Ruth Crompton and her neighbors recently discovered that 7,000 gallons of raw sewage has been discharged into their storm sewer vault over the past 9 years. It seems that someone, presumably the defunct developer, mistakenly connected Crompton’s black sanitary sewer pipe to the white storm sewer drain. Big “Oops!” The error was recently discovered by the County’s Surface Water Management Division.
Crompton and her neighbors want to know why the County inspector signed off on the plumbing project at the time of construction. Not willing to accept responsibility, the County claims that perhaps a bad repair was made sometime after the County inspector approved the work.
A recent article published at Virginia’s TimesDispatch.com, has summarized the proliferation of HOAs as follows:
“(Homeowners’) associations are nearly ubiquitous for new residential housing in the Richmond area, embraced by developers as a way to handle long-term care of common amenities and by local officials as “mini-governments” that can help maintain order and property value.”
The article’s author, Ted Strong, interviewed several county officials on the subject. For readers who may doubt claims of some home buyers that it is nearly impossible to find HOA-free housing in many parts of America, just feast your eyes on the following blatant admissions by Richmond, VA, area officials representing Henrico County:
Finally, some common sense prevails in an Indiana flag dispute, thanks to intervention by Hancock County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Griffin.
In an October 23rd letter to the Fieldstone HOA Board of Directors, Griffin strongly urges the Association to resolve its dispute by November 1, or face legal suit to stop enforcement of penalties against the Willits household.
Check out the link to Griffin’s letter below, in which he states, among other things: “In summary, the association does not have a legally‐sufficient “substantial interest” invoked by the Willits’ display. Under the Flag Act, without a “substantial interest,” the association cannot regulate the Willits’ flagpole and American flag.”
I follow Institute for Justice on social media. See the link below for their recent press release about the Pleasant Ridge neighborhood of Charlestown, Indiana. This is yet another case where the city seeks to declare several city blocks “blighted” and to use state grant money to purchase 350+ homes for the paltry sum of $6000 each.
According to a June television report (link below), which includes interviews with Pleasant Ridge residents and Charlestown Mayor Bob Hall, early plans for development are to create a mixed use neighborhood consisting of duplexes, single family homes and affordable housing for seniors. In other words, probably another HOA, this one subsidized by tax dollars.
We have a huge, systemic problem in the US. It used to be that regulation was enacted and enforced to protect the People, the taxpaying constituents of government. The purpose of regulation was to uphold individual rights and to honor our federal and state Constitutions.
Over the years, that original purpose has been perverted by pervasively symbiotic public-private partnerships between large corporations and every level of government. Unfortunately, many of America’s elected public servants have sold out to special business interests that contribute heavily to campaigns and pay lobbyists to create and promote self-perpetuating legislation. Even some of our elected judges have shifted their loyalties to corporate and government cronies instead of individual Americans.
