K&R!!!!

meeting.

to paint a house a certain color had to be approved. No thanks.

Last edited Wed Feb 13, 2013, 06:44 PM - Edit history (1)

I understand why. They are very easy to overtake. The city can control them by controlling a handful of the residents.

Last edited Wed Feb 13, 2013, 09:41 PM - Edit history (1)

In red counties, the way to start is with the HOAs. When a city is looking for supporters for its massive public projects it begins by reaching out to the community leaders. Whether it's a road project, annexation or urban revitalization, it starts by cultivating relationships with those who can promote their agenda.

In my city, in the mid to late nineties, City Hall had ambitious plans that included all three: road projects, annexations and urban revitalization. It also had some serious fences to mend among community leaders. The group they were trying to develop a better marriage with was largely anti-city government because of previous decisions the city had made. Frankly, there was fault to be shared on both ends. Yes, the city earned their distrust, but the political make-up of the residents was primarily Republican in nature and we'll just say that for the most part, they believe in the government process only when it benefits them. Otherwise, they have no respect for authority. This is no surprise to anyone who reads DU.

The extremes the city had to go to in order to win over this private faction is something that should turn into a case study to understand right-wing communities in Florida. The private organization the city was trying to induce was a political homeowner's group that was networked into a number of mandatory HOAs. In 1997, the leaders of this political group and the HOA leaders met several times to strategize on a matter of common interest. The full details of those private meetings were not completely shared with every resident in the community. What this coalition of power would begin to look like from an unconnected homeowner's point of view, was a continual pattern of breaches of fiduciary responsibility among the leadership.

From my street, I first saw it when a cabal in my HOA came together to attempt to keep their neighbors from using common grounds in the Association. This was occurring at the same time a developer appeared to present plans to the city to complete the final phase of my small residential community. We went to the city meetings in 1998 that were held to discuss that project and were told by our leaders and the city that our side of the development also belonged to the developer and we had no legal standing. We just sat and watched and followed the city's advice to work our differences out with the developer through a private contract. Needless to say, all this information about our legal standing turned out to be fraudulent.

Before we reach that point, however, it is interesting to see how they squelched information to keep the residents ignorant of their legal rights. Through the years, you could see how favoritism was given to those individuals who could continue to make decisions that favored the city and kept the information away from the homeowners. For example, a good-buddy gesture was made to an important resident by allowing him to breach setbacks when he built his house. Not too surprisingly, soon afterward, when the resident was on the Association's board, he approved a major rate increase in our fees without warning. He just collected people's proxies without telling them what he was planning to do and raised the annual fees by hundreds of dollars.

It wasn't the increase that was the main issue, because we knew that was eventually coming. The crime in that swift move was that none of the new residents were able to sit in a homeowner's meeting where they could ask for an accountability of how the infra-structure was rushed through City Hall in 1998 in the first place. If they had, someone might have told them that we were told by the city and our community leaders that we had no legal standing, when the truth was that the Mayor's good buddy, who still lived in the community in 1998, had signed the turn-over document ten years before in 1988; AND the city attorney knew or should have known about it! Actually, it was closer to the former, since there were time sheets available that could attest that he had reviewed the document!

So, it's no surprise why this kind of open HOA meeting was not desired by the power elite. That kind of discussion would have led to another discovery. We were not only lied to about the turn-over of our Association, but the city was up to its neck in malfeasance because it had co-opted the final phase of our development the year before in 1997. The proof was in a photograph which included the Mayor and a commissioner posing for a ground-breaking photo of the development BEFORE the public meetings even began in 1998!

This is probably why the State Attorney's Office would have passed on an investigation in the early years. They would have learned about this incredible breach through private conversations among the community elite. Once they decided to good ole boy themselves into silence, without their help it would take several more years before I came across the photograph on my own.

There is little one can do about it when the power structure is so corrupt that it includes lawyers who won't divulge their conflicts of interest to you if you hire them. They add to the problem by steering you down the wrong path, and making you believe you have no legal standing.

This is what it's like to live in a right-wing community that believes in small government.

More to say on the matter later.

There are some serious people who have fallen for the rhetoric of the elite, when they are organized, the people who are working for all the people can see and feel opposition.

I felt this in Utah and Florida, in both situations what was going on was unethical and illegal.

Spend it wisely and celebrate!!

It will help you connect the dots and possibly give you recourse if you need it.

I used my 10,000 post in the computer help forum to solve a problem. I love DU

What you end up with is more like a third world country, than America.

I was shocked, shocked I tell you. I worked in health care. I took healing and helping very seriously. What an eye opening.

But it wasn't until Utah, where they tried to convince me that I no longer had the rights afforded to me as a US citizen that your third world country analogy applied.

I am in the NW now, seriously my condolences on the Florida thing.

You know what health care and poor community development have in common in Florida? Attorneys who help doctors and politicians bury the dead bodies.

And all of them are practicing in Florida

One thing about being a RW professional, you have plenty of fellow hacks to cover for you.

Come to think of it, that would be a better way to put it. Professionals, whether they're doctors, lawyers or politicians, will extend courtesies to each other which undermines the safety and fairness of the process.

And damn if the police aren't part of it. The realization? Crime has no downside if there is no one to enforce the law.

The State Attorney's office passes every chance it gets to investigate political corruption because it's so endemic they would have to include community leaders along with elected officials. The Trayvon Martin incident was just too big to hide. They finally got exposed.

As for the police, my observation is that they are an extension of City Hall. Whether you have a City Manager who controls the city, or a Mayor who controls the City Manager, whatever, the police department is a reflection of the governing body.

it happens in other states too--not just FL, tho it is bad there.

