Tag Archives: HOA corruption

How to Comment!

It’s come to my attention that some people haven’t been able to add comments to my posts. It’s incredibly easy. Right beside my photo at the upper right corner of each post there’s a bag.

Think of this as YOUR punching bag. Imagine that you were aiming at my head and missed and hit the bag! Then let us all know whatever’s on your mind.

Standard laws of Internet etiquette apply!  No cussing, swearing, flaming, threats, all the standard stuff. Oh, and don’t use all caps. that means you’re unnecessarily shouting and you’ll probably get deleted. And if I see something that looks libelous or slanderous your comment won’t appear.  

Finally, I do make a rare change on a post regardless of which side you’re on. I only do it to correct occasional grammar and spelling problems just to make you sound more articulate.

 

 

 

 

 

Rats And Rants At Flamingo Crest HOA

guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
The rat traps are empty and the board is running from Las Vegas reporter Darcy Spears’ investigative trap!
 
Forget about sleep, says Kevin Ellis.  The scratching and chewing between the walls is so loud you can’t even hear yourself count sheep.  He’s been fighting this problem for years! Now, he’s cussing because his $200 monthly dues are going to the HOA arbitrator to fight against him while the rats’ feasts are coming closer to his flesh.  
 
Geez!  Imagine what could happen if they chew through the electrical wiring?  Or the platter of grandma’s homemade holiday cookies disappear in the dark of night right off the kitchen counter?  Where is the health department???
 
Just another thing to think about with HOA living.  If your neighbors have bugs, silverfish, termites, roaches, mice, or rats they can all become unwanted visitors to your unit via the common walls.
 
 

“Somebody Is Fattening The Frog For The Snake” ~Martha Preston

by guest blogger Nila Ridings
 
Pine Village North HOA in Houston, Texas is not fooling former board members Martha Preston and Christopher Mitchell.  Over $550,000 in dues collected and the pool is dry, the security cameras are dangling from their brackets, and they have trash piling up.  Not to mention the burned out units!  Yet, the records show the money was spent on maintenance. And the financial report says they ended up with a negative $25,000.
 
Something is “fishy” with the money alright.  And the board members and their attorney have “no comment.” But they did vote to throw Preston and Mitchell off the board for questioning where the money went.
 
At least the developer got something right by naming the streets Wild Pine and Twisted Pine!  Because somehow in this wild and twisted mess they ended up with two boards of directors!  
 
As I see it, the best case scenario for these townhome owners is: Assessments for tens of thousands of dollars per owner for the rebuild and tens of thousands more for legal bills. Together, those will exceed the value of their property which at this point is worthless. I’m afraid I would be calling Two Men And A Truck and leaving the keys on the kitchen counter.
 
However, at the end of the day, I applaud Martha Preston and Christopher Mitchell for exposing yet another rotten stinking HOA. Theirs is a perfect example of why HOAs should be illegal!!!
 
The trial begins March 2014.
 
 

The Power the CAI Has Over the Idiot Media

I know, I’m a forty-year former member of the idiot media. And I don’t watch TV or read newspapers today, for the same reason meat packers don’t eat sausage. They know how it’s made.

Yes, the press releases would pour off the fax machines and they’d be distributed to various reporters in the newsroom to go out and call in stories. Make ’em short, make ’em sweet. Those reporters who didn’t make a fuss about questionable interviews always got more assignments…and better assignments.

But our friend in North Carolina wonders why homeowners can’t get their own opinions published in the the Charlotte Observer, while the lies-by-fax get reported all the time. Jim, my friend, it’s because the media are lazy. They’re not evil. They’re just short-handed and lazy.

So when the CAI (Community Associations Institute) launches a decades old campaign pretending to represent all homeowners, the lazy reporters do what lazy reporters do. They don’t make phone calls. They don’t double-check the facts. They go out, find a talking head, and phone in the nonsense. It’s one of the reasons the credibility of the news media is about the same as the credibility of Congress.

In any event, Jim’s concerns are rooted in his genuine search for the truth.

(click here for Charlotte Observer)

 

HOA Communism

Kids these days don’t know much about Communism. They don’t get much more than a passing overview in their history or civics classes. Sadly, as George Santayana pointed out, “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” So that means our kids and grandkids may, themselves, have to someday experience such things as Communism and Facism. It’s so subtle, and you’re stuck before you know it.

In fact, isn’t that exactly what many young people are facing in the structure of today’s Homeowners Associations?

After reading the blog linked below, and pondering the identity of ‘Alex’, an anti-Communist dissident/writer who left the Soviet Union to seek peace elsewhere, you might ponder the reality of being doomed to repeat history.

I’ve bloggged about this blogger before, but since he’s re-posting I’ll re-post him as well.

(click here for excellent blog post from Virginia attorney)

http://www.urbanophile.com/2013/12/17/how-homeowners-associations-stifle-expression-and-sustainability-by-kaid-benfield/