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.
You can’t paint a pretty picture on a dirty canvas anymore than you can build a community on a foundation of corruption. Yet beneath the thin veneer of outwardly pristine neighborhoods, where every blade of grass is of a uniform length and color, lies the structure that makes it possible to chip away at the very heart of what these developments are supposed to represent. Stories of embezzlement, once quietly hidden, now grab the headlines, along with tales of election fraud, bully tactics, fines, foreclosures and all the other horrors that have become a part of daily life for so many American unit owners.
But finally someone started asking the tough questions and now the FBI is investigating the way some HOAs and condos do business in Las Vegas, Nevada. While it appears that the focus of the investigation at this time is limited to construction defect litigation and election rigging, is there more that is contributing to the demise of our neighborhoods? Should the FBI expand the scope of their investigation to include other areas of possible fraud?
On The Commons this week we are joined by Mari Parlade. Mari, an attorney with a huge heart in Las Vegas, is one of a handful of attorneys who represents homeowners in cases against their associations. Mari has been on the receiving end of threats by association attorneys, has had bar complaints filed against her and has otherwise seen, first hand, what it is like to be in the cross hairs of those who run residential America. In the process of fighting to protect her clients’ homes and fighting for her career, she discovered yet another giant scam sucking the life out of communities and money out of owners’ pockets Please join us On The Commons this Saturday, November 1, 2008. We’ll hear her story and talk about another huge problem in HOAs that needs to be investigated. You will want to hear this one.
