There’s just no other way to put this, but the Community Associations Institute, along with its blood brothers including Associa, run by Texas State Senator John Carona, are just ugly institutions. Not illegal. Just ugly. And every American homeowner needs to be educated to avoid the kinds of financial assaults that have victimized thousands of homeowners across the country.
It’s hard to sue the government. In fact, the federal government actually has to give an injured party permission to sue. Some states have imposed a maximum limit on how much an injured litigant can win in a lawsuit against the state. Colorado, for example, passed a law saying no prevailing party can win more than $250,000 in damages.
Well, that’s changing in the most unexpected ways.
The Christian Science Monitor reports that as tax revenue dries up, and police layoffs occur, wealthier neighborhoods are hiring private security companies to replace the lost police officers.
No one will say for sure, but the parents of Trayvon Martin have settled their lawsuit against the Retreat at Twin Lakes Homeowners Association, in Sanford, Florida, for more than a million dollars.
Martin was shot to death during a struggle with George Zimmerman who was serving as the neighborhood watch chairman.
It’s unclear whether this HOA was covered by insurance at the time of Martin’s death. It is clear, however, that the Retreat at Twin Lakes board quickly bought a Travelers Casualty insurance policy a few weeks after the incident. But Travelers Casualty has made it clear the insurance company was not a part of this settlement.
Neighborhoods are supposed to be all about like-minded people working together to strengthen the bonds between each other. There’s a strange aloofness and paranoia among some of the country’s neighborhoods…. approximately one-out-of-five. You ‘in-crowd’ people know what that percentage is referring to.
But in my youth, I really do remember neighbors who’d talk over the fence, and gather for dinner, where the kids would take each others’ sons and daughters to the senior prom. Neighborhoods. Healthy. Old fashioned.
As readers of my book and blog already know, I’ve long been predicting that HOA boards would begin buying surplus military drone aircraft to spy on homeowners to ensure nobody in the neighborhood had installed an unauthorized hot tub in the back yard.
LOL! There’s already a prankster out there in the cyber world who occasionally pops up with a phony HOA-drones-for-sale website. His last posting was on April 1st, which might give you a key to his mindset. He even provided his phone number and it must be a hoot to answer calls from HOA board members who are actually serious about buying a drone to cruise for covenant violations.
