JUST SAY NO!!

A Comment by Carl Block:

Why should we, the residents of the single family homes, have to live under the rules which were set up by the developer and his lawyers? They don't live here, they never intended to live here, they just wrote the rules and left.

Now that the covenants need to be rewritten, why not rewrite them with rules we want to live under? The original rewrite committee spent a summer at work and presented a document with most of the unreasonable things taken out. Norman Hotz spent a winter putting the unreasonable rules and more back into the document.

Now he wants us to approve them. DON'T! Read it and demand the changes you want.

Did you know you have, by law, signed away some of your constitutional rights guaranteed by the United States government, such as Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Unreasonable Search. Did you know that the board wants to keep the right to enter your property or home anytime it wants?

Be aware, read it, demand the changes you want. In other words, Make It Reasonable.

WE HAD AN AUDIT???

The 2007 audit was on the Venetia website one day, but gone the next. I was curious why, so I asked for a copy. We are , after all, paying for it with our dues. Perhaps it was because of this following statement:

As more fully described in note 6 to the financial statements, the Association capitalized street lighting lamp posts purchased during 2007 and is depreciating the lamp posts over a four year period not over the estimated useful life of the lamp posts as required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Or how about this:

NOTE 3 - COMMONLY OWNED ASSETS

The Association has the responsibility to preserve and maintain the commonly owned assets. These assets include, but are not limited to, paved areas, clubhouse and recreational amenities, drainage and surface water management facilities, landscape and retention areas and all drainage, utility, signage and landscape easements. The Association's policy is not to capitalize and depreciate the commonly owned assets as ownership is invested directly or indirectly in the unit owners and these assets are not deemed to be severable. In addition, the Association directly expenses any personal property such as recreational equipment and furnishings. The Association has capitalized the street lighting lamp posts - see Note 6.

Funny, but when we questioned Mr. Clark about his accounting methods when he presented this to the board, his response was "Don't you know your Accounting 101?". Well, Mr. Clark, it seems we did know after all.

You can read the audit in it's entirety here:
2007 Audit

PALM TREE UPDATE

I was really concerned about how the progress of our palm tree removal was going.   The once regal entryways are looking pretty slipshod, as are the median strips on Corso Venetia, so I requested a copy of the tree contract from Lighthouse Management.   If we paid a lawyer to approve this contract, I think we should get a refund.  And why are we paying Lighthouse Management over $100,000 per year to protect our interests? Take a look for yourselves.  Be sure to read page two as well.

Tree Contract, Page One

Tree Contract, Page Two

We Love Our Dog

We love our dog. He is small, yet whenever we come home he greets us with wagging tail, leaps of excitement, and all is right with his world, and ours too. Since our children live quite a distance away, all of our affection is lavished on him. Call us "over the edge", but he is now very much a part of our family. He has his own place to sleep, his own dishes, a sweater or two, and of course, lots of toys. We worry about his health, as well. For instance, he has vet appointments for all his shots, medication to keep parasites away, and Benedryl for allergies. His vet bills are probably more than our doctor bills.

Dogs are especially a good thing to have if you want to get some exercise, or meet some neighbors, or if you need a little company, there's Fido, right by your side. I sure wish the author(s) of the VNA One covenant rewrite felt the same way.