Misinformation is all over the place, especially when it comes to HOAs and the loss of individual and property rights and freedoms. Somehow a hand full of industry special interests have been able to convince legislators, judges and real people that millions of Americans have knowingly and willingly given up Constitutional rights and protections. Try as I might, I simply can’t understand, or accept, that seemingly intelligent people would believe such outrageously false statements without question.
When faced with so much misinform and so many outright lies, it then is incumbent on us to set the record straight. But how? It is all about getting the message out. The message and the messengers have to be factual, unemotional and credible. Long rants, crying uncontrollably and obfuscating the facts with gibberish will get us exactly where we are. Nowhere. Maybe it is time to rethink our strategy and our messengers.
Andy Ostrowski joins us On The Commons. Andy is a former attorney who has been working on court reform in Pennsylvania. He ran unsuccessfully for Public office in an effort to right the many wrongs he has seen. Along the way he stumbled into a quagmire of property rights horrors and abuses in condos and HOAs in his neck of the words in Central Pennsylvania. He added those issues to the long list of injustices he was determined to fight. He has been working on getting his Law License reinstated and in the meantime he started hosting his own radio show where he included a number of property rights advocates and activists. The show is currently on hiatus but he hopes to bring it back soon. We talk to Andy about the problems and the challenges of setting the record straight on so many of the issues. We also discuss the need for credibility when getting that message out. Credibility? Tune in to find out.
Andy can really make a dent in some of the HOA bad legislation or lack of legislation so good to hear he is planning to run for office. The sad part about HOA is that residents just don’t “get it”. We just had our annual meeting on Tuesday. 184 homes. 10 people showed up because I knocked on doors and asked them to attend. 30 ballots sent in. Homeowners complain but don’t know their rights or lack of rights. They just don’t realize that the board can do almost anything they want in an HOA if the majority agree. It’s a license to steal, cheat and fraud their fellow homeowners if they are bad people. It happens all too often and the lawyers then are the winners. HOA is a horrible form of government because of lack of participation and those folks with huge egos love the power. When will it ever end? I am wading through Caroline Douglas’ book and would like to eventually become a facilitator to help homeowners who go to court. It’s a big job but someone has to do it. I miss our friend Jill Schweitzer. She was my mentor on HOA reform. We all have to keep up the fight for better justice and equality in HOA and in the world.
Thank you Shu and Andy,
You’re already forgiven andy for not remember the HOA Warrior on your show! {smile}
Shu, you said the real problem is not usually what presents–the color of the door, the hose on the front lawn, the kids using chalk on the sidewalk–they are just the symptoms. It’s a much bigger problem–its systemic.
Andy I hope you run and win and then we can make another dent–starting with you introducing bills that really protect the homeowner.
Thank you both for a good show.