Monthly Archives: June 2017

Fighting Back

Judy Homeowner

Homeowner and condo associations abuses have always been with us as long as HOAs and condos have existed.  However, in the early days of this housing concept very few homeowners spoke out.  They were embarrassed and believed they were at fault.  They didn’t want their friends and family to know they had been sued, fined or ridiculed for such offensive crimes as painting their house the wrong shade of beige or having too many rose bushes in their yards.  They were ostracized and isolated from they neighborhood and retreated within themselves, did not talk to their neighbors and quietly sold their homes and heads hung low, moved away.  In those days it was still possible to find a home that was not saddled with the atrocities of an association, but as housing choices evaporate and HOA housing became the only viable option available to consumers, the voices are getting getting louder.  More and more people caught in the web of residential associations are expressing their anger and their frustrations.  

Judy, a homeowner joins us On The Commons.  Judy is one of the many angry and frustrated homeowners who want to wrest control of their lives  and  homes back away from the special interests and the neighborhood thugs.  After putting a lot of thought into the status quo, she looked at some of the problems and the issues homeowners face on a daily basis and came up with a long list of things she believes need to be done to return residential America back to a desirable place to live.  We talk to Judy about her thoughts and her ideas.  Many of them have been discussed before but some are new.  She has a call to action for fellow owners and activists and a creative way of raising the much needed funds to fight back and protect our rights and our properties.  

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Empowerment, Fighting Back

Wes Rocki

If I could draw I think I would write the HOA book as a series of cartoons because that’s how my mind tends to work.  Many of those cartoons would be funny, others not so funny.  But over the years never has there been a sumo wrestler in any of my imagined doodles or cartoons – until this interview.  That’s when I started putting sumo wrestlers in the picture .  But a gratuitous, enormous hulking, naked man in what appears to be a diaper, in the middle of a manicured, sterile, characterless, controlled residential association wasn’t quite connecting.  So, I decided to read up on sumo wrestling and sumo wrestlers. And all of a sudden it was a perfect fit, diaper and all.  I discovered, among other things, that although some of these massive men appear to be invincible, they have been toppled by smaller opponents.  A sumo historian is quoted as saying he believes the circular ring was chosen to assist smaller fighters to slip away and that the sumo rules tends to root for the underdog.

If you find yourselves in the bullseye of an HOA battle, facing what may seem like a sumo wrestler, grin at the diaper and know that you can win.

Dr. Wes Rocki, MD, PhD joins us On The Commons.  Retired from practicing conventional medicine, Wes now focusses on alternative medicine, including techniques on self help and self healing.  He explains how we can empower ourselves to better handle any conflict.  We talk about how we can step away, mentally and emotionally to get a better grasp of the situation.  Wes gives us a lot of really good advice on how to not only survive being at the center of an HOA storm but how to survive emotionally, reframe the conflict, empower ourselves and win against that massive sumo wrestler in the ring with us.  So many light bulbs went off during the course of this interview.  Listen and be empowered.  Well worth a second listen. 

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New Urbanism

Bill Davis

Go Outside And Play

In the 1930’s, City dwellers resorted to using this balcony-cage contraption as a way of allowing their children to be outside.

 

The special interests have a way of convincing us to embrace something that is so horribly wrong and really bad for us. One of those trends happens to be something called “new urbanism”.  The idea is that the suburbs are bad and contribute to sprawl and to be good citizens, we all need to abandon our desire for space and ownership.  To sell us this concept, in addition to using blatant brainwashing tactics, pretty words and terms are liberally used to describe new urbanism.  Words and phrases like – smart growth – walkable communities – pedestrian friendly communities.   Don’t those words conjure up warm and fuzzy images of happy places?  Developers, municipal governments and other interested groups and agencies would like to take us back to “the good old days”.  Back to the days before Americans fled crowded and congested urban centers in search of space and the ability to provide healthier lives for our kids.  As you allow your mind to picture the good old days remember the old adage; “A picture is worth 1000 words” and check out the photo included in this promo.

Bill Davis joins us On The Commons.  Bill, a Texas attorney, is well versed in all things HOA.  Having been on the front lines of defending his property and himself from all the usual legal and moral problems that define communal living he also is one of a handful of attorneys who will represent homeowners against their residential associations. We talk about the time when Americans migrated to the suburbs in search of what many refer to as the “American dream”.  Along the way they encountered the concept of corporate housing with forced membership and all the inherent problems and horrors associated with it.  Join us as we take a look back in time, look at the pictures and ask yourselves, notwithstanding all the pretty words, if this is really what you want.  

Taking us back to the “good old days” where neighborhoods were walkable but not so pedestrian friendly.  

Be careful what you wish for.  

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