Mel Pittel has waged a years-long fight to bring transparency to his Meadow Creek Homeowners Association in a suburb of Minneapolis. Pittel was even voted in by fellow homeowners as a board member. But the board got a restraining order preventing him from even attending board meetings. Now, a judge has refused the board’s attempt to get the restraining order extended. “Free speech,” said the judge.
Pittel has worked long and hard to inform other HOA members of what he suspects is financial mismanagement by the board. The fight has taken a heavy toll on his finances. But this country has a long history of people who’ve sacrificed everything for their fellow man. The link below is worth reading.
Florida and Nevada are probably the worst states in the country for HOA abuse. There are a thousand ways to steal private homes from their rightful owners, and it happens many times each day, probably each hour. It’s a national tragedy that state and federal politicians are absolutely unwilling to examine. No, it’s much easier to turn your back in the direction of the proffered cash. A shame, for sure.
At least more and more members of the media are ‘getting it.’ The latest is Orlando Sentinel reporter Beth Kassab. Yes, if she Googles her own name, she’ll see this post!
I’ve only met her once during a brief luncheon in Denver, but Molly Dunn is one of a growing number of brave people trying to stand up for the rights of homeowners across America.
She testified before the Massachusetts Legislature to try to plead for more help for homeowners who run afoul of their HOAs. She worked with the staff of Massachusetts Senator Dan Wolf. Wolf has been trying to put some teeth into the law that supposedly requires HOA boards and management companies to let homeowners see the books. But many HOA boards and management companies are very reluctant to do so. A possible reason, Molly says, “is that homeowners might recognize inconsistencies or inaccuracies in the records.”
Molly says Senator Wolf and his staff who supported her through her struggle. And Senator Wolf was tenacious. He introduced pro-homeowner legislation four separate times. Molly says he’s retiring next year which is sad because a politician of his good character is rare these days. She asks that people drop him a short thank you note. (Daniel.Wolf@masenate.gov)
And here’s the link to the story about the Massachusetts Senate hearing.
This one happened right under my nose here in the Denver area. The Denver vicinity, as some of you know, is home to one of the biggest HOA embezzling cases in the country. A management company stole homeowners blind in a largely minority community. But these homeowners were smart enough to catch this jerk. The bitterness, though, never really goes away.
Now there’s another incident, this one in the same part of town. David W. Martin, PMG Enterprises Inc., has had to surrender his state license to manage Homeowners Associations. He may be the first to do so under Colorado’s new licensing law. The law isn’t perfect. It has very few teeth and some appointed state officials who are really out of their league.
For the record, here’s a link to the story in the Denver Business Journal.
Hoo-boy! I’m not exactly sure how to handle this one except to pass it along.
A former drug company executive who was fired years ago for trying to be a whistle-blower in his own company, is now trying to blow the whistle on his Fort Lauderdale Homeowners Association. The problem is that the HOA recognizes both Christmas and Hanukkah in the HOA clubhouse. Oh, for shame!
Christians and Jews have a long history of respect for each other’s religions. Sure, there have been occasional problems, but Christians revere Jesus who was Jewish. Christians have poured vast amounts of money into supporting Israel. And Jewish scientists have hired many Christian researchers in some of the most important medical discoveries in history. You’ll find many Jews and Christians working side by side at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
In my mind it would be awful if a Homeowners Association didn’t respect both religions at this time of year, Kwanzaa, too, for that matter. How a neighborhood treats people from other religions has a profound impact on property values.
