I’ve now heard from several NAW people that they either can’t log in or can’t comment on the website. Nobody is blacklisted from this site (except for excessive profanity). But there’s apparently some new anti-spam software on many servers that’s causing huge problems. If anyone on a big server is sending out spam everybody on that server gets blocked. My webmaster is working on the problem.
Ward
Our frequent guest blogger, Deborah Goonan, alerted me to an excellent documentary which could ultimately go straight to the heart of the fight against the HOA disease. It’s produced by the Annenberg Foundation and reviews two of the most important U.S. Supreme Court decisions of the 20th Century, Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Simms, which were both decided in the early 60s.
The Court essentially ruled that the 14th Amendment, enacted 3 years after the civil war, should have made all citizens equal. But as the decades rolled on it became obvious that because of unequal state apportionment of legislative districts, people in rural counties had much more voting power than high density cities. The court essentially ruled that equal rights means equal voting power. It overturned 150 years of precedence and all legislatures had to reapportion their states so a roughly equal number of people resided in each voting district. There’s been frequent gerrymandering, of course, but that’s a story for another time.
There was another major milestone that happened about that same time. The country decided that blacks had just as much right to vote as whites. Congress enacted and the President signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and many southern laws which restricted black voting rights were overturned.
The amazing thing that should interest us…is that these two court decisions and the Civil Rights Act led immediately to the creation of the modern HOA movement which decided that by incorporating housing developments and then controlling them with HOA mini-governments, they were able to once again subvert the one person one vote principle. Actually, it was more perverse than that. Most HOAs allotted one vote per parcel owned. It was an arrogant refutation of three of the most important government decisions of the century.
“We’re private corporations. The Constitution allows us to handle our people in whichever way we want. You can’t tell us how to treat our ’employees’ and ‘investors.'”
But that could be the Achilles heel of the HOA movement. These are our homes we’re talking about. This is where we live, where we’re supposed to be able to find ultimate privacy, shelter against abusive government (HOA officers and property managers). But this is the one remaining bastion where the one person one vote principle falls apart. We get one vote per property owned. For example, the investor who owns 50 parcels out of a hundred home development (even if he doesn’t live in the community) may get 50% of the vote, so the neighborhood looks the way he wants it, regardless of the wishes of all the other neighbors. He may easily, and probably will get himself installed as lifetime president of the board.
One person one vote. Think about it folks. As you watch the 26 minute documentary linked below, ask how this might be applied in your own HOA.
(link to the Annenberg documentary)
Yes, I want to keep all of you entertained and coming back to Neighbors At War. So forgive me if I’m reposting old material but I get a good belly laugh each time I hear this old Pete Seeger song. It’s so true for so many of us!
For a great history on Seeger’s Little Boxes hit, see the following:
(link to Little Boxes history)
Yep. That’s a Constitutional right and we all respect it. But it doesn’t mean we can’t discuss indictments and criminal charges. That’s public record.
The Carbon Canyon 1 Homeowners Association in Chino Hills, California thinks it’s been victimized to the tune of $128,792, money embezzled between 2013 and 2014. The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office did an investigation. And the HOA treasurer, Julie Calderon is now facing charges of grand theft by embezzlement and embezzlement by a public or private officer. Her preliminary hearing is August 25th.
(link to latest HOA embezzlement)
What is it that Homeowners Associations hate so much about the American flag? Well, I take that back, fascism and American patriotism are pretty much at odds.
Angie Hildebrandt, a condo owner, is being assessed daily fines because she flies her flag outside her home at the Southdale Gardens Condominium Association in Edina, Minnesota. Her two sons are in the military and every generation in her family has fought in wars on behalf of America. Her first flag was stolen. Overnight someone paid a visit to her home and ripped her flag to shreds.
What a nice place to live, Southdale Gardens. Perhaps there’s a certain red, white and black flag you’d like as your community symbol.
