Continental Plaza

Currents

2009-01-20T14:53:00.000-06:00

Continental

[HOA Constitutional Government] A question of HOA governance: President Obama said, “but whether government works”

President Obama said in his inaugural speech, “The question is not whether government is too big or too little, but whether government works.” I guess that says it all with respect to HOA governance. It’s not a question of contract interference by big government, or an imposed objective of a landscaped America first and foremost, above individual [...]

pvtgov, 2009, January 20, Tuesday

[The Privatopia Papers] WSJ.com

WSJ.com: Trends in presidential job approval ratings
Presidents nearly always start with high approval ratings, but usually they begin to fall with divisive policy positions, wars, recessions, or scandals.

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 20, Tuesday

[The Privatopia Papers]

Best wishes, Mr. President!

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 20, Tuesday

[The Privatopia Papers] newsminer.com • Photo

newsminer.com • Behold the Great Ice Sculpture of Al Gore!

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 20, Tuesday

[The Privatopia Papers]

I took this photo on a trip to Beijing in 2007, on a frolic and detour from the conference I was attending on HOAs in China. The sign is in the Forbidden City. The wisdom of this sentence struck me, along with how inconceivable it is that any government in the US would make such a public statement.

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 20, Tuesday

[The Privatopia Papers] newsminer.com • Al Gore ice sculpture unveiled in Fairbanks as invitation to discuss global warming

newsminer.com • Al Gore ice sculpture unveiled in Fairbanks as invitation to discuss global warming: "Fairbanks — Al Gore can thank the Nobel Committee for honoring him with the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.He can also thank Fairbanks businessman Craig Compeau for what could be the farthest-north likeness of the former vice president: A 5-ton ice sculpture of a “shivering” Gore, created during a recent spell of bitterly cold weather in Alaska and aimed...

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 19, Monday

[The Privatopia Papers]

Fugitives photographed in Chicago restaurant

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 19, Monday

[The Privatopia Papers] Mayor Sheila Dixon present at Obama's address, but not mentioned -- baltimoresun.com

Mayor Sheila Dixon present at Obama's address, but not mentioned -- baltimoresun.com: "At the start of Barack Obama's whistle stop tour to Washington today, the president-elect hailed the 'outstanding' mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter. In Wilmington, he acknowledged Mayor James M. Baker by name.Not so in Baltimore.Mayor Sheila Dixon was one of thousands of Obama supporters braving hours of sub-freezing temperatures to greet him at War Me...

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 18, Sunday

[Texas HOA & Condo News from CAN] Aransas Pass wants to annex neighborhoods

None of the neighborhoods in question wants to be annexed, said Jo Ann Biek, the president of the City by the Sea homeowners association.

, 2009, January 18, Sunday

[The Privatopia Papers] ReviewJournal.com - Real Estate - Vetoed bill affecting HOAs could survive

ReviewJournal.com - Real Estate - Vetoed bill affecting HOAs could survive
Quite a few provisions in this bill--how about the one that prohibits HOAs from fining the owner because his pizza delivery guy violates the HOA traffic rules?

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 18, Sunday

[The Privatopia Papers]

WUSA9.com | Washington, DC | "Prostitution Free Zone" During InaugurationBut if it's free it isn't prostitution anymore.

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 18, Sunday

[Texas HOA & Condo News from CAN] Find out how condo fees are being spent

Q: I have owned a condo for four years. I pay a monthly condo fee along with my mortgage each month. I, as well as my neighbors, struggle with what we feel is an unreasonable condo fee, particularly because we dont necessarily see what were paying for.

, 2009, January 18, Sunday

[The Privatopia Papers] From earning six figures to hoping for $7 an hour - CNN.com

From earning six figures to hoping for $7 an hour - CNN.com: "AURORA, Colorado (CNN) -- In her best year as a mortgage broker, Laura Glick says she made 'six figures.' This week she was one of more than 1,200 people attending a job fair and applying for one of 150 jobs paying between $7 and $12 an hour at a new Kohl's department store in a Denver, Colorado, suburb."-------------I feel for these people. I really do. But my sympathy is tempered by ...

