Category Archives: Patriotism

Taps

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

The first time I ever heard Taps, I was at Girl Scout camp. We sang it when our eyelids were heavy and our sleeping bags were calling our names. It relaxed me at the same time it created a rush of excitement in anticipation of waking up to a new day of celebrating friendship and learning. After that time, I mostly heard it during televised burials. On that bitter cold day in March when my dad was laid to rest, the final sounds of the service were of the trumpet echoing over the lake as Taps bid him a final farewell. I will always cherish that send off to my hero.

Here we have a Tacoma, Washington neighborhood bidding the daily sun a good-bye with Taps all because of one man, their cherished neighbor, Don Brittain. In his heart, Don is playing those notes to honor those who serve in the United States military. But the notes he echoes across Puget Sound are bringing a sense of peace to all within earshot as well.

From the video interviews and the variety of homes and paint colors I tend to believe this is not a homeowners association. But I wonder, what if? What if someone blew Taps at every sunset in America’s HOAs would it bring peace and mellow out the war zones? Or would the HOA board decide it was a reason to fine, lien, and foreclose on the trumpeter’s home?

Is there anything humanly possible that will bring peace to these nightmare HOAs? Or will that only come when these dilapidated poorly-constructed townhomes are laid to rest in the landfill while the earth is being excavated for re-development? Perhaps thenTaps will be blown for the betterment of all.

I found these videos to be very special, I hope our readers will, too.

(another story on trumpeter by KOMO TV, Seattle)

 

N. Carolina HOA In Tatters

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guest blog by Andrea Barnes

HOAs across the country are begging local governments for help supporting their dilapidated “amenities”, roads and buildings.

Two issues:

1. Buyer beware. Most HOA contracts now have language that allows the sale of common land. All that lovely “green space” you paid a hefty price for may soon be public property.

2. Municipalities have relegated their “governmental” duties to private contracts. Since they operate as such and are being given the same powers to maintain infrastructure, manage neighborhood safety and health concerns, it’s long past time to acknowledge HOAs as mini municipalities.

The neighborhood group previously asked the town for help paying for maintenance, but was turned down because town officials didn’t want to spend public funds on a private pond. The town has turned down many neighborhoods that had similar requests, Frantz said.

But at Coronado Village, he said, “There are some concerns now that it’s potentially becoming a health problem.”

(link to News Observer story on Coronado Village)

(link to additional story in News Observer)

 

One Person One Vote

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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)

 

Take The Survey!

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Our frequent guest blogger, Deborah Goonan, is part of a team of consumer advocates conducting a nationwide HOA survey. In addition to a social media presence, she has posted it on her own web page at Indepentent American Communities (IAC). Obviously, such a survey is more accurate when the survey sample is large. And the more people who respond, the more likely our combined voices will be heard. So, if you haven’t participated yet, please do.

In email exchanges around the country I have a rough idea of what many Americans think about HOAs, POAs and condo associations. But Deborah has fine-tuned a number of survey questions and the results will ultimately be distributed to policy makers.

It’s finally your time to be heard! Here’s your chance to begin the process of making change happen.

(link to HOA survey)

 

Want to Keep You Entertained!

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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)