Saturday, September 10, 2011

An Opinion By Jan Bergemann
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.
Published September 10, 2011
  
What would you think if you are a condo owner and receive a BILL FOR $ 245.00 -- just for making a simple request to INSPECT some public records of your association? Wouldn't you expect that the inspection takes place in a luxury suite, with champagne and caviar being served? 
  
I would -- especially since Florida statutes don't allow charges for RECORD INSPECTION -- and in this case there was absolutely no request for copies. But the least I would have expected is a location like a garage and a table in a parking lot!
This is the description of the location that was sent to the owners who requested to inspect the records: "The warehouse does have electricity and a restroom.  I have arranged for an extension cord to be ran if you would like to bring a fan.  Space is very limited so there are no chairs and table set up.  We have folding chairs and a table that can be opened and set up just outside of the warehouse (due to the space availability)." I read it three times before I believed what I was reading!  All that luxury for $245?

To be polite: I consider these charges outrageous -- and an obvious violation of Florida statutes.


The management company quotes FS 718.111(12)(c) on the bill, but leaves out important parts of this provision. CLICK HERE to read the complete wording of this important provision.

How "PUBLIC" are public records if only the rich owners can afford to inspect them? According to legislators who worked on changes to the wording of this provision, it was clearly the legislative intent to allow Record Inspections Free Of Charge, while the cost of copies of these records -- if so specifically demanded -- could be charged to the owners.
Many blogs and articles dealt with these "charges for record inspections," but I have so far not seen one public opinion from an attorney officially claiming that the Florida statutes allow associations and/or community association managers to charge owners for the INSPECTION OF RECORDS.

Steve Inglis, President of Bristol Management, boasts on the firm's website all kinds of experience: Past President of CAI, Member of Jupiter-Tequesta-Juno Chamber of Commerce and Member of Palm City Chamber of Commerce. Sounds impressive, but shouldn't a person with that kind of experience stop his obviously less experienced employees from sending out these kinds of outrageous bills, with amounts billed that have no legal foundation in the Florida statutes?

Despite protests from the owners, the demand still stands -- but the owners are still waiting for the champagne and the caviar!

Why is it that certain professionals consider owners in community associations their private cash cows -- and are even willing to disregard the Florida statutes in order to improve their profits?

FS 718.111(12)(c) The official records of the association are open to inspection by any association member or the authorized representative of such  member at all reasonable times. The right to inspect the records includes the right to make or obtain copies, at the reasonable expense, if any, of the member. The association may adopt reasonable rules regarding the frequency, time, location, notice, and manner of record inspections and copying. The failure of an association to provide the records within 10 working days after receipt of a written request creates a rebuttable presumption that the association willfully failed to comply with this paragraph. A unit owner who is denied access to official records is entitled to the actual damages or minimum damages for the association's willful failure to comply. Minimum damages are $50 per calendar day for up to 10 days, beginning on the 11th working day after receipt of the written request. The failure to permit Inspection entitles any person prevailing in an enforcement action to recover reasonable attorney's fees from the person in control of the records who, directly or indirectly, knowingly denied access to the records. Any person who knowingly or intentionally defaces or destroys accounting records that are required by this chapter to be maintained during the period for which such records are required to be maintained, or who knowingly or intentionally fails to create or maintain accounting records that are required to be created or maintained, with the intent of causing harm to the association or one or more of its members, is personally subject to a civil penalty pursuant to s. 718.501(1)(d). The association shall maintain an adequate number of copies of the declaration, articles of incorporation, bylaws, and rules, and all amendments to each of the foregoing, as well as the question and answer sheet as described in s. 718.504 and year-end financial information required under in this section, on the condominium property to ensure their availability to unit owners and prospective purchasers, and may charge its actual costs for preparing and furnishing these documents to those requesting the documents.

