marietta Woman's Water

MARIETTA, Ga. - A condominium owner who's been without water for over a year is pleading with the Magnolia Lane Homeowner's Association in Marietta to turn her water back on. Helen Burgess says she is trying to pay off her debt but says the HOA just won't work with her.



Burgess' attorney said if the Magnolia Lane HOA accepted Burgess' offer last year, she would've shaved close to $3,000 off her debt, but now she's added another $3,000.

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They're all heart, these HOAs, aren't they? They won't work with her and instead of making it easy, they just make it harder for her.

Here is another happy homeowner Zogby missed. An "isolated incident"? I think not.

On the front lines in Vegas: Economic firefight erupts from residential real estate crash

In Clark County, Nevada there's little tolerance for owners of foreclosed REO (Real Estate Owned) properties who fail to keep them up to county building and HOA standards. Clark County is levying daily fines of $1000 for failure to correct violations of Clark County Code Title 11, the Rehabilitation of Abandoned or Rental Residential Property, according to this Las Vegas Business Press story. The newspaper reports the fines and similar sanctions levied by homeowners associations "have already chased away prospective buyers" who would have to pay them.

The upshot is if REOs aren't maintained and the fines rapidly accumulate into big liens, the properties could ultimately become worthless since the cost to acquire them with the county and/or HOA liens tacked on could reach an appreciable fraction of their already depressed market value.

This is a real economic firefight arising out of the residential real estate crash that could end up with no winners and plenty of casualties. The owners of the REOs would lose and so would Clark County and HOAs with their jurisdictions littered with unmarketable, dilapidated properties.

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to buy condos

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Some Orange County condo owners are living with a nasty green swimming pool and large holes in the buildings even though the owners pay more than $250 a month in homeowner association dues.WFTV learned Tuesday that the property managers at the Silver Pines Apartments on Pine Chase Drive (see map) , near Silver Star Road, won't do anything to fix the problems.Brenda Mallard has a nice condo inside, but it's the outside she's worried about.“I'm angry, yes, I am angry because it's ridiculous," Mallard said.Four the past four years, she's seen the place go from bad to worse and she's not the only one who feels that way."It's just bad, man, it's just really bad," condo owner James White said.There are holes under the eaves, you can look straight into the attic at night, and people there say they hear animals running around inside. Then there's the swimming pool, which is filled with green goop. No one has gone swimming there in years.
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Sounds like something out of a Joe Bob Briggs drive in movie review that might read as follows: Pool filled with green goop. Rats in the attic. Indoor rainfall. Condo fu. Film at 11 on WFTV channel 9. Three stars. Joe Bob says check it out.

Blagojevich: Musings of ex-governor included Bleep the public, Oprah for senator

CHICAGO -- Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich may or may not have broken the law, but he sure did hate his job. He reviled his political enemies, mocked many of the candidates for a vacant U.S. Senate seat and disparaged the voters who failed to appreciate his talents.

"Only 13 percent of you all out there think I'm doing a good job. So [expletive] all of you," the salty-tongued Blagojevich (D), referring to poll numbers, said in a secretly taped conversation played at his federal corruption trial.

By the time Democrat Barack Obama had won the White House in 2008, the two-term governor was deeply in debt and obsessed with finding a new job that paid well. He spent as few as two hours a week in the office, sometimes hiding in the restroom to avoid his budget director.

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Why is it we manage to elect the worst candidates for leadership positions in this country? Is it because the good leaders don't run for office? Here is another gem!

Economists see U.S. recovery weakening: survey

Economists see U.S. recovery weakening: survey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy will lose steam as the year progresses but will not slide back into recession, even though unemployment is unlikely to fall significantly, according to a survey released on Saturday.

The Blue Chip Economic Indicators survey of private forecasters found analysts increasingly glum about the outlook. They now see the economy expanding just 3.1 percent in 2010, down from 3.3 percent in the June poll.

They do not, however, envisage a renewed period of contraction, which has been widely debated in financial markets in recent weeks.

"Our panelists think talk of a double-dip recession is overblown absent a new, major shock," the group said in its report.