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 18, Sunday

[The Privatopia Papers] Quake vulnerability of 'soft-story' apartments in state still widespread - Los Angeles Times

Quake vulnerability of 'soft-story' apartments in state still widespread - Los Angeles Times: "Fifteen years after the Northridge earthquake exposed the dangers of certain 'soft-story' apartments, only about 800 of the 20,000 such structures in Los Angeles have been retrofitted, according to city records.The pancake collapse of the Northridge Meadows apartment complex, which killed 16 people, was one of the most dramatic images of the Nor...

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 18, Sunday

[The Privatopia Papers]

Bloomberg.com: Is Obama overdoing the Obama=Lincoln thing?: "“Everyone wants to be Lincoln,” says Harold Holzer, who has written or edited more than 20 books on Lincoln and the Civil War. “Is Obama overdoing it? Maybe.”"----------None of these academics dares to be perceived as criticizing The One. Let me wade right in. Is Obama overdoing it? Hell, yes. The choo-choo train whistle-stop tour is the point where he jumped the shark. If he starts ...

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 17, Saturday

[The Privatopia Papers]

The Growing Foreclosure Crisis - washingtonpost.com: "The foreclosure crisis has become a wave, afflicting neighborhoods of every stripe -- but particularly communities created by the boom itself."---------This is a long and very detailed article that should chill the blood of anybody living in one of the new CIDs around the nation. It isn't a subprime crisis anymore. The new housing stock, full of CIDs, is next in line.This housing market colla...

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 17, Saturday

[The Privatopia Papers] The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan (January 16, 2009) - The Centrist

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan (January 16, 2009) - The Centrist: "If Obama manages to leverage this crisis toward entitlement reform, he would become an historic president. It really would be Buchanan-Lincoln. I've spent too long in DC to believe it, but I can still hope can't I? And the key thing this time around is whether we can build a grass-roots movement to support Obama in this, just as we did in the campaign. Raise the retirement ag...

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 17, Saturday

[The Privatopia Papers] Farkitrol® - It can help™ with Dangerous Playgrounditis.

Farkitrol® - It can help™ with Dangerous Playgrounditis.: "Every single year, the Mainstream Media reports on exactly how unsafe it is for a kid to go out and play on the grounds that have been designated 'playgrounds'. Farkitrol® works by helping the patient realize that they were once kids themselves, and that falling down and scraping an elbow or slamming their shins against the ladder for the monkeybars didn't kill them. It just made them lea...

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 17, Saturday

[The Privatopia Papers] Canal ice helps Dutch rediscover national identity - International Herald Tribune

Canal ice helps Dutch rediscover national identity - International Herald Tribune: "NIEUWERKERK AAN DEN IJSSEL, Netherlands: For the first time in 12 years, the Netherlands' canals froze this month, bringing the Dutch, who like their tulips in neat rows, a heady mix of pandemonium and euphoria.Hundreds of thousands of skaters, their cheeks as red as apples in the freezing temperatures, took to the ice, and hospital wards were filled with dozens o...

ecmlaw@gmail.com (Evan McKenzie), 2009, January 17, Saturday

[On The Commons] On the Commons with April Charney

Hosted and produced by Shu Bartholomew, On The Commons is a weekly radio show dedicated to discussing the many issues surrounding mandatory homeowner associations, the fastest growing form of residential housing in the nation. Foreclosures are everywhere. Drive through any neighborhood and chances are you will see signs of vacant houses, "For Sale" signs with "Bank owned" riders, homes noticeably neglected and abandoned. T...

Shu Bartholomew, 2009, January 17, Saturday

[The Privatopia Papers] CaliforniaCityNews.org: New Nationwide Study Reveals Low Civic Participation in California

CaliforniaCityNews.org: New Nationwide Study Reveals Low Civic Participation in CaliforniaLow indeed. The state is 45th in volunteering, 44th in "attending civic meetings," and 45th in "working on community problems." I thought the great CID revolution in California was going to produce this huge outburst of communitarianism and local involvement. Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link.