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ARE THINGS REALLY AS GOOD?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
August 8, 2014
On
Monday Eric headlined his blog “ARE
THINGS REALLY THAT BAD?”
Now,
how about asking the question: “ARE THINGS REALLY THAT GOOD?”
In the moment we are being bombarded with campaign ads,
especially from our sitting Governor Rick Scott. He is trying to
tell us how much
Florida
has improved since he took power.
But
how much of these campaign ads can really be believed?
In my opinion: VERY
LITTLE!
Let’s
face it: Most of us moved here to
Florida
at a time when
Florida
was known as the
SUNSHINE
STATE
– the paradise for retired folks who were looking for an easy
living at reasonable low cost – and low taxes.
That
clearly is a thing of the past. The cost of living has gone up
– and up – and even more up. Today
Florida
is on the same level as
California
and
New Jersey
– two states that have always been “famous” for a high
cost of living.
The
American Dream of owning a home has turned for many retirees
into a nightmare, especially if they chose to buy into one of
the many community associations developers created all over
Florida.
Many
retirees have left
Florida
again – after losing their homes and their life-savings since
they couldn’t afford any longer to pay the bills for neighbors
who stopped paying their maintenance dues. Or the special
assessment levied by board members who are thinking that money
grows on trees and they can waste neighbors’ money without
being held accountable.
Lawsuits
in these community associations are at an all-time high, caused
by the fact that the
Florida
legislature created all kinds of statutes and rules these
associations are supposed to obey by. But how good is the best
law if there is no reasonable enforcement to these laws.
Make
no mistake: In order to force associations to obey by the laws
supposedly created to regulate them you have to be outright
rich. Do you have $100,000 in change to spare in your pockets?
Only then can you really think of trying to challenge the board
members violating every law in the book.
Does
that mean that things are as good as politicians and the
Community Associations Institute want us to believe?
Definitely not! Too many of
Florida
’s citizens are living in dictatorial community associations
who waste their money at an ever increasing rate. And just in
case you are trying to tell me that the association you are
living in is not one of these communities described above: Even
the best community association is only one election away from
dictatorship.
And
as long as that doesn’t change, living in
Florida
isn’t GOOD!
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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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