Category Archives: Duck Dynasty

Fire Pit Between The Roads

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Let’s all meet down at the fire pit. You know the one in between the busy streets. The one where kids will be crossing in the darkness and might forget to check for traffic. Or somebody driving drunk might jump the curb and wipe out the crowd.

Prairie Village, Kansas is an upscale area developed by Jesse Clyde Nichols (you’ve read about him in Evan McKenzie’s book, Privatopia). It’s commonly referred to as “Perfect Village.”

Some HOA board members authorized a landscaper to build a fire pit as a community gathering place between busy city streets and on city property. The city planners have put their foot down against this HOA. And I applaud them for doing so! HOA boards never cease to amaze me. I don’t know if it’s their pompous attitudes, ignorance, or endless need to control others. But it was a delight to see this story on the news tonight.

Although, I’m sorry for the landscaper with good intentions who got caught in the crossfire. His heart was in the right place. He just had a blind faith and trust in the HOA board…just like millions of other Americans do!

So, don’t meet me at the fire pit. By the time you’d get here, it will be gone!

(link to KMBC story on the fire pit)

 

Red, White and Blue: Such Hideous Colors!

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What is it about the American flag that so disgusts the boards of Homeowners Associations? Why is it that patriotism across this grand country is dying? Our parents and grandparents fought fascism abroad a half dozen times over the past century. But the unregulated HOA movement is continuing to increase its dictatorial grip on the tens of millions of people who have come under its control. Our kids are growing up in schools that no longer teach the Pledge of Allegiance or duty to God and Country. They’re learning by our example that patriotism is just not PC.

The latest example comes to us, from of all places, El Paso, Texas which is essentially a military town. An HOA developer is demanding that an elementary school take down a red white and blue flag display from an exterior wall.

(link to flag controversy in El Paso)

 

 

Owner wants to know how to get rid of HOA

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guest blog by Deborah Goonan

An owner in Parkview HOA in Brownsville, TX was recently interviewed by KRGV television. He explains that several years ago their HOA “fizzled out” but then a new management company suddenly appeared on the scene, looking to collect assessments. But the HOA has a $46,000 deficit, and many owners are not paying their dues or paying attention to the HOA, despite collection letters tacking on a $250 attorney fee for delinquent account owners.

So what’s the story here? That’s a bit of a mystery. A quick Google search turns up minimal information on Parkview Homeowners Association LLC – address, phone number, and management agent. Attorney Bill Davis was consulted by KGRV, and, according to him, the first step is to locate the original HOA governing documents, and determine whether the HOA currently attempting to collect assessments is the Original HOA vs. a newly formed corporation masquerading as the once-defunct HOA. Got that?

The story leaves out many details, and calls to mind several questions. Was there a vote of owners to revive this inactive HOA? How long was it inactive? Were assessments being collected before the new management company started sending invoices? How many homes are involved, and what are the dues?

There are specific legal processes for dissolution, as well as reviving inactive HOAs, depending on state law. Looks like the homeowner, Mr. Jack Jew, will have to consult an attorney, and get together with his neighbors to see if they can rid themselves of the HOA that he claims most owners do NOT want.

Ironically, as demonstrated in Florida, a group of Bulk Buyers (investors) can quickly gain control of a Board, and then vote to dissolve the Association.  But ordinary owners of one measly home apiece have to play detective and jump through numerous legal hoops just to get rid of the HOA albatross, if possible.

Does that seem fair to you?

(link to story in Brownsville, TX)

Voting Rights are a hot button issue in US elections – except in HOAs

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guest blog by Deborah Goonan

I follow think tanks from both ends of the spectrum, so I can learn how people see important issues from different perspectives. A few days ago, a Cato article on a proposed Voting Rights Amendment came up in my news feed. (See link below)

But while Americans debate the pros and cons of issuing Voter IDs – do they prevent voter fraud, or do they disenfranchise minority voters? – Nobody wants to talk about universal voting rights for residents of HOAs.

Why not?

That’s nearly 65 million voters, many of them disenfranchised by corporate voting systems that allocate votes per “unit” or “share” owned, Representative Voting Councils, heavy use of proxy ballots, and many unmonitored election processes. Let’s face it. In many HOAs, voting is rigged – in ways that are sometimes technically legal.

Under the current voting system in place in HOAs:

·      Investors can simply “bulk buy” control of the Board,

·      Developers can hang onto control of their affiliate-appointed Board for years or even decades due to various legal loopholes,

·      Board members can intimidate owners into giving up their proxy votes,

·      Ballot boxes can be stuffed, mail ballots “lost” or otherwise mishandled

·      Owners who are delinquent on their accounts for any reason (even fabricated) cannot vote,

·      A handful of Voting Members can legally vote on behalf of hundreds or thousands of owners without any input, and

·      Tenants are almost always not allowed to vote even though they have to follow all of the same rules and create equity for their landlord-owners.

As a result of such shenanigans, millions of Americans are subject to the whims of their often-unaccountable HOA Boards. Collectively, HOA residents stand to lose millions of dollars in wasted or misappropriated assessments, their rights guaranteed under the Constitution, and, in too many cases, even their homes.

http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/voting-rights-amendment-unnecessary-measure-meet-exaggerated-needs?utm_content=buffer7abd8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer

The Viciousness Knows No Bounds!

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What is it about the ‘control’ issues many HOA board members have? And why is it that brand new Ford F-150 pickups are so hated?

The board of the Kimry Moor Homeowners Association in Fayetteville, New York has decided that homeowners David and Arna Orlando are scofflaws because they park their pickup in the driveway instead of in the garage.

Never mind that people all over this HOA park their trucks in their driveways.
No, I strongly suspect the issue isn’t the truck. It’s that somebody on the board thinks the Orlando family are of the wrong race, the wrong income level or because their kid might have smart-mouthed a board member’s kid at school.

I hope the Orlando’s attorney looks at an almost identical case in Texas where the owner of the Ford F-150 got sued for his truck…and he actually won the case against his power-mongering HOA. It’s too bad that HOA homeowners have to pay special assessments to support this kind of insanity.

(link to latest HOA lawsuit against an F-150 owner)

(for the Orlando’s attorney, this might save you a couple minutes of research time)

And yet another!

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/28/florida-man-spends-k-right-park-driveway/