Parking problem pits neighbor against neighbor in HOA battle | WFLA.com

Parking problem pits neighbor against neighbor in HOA battle | WFLA.com

"HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – When you drive through the Kings Lake subdivision in southern Hillsborough County, you may notice nice homes, well-kept yard and cars parked at odd angles across driveways.The strangely parked cars are the result of an ongoing battle between residents and the Homeowners Association."

What Happened to the American Boomtown? - The New York Times

What Happened to the American Boomtown? - The New York Times: "Interstate mobility nationwide has slowed over the last 30 years. But, more specifically and of greater concern, migration has stalled in the very places with the most opportunity...The places that are booming in size aren’t the economic boomtowns — the regions with the greatest prosperity and highest productivity. In theory, we’d expect those metros, like the Bay Area, Boston and New York, to be rapidly expanding, as people move from regions with high unemployment and meager wages to those with high salaries and strong job markets. That we’re not seeing such a pattern suggests that something is fundamentally amiss. The magnets aren’t working. "
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The article contends that the culprit is the cost and availability of housing in the places with the most opportunity. And that happens because the people who live in those places oppose new housing construction. San Francisco would have a much greater population if those who already live there weren't able to block residential real estate development--so the argument goes.

Special report: Can we build our way out of the housing crisis? - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Special report: Can we build our way out of the housing crisis? - The San Diego Union-Tribune: "San Diego County should be awash in new housing projects.

Unemployment is low and wages are rising. Many millennials are marrying, having children and aiming to buy. Their parents want to downsize.

But the market is not responding.

Last year only about 10,000 housing units were approved, and most were for rent, not for-sale homes and condos."

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The article suggests that anti-growth sentiments and lack of land zoned residential are the main problems, along with developers being afraid that if they build condos or HOA housing, the association will sue them for construction defects. I'm just spitballing here, but maybe they could try building them without defects, instead of cutting corners and lobbying for the legislature to take away the right of consumers to sue.

Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

Vancouver’s “Radical” Housing Plan Makes Waves – Next City

Vancouver’s “Radical” Housing Plan Makes Waves – Next City: "It involves densifying areas that are currently stocked with single-family homes, restricting property ownership by nonpermanent residents and creating zones of rental-only housing."

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Vancouver has a lot of condos as it is, but: "“We’ve had more than enough supply, and yet the housing costs have gone crazy,” the author concluded. (It’s important to make the distinction, however, between housing for sale and housing for rent. Vancouver’s construction boom has been condominium-heavy, and its rental vacancy rate remains among the lowest in the world.)"

Supervisors to vote on rescinding sale of private street in Presidio Heights - Story | KTVU

Supervisors to vote on rescinding sale of private street in Presidio Heights - Story | KTVU

"The wealthy homeowner's plight has drawn little sympathy in the wider community, with several speakers arguing today that the association was at fault and lambasting the board's support of the wealthy.  Ronen, in particular, argued against rescinding the sale, noting that the homeowner's association had lost the property once before in the 1980s for the same reason. "This case has viscerally impacted San Franciscans because there's no discretion in the law when it comes to poor people, there's no discretion in the law when it comes to people of color," she said, noting that most city residents did not enjoy private access to their streets and sidewalks."

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This was fun while it lasted.

Bay City bar countersues condo owners for harassment | MLive.com

Bay City bar countersues condo owners for harassment | MLive.com

The condo owners sued because of the noise from the bar, so the bar owner sued the owners. This is going well.

South Africa: Gated Communities and Privatised Privilege - allAfrica.com

South Africa: Gated Communities and Privatised Privilege - allAfrica.com

"Attempts to privatise privilege by invoking the law of contract or property law speaks of a pre-constitutional mindset associated with a particularly toxic strand of liberalism. In terms of this view, the wealthy and socially privileged can largely opt out of ordinary legal obligations and the non-discrimination provisions of the Constitution. You can do this (according to a widely held, but false, belief) by buying and/or managing private property according to a set of rules "agreed" to by the property owners and by those who "voluntary" frequent these properties. All you have to do (according to this surprisingly persistent myth) is to invoke what has become an empty platitude ("right of admission is reserved") and - magically! - you have become exempt from any constitutional or other legal obligations."

Brookhaven reverses vote to prohibit gated community - Reporter Newspapers

Brookhaven reverses vote to prohibit gated community - Reporter Newspapers

But they are going to develop a policy on this: "[T] he city will work toward creating a broad policy to consider whether the city should allow future gated communities as it works to create connectivity and promote walkability."

Malibu church to stop helping the homeless because city tells them it "lures the needy"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/malibu-church-homeless-free-meals-stopped-too-many-needy-people-order-latest-a8075891.html

The United Methodist Church, one of many churches that provides food and help, has been offering free meals twice a week. But it said it was going to stop after being told the meal servicewas luring too many homeless people.

Dawn Randall, a member of the church, said it recently received an email from city officials. “Very succinctly, they claimed we are increasing homelessness,” she told CBS.

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Malibu is a ritzy beach suburb north of Los Angeles. I guess the city wants the homeless to go back to East Third Street in downtown LA. 

South African gated communities socked for "draconian" practices

https://www.iol.co.za/sunday-tribune/news/gatedestates-a-victory-against-arrogant-draconian-rules-12065349

DURBAN - Property tycoon Niemesh Singh is prepared to fight the Mount Edgecombe Country Club Estate in the highest court should they appeal against a landmark high court judgment against gated estates.

On Friday, Singh successfully contested the “draconian rules”, including restrictions placed on the movement of domestic workers at the swish estate, in court this week. He said he was prepared for the “journey against arrogance”.

Residents were fined when their domestic workers were found walking on the pristine pathways, or when motorists failed to adhere to the 40km/h speed limit when driving on the estate’s roads.