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One of the more significant parts of this economic story is near the end:

Along with more moderate growth, inflation is expected to remain extremely tame. Forecasters are looking for a 0.9 percent increase in prices for 2010 as a whole, the smallest rise since 1950.

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When the economy gets the stuffing knocked out of it to the extent it has over the past three years of 2007-2010, the danger of deflation looms. Think of deflation as reverse inflation. Instead of the cost of goods and services being ratcheted up, prices enter a self reinforcing spiral of decline. Instead of too much money chasing too few goods and services, there’s too little money chasing a plethora of products and services. They become undervalued instead of overvalued.

Unlike in an inflationary economy where people accelerate buying decisions in the hope of beating price increases, in a deflationary economy these decisions are delayed with the expectation that prices will decline and a better deal can be had simply by waiting. With consumers tapped out of credit and many unemployed, waiting becomes far easier. That of course retards economic growth, stalling a speedy recovery.

The last time the economy was tanked by speculation and excess leverage was in the Great Depression of the 1930s. It lasted about ten years. We are in a similar situation today. The decade of 2010-20 could end up as a deflationary “lost” decade that people endure and muddle through until a more sustainable socio-economic environment emerges. The deflationary decade may in retrospect mark the death of an economy driven by excess consumerism, speculation and leverage, a passing necessary to make way for the birth of a new and more sustainable economy.

Homeowners association demands removal of energy-efficient door

Ashley Woods West resident says California Solar Rights Act protects his right to use the passive solar door

When Frank Sigrist installed a passive solar garage door in his Granite Bay house, he forgot to submit an application to his homeowner’s association.

He filed the required documents a month or so later, thinking he wouldn’t be denied permission because the $10,000 state-of-the-art door is energy efficient and aesthetically pleasing — besides, the garage sits far back off the street in this upper-end gated community.

“It’s not going to be a big deal,” Sigrist said.

But he was wrong.

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Nah, who would have thunk it?

But board members are reasonable people, acting reasonably, right?

Moral hazard in the jumbo mortgage marketplace

NYT: Biggest Defaulters on Mortgages Are the Rich

LOS ALTOS, Calif. — No need for tears, but the well-off are losing their master suites and saying goodbye to their wine cellars.

The housing bust that began among the working class in remote subdivisions and quickly progressed to the suburban middle class is striking the upper class in privileged enclaves like this one in Silicon Valley.

Whether it is their residence, a second home or a house bought as an investment, the rich have stopped paying the mortgage at a rate that greatly exceeds the rest of the population.

More than one in seven homeowners with loans in excess of a million dollars are seriously delinquent, according to data compiled for The New York Times by the real estate analytics firm CoreLogic.

* * *

Lenders are fearful that many of the 11 million or so homeowners who owe more than their house is worth will walk away from them, especially if the real estate market begins to weaken again. The so-called strategic defaults have become a matter of intense debate in recent months.

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Moral hazard -- the risk that parties to a financial transaction won't honor their obligations -- played a major role in the Wall Street crash in the fall of 2008. Now it poses a problem in the jumbo mortgage market: mortgages of $500K on up. Since a lot of these highly leveraged, high end properties lie within the upscale gated communities of Privatopia, they pose a risk for their HOAs as well since these "walk away" homeowners will have no qualms about also walking away from their HOA assessments.

East Bridgewater condo association learns hard lesson

EAST BRIDGEWATER —
Residents of Hillcrest Village in East Bridgewater learned a hard fiscal lesson when they let one person control the condo association’s money.
The group’s former treasurer, Edward M. Richards, 55, is now charged with embezzling $102,000 from the association.
“To let one person control the money is a horrible idea,” said Bob McBride, CEO of the Dartmouth Group, a condo and property management company based in Bedford, “because people don’t ask the right questions.”
The safest bet for associations – and other groups – is to have more than one person watching the books and sharing responsibility for the money.
“When it comes to finances, you absolutely need to go with a management company,” said Pamela Brown, a unit owner and former condo association trustee at another complex.
Brown is a 27-year resident of Pomponoho Pines Condominiums in East Bridgewater – a 128-unit complex just yards from Hillcrest Village.

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I am gobsmacked! There must be something in HOA waters that addles people's thinking.