There is a LOT of corruption in America. Everywhere.

to information. Whoever controls the information, controls the way society is run.

The judicial system = antiquated and corrupt to the point of breakdown of the system. No consumer protections. On the local level, it can be way too expensive to "fight city hall" or any legal battle, for that matter. The exploiters depend on this. There are few legal protections for the average person in several arenas where corruption is rampant. Many people have no idea how vulnerable they are. Maybe now they have more of an idea after the mortgage scams. I hope. The justice system is also overburdened with revolving door cases, drug cases, petty crimes, domestic violence, families in crisis, etc etc.

State politics--again--antiquated and corrupt.

The election system--need I say more?

Not too many average people feel the system works for them. They feel powerless to do anything about it. Machiavelli is ruling in America.

with all the pressure of this job weighing on him plus having to put up with all the hating that goes on. It doesn't take much for me to be sleepless when I have ONE thing bugging me.

that at least 65 million people in the U.S have their backs (and countless numbers worldwide, too).

Have you told it? There are places on the web. It is called gang stalking.

have endured over the last 4 years, it would take a long time to list them! Start with "You Lie!!" in the chamber during the 1st State of the Union and come on down to yesterday. Calling them less than human, socialist, Marxist, not American, not a legal president, lie after lie after lie wrapped up in the hate mongering that has been forced on to Fox viewers and they gobbled it up. Many times resulting in people scared of their shadows and thinking of doing the first couple harm. They kept on through all of that. Man, I didn't even show the tip of the iceberg let alone the rest of it.

They are strong and we will benefit from it.

right? If not...........

No matter how mature people are, some of them have crippled sad little hearts and minds.
Just pity them

I'm thinking we're one big bowl of yin and yang in the world and I got tired of them constantly sticking their yin in my yang!

it sucks

and yes, they behave immature and irrational and illogical just like the Republican party on a national level.

Is it a disease, a brain malfunction, a mental illness?...I have no idea, but the blind rage and hypocrisy are astounding.

and lack better ways to bond, they're vulnerable to all this right wing divisive crap. Teabagger Mentality I'd call a disorder, in that it's not positive or productive--only negative.

Too bad it's what speaks to them. You can put a lot of blame on Fux and Flush. Keep hope alive that one day they may see, but don't bank on it. Be there if they do, but you are on a better course.

K&R!

He's always taken the high road, and always will. The repukes have been making jackasses of themselves for years now. They're a joke.

Watching sourpuss Boner during the SOTU was interesting-- he looked bored, petulant, but mostly glowered the whole time. Stupid fool.

I have had just about the worst year of my life.

our way up and out of it. I hope things settle really soon for you.

namaste

possibilities as he can, in as much of our actual circumstances as he can, and he doesn't pretend about any of that for political payoff, like Republicans do (and like many, such as I, think those Republicans deserve to have done back to them from the opposite direction) in playing to their fascist base, e.g. the Tea Party.

The reason I like this trait in someone is because it actually can free others to be more honest with themselves about how their freedoms are purchased at the price of their OWN personal responsibilities, not by finegalling some "leader" authority into coercing others, more or less directly or indirectly, into doing whatever the current moment's fad for what "right" is.

What President Obama is doing is a MUCH more difficult, politically risky, thing to do, because it pisses everyone, "Left" and Right, off, and that even includes me . . . because all of us are being called to get honest enough to do it for/WITH them/our-selves and most people avoid that level of honesty with others because it under-cuts the ways that we depend upon one anothers' lies and half truths, PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY, that's the sort of thing that took us into the profound tragedy of our invasion and occupation of an INNOCENT country known as Iraq (and so many others besides). George Bush lead us, but we ALSO did that war to ourselves. And what President Obama is doing is breaking those chains of Plausible Deniability and making it more and more necessary for us to go to one another with more courage and honesty.

It's all worth it, though it's also a little sad that these very traits are also what is attacked the most, from all directions, and vilified the most in him, instead of people telling each other the truth about themselves.

One truth about me is that I truly am a little uncomfortable liking anyone as much as I do PO. That kind of commitment has not worked out that well for me throughout life, so I do worry that I'm losing touch with reality when I see more pluses than I do minuses. And yet, my desire for honesty also requires that I must admit that I do see more pluses than minuses when I do.

............................

FOUR fingers!!!!

about feeling uncomfortable about liking President Obama. After you've been burned, even politically, it's hard when you start to believe again.

validation of either/any/all of the positions.

Actually everyone does this, more or less, some just more actively. You do have to decide when take a direction though and then if/how/when to adapt that appropriately afterwards, something that institutions like government don't do very well.

In 2010, Glenn Beck did a show on organizations he felt were part of the vast communist/socialist/Nazi conspiracy.

Amazingly, Wishadoo! was included in that.

Seriously.

Because Wishadoo!'s intentions are about COMPASSION, COOPERATION, COMMUNITY and THE COMMON GOOD (that last part really got him, evidently), Wishadoo!'s logo magnet was on his infamous chalkboard along with other "leftie" organizations.

Oy.

I only became aware of this when I started getting nasty emails, nasty comments on the Facebook page, on the website itself, and even a few phone calls. The nicer comments were that they are "watching me." You can imagine the nastier comments.

Not fun. Scary, actually. Any time I post about Wishadoo! here on DU, I run the risk of that group of people doing it all over again.

Such is life. I'm not hiding, and I have nothing TO hide.

I HAVE THE UTMOST RESPECT FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA and his family. For many reasons, not the least of which is how gracefully they have dealt with the hate and attempts to dehumanize him.

for my post. Cory Booker posted it on his FB this morning and I thought it very appropriate.


“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt