Tag Archives: Nila Ridings

The Letter From Dave Clouse

guest blog by Nila Ridings

It seems Dave Clouse had some things he needed to get off his chest about his condo so he wrote the editor of the Bradenton Herald.

Dave’s condo complex, Bridgewater Townhomes in Point Pleasant has a termite issue. Well, really it sounds more like a serious problem. And the termite problem is more serious because the HOA board refuses to allow proper treatment to wipe out the termites.

Trust A Lawyer?!?!?!

Yikes! How can I say that having two brothers who are lawyers? And how can I say that after passing the LSAT and being offered a free ride through the University of Washington Law School?

I can say that as a forty-year journalist watching lawyers in court. Never trust a lawyer.

In the link below, a CAI lawyer has tried to simplify the ‘education’ process for prospective buyers. It’s a good step forward. But I like Nila Ridings idea of making all HOA home buyers sign an acknowledgement that each buyer isn’t really buying a home. He or she is buying shares of stock in a non-profit corporation where every single asset, every bank account, every stock account, every college education account is pledged as security to pay for each and every misdeed, miscalculation, embezzlement and lawsuit involving the HOA.

Showing Support For Your Candidate

guest blog by Nila Ridings

It’s that time when signs, signs, and more signs will be seen. Signs of all sizes and colors will start to appear. The exception will be in the HOAs where the restrictions apply to size, location, lighting, and dates for display. Count on the HOA board to have their cronies watching your every move with a political sign…unless the board president happens to be supporting the same candidate. Then it will most likely be okay to have your sign out whenever and wherever you’d like. Rules seem to only apply to the supporters of the candidates the board dislikes.

Mama “Goes Grizzly” on HOA Bully

guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
Just when I think I’ve read my craziest HOA story yet…here comes another!
 
Burl Fluharty, head of Westfields Condominium Association in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania must be on some kind of power trip. He’s decided that kids from an adjacent HOA-free subdivision should be subjected to his dictatorship, too! The two neighborhoods share a street, and Fluharty demanded they quit riding bicycles there….or he’d call the police!
 
“BACK OFF BURL!!!”  
 
Dorene Akujobi pounced like an Alaskan Mama bear protecting her cubs.  If her kids ride their bikes on the shared street, she’ll protect them from Burl’s verbal abuse.  She growled and showed her teeth and maybe her claws, too. “Bully Burl” has no jurisdiction outside of his HOA fiefdom. And Mama Grizzly stood her ground.
 
Fluharty, realizing his threats to call the cops weren’t scaring Dorene, tried another tactic. He had his HOA attorney, Robert Stewart, write a letter threatening a lawsuit. Fluharty must have been thinking “if I can’t scare her with the threat of cops, I’ll scare her with the threat of going to court! If it works on my turf, it should work on hers!” (And how nice that his HOA gets to pay this guy’s idiotic legal bills!)
 
As Fluharty continued to press his case, he argued that the real reason he wanted the kids off the street was because elderly drivers in his condos might not see them! It apparently didn’t dawn on him that elderly drivers who can’t see kids on bikes probably shouldn’t be driving.
 
But there was a lovely followup to the story as related in one of the comments below from a fellow neighbor: It seems the Township’s attorney wrote a letter to Fluharty telling him to cease and desist flinging his threats around the neighborhood. Even if he is an HOA president, there are limits to his power.   
 
Back to Mama Grizzly: “Way to go, Dorene!”