I know of at least four HOA movies in various stages of production. Movies are extraordinarily expensive to do, and to do right. One of the older ones that appears to have stalled had a wonderfully clever trailer….worth watching.
If anyone has an update on this production, please let me know.
A few months ago I blogged about a very large Florida HOA with over 45,000 residents, and the fact that a homeowner’s group (PINCHOS) has been trying for three years to incorporate as a city. In all, Poinciana has nearly 60,000 residents. Under the latest proposal, roughly 47,000 live within boundaries that were to create a new municipality.
News reports indicate that Osceola County Legislative Delegation vote was split 2-2, along party lines on the matter, with two representatives not present at the time the vote was taken. A Department of Revenue report, based on a feasibility study, has concluded that Poinciana meets the financial requirements of a city, and stands to take in millions in revenue if it incorporates as a municipality.
At the hearing conducted last month, the delegation reportedly heard from residents both in favor of the proposal and opposed. Those opposed fear that becoming a city would lead to a tax increase, despite a feasibility study’s conclusion to the contrary. Debate on the finer points has been put on hold for yet another year.
One of the reasons PINCHOS is in favor of municipal incorporation: typical of large HOAs, Poinciana is divided into 9 Villages, and the President of each Village Board serves on the Master HOA. Property owners elect the Master Board, but many of those owners are not actually residents of Poinciana. Meanwhile tenants have no voting rights to elect their leaders. That’s equivalent to taxation without representation! Predictably, the HOA Developer and the Board spoke against Poinciana becoming a city at the Delegation meeting.
According to another recent television news report, Poinciana has been struggling with crime and vandalism. Because they don’t have City status, they cannot have their own police department. Therefore the HOA has decided to spend $100,000 on increasing security staff and adding security cameras.
Keith Laytham, spokesperson for the owners’ group in favor of municipal incorporation says his group will continue to work with State Rep. John Cortes to put Poinciana on the map as a city in its own right.
(Bay News 9 article on controversy)
(Orlando Sentinel article on Poinciana)
(Letter to Ledger.com from a Keith Laytham)
(WFTV video, Poinciana HOA to spend $100,000 on increased security)
(Previous blog about Poinciana, and why many residents want to create their own city)
I’d love to call this one a scam, but there isn’t enough information to make that kind of allegation. It’s just too bizarre. The City of McAllen, Texas, charges each resident an extra ten bucks on their water bill, supposedly collected on behalf of Homeowners Associations. Theoretically, that money is supposed to go to HOAs for maintenance. But nobody seems to be getting the maintenance or the money, and the City of McAllen has no idea where the money is going. There’s never been an audit. Money is even being collected from homeowners who live in neighborhoods where the HOA has been dissolved. We may be talking about millions of dollars, here.
Huh?
(link to story on disappearing money)
One of the heroes of our movement, Dr. Gary Solomon, has won a round in his own battle against an out-of-control HOA in Nevada. It involved an idiotic fine of $100 so he tried to get it heard in Small Claims Court, where it really belongs. That court kicked him upstairs to District Court which really has no business hearing 100 dollar claims. After two years, Solomon has won the right to take the case back to Small Claims. Here’s the decision:
Well, the news this week is pretty bad for net neutrality. The White House has come up with a 332 page book of regulations that it’s going to hand to the FCC for implementation. Just as in the Affordable Care Act, they have to pass the bill so we can all see what’s in it. A lone renegade on the FCC is warning that this bill is so heavy handed that it will fundamentally change the way the Internet is governed, essentially treating it as a public utility.
Hundreds of billions in new taxes, controversial websites (like this one) may be subjected to a version of the old (and failed) Fairness Doctrine, and smaller businesses and smaller political operatives will essentially be driven off the web. Websites will be censored. Another name for the bill is “full employment for trial lawyers.”
The Internet has given us a measure of freedom that never would have been granted by traditional government. It has fundamentally changed the world, both socially and financially.
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai says the future looks pretty grim.
