Tag Archives: HOA Neighborhood

Little Free Library Must Go Says The HOA!

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Jennifer Fontanilla of Stockton, California had no idea she could not erect a Little Free Library in her front yard. Well, let’s say she had no idea her LeBaron Estates Owners Association could prohibit her from keeping the Little Free Library she won and then erected.

It’s got a bright yellow door and gives the impression literacy is just tempting inquiring minds of the young and old to open it. Take a peek inside. Find something interesting. And take it home to read.

OMG! What if there was a copy of Neighbors At War The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association by Ward Lucas in there? What if Miss Jennifer and her neighbors learned the TRUTH about the risks of owning in the HOA? What if they came across this website and read these blogs about abusive bullies on the HOA boards? What if she has no idea the board members can spend massive amounts of money to drag her into a lawsuit, a jury trial, and foreclose and take her home and life’s savings? All because she was providing FREE BOOKS to her neighbors to READ! Tell me dear readers, has there ever been a greater sin?!?!

The Little Free Library movement has gone global. To me, it’s a wonderful thing. I’ve been known to put books in the ones in my area, but NONE OF THEM ARE IN MY HOA! I would love to build one and fill it with books. But I know I would have to figure out a way to live in it because my HOA would definitely foreclose and take my townhouse if a Little Free Library appeared anywhere near here.

The ignorance in America continues to grow. Shouldn’t we be willing to do anything possible to encourage learning? Are we really this stupid to believe a Little Free Library across the street is going to depreciate property values? And are we willing to pay dues so a bunch of bullies can sue the neighbor that has a Little Free Library that most everybody enjoys?

When will we stand up and say, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?

Jennifer Fontanilla has another ‘hearing’ about this issue on July 14th. Can we figure out a way to show our support for her from all across America?

A special thank you to Record staff writer, Nicolas Filipas for exposing more insanity from a California HOA.

(link to Little Free Library story)

http://www.recordnet.com/article/20150703/NEWS/150709883#ReaderReaction

Reflections on Flags

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Flag etiquette is a touchy subject in this country. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that burning the American Flag is a protected form of speech under the First Amendment. Still, we hear calls from elected politicians that displaying the Confederate Flag is not protected speech.

The beginning of the Confederate War was never about slavery, it was about the massive tax burden being imposed by the North against southern businessmen. The slavery issue arose two years into the Civil War and at that point the Stars and Bars and slavery were forever linked.

But the original flag, the one that George Washington commissioned, was never about slavery, either. It was about this country’s brash argument that it wanted to be free from foreign rule and oppressive taxes. Yes, George Washington owned slaves. So did many others of the country’s founders. So did the Cherokee Indians, for that matter.

So how is the American Flag any less a symbol of slavery than the Confederate Flag? The two flags are just red, white and blue pieces of cloth stitched together. And now professional rabble rousers are insisting that anything Red, White and Blue be torn down and assigned to the dustbins of history.

The two flags represent culture. There are good and bad things in every culture. But believing that Americans are too stupid to make up their own minds about important cultural issues is Political Correctness run amok.

Flee from political correctness, that apple barrel of hypocrisy and prevarication which is sitting and fermenting and waiting to poison the discussion and the common sense that most Americans have.

Now, we have a very real situation taking place in a Southern Colorado neighborhood. A Hispanic man hung a flag upside down as a show of disrespect because of the racism he feels in his community. He says he feels harassed by the HOA’s management company.

Whew! Don’t we all?

There’s a craziness afoot in American neighborhoods. There’s an intolerance that’s as insidious as a cluster of cancer cells. Let’s get rid of it. Leave the flags alone. Leave our First Amendment alone. If someone has the bad taste to display a flag improperly, just walk away and let him be. What a nice place this would be if we just gave each other some space. Forgive, forget, and get on with life.

(link to El Paso County flag story)

 

Young Boy Drowns At Remington Point HOA

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Nothing I can think of could possibly be more painful than losing a child.  Micah Wheeler was only six years old and swimming in the pool at the Remington Point HOA in Fort Worth, Texas when he drowned.