Millions of dollars have been embezzled by management company employees. As long as HOAs can operate under cover of darkness, embezzlement will be a very real part of association living.

National Anthem a no-go at La Casa

Residents were informed through the La Casa Activity Association president Clint Van Tassell's monthly report. He wrote, "We will inform all our musical groups that if they are performing any patriotic-type routine, at the end of the dance, they are not to perform 'The Star-Spangled Banner' or 'O Canada,' but are requested to use 'God Bless America.' "
Van Tassell wrote, "It is the feeling of the Board that this covers all of the Americas adequately. It is our request that any La Casa Clubs having a musical group follow this policy."


There are many rules that some of our residents don't care for," said Activity Association secretary Dorothy Freiler Wednesday. "We tried to establish a policy without offending people. Nobody has an objection to the 'Star Spangled Banner.' "
Freiler said the songs "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and "America the Beautiful" are more "singable."
" 'The Star Spangled Banner" has a wide range of notes that some people can't reach," she said. "Other patriotic songs are more singable."

=======

Aren't HOAs great? They even choose your music for you so you don't have to. I feel like singing "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood." I wonder if it is on the approved song list in my neighborhood?

Ex-Employee Gets 10 Years For $700,000 HOA Theft

HOA Thefts Raised Questions About Financial Controls

ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. -- A former employee was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday for stealing more than $700,000 from homeowners associations in metro Denver.
Stacey Lynn Chevarria, who worked for Vista Management in Westminster, admitted she stole the money, authorities said. She was sentenced in Adams County District Court.
The thefts surfaced in October 2009 when Vista Management President Cindy Combs and her bookkeeper were trying to reconcile bank books and discovered money missing, police said.

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More evidence that HOAs need the power to foreclose. Heavens, if they didn't some homeowners might not pay their assessments and that justwouldn't be fair, would it?

Hmmmm, something just isn't quite clicking.

Strings put on beach-front buyouts

GALVESTON — Some West End homeowners, worried about the city’s plans for beach-front properties acquired through a federal buyout program, want the city to restrict what it does with the newly public land in their neighborhoods.As part of its agreement to buy 64 hurricane-damaged houses under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, the city asked those property owners to obtain releases from the homeowners associations so the city wouldn’t have to pay association fees or follow deed restrictions. Homeowners associations typically have some legal authority through deed covenants over how property is used.However, some homeowners associations are refusing to release the properties until the city agrees to leave the land as open space, City Attorney Susie Green said.

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It just keeps getting more and more interesting.

Thanks to Fred Fischer for this story.

Corolla resort manager sentenced

The property manager of a Corolla resort community has been sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to embezzling nearly $1 million from her employer.


The embezzled money came primarily from association dues and assessments collected from nearly 100 Buck Island homeowners as well as monies set aside by property owners for ongoing maintenance and repair of their homes, the release states.

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Let's see, HOAs must have the power to foreclose because without it some owners won't pay their dues which just won't be fair on the other owners. Right? But what about all the money that is embezzled from these same poor homeowners? Why is a million dollars" an isolated incident" but a couple of hundred dollars in unpaid assessments cause for foreclosure?

vLog - 29 June 2010: Homeowner's Associations - Putting the "ass" in association

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxx37s5tzdg

Interesting commentary on associations and why it is so difficult to get more homeowner friendly laws passed in Texas. Thanks to Bill Davis for the link.

In North Bay Village, Fraud and Witchcraft Haunt a Condo Building

There are lots of condo association spats and scams in the tiny, scandal-ridden hamlet of North Bay Village. Most of them are pretty boring. That's because most of them don't involve a wrathful warlock.

The situation got stranger last week when tenants found a flyer posted on every door and littering the parking lot, declaring Laracuente's enemies were "annoying bitches" and continued, "All they know how to do is create chaos. Oh, daughters of Lucifer, that ye have been born... only for procreation purposes and to favor evil. We damn our luck for these people joining our community."

Meanwhile, there has been "no maintenance, no cleaning, [and] no garbage collection" since the mystic shit hit the fan, says North Bay Village Vice Mayor Reinaldo Trujillo. "It's a mess. If this situation isn't irregular, I don't know the definition of the word."

