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FLYING FLAGS IN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published July 12, 2024
What flags can you fly if you live in one of Florida’s countless
community associations?
That’s a question many courts and the Florida Legislature had to
answer over the years. I can tell you: If I would have 1% of all
the money that have been spent on legal fees in fights over the
right to fly flags.
In one of the first cases CCFJ was involved was the case of the
Jupiter Flagman, dubbed “The Battle Over Ol’ Glory”,
the case retired Marine George
Andres won with flying colors in
APPEALS COURT. The
attempt to disallow the veteran to fly the US flag cost the
association $123,750 plus their own legal fees. Pretty
costly attempt trying to disallow flying Ol’ Glory!
In 2002, as a result of this lawsuit and our strong lobbying,
Governor Jeb Bush signed SB 148 into law: Any homeowner may
display one portable, removable United States flag in a
respectful manner, regardless of any declaration rules or
requirements dealing with flags or decorations.
Since then many court battles have been fought over flags. We
have a whole webpage with links to articles dealing with this
issue – headlined: “THE
BATTLE OVER OL’ GLORY”! And you can be sure
that even the latest language on this matter recently enacted by
the Florida Legislature will stop these fights.
There is often another flag that needs to be shown – and I’m
sorry to say that in most of these cases common sense doesn’t
prevail.
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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