 
 
  ----- Having spent three weeks in a hospital in Naples, Florida with my wife I couldn't help noticing what was going on in the hospital and I had a lot of time to talk to the doctors and nurses about what I had observed.  Below is a commentary from an ER Doctor.  Do you think this might be a big reason our health care system and our social security system are so screwed up?  Do you think this might be a big reason our taxes keep going up?  Who do you think these people are going to vote for?
  
From a Florida ER doctor:
"I live and work in a state overrun with illegals.. They make more money having kids than we earn working full-time. Today I had a 25-year old with 8 kids - that's right 8; all illegal anchor babies and she had the nicest nails, cell phone, hand bag, clothing, etc. She makes about $1,500 monthly for each; you do the math. I used to say, We are the dumbest nation on earth. Now I must say and sadly admit: WE are the dumbest peopleon earth (that includes ME) for we elected the idiot ideologues who have passed the bills that allow this. Sorry, but we need a revolution. Vote them all out in 2012. "    
  
--- REMEMBER ---
IN NOVEMBER 2012, WE HAVE A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO CLEAN OUT THE ENTIRE HOUSE AND ONE-THIRD OF THE SENATE!
  
   
This is an insult and a kick in the butt to all of us... 
Get mad and pass it on - I don't know how, but maybe some good will come of this travesty.
If the immigrant is over 65, they can apply for SSI and Medicaid and get more than a woman on Social Security, who worked from 1944 until 2004.
She is only getting $791 per month because she was born in 1924 and there's a 'catch 22.'
It is interesting that the federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly allowance of $1,890.  Each can also obtain an additional $580 in social assistance, for a total of $2,470 a month.
This compares to a single pensioner, who after contributing to the growth and development of America for 40 to 50 years, can only receive a monthly maximum of $1,012 in old age pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement.
Maybe our pensioners should apply as refugees!
Consider sending this to all your American friends, so we can all be ticked off and maybe get the refugees cut back to $1,012 and the pensioners up to $2,470.   Then we can enjoy some of the money we were forced to submit to the Government over the last 40 or 50 or 60 years. And not to receive a increase for 2010 or 2011. Vote them all out of office...
 Please forward this to every American to expose what our elected politicians have been doing for the past 11 years to over-taxed Americans.
SEND THIS TO EVERY AMERICAN TAXPAYER YOU KNOW.
 
 
  
 

Friday, September 9, 2011


 
 
  

 
 
E m m a   M a e r s k
 
                        You must read the ending...
 See the editorial under the last picture. That says it all!


      The Emma Maersk, part of a Danish shipping line, 
                 is shown in the photos below. 
     Description: cid:X.MA1.1280382705@aol.com    
             What a ship....no wonder 'Made in China ' is displacing
North American made goods big time. 
             This monster transports goods across the Pacific in just 5
days!! This is one of three ships presently in service, with another two
ships commissioned to be completed in 2012.                      
 
       

      Description: cid:X.MA2.1280382705@aol.com
 
        These ships were commissioned by Wal-Mart to get all their
goods and stuff from China . They hold an incredible 15,000
containers and have a 207 foot deck beam!!  The full crew is just
13 people on a ship 
longer than a US Aircraft Carrier (which has a
crew of 5,000.  With its 207' beam it is too big to fit through the
Panama  or Suez Canals ..
        

    It is strictly Transpacific. Cruise speed: 31 knots. 

The goods arrive 4 days before the typical container ship (18-20
knots) on a China-to-California   run.  
91% of Wal-Mart products are
made in China .
So this behemoth is hugely competitive even
when carrying perishable goods.
 
              
  
The ship was built in five sections. The sections floated

together and then welded.

The command bridge is higher than a 10-story building and has
11 cargo crane rigs that can operate simultaneously unloading
the entire ship in less than two hours.