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Ah yes, just as Zogby discovered in the CAI poll of "Happy Homeowners", all is well in condo and HOA land.

Controversy Over the American Flag

Controversy is brewing over a flag pole in Woodstock, Georgia. A homeowner is asked to take down the pole flying an American flag.

Jon Hansen has lived in Woodstock's Summerchase subdivision for a decade. The disabled army veteran and former law enforcement officer has flown an American flag outside his Summer Point Drive home since moving in.

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Here we go again. Oh, when will they ever learn?

This same issue keeps coming up over and over again. When will people, vets or plain old citizens, be allowed to live in peace in their own homes?

HOA rules conflict with energy savings

Homeowner battles HOA, wants her roof to reflect an energy-saving ethic

Zoom in on the Google Maps satellite view of University Acres in east Orlando, and the rooftops along Charlie Piper's cul-de-sac look like dark-gray, asphalt stepping stones baking in the sun.

Piper wants to change that. She wants to replace her dark roof with a white one that better reflects the sun and conserves energy inside her home.

Her homeowners association, though, disapproves.

San Diego homeowner finds naked man asleep on sofa

San Diego homeowner finds naked man asleep on sofa

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A San Diego resident awoke to a shocking discovery: a naked stranger passed out on his downstairs sofa.

San Diego police Lt. Jim Filley says the Pacific Beach homeowner called police after wandering downstairs Sunday morning and finding the snoring man.

Filley says the naked man was drunk and thought he was in his own home in Mission Valley, some 20 miles away.

The man, whose name wasn't released, had taken off his clothes outside the house and walked in through the unlocked front door.

The homeowner declined to press charges. And since the intruder had sobered up, he was released to find his own way home.

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Hey, it's summer at the beach in one of America's best beach towns. Whaddya expect?

Don't mess with Texas: Your home is not your castle; outlaw HOAs

Chuck Bloom: It's my castle -- not an HOA's

Some state laws hold that concept to be true; it's your castle if an unwanted intruder invades your property and you use your legally registered weapon to defend yourself – even with lethal force. Even anti-gun advocates have understood such thinking.

But when the intruder goes through the courts and takes the property with a pen, it's not your castle, and you have little say about it. Because of various factors (such as the almighty dollar), that's deemed acceptable behavior.

The very existence of homeowner associations should be outlawed in Texas, but, because of the overwhelming influence of major political donors (including major Texas homebuilders, who create the HOAs), we're left to read about such travesties that befell the Clauer family of Frisco.

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I wonder if Chuck Bloom is related to John Irving Bloom aka Joe Bob Briggs, Dallas comedian and drive in movie reviewer.

(Home sells on courthouse steps for tiny fraction of value. Property owner left SOL. Media and blogosphere outrage. HOA foreclosure fu. One star. Joe Bob says check it out.)

media-ocracy

media-ocracy This is a new blog run by Anthony DiMaggio, a political scientist (and friend of mine) who has a lot of very interesting things to say about politics and the media.

ALIEN TELLS LARRY KING TO LEAVE CNN | Weekly World News

ALIEN TELLS LARRY KING TO LEAVE CNN | Weekly World News
That's the only possible explanation.

Let record show: Blago an equal-opportunity disparager :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Gov. Blagojevich

Let record show: Blago an equal-opportunity disparager :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Gov. Blagojevich
$#*+%! | If you can't say something nice...
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When you string all these bon mots together like this, it is hilarious. Until you realize that he was elected Governor of Illinois, and then re-elected.

Price cuts mount as condos linger in Chicago - chicagotribune.com

Price cuts mount as condos linger in Chicago - chicagotribune.com
A trio of condo developments — one small, one medium and one large — announced price cuts recently as the market readjusts in a post-tax credit market and lenders show their nervousness about the summer selling season.

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I guess the realtors will tell us this means it's TIME TO BUY!

A taxing dilemma: Rising property taxes are strangling some homeowners, especially the elderly (With Video)

A taxing dilemma: Rising property taxes are strangling some homeowners, especially the elderly (With Video)

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Pennsylvania is noted for its multiplicity of townships, boroughs, counties and other local government units that along with school districts make for big property tax bills.

When those taxes go up, seniors on fixed incomes feel squeezed. This cohort along with apartment building owners allied in 1978 to pass California's historic Proposition 13 to limit property taxes. That tax revolt spread throughout the nation and is a key driver of local government privatization. Will the Keystone State be the next battleground?

Don’t Know Much About History?

There’s good news for American education. About three-quarters of residents — 74% — know the U.S. declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776. The bad news for the academic system — 26% do not.

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Do you suppose Zogby polled the 26% who did not know when they conducted the CAI "Happiness" polls? Yes? No? What do you think?

Special districts also suffer from HOA-itis

It's understandable why residents want local control of fire protection, parks and water. Hundreds of special districts sprouted across California to provide such services.

But there's a disturbing downside to the proliferation of all these fiefdoms, particularly independent special districts that have their own elected boards and run their own affairs.

As the 2009-10 Sacramento County grand jury's final report laid out in excruciating detail, because so many operate outside the same kind of public scrutiny trained on city councils and county boards of supervisors, there's an appalling lack of financial transparency, accountability and oversight.

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Special districts have been suggested as public alternatives to private local HOA government. Unlike HOAs organized under state corporation codes, special districts are governmental entities authorized by state government codes. As this Sacramento Bee editorial points out, however, special districts often lack an open, responsible and accountable governance ethic and require better oversight. Notably, the editorial describes special districts as fiefdoms, a term often applied to HOAs.

This suggests that the smaller and more local a form of government, the more likely cult of personality instead of rule of law will be the predominating governing standard. Since they are small, they are more able to hide in the cracks and avoid the disinfecting sunlight of public and media scrutiny.

It's worth bearing in mind for those seeking an alternative to private local government. Ditto for those who contend smaller government is closer and thus more accountable to its constituents. In theory perhaps but not necessarily in practice.

Payback Time - Budget in the Red, Illinois Has Stopped Paying Bills - NYTimes.com

Payback Time - Budget in the Red, Illinois Has Stopped Paying Bills - NYTimes.com

For the last few years, California stood more or less unchallenged as a symbol of the fiscal collapse of states during the recession. Now Illinois has shouldered to the fore, as its dysfunctional political class refuses to pay the state’s bills and refuses to take the painful steps — cuts and tax increases — to close a deficit of at least $12 billion, equal to nearly half the state’s budget.

Then there is the spectacularly mismanaged pension system, which is at least 50 percent underfunded and, analysts warn, could push Illinois into insolvency if the economy fails to pick up.

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And I sincerely believe that the Illinois "dysfunctional political class" will not do anything to pull the state out of its death spiral.

State and local gov't workers' job security fades

State and local gov't workers' job security fades

States and municipalities are facing gaping budget gaps. Many have responded by slashing services, raising taxes and, for the first time in decades, making deep job cuts.

And public employees should brace themselves: Some economists say the job cuts could worsen in the second half of the year.

Counting companies that work with state governments, a total of 900,000 jobs could be lost to states' budget shortfalls, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank in Washington.
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Certainly private local government -- mandatory membership property owner associations -- has been adversely affected by the economic downturn as chronicled in the many posts to this blog over the past couple of years. As Evan McKenzie pointed out On the Commons last weekend, precisely because it's private government, there's little publicly available data on associations that makes it difficult to quantify how the recession has affected them.

There's evidence that the economic downturn isn't affecting public and private local government evenly. Texas attorney David Kahne notes in an item I posted earlier this week that economic pain in Privatopia has translated into economic gain for association management and law firms foreclosing on association properties in arrears on HOA assessments. My guess is county tax collectors conducting tax sales to recover delinquent property taxes aren't making much if any money on these sales.

Local HOA's creative way to make money

Kara Kostanich
BOYNTON BEACH---A Boynton Beach Homeowners Association will soon be making money from a neighborhood foreclosed home.

President of Los Mangos Properties Owners Association Kathleen Dougherty said, "it will go back to the people and it will go back to the people and it will be spread throughout the community to pay our bills."
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What a concept! By the sounds of things HOAs can either fine people to balance their budgets or rent out foreclosed property and collect the rent.

