About On the Commons (dot) net

Onthecommons.net is the companion site to Onthecommons.us. The current show is available on both sites but this site (the dot “net” site) contains several years of shows in an easily searchable WordPress Blog format.  Yes you can leave comments on this site.

The other site (the dot “us” or dot “com” site) contains even older On the Commons radio shows; the Law Library; and several articles that were not part of any particular show. Oh yes, it also contains Homeowner Association humor.

You can find recent shows, shows by month and shows through the search box on the left hand side. You can find show categories on the right hand side.  The category part isn’t quite done yet, but we are working on it.

Copyright © 2020 – OTC Multimedia Productions.  No portion of this web site may be copied or rebroadcast without my express. written permission of the owner, Shu Bartholomew.

12 thoughts on “About On the Commons (dot) net”

  1. Hi
    We are taking our association to court. The new president is a control freak who hired an attorney by the name of stuart fullett and a management company by the name of mc property. Our next court case is Thursday we live in downers grove, Il. What a nightmare living in a hoa! I wish there was a radio station in illinois to educate these people to what’s really going on.

    Reply

    1. Thank you for the information. We have a total of 15 different hoa condo same issues with the same management company and law firm. One step at a time:)

      Reply

  2. 10/14/2014 – Good news for all Californians! My excellent attorney Sam Walker just won appeal in 4th District against my HOA. Forces HOA collectors to accept payments then than the amount they demand throughout California. Owning a home in an HOA is a nightmare. Its the tail that wags the dog. The management company and their selected attorney run the show, not the ignorant and negligent directors. At least that is how it looks. Visit public site http://www.huntingtoncontinentalvoice.com for more info. This is a great ruling for all Californians. Perhaps you can now sue your association if they refused your payments and your home was foreclosed or you were damaged. I think we have all had enough of this abuse.

    Reply

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    Reply

  6. My organization represents the consumer based satellite industry. We advocate on behalf of consumers who wish to install satellite dishes but are being denied by HOA’s and other groups. The FCC regulations are fairly clear on this issue and we aim to educate all parties on the regulations and ensure that consumers are not unfairly denied service. Below is my contact information and a link to the site we have created specifically to assist consumers. Feel free to share this with your audience, if anyone needs assistance we are there to provide it.

    Best regards;

    Steve Hill
    President
    SBCA
    http://www.strongerwithsatellite.com/pages/Home.cfm

    Reply

  8. I wrote the below book review on Mr. Ward Lucas’ book “Neighbors At War…” on Amazon.com and was encouraged by a reader to post it here. So here goes:

    Yes I live in the “supposedly” highly praised community of Fairhope, AL 36532, in particular Rock Creek Subdivision- and specifically Eastern Rock Creek Subdivision. Just about everything Mr. Lucas talks about in this book has in fact occurred to me a combat veteran of the US Army! The house I purchased- never-in fact had a “Final Occupancy Inspection” done on it by the City of Fairhope- as asked the City Building Inspector himself. Allegedly, as I have been told by several people, the contractor who built it has subsequently had his contractor’s license revoked by the City of Fairhope. I purchased the home from people well known to me, and had been in it while it was under construction, and resultant to my visit the contractor had to do major repairs to the ongoing construction. After I purchased it, I attempted to get it “repaired” to the standard it should have been originally built- I even informed senior members of the Eastern Rock Creek POA (ERCPOA) about everything I was in fact doing, but this was to no avail. Neighbors complained to everyone, including local police! I even had the Fairhope Police Chief himself come to my residence- and he told me horror stories about what had seen contractor do in this area! My Contractor- had to have one of his company members, file a police report about ERCPOA Committee member assaulting them with a vehicle. A 3-4 week job, turned into months and aggravated not only my contractor but his employees as well. As it turns out my Contractor had to file criminal charges against some of these employees. What did I get after almost 70-thousand dollars in repairs- issues I am still dealing with a year later I should not be.

    Mr Lucas, somewhere in his book, explains that HOA’s can manipulate property values. Well, my property value over the course of last year has fluctuate greatly, from 20K below to what I paid for the property, to well over market value and then back down again! I have also been harassed by local Insurance Underwriters my mortgage bank deals with and had to file numerous FTC, etc… complaints- to no avail. Oddly, the local Probate Judge, whom I have had issues with, and whom has not law degree, is connected with the Insurance Industry in this area and the State of Alabama. Furthermore, IAW the POA Magazine there are other senior residents with very same connections! I could simply go on- but I think readeres of this review get the point!