     Description: cid:X.MA3.1280382705@aol.com
 
                Additional info:

                Country of origin - Denmark
                     Length - 1,302 ft
                     Width - 207 ft
                     Net cargo - 123,200 tons 
                     Engine - 14 cylinders in-line diesel engine (110,000 BHP) 
                     Cruise Speed - 31 knots

                     Cargo capacity - 15,000 TEU (1 TEU = 20 cubic feet)
                     Crew - 13 people !
                     First Trip - Sept. 08, 2006 
                     Construction cost - US $145,000,000+

Silicone painting applied to the ship bottom reduces water  
 resistance and saves 317,000 gallons of diesel per year.
    Description: cid:X.MA4.1280382705@aol.com
    Description: cid:X.MA5.1280382705@aol.com 
    Description: cid:X.MA6.1280382705@aol.com

    Description:   cid:X.MA7.1280382705@aol.com
    Description:   cid:X.MA8.1280382705@aol.com 
    Description: cid:X.MA9.1280382705@aol.com
                Editorial Comment!

A recent documentary in late March, 2010 on the History
Channel noted that all of these containers are shipped back to
China , 
EMPTY. Yep, that's right.  
We send nothing back on these ships. 
What does that tell you
about the current financial state of this country?
 Just keep
buying those imported goods (mostly gadgets) until you run out
of money. 

Then you may wonder what the cause of unemployment
(maybe even your job) in the U.S. and Canada   might be????

'Nuff said ??

                     
This message, if any, surely deserves forwarding, doesn't it ?






 
An Indian walks into a cafe with a  shotgun
In one hand pulling a male buffalo with the other. 
He says  to the waiter: 
"Want coffee."
The waiter says, "Sure.  Coming right up." 
 
He gets the Indian a tall mug of  coffee...... 
The Indian drinks the coffee down in one  gulp, 
Turns and blasts the buffalo with the shotgun, 
Causing  parts of the animal to splatter everywhere And then just walks  out. 
 
The next morning the Indian returns. 
He has his  shotgun in one hand, pulling 
Another male buffalo with the  other. 
He walks up to the counter and says to 
The  waiter 
 
"Want coffee."
The waiter says  "Whoa!  
  We're still cleaning up your mess from  yesterday.  
What was all that about,  anyway?" 
 
The Indian smiles and proudly  says, 
 
 
"Training for position in United States   Congress: 
Come in, drink coffee, shoot the bull, 
Leave shit  for others to clean up, 
Disappear for rest of day."  
=
ED,YOU MISS THE PUCH LINE AT THE END>
> >
> An apparent Drunken Cowboy lay sprawled across
> three entire seats in a posh Amarillo Theater.
>
> When the Usher came by and noticed him, he whispered to the
> Cowboy, "Sorry, Sir, but you're only allowed one seat."
>
> The Cowboy just groaned but didn't even budge.
>
> The Usher became more impatient and insistent: "Sir,
> if you don't get up from there I'm going to have to call the
> manager."
>
> Once again, the cowboy just groaned. The Usher marched
> briskly back up the aisle, and in a moment he returned with the manager.
>
> Together the two of them tried repeatedly to move the cowboy,
>
> but without success. He just laid there in a dazed stupor.
>
> Finally they had enough and summoned the police.
>
> A Texas Ranger arrived, surveyed the situation briefly
> then asked, "Alright buddy what's your name?"
>
> "Sam," the Cowboy moaned.
>
> “ Where y’ all from, Sam?" asked the Ranger.
>
> With terrible pain in his voice, a grim expression and
> without moving a muscle, Sam said, "The Balcony."
>
>
>
>

Tuesday, September 6, 2011


Subject: "Greyhound 1"....

Secret Service Buys Two New $1.1 Million Buses For Three-Day Trip…

 
US President Barack Obama (C) walks to his bus as he arrives in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Minnesota, August 15, 2011, where he is to begin his three-day bus tour in the Midwest centering on ways to grow the economy. (AFP PHOTO/Jim WATSON)
 
 
 
He FLYS into an airport somewhere in the midwest, hops into a brand new 1.1 Million $ bus, paid for by you and me,  for a “bus tour” ‘around the midwest’, and after an hour or so, gets driven back to the airport for ANOTHER FLIGHT, lands at another airport where another 1.1 Million $ brand new black bus is waiting for him… and repeats all that until his midwest bus‘tour’ is done??  Oh yes......and THEN he leaves on a 12 day vacation to Martha's Vineyard.......to REST UP from this campaign bus tour!
 
