Rights and Responsibilities

It's been a long week. I listened to the last Taskforce meeting and came away very troubled by some of the things I heard. "...if it's in your covenants, it's not petty ...". Historically, covenants HAVE been petty. Human beings are petty. Thankfully, written into some of the most powerful documents we have is the power to AMEND because we realize human being are fallible and change becomes necessary. Preservation of property values has long been used to protect even the most unsavory of covenant restrictions. It serves no one to forget the past.

Discretion and the concept of mercy is built into the law. We understand the need for concepts like diversion programs and restorative justice. Deterrence only instills fear and doubt into a community regulated by the views of a few. Communities that thrive are community members who feel they have a voice. The HOA/Community Management System seeks to remove the HOME from the HOUSE. I no longer have a home, I am quite simply, the owner of a house. Most house owners are good respectable people who try very hard, negotiating tough economic times, to be responsible. To suggest otherwise is insulting. We try to accommodate the HOA and Management Industry but it can be very difficult without informed consent.

Take this example of an email I received on Friday. Two paragraphs. Contextualize this sentence, ..."The Board has had a meeting this past week and we are looking to try and get a Maintenance/Insurance Chart to transfer interior wall to the owners."

This email was under the signature of the Community Manager. Apparently, the Community Manager is now a member of the Board. I have absolutely no clue what the rest is in reference to. I have left nothing out, no special editing. The title says Update on Insurance and since it's a "no reply" , it is what it is. Does the Community Manager want me to insure a wall in a house I have dwelling coverage for?

Other than thanking me for my "patients" perhaps the Community Manager will at some point provide me with more information. What the Taskforce so smoothly glossed over, the majority of the stories and pleas for help are not about fines and violations, they are about house owners with no voice and no stake holding in the process.

***Update *** Now WHY would the afor mentioned email (Community Manager) be removed from the HOA website? Good thing I have a hard copy, amirite?