Is it time to ask whether or not this idea of forced communal living is viable and worth preserving?

Genetic Secrets of Living to 100

A massive genetic study of people who lived for more than 100 years has found dozens of new clues to the biology of aging.

--“It shows that genetics plays an extremely important role at these extreme ages. And it begins to be a not-unsolvable puzzle,” said Boston University gerontologist Thomas Perls. “If we start looking at these genes and what they do, we better understand the biology of extreme longevity.”

--People who’ve reached that mark tend to have lives that are not only exceptionally long, but unusually healthly. Unlike most people, they rarely develop diseases of aging — such as heart disease, metabolic disease, cancer and dementia — until well into their 90s. They’re also more likely to bounce back from disease, rather than entering a spiral of declining health.
That manner of aging is a goal for most people, and a public health necessity. Modern medicine has had success in slowing individual aging diseases, but when one is postponed another soon emerges. Americans are living longer but not healthier.

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I wonder if the scientists will look into the effects of HOA living on longevity?

The big question, in my mind though is whether it is worth living to a ripe old age if it meant being stuck in an HOA ?

Public local government beats private local government -- but sometimes it's like an HOA

Grand Jury Blasts City Council

“Major changes” are needed to a South Lake Tahoe City Council that is constantly bickering, routinely drops controversial issues, and operates at a “barely functional level,” according to the 2009-2010 El Dorado County grand jury report.

— “Constant hostility and bickering among members of the City Council and their unprofessional conduct has resulted in a consistent 3/2 split vote creating two 'camps' of Council members. The voting often appears to be the result of Council members pursuing personal agendas rather than operating in the best interests of the City. The bickering and nitpicking between Council members during meetings, combined with hostile comments to media outlets and behind the scenes ‘back biting' has resulted in the failure to address routine and important business entrusted to the Council by the citizens of the City of South Lake Tahoe.

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Private government such as employed by mandatory membership homeowner associations is a non sequitur. Americans see local government as a public function and expect it to be transparent and accountable. Privatizing government through nonprofit corporation law creates an inherent contradiction and uses the law in a setting in which it was never intended to operate.

Unlike private HOA government, public forms of local government have a well established governance culture and are generally served by experienced, well trained professional staff. By contrast, HOAs are governed by property owners who are typically reluctant volunteers who muddle along from year to year. Turnover is high among board members and contracted, part time professional advisors who may or may not place the HOA's best interests first. This governance gap, I believe, accounts for much of the dsyfunction and abuse of power in HOA governance at the same time HOAs have become deeply ingrained in the structure of local government as the owner of this blog has noted.

That said, public local government isn't perfect. Sometimes their elected bodies resemble amateurish HOA boards as this story out of South Lake Tahoe, Calif. illustrates. However, no grand juries investigate HOAs and issue recommendations on how they can improve such as is the case here.

Missing Links

Sorry folks, I thought I had provided a hyperlink in the titles to the articles I posted. Here they are:

William Gammon: Prosecutor's Not Happy The Accused Child Porn User's Out On Bond
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/06/gammon_child_porn.php

Group Hit In 'Hebrew Race' Discrimination Case
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mostpopular/24094600/detail.html

Bushnell on the Park Condominium Association placed in receivership
http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news13775.html

Group Hit In 'Hebrew Race' Discrimination Case

A civil rights trial against a homeowner's association accused of discriminating against Jewish members has ended in a settlement that is believed to be the largest in Plymouth County history.

The jury awarded the Prescotts $600,000 for the violations of their civil rights and an additional $150,000 for nuisance. Together, with interest, the judgment is in excess of $1.2 million.
The jury awarded Scott J. Hyman $850,000 for the violations of his civil rights and an additional $100,000 for nuisance. Together, with interest, the judgment is in excess of $1.3 million.

In addition, within weeks of an association member's comments that "someone is going to burn him (Hyman) out," Hyman’s home in Middleboro, Mass., was torched and burned to the ground, according to Minchoff. There is an ongoing arson investigation.

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I am guessing Zogby never polled the Prescotts or Scott Hymen to find out if things were going well in their neighborhood and if they were happy with the HOA.

