The CotoBuzz Journal, Community Journalism

The CotoBuzz Journal

Community Journalism, Newsletters and Blogs Covering South Orange County, CA

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April 2007 Issue

We do not make jokes, we simply watch the LA Times, the Orange County Register and the Coto de Caza Board of directors and report the facts!

HOA Petitions – The Right Way and the Wrong Way

March 28, 2007

We just received our own copy of D. Vanitzian’s California Common Interest Development Homeowner’s Guide and started to devour it.

Given that the 2007 CZ Master Association board of directors elections are scheduled to use cumulative voting and a delegate system the state legislature has outlawed and that we have requested the board do away with such corrupt delegate system, and the board has ignored us, we naturally turned to Vanitizian’s pearls of wisdom: "A petition is a written request to the board for action on some matter presently before it. With regard to homeowner associations, the word “petition” may be meaningless and bear no legal significance for implementing change of any kind”, she writes.

She continues, “Titleholders wanting to do the right thing, sometimes inadvertently end doing the wrong thing and in the process thwart their own efforts. These issues are especially important in a climate where association attorneys increasingly encourage board to enter into lawsuits against homeowners, using the excuse that boards must fulfill their duty to enforce covenants, conditions and restrictions."

Vanitizain’s advice is consistent with our experience fighting against a corrupt delegate system and cumulative voting, and supports our analogy of HOA board of directors and the Stanford Prison Experiment!