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Dear Governor Jeb Bush,
Dear Secretary Simone Marstiller, Dear Legislators, Friends and
Members,
After both major
association bills have been vetoed, it is really time to find solutions for all
the open problems, not just trying to find band-aids for the many pending
issues.
We have here in
Florida not only a total property insurance disaster, but as well
serious problems for owners in mandatory associations -- condos and
homeowners' associations alike!
In his veto messages the
Governor already stated that reforms are really necessary.
Please read the
Governor's suggestions in his veto messages at:
It is time that we
create the necessary reforms -- in insurance and association law --
trying to avoid that many families --
and especially retirees -- are being priced out of their homes.
It is time that we will
see a comprehensive bill that will try to remedy the many problems owners
are facing on a daily basis. We need statutes with teeth --
meaning easy enforcement of our laws and regulations -- and education and
accountability of the people in charge.
The only people with a
vested interest in this matter are the owners, not the service providers or
anybody else.
These new laws
should protect the property rights of the owners, not the income of the
service providers!
A comprehensive association bill will be ready for the next legislative session!
Warm Regards,
Jan Bergemann, President
Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.
Dear Governor,
Florida Legislators, Friends and Members,
Minimum State
legislators in Arizona have finally discovered that the "few
disgruntled homeowners" -- as always stated by the attorneys of the
Community Associations Institute -- are correct and sweeping changes had to be
made to stop frivolous litigation and abuse of homeowners living in
associations.
Arizona
Governor Janet Napolitano signed three homeowner-friendly bills into law
-- much to the dismay of the members of the Community Associations Institute,
whose members, as usual, claimed that the sky will fall down if these bills are
enacted. Now we all will have to wait that the sky will fall down as
predicted! Don't hold your breath!
Bill sponsors
explained that they were sick and tired of seeing attorneys abusing the system
and racking in huge legal fees. In a recent court case a
judge chastised the CAI attorney for his actions when $343.02
in past dues escalated into a legal bill for $6,825! The judge was
quoted: "Sadly, however, this case has become an example of the
risk to the public of abusive litigation practices run amok."
After this case
-- and similar sad examples became public -- the Arizona Republic, Arizona's
largest newspaper, finally cancelled the advice column of this
CAI attorney -- headlined "The HOA Guy"!
Rightfully
so! We don't need advice from unethical attorneys!
The
biggest WIN for homeowners in Arizona: House
Bill 2824, which will create administrative hearings for
homeowners' complaints, without lengthy proceedings and outrageous legal fees.
At the cost of $500 there will be a decision -- a ruling will be forthcoming
on short notice, since respondent has only 30 days to file response! This will
hopefully stop much of the frivolous litigation we see on a daily basis. Court
proceedings are most often not won by legal arguments but by the fact that the
associations can outlast the owner financially! Abuse by litigation is one of
the most common complaints. Arizona's legislators finally listened to
the homeowners -- not the service providers supported by some board members
with Fuehrer-qualities!
Another bill
enacted covered recall procedures, very similar to the ones enacted
in 2004 in Florida. This statute could be highly effective to help owners here
in Florida, if the DBPR executives would finally obey by it's own rules!
Why enacting them -- just to ignore them and confuse owners?
Arizona finally
made a great step in the right direction by passing bills that will hopefully
stop much of the frivolous litigation homeowners all over the nation suffer
from.
May be
there are still lots with ocean view available in Arizona?
Here in Florida many
sure have ocean view, but we have hurricanes, high insurance premiums and
legislators trying to protect the welfare of specialized attorneys -- plainly
ignoring the needs of their constituents for peaceful homes!
WHO WILL
ENLIGHTEN OUR FLORIDA LEGISLATORS -- FINALLY?
Warm Regards,
Jan Bergemann, President
Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.
Dear Governor, Dear
Legislators, Friends and Members,
as you all know --
community association reform issues are very emotional -- homes are at
stake! The panel members at Saturday's town hall meeting heard that loud and
clear!
Please see my opinion
about the town hall meeting at: http://www.ccfj.net/THmeetMiamiCCFJ.htm
Owners are facing an
opposition that is determined to keep the status quo -- for financial reasons.
Especially recent hurricane damages have shown that the system fails the
owners -- and often create big hardships, for some even ending in loss of
homes. Is this what our society wants? If not -- we need clarifications in the
existing statutes! We need reforms to protect the rights of owners! No matter
what specialized attorneys are trying to tell you, the existing system fails
the owners.
As usual, our
organization is being attacked for being hateful and not coming up with
solutions. We have made many suggestions for improvement -- complete bills are
ready to go -- See Proposal FS 720 !
We have worked on education courses that allow wide accessibility for many
owners at much lower cost! We have suggested many consumer-friendly amendments
to existing statutes, while our opposition is since two years busy trying to
turn back the clock to remove owner-friendly reforms created by the
Governor's HOA Task Force in 2004!
The problem: Our proposals
don't follow the party line of CAI + CALL and some other service-provider
friendly organizations! We are consumer orientated and want peace in our
communities -- not litigation! That's why we are really being attacked!
This town hall meeting has shown again the problems of the existing laws: Much writing, but no real enforcement and no accountability of the people in charge. Lack of education on both sides of the fence creates many of the problems! People often don't really understand the issues. And we need fair and supervised elections!
Together with the info workshop held last week in Miami Beach -- see: Hundreds of Miami Beach condominium owners packed City Hall -- it was an obvious cry for help to legislators to pass desperately needed reforms -- before the next hurricane hits and creates more problems for the condo-owners already under siege!
