GREED AND POWER HUNGER FIT WELL TOGETHER – TO
THE DETRIMENT OF OWNERS! |
By Jan Bergemann Published January 7, 2014
One
of the greatest German playwrights, Friedrich Schiller, phrased these
words in the drama “Wilhelm Tell” – the story of a Swiss citizen
fighting tyranny. “Es kann der beste Mensch nicht in
Frieden leben, wenn es dem bösen Nachbarn nicht gefällt!“
That
quote would be best translated – trying to keep the meaning of these
words – by saying: “No matter how hard you try, you can’t live in
peace if an ill-willed neighbor doesn’t allow you to live in peace!” And
that saying fits very well in community associations – called
homeowners’ associations. It seems there are always a few greedy and/or
power-hungry people that will spoil peaceful living in communities –
communities like “POINCIANA
VILLAGE NINE ASSOCIATION, INC.”
in This
example clearly shows that this community association system is not always
favoring the homeowners, especially if they don’t want to get
“involved.” Talking
ill-willed neighbors, how about these two individuals: Robert
Raith, who lost
last year’s board election by a landslide (only 42 votes), has since
then made all kinds of attempts to discredit the sitting board members. He
filed a frivolous demand
letter
that has cost the association and its members lots of money and
made every attempt to accuse the board members of wrong-doing. His
latest attempt was a flyer sent to the whole community --except the board
members -- more or less accusing Renate Ward, the board president, of
cashing a check made out to cash! His words: "No
explanation was given why Ward made the check out to cash and cashed
it." The flyer contained a copy of the check, together with Raith's
stupid remarks. If he would have looked a little more into the financial
records, he would have quickly found THIS
RECEIPT signed by Gene Stuller, the association’s
maintenance man, for exactly that amount. But Raith didn’t want to look
any further, because then his whole flyer would have been even more stupid
than it already was. Never forget, as a president he paid out more than
$14,000 without approval of the board – an approval required under the
bylaws and the statutes. In
my opinion Robert Raith is one of these so-called Christians who think
that a few extra prayers give them the right to lie, cheat and trample on
the good name of their neighbors. It
seems he tries desperately to make the owners of the “POINCIANA
VILLAGE NINE ASSOCIATION, INC.”
forget that he allowed his friends – and the folks who gave him the
votes to be the board president in former years – to get away with not
paying maintenance dues. This has cost the association already lots of
money. But
Raith’s motto is pretty obvious: “If you throw enough dirt against the
wall, some of it will stick.” Otherwise: “ANYTHING
TO BE IN DICTATORIAL POWER AGAIN!” His
companion in arms is Anthony
Gilbert, whose opinions spread in flyers across the community are
about as ridiculous as it gets. Make no mistake: All the legal fees he is
complaining the board is spending are actually caused by the lawsuits
Gilbert and Raith have filed. He sues the association, he sues the board
– no matter what! And if one lawsuit is dismissed, he files another one.
So far not one of the lawsuits or arbitrations they filed went
anywhere, only costing the association and its owners lots of money. He
complains about the amendment that will protect the whole community
against becoming a trailer park, but he was too ignorant to file for
grandfathering in his lots as clearly offered in the amendment. He rather
sued in order to create more cost for the owners in Poinciana Village
Nine, a community he doesn’t even reside in. If you read his deposition
in the case about the amendment you will see that his only interest in
this community is money – nothing else. But his greed is costing all the
members lots of money. And he is already threatening with more litigation
if the outcome of the election is not in favor of Raith and Gilbert and
their wives. Last year he filed for election arbitration as well, an
arbitration that achieved nothing but making attorneys rich! It was doomed
from starters and only aimed at causing trouble!
In his latest flyer Gilbert claims that his lawsuit would protect the property values in the community. Honestly I have barely ever read more nonsense on one page! Exactly the opposite is the case -- his lawsuit cost the association lots of money -- money that would be better used to maintain the common areas of the community. His lawsuits are driven by greed -- nothing else! Since
“opinions” are spread all over this community, let me add mine: The
members of Poinciana Village Nine are dealing here with two individuals
with a private agenda – a private agenda that will seriously hurt the
property values in this community. Power hunger and greed fit well
together as you can see in this case. Gilbert’s
agenda: He should know that his expensive lawsuit will not carry the day
and he will most likely pay dearly for filing such a frivolous lawsuit
that he sustained so far by throwing more money at his law firm. But if he
loses, he will have to pay all the legal fees the association had to waste
so far on his useless attempts to sue board members and former board
members. But if he can win the upcoming election he will make sure that he
will win his lawsuit – he will be then the “boss” of the association
attorney – and all you owners will have to pay for his nonsense. Gilbert
and Raith don’t care about the community, they only care about
themselves. In my opinion Gilbert’s greed is a lot stronger than his
intelligence. So
much about living in peace in a The
members of the “POINCIANA
VILLAGE NINE ASSOCIATION, INC.”
in |