Wednesday, October 26, 2011

A Modern Tale

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The following is from one of our bloggers.


Once upon a time there was a community in a town people called "Paradise".  This community had  a Board of Directors to represent it.  This Board made decisions about how to regulate the community.  Directors were elected by the residents for one or two year terms.  Residents could volunteer to count the mail-in ballots.

One of the two-year term Directors was also Home Builder.  Just before election time, word slipped out that he had a considerable number of properties, over 125. This raised a question about whether he could cast a vote for each of those properties. Homeowners stewed over whether this was a conflict of interest or not.  Home Builder could definitely control the election's outcome.

Alas, hard times hit Paradise as hard times colored all the the lands that surrounded it. The problem was widespread, depressing everyone's purse.  Even Home B felt financial stress.  "Foreclose" on those 125+ properties was in his day planner.  New homes were not in demand as worker bees could not qualify for mortgages. Unemployment rose to double digits.

Residents loved their piece of Paradise and wanted to maintain a quality lifestyle. Many wanted directors who shared that vision.  Most felt that Home Builder would not identify with their needs and feared how his 125+ votes could sway that election.

On the day of the ballot count, a young enthusiastic Director whose responsibility was to run a "clean" election burst into the room where the count was held and loudly blurted out to the Residential Manager: "Has Home Builder paid his delinquent dues on those properties yet?" he demanded earnestly.  Manager was appalled at young Director's naivete of publicly sharing the secret about Home Builder.   Director, took his arm, pulled him into her office and closed the door.


You see: Home Builder did not pay his dues while all others did; yet, home builder was allowed to cast 125 votes, one for each parcel.   Home Builder votes determined the outcome of the election.


Not long after,  Home Builder  morphed his career into Town government, where he was appointed to serve on Town Council, where he now "hovers around" all General Plan Amendments and all Planning and Zoning decisions.
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This is sad but true.
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7 comments:

artmarth said...

This was an interesting post, but I don't know if it is relevant to Oro Valley.

I don't think anything like that could happen here.

Hmmm! Let me think.

Don't we have a Home Builder on the Oro Valley council?

Didn't the majority of Hiremath, Snider, Hornat & Waters make this appointment?

Wasn't there are problem with that Home Builder not paying his taxes?

Isn't that Home Builder constantly abusing his powers, acting "holier than thou," and chastising any and all citizens that may not agree with him?

Nah!

My mistake. We have nothing like that in Oro Valley.

If you don't believe me, you can ask "The Appointed One"---Home Builder/Council Member Steve Solomon!

Nombe Watanabe said...

As I have stated in many past posts.
HOAs are evil.

Ron Paul would let me paint my house Chartreuse.

Victorian Cowgirl said...

Art,

The original post says that Home Builder had not paid his HOA dues. Your follow-up comment says that he had not paid his taxes. Were you referring to the HOA fees or was he delinquent in paying his property taxes as well?

Victorian Cowgirl said...

I couldn't help but notice that "Thinker" has not responded to this posting. Notice how he becomes mute when one of HIS buddies does something questionable.

But that's OK. If he did respond, we all know what he would say. He would just repeat the battle cry he always uses for his friends misdeeds:

"I doubt there was any fraudulent intent involved. It is more likely just an oversight."

Richard Furash, MBA said...

This from an unnamed source:

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"In the spring election of I believe 2008 Steve Solomon owned 128 residential lots in Rancho Vistoso.  He voted those 128 votes to ensure that the candidates he wanted elected to the Board would be elected.  He wanted Pat Straney elected to the Board again and Bob Becker (now deceased).  Steve had not paid the dues to the HOA for that period, yet he exercised his right to 128 votes.  In fact Hal Ruttenberg, former attorney, and vice-pres. of the Board reiterated his right to cast those votes for those empty lots he owned.  However, those lots were in a Trustee sale and Solomon no longer legally owned the lots.  The Lewis Management people looked the other way as he demanded his votes be applied and at the meeting where votes were tallied he demanded to know how many were given to each candidate.  He was satisfied that his unpaid for 128 votes made the difference and the people he wanted in place were elected."
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chuck davis said...

After you read the above post ask this question-- Why did the current council appoint this person to council?

Nombe Watanabe said...

The only way to fight this criminal vote-fraud is to occupy Lewis Management!

------------------OR--------------------

Everyone who is under Cuban style "block captain" HOAs to write a request to paint their homes ....Chartreuse.

These requests would bring Lewis Mgt to a barking-mad, mouth open, stand-still.