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Ward Lucas is a longtime investigative journalist and television news anchor. He has won more than 70 national and regional awards for Excellence in Journalism, Creative Writing and community involvement. His new book, "Neighbors At War: the Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association," is now available for purchase. In it, he discusses the American homeowners association movement, from its racist origins, to its transformation into a lucrative money machine for the nation's legal industry. From scams to outright violence to foreclosures and neighborhood collapses across the country, the reader will find this book enormously compelling and a necessary read for every homeowner. Knowledge is self-defense. No homeowner contemplating life in an HOA should neglect reading this book. No HOA board officer should overlook this examination of the pitfalls in HOA management. And no lawyer representing either side in an HOA dispute should gloss over what homeowners are saying or believing about the lawsuit industry.

Senator Jonathan!

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Homeowners in Nevada are about to get some wonderful news. The state’s most famous homeowners’ advocates is going to run for a position in the Nevada State Senate.

Those of you who know Jonathan Friedrich know he’s aggressive, smart, and a man without fear. You can slander him, smear him, threaten him, but like the Energizer Bunny he keeps going and going and going. He knows the corrupt Homeowners Association scam as well as anybody. He’s seen it all and can carry our message into the top layers of government in the most corrupt state in the country.

This is a man who should be supported by homeowners across the country. There’s a lot of cowardice among HOA members who think they should speak out against the system. We’re all just too afraid of the kind of retaliation that’s usually used against those who try to speak the truth.

(link to story about Nevada Senate announcement)

http://cotobuzz.blogspot.ca/2016/04/hoa-advocate-jonathan-friedrich-running.html

Freedom Of Information Anniversary

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Well, well, it looks like the U.S. Department of Justice is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA). It means that common citizens like you and me have the right to inspect almost all documents in any federal agency. As a lifelong reporter I’ve used FOIA many times. And I’ve been frustrated many times by public officials who never received my requests, ignored my requests or just laughed at my requests.

A longtime rival of mine taught a reporters’ seminar on how he used FOIA. He would make his initial request for documents. A month later he’d demand access to all documents, memos, notes or letters on how his last FOIA was to be handled. Then he’d hit the agency with yet another FOIA demand for all documents discussing his last FOIA of the FOIA. And his monthly demands created so much paperwork that agency officials finally gave up the original documents just to get this creep off their backs.

I once FOIA’d the FBI for a copy of any file the FBI file kept on me. It took about a year to get a response but they, indeed, had a one page file on me. They sent me a copy…but about a third of it was blacked out! Why can’t I see my own information?

A certain Secretary of State has been hit with subpoenas and FOIA requests for her email illegally kept on a personal computer. Obey the law? Nope. Tens of thousands of the requested emails were destroyed and the controversy is still up in the air.

The Freedom Of Information Act really does work sometimes. You can see information about flying saucer investigations (Project Blue Book), or documents related to the Kennedy assassination (some of them). But ask about some minor official’s misconduct and you’ll be treated like a Russian spy.

The U.S. Attorney’s office is still refusing to hand over documents in a Nevada Homeowners Association scandal that convicted 43 people of federal crimes. This was massive Organized Crime with connections to a Mexican drug cartel, connections to the Chicago mob, and a Nevada Supreme Court Justice who warned the criminals that the feds were going to be doing raids of HOA bigwigs. It gave the lawyer in charge of the Las Vegas HOA scam time to shred all her documents. The Las Vegas Review-Journal has repeatedly hit the feds with FOIA demands for documents. But the feds say, “Nope. Doing so might reveal the personal affairs of some public officials.” That’s not an exception in the Freedom Of Information Act!

Are we better off with FOIA than without? Of course. But don’t expect complete and total honesty out of a dishonest system.

Happy 50th Anniversary, FOIA.

(link to DOJ celebration of FOIA)

You’re Buying An HOA Home? Are You Frickin’ Crazy?!?!?

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RULED BY THE HOA MAFIA!

The National HOA Scam is as close to ‘all things Mafia’ as it gets. Get it through your skulls, people! Homeowners Associations are organized crime. It used to be illegal to go door to door threatening to break glass, bust up a business, scare customers if the business owner didn’t pay his weekly extortion to the mob.

An interesting book in my past reading was “Jimmy the Weasel.” You don’t have to read the book. Just read the Wiki article linked below about the life of Jimmy Fratianno, mob boss of the West Coast. And see if his kind of extortion isn’t an exact parallel of the crap that goes on in Homeowners Associations. Threats, extortion, property damage, mob-controlled living environment. The most powerful story, though, is about the homeowner in Sarasota who was victimized by her HOA mob.

You think I’m exaggerating? Read the links below!

(Sarasota HOA extortion)

(link to background of Mafia boss Jimmy The Weasel. He should have been an HOA board member)

Love It When A Reporter ‘Gets It’

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More and more media outlets are beginning to take notice of the national HOA Scam/Outrage. The link below is from Kiplinger and it’s worth reading.

Also (hint, hint!). There are rumors that a major newspaper in the Midwest has a killer of an HOA expose’ about to be published! This one is said to be the best of all!

(link to Kipling article on HOAs)

Increase Your Credibility By Always Documenting

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

A townhouse complex in San Jose, California had a fire and two pets were killed. As sad as that is, it could have been far worse. Why? Two fire hydrants were non-functioning.

Residents claim they have reported these broken fire hydrants to the departments responsible for maintaining them. Yet, the spokesperson is saying this was the first they heard of it.

Folks…we now live in a society where every contact you make MUST BE DOCUMENTED.

When you make a call, write down the name of the person you are speaking with, the number you dialed, and their job title. Make note of the date and time. Ask for their employee ID, phone extension, location or call center where they are located. If you are transferred to another person, repeat the process. Make detailed notes of the message you are conveying. And make detailed notes of what action they agreed to take and when. Any future communication or documents to or from anyone on this topic must be added to the original.

Should something like non-working fire hydrants happen you can pull your spiral notebook out and say, “I reported that on date, time to Mr. Hydrant the Head Engineer at 555-5555 x 515.” Nobody should argue with you when your documentation is detailed.

Better yet, make your communication in writing via email or a typed or handwritten letter. Keep a copy of it. And keep a copy of any written responses.

These efforts will pay off when you win battles with people who claim no knowledge of ever hearing about a problem. Had the folks making their claim for reporting these fire hydrants documented those calls somebody would now be sitting in a hot seat.