And don't forget........those brand new shiny black buses aren’t DRIVEN to the location where they meet Obama. Those buses are loaded up on one or more C-17s. Then, they are flown to the destination ahead of AirForce-1.
AND!.......this is REPEATED FOR EVERY CAMPAIGN STOP.
 
On this 'bus tour', the Prez will lecture the 'little people' on how they need to live within their means and cut-back!  Remember when very recently Obama told that family man to GO BUY A HYBRID VAN when he said he couldn’t afford to fill up his truck????
 
Obama's 'carbon footprint' must be as large as most cities by now.
 
All of this on the taxpayer's dime.....But remember, this is NOT a campaign trip - it is "Meet with the people" trip only!  So that the DNC does NOT pay a cent for all of this.
 
 
 
 

Monday, September 5, 2011





Evidently, this has been around for about four years, how did we miss it? 
Only the British can do this with such a straight face.
Enjoy.

Article Courtesy of GAWKER
   
Homeowners' associations were supposedly created by Real Estate God to fundraise for and oversee neighborhood maintenance, and to help developers to efficiently manage and market their properties. But it often seems that their true purpose in life is to drive homeowners insane.
Governed by boards of directors—homeowners ostensibly chosen by their peers to represent the interests of their communities—HOAs are organizations that have become somewhat infamous for imposing arbitrary fines and liens on unpopular or "rogue" homeowners, making shit up as they go along, treating people unfairly, enforcing strict adherence to their rules, collecting fees, and acting irrationally or illegally. The people who sit on their boards are often petty, vindictive, utterly incompetent, and/or control-freakish. Regardless, anyone who wants to move into a housing development ruled by an HOA has to agree to follow the HOA's rules—which can prove troublesome for anyone who's even slightly individualistic, or simply laissez-faire about the color of their neighbors' driveways.

Sure, you can decide against moving into a HOA-governed development—except that in many parts of the country, doing so has become increasingly difficult. More than 80 percent of newly built homes belong to association communities, reports the Associated Press; 24.4 million homes, or 20 percent of all homes in America, are represented by HOAs, with concentrations higher in some states. You can try to look for an HOA whose culture, rules, and members appeal to you—but then again, if just one or two board members quit or are replaced, your HOA's culture and rules might become completely different/personally unbearable to you.

And if you somehow end up on the board's bad side by, say, planting an unauthorized flower, or flying your flag on the wrong type of pole, it's likely that your HOA will fine you, lien you, and threaten you with foreclosure—just like Jim Lane's HOA did.

Lane's a North Carolina man who's caught up in a dispute with his HOA because he planted some pansies in a community common area. He "felt the flowers would spruce up the park, which he viewed as unsightly and unkempt," reports the Huntersville Herald. For committing his act of botanical goodwill, the Gilead Ridge Homeowners Association fined him. Then, when he refused to pay, the HOA placed a lien on his house. In the interest of avoiding foreclosure, Lane paid the fine—but he's now suing the HOA for $800,000 for abuse of process and other things. He's also founded a statewide coalition to help other homeowners in his state fight back against their HOAs.

Don't think Lane's HOA "couldn't possibly" take his house just because he didn't pay their fines, because they totally could: "Before now, associations rarely, if ever, foreclosed on homeowners," reports AP. "But today, encouraged by a new industry of lawyers and consultants, boards are increasingly foreclosing on people 60 days past due on association fees."

Evan McKenzie, a University of Illinois-Chicago political science professor and author of the book Beyond Privatopia: Rethinking Residential Private Government, recently explained to me that a complicating aspect of HOA disputes is that they often become personalized, "so you can't even resolve them." When board members interpret the rules to suit their own ends, homeowners often must look to the courts to enforce basic standards of accountability—and that can get expensive. "There's no training or actual requirements" for board positions, McKenzie adds, which means that the people in charge often don't understand the most basic requirements of the law. Many homeowners don't, either.