    Also, in ERCPOA, most houses have cracked driveways, foundations, etc… I have pictures move, of their own accord as if the house is still settling. I have lived all over the world, and in regions with seismic activity and never had this occur! Furthermore, IAW the POA’s Property Management Company, their are sink holes all over the sub-division, major repairs have been done to bridges, and drains, as well as electrical hubs, etc.. I have contacted the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) several times, with no response- asking numerous questions- such as if this sub-division was built on old landfill. Oddly, the POA put out a notice about children not playing in a “dredge pond” on property behind ERCPOA! I happened to look at satellite imagery on an IPhone app. and noticed said “dredge pond” was an active mining operation. Coincidentally, ADEM has authorized the Alabama Home Builders Association, among others to be Quality Control (QC) for mining operations in the State of Alabama. I will let readers of this review judge which rabbit hole(s) to go down with that…. (However I did contact the local media about it with, yet again, no response!)

    Also, the POA by-laws, covenants etc… for this neighborhood were written by lawyers and have so many changes and addenda taht the average person, would have significant difficulty in “De-coding” them, etc….

    At end of day- I hate my house, have had nightmares about it, as well as other family members, and really would like to “dump-it” and tried with little success, oddly again- among other things- like trying to purchase other homes- that supposedly the Builders “had never made that kind of mistake on,” prior to purchasing this one!

    Mr.Lucas quote: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will because we destroyed ourselves. —Abraham Lincoln” is very appropriate as it is in keeping with “A shady government influences the moral behavior of its citizens” -Quoted From Scientific American Mind-Behavior & Society Article “National Corruption Breeds Personal Dishonesty-A shady government influences the moral behavior of its citizens” by By Simon Makin on March 1, 2017″

    As best I can tell researching this topic extensively a while back, HOA/POA’s appear to have become prevalent around the time of the Civil-Rights act of the 1960’s. If this is in fact correct, then it could possibly be a major factor in why our Government refuses to address this issue in the US at the highest levels- but once again leave that for readers of this review to decide, figure out or further research as would make a fantastic Graduate level research topic on civil-rights, etc…..

    Mr. Lucas hits it out of the ball-park completely with this book, and only wish our elected officials at both the state and national level would take time to read it!

    Reply

  9. – 01 –

    Can you please begin each episode by stating the date (and episode number, if applicable).

    “This is On the Commons for Saturday December 21, 2019” (or whatever the date is)?

    Since you have so many repeat guests, and often re-broadcast old episodes, it’s frequently hard to tell if a show is new or several years old.

    Also put that information in the show notes on the web site.

    – 02 –

    Can something be done about Bill Davis’s audio quality?

    He is one of your most informative and entertaining guests. Yet for the past year or so, listening to him has become difficult because of the sound quality. It’s gotten so bad that I no longer listen to his episodes.

    – 03 –

    Once you get Bill’s audio problems fixed: more episodes with Bill Davis AND John Cowherd together.

    – 04 –

    Please put the show back on the iTunes store, and other podcast services such as Spotify, etc., so that we can subscribe to the program.

    Having to go to the web page, download the .mp3 file, and transfer it to our phone (or other listening device) is enough extra work to discourage people from listening.

    – 05 –

    I understand this is your program, and you can invite whoever you want. But why do you give scarce time to people like Bonner Cohen – who have no interest in protecting consumers of H.O.A.-burdened housing?

    – 06 –

    Would it be possible to make the show longer, and take either calls from listeners? Or questions via internet (such as Skype, Twitter, etc.)?

    Also, have a greater variety of guests, rather than the same folks on the program over and over and over.

    – 07 –

    And not program related, but surely you have networked enough by now to either be able to start an advocacy group, or know somebody with the resources and skills to do so.

    As has been discussed so many times before, the lack of organized representation is one of the main reasons that H.O.A. reform fails.

    I don’t mean to cast stones, because my efforts at organizing and lobbying have been an utter failure. Surely you are in a position to do better.

    Otherwise, we can talk and talk and talk all we want without changing anything.

    Reply

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