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Malaysian criminals operating from gated communities

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/free-from-cops-criminals-now-running-business-from-gated-communities#FCDsJeOyw5lm9J73.97

JOHOR BARU, Nov 25 ― Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed revealed today that criminals are now operating from the safety of gated and guarded residential areas.

The deputy home minister said there have been cases of telephone scams, online gambling, human trafficking and also drug labs there since the police cannot go after them inside.

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CondoGate: Is there a Scandal in your Community Association? - Realty Times

CondoGate: Is there a Scandal in your Community Association? - Realty Times

Attorney Benny Kass weighs in on a matter that people ask me about frequently.

Condos out, apartments in | Articles | News | OakPark.com

Condos out, apartments in | Articles | News | OakPark.com

"It was a golden age for condo conversions in the Chicago area in the 1980s and 90s, but the financial crash of 2008, changing demographics and a hot market for rental units has sent the pendulum swinging in the other direction. The real estate trend is now toward condo deconversions or bulk sales – where condo buildings are being converted back into rentals – also is taking place in Oak Park."

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And in addition to a stronger market for rentals, the trend toward deconversion is driven by the failure of condo associations:  "The challenge we see now on the condo side are non-functioning condo associations," he said, adding that they often "don't have the money to pay for the work that's needed." Hess said CIC is in the early stages of determining whether to establish a fund to lend to these troubled condo associations."
Another interviewee, an attorney, pointed out other problems:  "Planek said tenants are steering away from condos in favor of rentals for a number of reasons: high taxes and assessments; increased desire for mobility; and lack of interest in being involved in condo associations."

Saudi Arabia Just Announced Plans to Build a Mega City That Will Cost $500 Billion - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia Just Announced Plans to Build a Mega City That Will Cost $500 Billion - Bloomberg:



"Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced plans to build a new city on the Red Sea coast, promising a lifestyle not available in today’s Saudi Arabia as he seeks to remake the kingdom in a time of dwindling resources. The prince said the city project, to be called “NEOM,” will operate independently from the “existing governmental framework” with investors consulted at every step during development. The project will be backed by more than $500 billion from the Saudi government, its sovereign wealth fund and local and international investors, according to a statement released on Tuesday at an international business conference in Riyadh."

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The Saudi government is trying to diversity their economy as they plan for a post-oil world. They are using a $2 trillion (!) sovereign wealth fund to get involved in many investments, including infrastructure projects all over the world. 

Local HOA finds large sum of unclaimed money, 10 News Find...

Local HOA finds large sum of unclaimed money, 10 News Find...:

"A Blacksburg homeowners association that has more than 100 members recently discovered it had a six-figure paycheck it never knew about."

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It seems that a previous treasurer from ten years ago put stocks and CDs in a safe deposit box, then left, and nobody knew about it.

Fire, death leads to Bay Pointe HOA tussle in Mason with Rentz Management

Fire, death leads to Bay Pointe HOA tussle in Mason with Rentz Management:

I won't try to summarize this saga, but it is an awful story. A more accurate headline is in USA Today: "Phoenix condo owners fight $15,000 plus HOA assessments--and win."

The Remunicipalisation of Water Services in Paris, France - futurepolicy.org

The Remunicipalisation of Water Services in Paris, France - futurepolicy.org:



"On 24 November 2008, against exponentially rising water prices, a severe lack of transparency, and poor accountability, the City Council of Paris decided not to renew its municipal water supply contracts with the private companies Veolia and Suez (two of the French powerhouses in global water services), instead remunicipalising water to be under public control.  The production and supply of Paris’ water was unified under the public entity Eau de Paris, which assumed operations of the whole system from 2010 onwards. Despite the major financial, labour and logistical challenges that the city faced, the transition was managed on time with no difference in terms of service to the end user and impressive financial savings for the people of Paris, and surplus profits have been reinvested for the further development of the city’s water infrastructure. This policy has shown that remunicipalisation of water services can be successful on a grand scale."

Phoenix Landmark condo owners fight HOA assessments — and win

Phoenix Landmark condo owners fight HOA assessments — and win: "The HOA assessment for a new HVAC system would have cost each of them at least $15,000 per condo. Many other owners in the 236-condo high-rise said the same thing as Hardaway: They could not afford the assessment, and it could cost them their home."

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They got a judge to overturn the assessment, but this isn't over. Apparently the work still needs to be done. There is an ongoing issue of what work, how much, and how to pay for it. But it is yet another example of huge special assessments that seem to be more and more common.

Op-Ed: New York Needs a New Deal - News | Planetizen

Op-Ed: New York Needs a New Deal - News | Planetizen

From water mains to public buildings, much of the infrastructure in use in the city today is 60-80 years old, Chaban explains. New York would need to spend $47 billion just to reach a state of good repair across the board, he writes, noting that "any major expansion or sweeping modernization would cost billions more."

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The whole country is in a similar situation, especially every big city. We have two infrastructure crises--one is public and the other is private. The crisis of public infrastructure is well-documented, and people are trying to find ways to solve it. But there is a little-known crisis of private infrastructure. Some of that private infrastructure is in HOAs and condo associations, where there isn't enough money to repair or replace it. There are also some big privatized pieces of infrastructure, such as toll highways, bridges, and many other systems. They are in the hands of private corporations that, in most cases, leased it for 75-99 years. And when it starts to go bad, these corporations don't want to pay for it. They want to sell off their lease or go bankrupt. All this private infrastructure has to be maintained and eventually rebuilt. It seems to me that this crisis of private infrastructure is not being thought about or planned for. 

Man wants to keep squirrel in his condo as pet

Man wants to keep squirrel in his condo as pet.
It's Florida.