And so you have chaos. With that in mind, here are 21 shocking tales about HOAs gone nuts:
 
  
Pagosa Springs, Colorado
In 2006, the Loma Linda Homeowners Association threatened to fine a homeowner $25 per day because she hung a "divisive" Christmas wreath shaped like a peace sign on her home.
  
Some Loma Linda residents apparently believed the wreath was "a protest of the Iraq war" or "a symbol of Satan." The Internet heard about this situation and called for a protest against the HOA, prompting the HOA to back off and drop the fines.
  
Read about the Christmas Wreath Controversy at ABC Channel 7 -- .Denver
   
San Antonio, Texas
Christa Colquhoun, a resident of the Stone Oak development, built a white picket fence (the stuff of homeowner dreams!) on her property to prevent her five-year-old autistic son from hurting himself by running out of the yard and into the street. She and her husband filed an application with her HOA to built the gate, and explained that its purpose was to address her son's special needs. For 60 days — twice as long as was necessary under HOA rules —
she waited for the HOA to respond; when they didn't, she proceeded with the fence, just as the rules ostensibly permitted. And then?

Soon afterward, Christa says her neighbor began harassing her, making fun of her child and telling her the gate was ugly and to take it down. Christa says the neighbor then filed a complaint with the HOA. Christa tells KENS 5 that's when she began receiving letters from the HOA asking her to tear down the gate and pay a fine, an amount that she says adds up to $600 by now. "They wanted the gate down because it was ugly. It was an eyesore and it didn't match with the rest of the community," Christa said. She claims to have contacted HOA members on several occasions, but no one has responded. Some of them live down the street from her, she said. "They said it would be a possibility to foreclose on the home if I don't pay the fines and get the gate removed."

How much you wanna bet that the tot-mocking moron goes to church every Sunday? 
  
Odessa, FL
A.J. Vizzi spent almost $200,000 in legal fees to fight his HOA, the hilariously named Eagle Masters Association, after it sued him for parking his pick-up truck in his own driveway. In the first go-round at court, Vizzi won — but the HOA, being dicks, appealed. 
   
Vizzi prevailed again, however, and the judge awarded him $187,000 to pay his lawyers. After reading about this case, I think there should be a Constitutional amendment that explicitly protects people's right to park in their own driveways. 
   
Frisco, TX
Do Texas HOAs hate servicemen? In June 2010, Captain Michael Clauer lost his home when his HOA, the Heritage Lakes Homeowners' Association, foreclosed on and sold his house while he was en route to Iraq — all because he was $800 behind in his HOA dues payments.
  
People all over the world found out about Clauer's predicament, and many of them became very
angry. Perhaps because of all the attention, or because of federal laws intended to protect servicemembers from money problems that arise while they're serving, the HOA agreed to a settlement, and Clauer got his house back. Then he moved away. [KHOU]
  
Bossier City, LA
Like their neighbors to the west, Louisiana HOAs also seem to hate servicemen! Bossier City homeowners Timothy and Jodi Burr are being sued by their HOA because they've refused to remove from their yard a three-by-six-foot sign that honors their son, a Marine who's serving in Afghanistan. The Gardens of Southgate Association says the sign violates their covenants. However, other signs in the neighborhood that promote professions, schools, motorcycle rides, and other things somehow don't violate the
covenants. The HOA doesn't seem to be very interested in telling anybody how this is so.
  

Timonium, Maryland

Homeowner groups are often eco-unfriendly is a real understatement. Susana Tregobov dries clothes on a line behind her Maryland townhouse, saving energy and money. 
   
But now her homeowners association has ordered her to bring in the laundry. The crackdown came after a neighbor complained that the clothesline "makes our community look like Dundalk," a low-income part of Baltimore.
   
We can debate the details of the rules, but we have to keep our eye on the ball — that blue-green ball we all live on. We must enforce universal rights, not just individual rights. 
   
