An
Opinion By Jan Bergemann
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.
Published January 24, 2007
We all remember the 2006
Florida
legislative fight about Association House Bill 391.
From the beginning, this was an ill-advised association bill,
pushed by CAI (Community Associations Institute) and CALL
(Community Association Leadership Lobby), the lobbying group of the law
firm of Becker & Poliakoff, P.A. In
the end Governor Jeb Bush put an end to the argument, as requested by
CCFJ, Inc. in the Open
Letter: Please Veto Community Association
Bill HB 391 .
One of our main issues for requesting the Governor to veto the bill was (quote):
"Postponing the time
limit until 2025 for retrofitting the sprinkler system in
high-rise condos (above 75 feet) is absolutely ridiculous. It
unnecessarily endangers the elderly, the disabled, and the firefighters,
who have a hard enough job anyway in these high-rises." Sprinkler
systems are very important for the safety of condo dwellers, especially
the elderly whose ability to run to safety may already be a little
impaired by age! Another glaring example of why high-rises should
have sprinkler systems was a fire in the La Mer Condominium on State Road
A1A in
Hallandale
Beach
. (See report: Fire-damaged
Hallandale condo lacks sprinkler system .)
Quotes from the article underline the need for sprinkler systems (quote):
"Fire officials said a sprinkler
system would have mitigated the fire.”…''A
sprinkler system would have kept this fire in check,'' said
Hallandale
Beach
Fire Marshal Miguel Aleman. "We would never have seen something like
this.''
Still unanswered question that many
condo owners were asking last year when the attorney-lobbying group pushed
that bill: "Why are CALL and CAI pushing this bill?”
Even if some board members with a personal agenda support these
groups, it's still a puzzle what interest these attorneys may have to get
involved in this argument? I don't think that these
law firms, which are the pushing power behind CAI and CALL, suddenly
discovered their social conscience by trying to save money for the condo
owners -- already under financial siege by property taxes, property
insurance and special assessments of their associations?
Or is there a more sinister agenda
behind the fight against installation of sprinkler systems in high-rises?
Maybe they would rather see a bigger part of the association dues
spent on legal fees?
Recently
we reported a lawsuit between a condo owner and President Judith Stern of
COLONIAL
MANOR WEST APARTMENTS CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC., Levied
as special assessment for maintenance purposes, this money was spent to
pay the attorney's bill, causing another special assessment in order to
pay for the actual -- much needed -- maintenance.
We constantly
hear about huge sums of association dues being wasted by mismanagement,
embezzlement of association dues without prosecution of the guilty
parties, ridiculous contracts signed because of kickbacks from vendors --
and plain ignorance of board members.
If these attorneys are
so concerned about the financial welfare of the condo
owners, why don't they finally join all the owners who are
demanding enforcement of the laws and accountability of the people in
charge?
Surely
that would help the association finances,
instead of trying to push the date to
retrofit the sprinkler system in high-rise condos to 2025 -- a time
when many of the current residents may not even be alive any more!
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