The HOA did not hire life guards to watch over the innocent children that frolicked in the pool under the hot summer sun of Texas.  They opted to pay security guards to keep the unwelcome guests out of their private pool.

The “what if” and “if only” questions will never come with an answer.  Little Micah’s family will suffer this loss and feel this pain forever.  I am so sorry for his family and loved ones.

Perhaps the board of directors will weigh their priorities more carefully in the future?

Neighborhood pools…are they worth the risks?  I think not.

(link to story on Texas drowning)

‘Charlie Chairs’ Placed By Neighbors Who Care

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

North Houston Texas has a street named Azalea Lane. This street not only has a beautiful name, but it is lined with houses filled with beautiful people. They understand what being a good neighbor is all about and Charlie their neighbor with leukemia and his wife are the recipients of their kindness and neighborly love.

Reading this story warmed my heart and made my eyes tear up. And the comments made by thousands of people after reading this story (now spreading around the internet) clearly shows that others miss the neighborhoods of yesteryear that resembled Charlie’s neighborhood.

HOAs have destroyed today’s neighborhoods. For every 1 story like Charlie’s, I hear 1,000 stories of HOA neighborhoods that are war zones! Neighbors targeting neighbors and board members bullying those they dislike is what neighborhoods have become with HOAs.

“Chairs For Charlie” would bring fines, liens, and foreclosures to neighbors in many modern day HOAs. The legal bills would run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the Charlie Chairs would be confiscated for evidence of neighbors violating those precious CC&Rs.

As I watched the video I loved the difference of chairs with the welcoming signs on them for Charlie. The other things that caught my attention were the baby swing in the tree, the address sign at the street, and the iron bridge over the drainage ditch. And that told me this neighborhood was not part of the 350,000 “matchy matchy” HOAs now poisoning American home ownership. After living in an HOA for a decade I have such an appreciation for those little things that give the homeowners the pleasure of living in their homes as they wish. Not one of them looked trashy to me. I see them more as priceless homes where families live free and have big hearts and express love for their neighbors.

Do any of our readers know if Charlie’s cancer is in remission? I sure hope so.

 

 

Wild Corruption In Nevada!!!

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OK folks! I’ve been an investigative reporter for forty years. And during that time thousands upon thousands of documents have been released to me. Oh, there’ve been two or three that were held back, but always because of some extraneous circumstance usually relating to a name a prosecutor or a judge wanted held back for personal or political reasons. And we usually found a higher judge who ordered the documents released.

But Damn it! Political reasons don’t apply here! Personal reasons don’t apply.  Nevada homeowners lost hundreds of millions of dollars when this organized crime ring crashed Homeowners Associations all over Nevada. Property values there still haven’t recovered. It wasn’t just a few dozen homeowners who were hurt in this monstrous scam. Millions were hurt. Taxpayers paid for this years-long investigation. Families went broke. Many lost their homes. Lives were lost. People killed themselves.

Who are you trying to protect by illegally keeping these files secret? A scummy judge who was able to escape indictment? Perhaps a scummy bigtime politician who, with his son, have become multi-millionaires investing in phony land deals based on illegal insider knowledge about housing trends in Nevada?

You found 100 “people of interest” in this case, but didn’t prosecute them because you thought it would be too expensive? Isn’t that a sneaky way of letting your friends and political boosters off the hook? Wouldn’t a thorough vetting of this whole slimy affair be a way for you to crawl out this greasy morass?

Federal Judge Mahan, there’s a lot you ought to be ashamed of including the awesome lack of meaningful prison time you handed out to these mobsters.

Now, you should be ashamed of letting your political cronies talk you into not releasing documents that you feel might shame your pathetic state and your miserable bench even further. I’ve learned over the years that when something doesn’t smell right, you start looking for the source. Something real close to where you’re standing, Judge Mahan, doesn’t smell just right.

(crooked lawyer gets ten years for swindling homeowners)