With human-made climatic catastrophe looming, neighborhood groups have an ethical responsibility not only to protect their own turf but also to lighten the burden we all put on an ecosphere that belongs to everyone and to no one.
After neighbors' objections were finally set to rest by the city, Curt Mann erected a wind turbine in his Grant Park yard to generate electricity. Some states are intervening to make homeowners associations less restrictive of 'green' practices.
   
Dallas, TX
In 2009, a disabled Vietnam vet named Frank Larison was told by the Woodlands II on the Creek HOA that he either had to remove the Marines stickers from his car or they would send out a truck to tow it away. The HOA regarded the stickers as a form of "decal advertising" that violated their rules. Larison could avoid being towed, they said, as long as he covered up the stickers with magnetic panels "at all times when [his] vehicle is parked on the Property ... no matter for how long." At least you can't accuse them of being unwilling to compromise.
    
Clearwater, FL
Jimmy and Judie Stottler brought their six-year-old granddaughter to live with them after the girl's mother, who had drug abuse issues, lost custody. The Stottlers' HOA found out about this and tried to evict the child from their ages 55-and-up community. For whatever reason the HOA's eviction attempt made the Stottlers unenthusiastic about sticking around, so they put up their home for sale. Then the market crashed, which meant that they couldn't sell their house despite dropping the price numerous times. Despite their efforts to sell their home in the worst housing market in
decades, they were sued by their HOA anyhow.
Why couldn't the little girl just grow up and become 55 years old really fast? She must be lazy. 
   
Chesterfield, VA
After being told by their HOA that they all had to replace their mailboxes with the same $155 model, the 3,800 homeowners of the Brandermill community painted their mailboxes yellow in protest. 
   
In response to this bold act of suburban solidarity, the HOA board president said the homeowners would receive violation notices. Non-compliant homes were subject to $10-a-day fines. Not sure what the big deal is, given that all the yellow mailboxes conformed. 
   
Irving, TX
Ted Faraz caught grief from his HOA for installing $15,000 solar panels on his roof as a way to lower his electricity bills and protect the environment.
     
The Ranch Valley HOA declared Faraz's panels to be "an eyesore," even though you couldn't actually see them from any place except his neighbor's front lawn, and his neighbor didn't care. The HOA threatened to fine Faraz $50 every damned day until he took the panels down, and also said they'd foreclose on his house.
    
Sanford, FL
In 2008, Joe Woodward tried to rebuild his home after it was destroyed by an airplane that fell from the sky and crashed into it, killing his wife and infant son. Woodward planned out his new home to be on the same property as the original home, but made a few changes; if the new house were exactly the same as the old house, it would constantly remind him of his loved ones. Woodward's HOA told him that unless he changed the home's shingles, size, and elevation to conform to their rules—i.e., build the house to be just like it had been before the crash—then they would sue him. He tried to tell the HOA about his concerns but couldn't get anywhere with those people.
  
Bayonet Point, FL
66-year-old Joseph Prudente had to do some time in the local jail because he couldn't afford to comply with a court order, obtained by his HOA, that required him to sod his lawn. "It's a sad situation," Beacon Woods Civic Association board president Bob Ryan told the St. Petersburg Times about Prudente's fate. "But in the end, I have to say he brought it upon himself."

A pensioner with a limited income, Prudente had to stay in jail until the sod job was completed. "He's in prison for God knows how long because we can't afford to sod the lawn," his daughter, Jennifer Lehr, told the Times when her father entered jail. Luckily, some outraged people in his community -- 
including a county commissioner — fixed up Prudente's yard, thereby lawn-caring him to freedom. 
    
Burnsville, MN.
Just knowing that a homeowner has solar panels on his rooftop gives anti-panel HOAs tremors and night sweats. It doesn't matter if they can't see the things—the presence of a single, unauthorized panel can throw off the feng shui of an entire community. Or not? Not, says James Greeman, a Minnesota man who wanted to stick some panels on the roof of his house. But his HOA told him no, because the panels would "disturb the neighborhood's appearance" and therefore ruin lives.
    