Warm Regards,
Jan Bergemann, President
Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc. Dear
Governor, Dear Legislators, Friends and Members,
Today is the big day -- the CALL dog and pony show comes to Tallahassee. We definitely would see a lot more owners in Tallahassee if they all could dip in the association funds and pay for the cost of going to Tallahassee. But they sure would lobby for owner-friendly bills like HB839/SB 2359, HB 1227/SB 2570 and SB 586. They sure would tell legislators that they should not support bills like HB 391/SB 2530 or SB 546, all detrimental to owners' finances and welfare, trying to turn the clock back to the times before the Governor's HOA Task Force.
Whatever they try to tell you, anybody supporting CALL is supporting attorneys' interests -- not the rights of Joe and Jane Owner. Please read my take on why board members are supporting CALL at: http://www.ccfj.net/CALLdogponyshow.htm
Believe me, there is a lot more than you can see! But legislators should never forget, the numbers that will be thrown at you are the numbers of your actual constituents, the people who will suffer from attorney-friendly bills -- bills that will only increase the number of useless lawsuits!
And since our legislators swear an oath of office -- to uphold our US Constitution -- yesterday's article published by the Tampa Tribune might be of serious interest: Deed Restrictions May Clash With Constitutional Rights at: http://www.ccfj.net/HOAgenartTT.html
HAVE A GREAT DAY -- AND ENJOY THE SHOW!
Dear Governor,
Dear Legislators, Friends and Members,
you will hear a
lot about community association bills during the upcoming legislative session.
Good, bad and outright ugly bills have been filed.
You will hear the
attorneys' spin on all these bills and their statements. Whatever you are
being told there are really only two sides to the story: The consumers and the
service providers! Don't listen to the claims of the attorneys that they are
representing the interests of the owners, boards or associations. THEY
ARE NOT! They are representing their financial interest! NOTHING
ELSE!
Here is an
evaluation of all the bills of interest that have been filed so far -- from
the consumers point of view!
It is up
to the legislators who they want to support: The consumers or the service
providers! But take a few minutes to study the facts clearly shown in
this evaluation. We consumers need protection against abuses -- and you, the
legislators, will hopefully enact the bills that will help to create more
consumer-friendly reforms!
Please support the consumer-friendly bills -- THE GOOD -- as pointed out in this evaluation!
We would like to
thank Senators Mike Bennett, Alex Diaz de la Portilla and Gary Siplin and
House Representatives Rene Garcia, Julio Robaina, Juan Zapata, Jeff Kottkamp,
Don Davis, Dennis Baxley and Dennis Ross for publicly supporting the cause of
us -- the consumers! We sincerely hope that others will quickly follow to help
their constituents! THANK YOU!
Warm
Regards,
Dear Representative Domino, I thought you might be
interested how the Community Associations Institute is promoting your House
bill and what they claim is the companion bill in the Senate -- SB 546 --
Senator Fasano's bill. The one you told me is not the companion bill! You can be very sure, it's bad for the homeowners and condo-owners. It just improves the income of the specialized attorneys -- no questions asked. I thought you might be interested before your bill hits the first committee on Wednesday. So please don't try to tell anybody it's a consumer-friendly bill! It will remove important owner-friendly provisions created by the Governor's HOA Task Force in 2004! Warm Regards Jan Bergemann,
President
IN ALLIANCE WITH:
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
Property Owners Association in the Villages (POA)
Consumer Advocacy Network (CAN)
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 11 Fair Housing Center of the Greater Palm Beaches (FHCGPB)
Florida Omnibus Community Associations
Bills Filed
An omnibus community associations bill was filed
on November 14, 2005. Among other provisions, House Bill 391:
A Senate companion bill, SB 546, has also
been filed (on November 1, 2005).
The Florida Legislative Alliance, the state's
Legislative Action Committee, is supporting this legislation. CAI members
interested in the political insights into these bills can contact Travis W.
Moore (
[email protected] mooret(at)tampabay.rr.com
). Also, be sure to check the CAI Advocacy
Center in early March, when the Florida
2006 session convenes, for further information about this and other
industry-related bills of interest.
CC: Governor Jeb
Bush
Florida Senators
Florida House
Representatives
Media
Representatives
Florida
Homeowners + Condo-owners
Dear Governor, Dear
Legislators, Dear Friends and Dear
Members,
recently our opposition,
members of law firms and board members supporting their claims of being
consumer-friendly, claim our Consumer Alliance has a hidden agenda. Nothing
hidden, we are very clear what we want:
TO PROTECT
HOMEOWNERS AND CONDO OWNERS AGAINST ABUSES
Unlike our opposition, we really are homeowners and condo owners. We don't have any financial interest in exposing owners to abuse and lengthy legal battles, often dominated by intimidation and the threat of taking the home of a family. Our CCFJ members' bank accounts don't grow when boards and owners fight in our Florida communities, cheered on by wealthy attorneys. And we have real members, members who signed a membership application and pay their dues from their own money. We have nothing to hide -- no special interests, no kickbacks, and no disguised income! Please read the complete article at: http://www.ccfj.net/CCFJagenda12-05.htm This Is The AGENDA Of The Consumer Alliance, CCFJ, Inc., For The Year 2006:
This is an owner-friendly agenda -- and we definitely understand if certain service-providers are not very happy with this agenda. But we don't understand when certain board members jump on the band wagon of special interests. Aren't board members owners as well? So how can they side with professionals whose goal it is to squeeze as much money as possible out of our communities? May be there is a hidden agenda?
Warm Regards |
For comments please send e-mail to : [email protected]
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