Hosted and produced by Shu Bartholomew, On The Commons is a weekly radio show dedicated to discussing the many issues surrounding mandatory homeowner associations, the fastest growing form of residential housing in the nation.
The post war economic boom made it possible for Americans to move out of the urban centers and still work “downtown”. Roads were built, cars were financially feasible for many families and the call of the less congested suburbs was hard to resist. A car in the driveway and a single family home, surrounded by a white picket fence became the embodiment of the American Dream. Over the next several decades the suburbs exploded. The builders built more and more housing. schools, retail spaces, parks, roads – and the people came – in droves. Along the way, the notion of helping local municipal governments financially by establishing, and requiring, homeowner associations to assume many of their responsibilities also became a part of this brave new world. Condominiums were part of this changing landscape as well. We know how the last fifty years changed the way Americans lived, but what does the future hold?
On The Commons this week we are joined by Tyler Berding. Tyler, an attorney and a founding partner of the California firm of Berding Weil, represents associations in California. He maintains a blog at http://www.condoissues.blogspot.com/ where he writes fairly extensively about the issues that affect this particular type of housing. In a recent blog post titled “Predicting the Future of Community Associations” he looks through his crystal ball and shares his vision of what the next half century will bring in condos. Some of his observations about today’s projects are dead on and some of his visions would take American homeowners in yet another direction. Please join us On The Commons. We’ll talk about lessons learned and hear some of his thoughts on where we may be headed with this experiment in communal living. Will it be a brave new world or a scary place to be? Tune in and you decide.
On the Commons is produced by OTC Multimedia Productions.