William Gammon: Prosecutor's Not Happy The Accused Child Porn User's Out On Bond

William Gammon, the attorney who's pushed for aggressive homeowners' associations in court and in the legislature, is out on bond on charges of possessing a pornography stash described by an investigator as "one of the largest collections of extremely young children he had ever seen."

According to the [ICE] special agent, Gammon's collection consisted primarily of young males and females under the age of 12, with many being infants 2 to 3 years old. The images and videos showed the young males and females, some as young as 3 months, being vaginally and anally penetrated, bound, gagged, and bleeding from their orifices. One particular image showed a 6 month old female on her back, with her hands and feet bound, a red gag in her mouth, her genitalia spread, and a message written across her abdomen saying "lick me here," with an arrow pointing to her genitalia.

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Oh, how absolutely horrible. It is sickening, really sickening. How can people do that to children?

Bushnell on the Park Condominium Association placed in receivership

"It is the first time, to my knowledge, that a receiver has been appointed for a condo association in Connecticut," Starble said. "It is an extraordinary measure, but it was made necessary by extraordinary circumstances. My clients applaud the court's decision to provide an equitable temporary remedy for home owners who have been the victims of egregious breaches of fiduciary duty. As a result of the actions of Bushnell Regency, the Association finds itself in financial distress and with a building in disrepair. To be clear, this situation is not a result of the economy; it is a result of one company's actions."

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Protecting property values, I presume.

http://theweek.com/article/index/204550/the-illegals-russian-spies-living-in-america

It sounds like the plot of a Cold War thriller: Russian spies living in the suburbs, using invisible ink, code names and "dead drops." The FBI says it's been going on for years.
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I wonder if this alleged plot of suburban Soviet-style espionage involved penetrating the HOA power apparatus to get a real insider view of how local government is increasingly organized in the U.S.A.

http://www.gpb.org/news/2010/06/29/not-so-neighborly-associations-foreclosing-on-homes

David Kahne, a Houston lawyer who advises homeowners, says that in Texas, the law is so weighted in favor of HOAs, he advises people that instead of hiring him, they should call their association and beg for mercy.

"I suggest you call the association and cry," he says.

If a homeowner misses a couple of association dues payments, the s250 or s500 they owe often becomes s3,000 after the association's lawyers add their legal fees, Kahne says.

It's not the HOA that has to pay the lawyer's bill but the delinquent homeowner. If the homeowner wishes to contest and loses, the owner is on the hook for legal fees that could run deep into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Kahne says that as the economy has gone under, HOA management companies and lawyers have been making millions off homeowners through this foreclosure process.

"We're having literally thousands of lawsuits filed over very small amounts of money," Kahne says. "And those very small amounts of money rapidly become large amounts of money when the association attorneys add their bills."

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These are the worst of times and the best of times in Privatopia, USA. Texas attorney David Kahne reports as the HOA foreclosure machine grinds up delinquent homeowners and auctions off their properties for a relative pittance, the community association industry is enjoying a bonanza of legal and other fees. And as with mortgage lenders, homeowners in arrears can only beg for forbearance since they don't have the law on their side in most states that allow nonjudicial foreclosure by HOAs, Kahne notes.

Kagan Declines To Say Gov't Has No Power to Tell Americans What To Eat

Welcome guest blogger Fred Pilot

I am pleased to welcome Fred Pilot as co-guest blogger (with Shu Bartholomew) during my more-or-less absence for vacation. Fred has been sending me articles practically daily for years, and he is one of the most knowledgeable and perceptive people you can find anywhere on these issues. I am honored to have Fred on board.

Thanks, Fred and Shu!

Welcoming guest blogger Shu Bartholomew

On July 1 I will be leaving on vacation with my three children and we will not be back until around July 21. We will be camping in Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, visiting San Francisco, and doing other fun things. It will be hard for me to stay current on this weblog, so Shu Bartholomew has graciously agreed to serve as a guest blogger while I am away. I will contribute whenever I have the time and an internet connection, but it is hard to say how often that will be. 

Shu, as most of you know, is the creator and grand empresario of On the Commons, the weekly radio show that has featured just about everybody who knows anything about common interest housing.  Thanks, Shu!