Pflugerville, TX In May 2010, a Texas homeowner was told by his HOA that he couldn't run an Internet business selling rifles and other guns from his home. In Texas! The man vowed to fight the HOA for violating his civil rights. 
The HOA quickly changed its regulation without informing the members.
[CLICK HERE TO SEE THE WHOLE STORY]
 
Houston, TX
Sometimes HOAs just pop up out of nowhere, poisonous mushroom-like, and commence sending complainy letters to unsuspecting homeowners. Millicent Cole thought she moved into a HOA-free development, but then one day received a note from a party claiming to be her HOA, saying she need to cut her grass and also start paying them dues. "Cole [was] being told that her builder formed the new HOA for this whole area, but it's tough to tell if it legally elected a true board of directors," reported the TV station KPRC, which "couldn't find any neighbors who had ever heard of" the HOA. 

   
Edgewater, FL
In March 2011 the HOA that lords over the Persimmon Place subdivision sought to ban kids from playing outside. An HOA board member explained that playing outside was "dangerous" for kids; staying inside watching television, getting no exercise, and learning no social skills is much safer. The HOA was supposed to vote on their anti-fun rule on April 27, but postponed making a decision; meanwhile, parents threatened to sue them. Unpredictably, this isn't the first time an HOA has tried to abolish playing. 

   
Las Vegas, NV
In February 2011, a group of 50 Nevada homeowners rallied in Las Vegas to protest HOAs run amok. One protest participant had been fined more than $3,000 because she changed the color of her driveway; another had faced weekly $100 fines over a fence that her HOA's architectural committee had actually approved.

Even a realtor, who has to deal with HOAs every day, said "they're basically tyrannical and aggressive." The whole problem is putting people in power who don't understand the law.
[CLICK HERE TO SEE THE WHOLE STORY]
  
Pittsboro, NC
After receiving permission from the Chapel Ridge HOA's architectural committee, Crystal Adu installed $18,000 worth of vinyl/aluminum trim on her house. Six months later, the HOA decided to prohibit such trim and told Adu she and her husband could no longer use the swimming pool or other amenities in the development. 
     
The HOA tried to claim that Adu's trim was installed incorrectly, but it wasn't! They also fined Adu and threatened liens against her house. After The News reported on Adu's situation, the HOA magically decided that the trim wasn't a problem anymore, and un-banned the Adus from using the amenities.

   
Riverview, FL
After her husband died, Dawn Blake installed $11,000 synthetic grass on her property because she didn't feel like spending hours and hours riding around in circles on some mower thing. Also, water conservation!  But Melrose Sovereign, which manages the HOA that rules over Blake's home, determined that Blake's fake grass was not "Florida-friendly." Blake's neighbors said nothing in the HOA rules banned fake lawns or even mentioned the dispositions of different types of grass. Blake's homeowner's association board members apparently don't see green, when they view Blake's lawn. They see violation. And they said the fake grass must go.

   
Albuquerque, NM
Geoffrey Padilla was fined $400 by his HOA for sticking a For Sale sign in the front yard of his Albuquerque-area home. 

Yet big-business home builders D.R. Horton had For Sale signs stuck in yards all over Padilla's neighborhood, and the HOA didn't complain. Geoffrey Padilla's sign wasn't pretty enough.

Does the HOA use two different sets of rules? One for the developer and one for the owners?

Obviously YES! 
Is that RIGHT? Definitely not!

  
Houston, TX
Upon discovering that his neighborhood was a playground of sorts for burglars, robbers, and other miscreants, Brady Roberts tried to protect himself and his property by installing bars on his windows. His HOA, the Ballpark Plaza Community Association, responded by charging him a daily $25 fine.  Did the HOA use Roberts' money to hire some security guards to protect him and other homeowners? No. Did Roberts hire a lawyer and sue the HOA? Yes.