A California Homeowners Association, The Lake of the Pines HOA, is up in arms because an old war veteran uses his garage to build furniture for military families who can’t afford to buy their own.
He’s been building and donating the furniture for a decade. He makes no profit at all. But his HOA says he’s not allowed to use any part of his property to cut wood, sand, paint, or screw. (Yes, I know I’m overlooking a fun comment about that last line, but I’m resisting the urge).
But Vietnam war veteran Dennis Kocher is facing fines of 100 to 500 bucks if he doesn’t click his boot heels together and salute these lawn Nazis. Thugs, is what they are. And I’ve got so little patience for thugs.
This story was outrageous when we first heard about it last year. It’s even more hideous now that New York officials have formally approved it. But the builders of luxury condominiums will be allowed to send residents of ‘affordable living’ units through the back door.
I still remember the segregated water fountains in my grade school in Texas. And I frequently asked my parents questions they had trouble answering.
But when the ritzy buildings go up in New York along with the required amount of affordable dwellings, all those ‘po folk’ will have to enter the building through a separate entrance. Can we say, “separate but equal?” That sure has an ugly sound to it.
All you have to say to a New Yorker is the word, “Denver,” and they laugh.
Denver is a perennial punchline in the Big Apple. But we certainly do give them more than enough ammunition for their wicked humor.
A Denver bank robber was arrested within five hours of his crime. Yeah, this guy certainly should be considered a candidate for the annual Darwin Award.
He wore his nametag, John David Martinez, on his shirt. And his getaway car, a silver Honda sedan was registered in his name.
I’m still doing research, but I wondered if he could possibly be a board member in his Homeowners Association?
Expect a ton of money to be poured into the pockets of Massachusetts legislators over the next week. What’s up? The State Senate has agreed to a ‘common sense’ bill to order condo associations to pay the legal costs of homeowners who have to sue to get financial records.
A homeowner has an absolute right to see the association’s financial documents, budgets and insurance policies. It’s basic common sense, especially for homeowners who are trying to sell their homes and move out. Mortgage companies require it. The current law mandates that those records be made available. But there’s no penalty for corporate deviants who decide they’re above such puerile requirements.
The current problem is that the bill is stalled. If the Massachusetts House doesn’t get off its collective rear end, or if a lobbyist in a legislative hallway waves a few thousand bucks around, this bill may fail due to official disinterest.
It’s so fitting to be able to write this after two incredibly strong guest blogs by George Staropoli and Deborah Goonan. But sometime over the past 48 hours we passed another readership milestone. In the 12 month running average we have now surpassed 400,000 readers and more than 3.2 million pages of material read.
I haven’t tallied up all the readers since this website began, but I know by now it’s well over a million. So, together we really are reaching people.
Certainly, ongoing problems in the economy are bringing out the mean side in many HOAs and this obviously is causing homeowners to search the web to see if they’re all alone in their personal struggles. It’s also a strange weekend to have CAI come out with more blatantly fake polling data claiming that people in Homeowners Associations are happy with their HOAs. Both George and Deborah have written papers that prove what a sham these CAI polls are. But CAI has billions of dollars to pour into the halls of the nation’s legislatures. We’re just the people.
