|
COMMUNITY
MEETING – AND YOU DON'T
UNDERSTAND A WORD?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
March 28, 2014
Imagine
this scenario: You just bought a new home or condo here in
Florida
and are happy to see a notice that there will be a membership
meeting in the clubhouse. You just love the idea to participate
in the social life of your new neighborhood and go to the
meeting – only to make a horrible discovery: The meeting is
held in a language you don’t understand. You just sit there
and can’t understand a word that is being said!
You
ask yourself: Did I really buy a home in a community here in
Florida
? Last you heard was that
Florida
is still officially a part of the
USA
and the official language should be English – not Spanish,
French or Portuguese?
As
much as I understand that we may have neighbors that prefer to
speak their native language, this preference should be used at
home – definitely not at official meetings of a community
association here in
Florida
.
Most
of you know that English is only me second language – my
German is still a lot better than my English – but in my
opinion it should be the obligation of each newcomer to this
country to make learning English his/her first priority.
You
wouldn’t believe how often I get calls from folks who only
speak Spanish or French – and who curse me out for not
speaking their language. My answer to them – in English: Since
you obviously don’t speak English, why don’t you speak
German? Then we could still communicate.
I
honestly detest the attitude of certain people living here in
Florida
who seem to be under the impression that we are obligated to
learn their language because they are just too lazy to learn
English!
Our
legislators discuss all kind of legislation to make sure that
meetings of community associations are public and that every
owner can participate and speak at these meetings. But what good
does it do if owners can go to the association meetings if they
are unable to understand a word that is being said?
Language
is a very emotional topic here in
Florida
. Do you think we all should learn to speak Spanish, French or
Portuguese in order to accommodate the folks who come to
Florida
unwilling to learn the official language – which still is
ENGLISH – last I heard?
WHAT
SAY YOU?
|
|
 |
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
|
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
!
|
