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April 24, 2005
News Stories About Associations Rarely Reported Well
Take a look at the story about a minor celebrity moving into a HOA. This is typical of stories that appear all over the country. There are a number of items you can usually count on when you see this type of story:
The owner will be (pick one or all of the following):
- a veteran
- retired and scraping by
- grew up poor and just wants to enjoy their hard-earned wealth
- single mother
- widow
- physically, mentally or emotionally disabled (according to their doctor)
- a celebrity, or thinks they are one, so a different set of rules apparently apply
The owner will claim (pick one or any of the following):
- constitutional rights are being violated
- property rights are being violated
- human rights are being violated
- civil rights are being violated
- handicap rights are being violated
- association has too much power
- couldn't read the documents because they were too busy with their new home
- everybody else breaks the rules and they're being singled out and picked on
- the association is un-patriotic and un-American
- they didn't know the association regulated this
The owner will not say, and the reporter apparently doesn't ask or print (pick one or any of the following):
- why they spent $400,000 and didn't read the paperwork
- why their agent or attorney apparently didn't explain the meaning of moving into an association
- why they didn't bother asking the association before spending the money to make their changes
- why they didn't pay their association assessments in the first place
- why they shouldn't be held accountable for their actions
- why, after signing their name and promising to abide by the association rules, they decided the rules didn't apply to them.
- why a democratically-elected board shouldn't be allowed to make those decisions
- what part of "No pets" (or whatever) didn't you understand?
I guess if a reporter actually asked any of the questions in the last group, they wouldn't have a story.
Posted by joewest at April 24, 2005 3:00 PM