Interestingly enough, this is the most popular post on the blog. In my original open letter to Mr. Constantine, I connected him with the website shamconversions.com, a site I think is reprehensible in its fear-mongering and misinformation. He denied the connection and I apologized and withdrew the letter.
However, I did not apologize, nor do I now, for criticizing his tone and methods. I believe he is doing the residents of this park a huge disservice by trying to take away an option that appeals to a lot of residents ... that of owning real estate and protecting their futures by stopping the ever-increasing space rent. As for the residents who don't buy ... they will either continue as they are today ... or actually be better off, thanks to the protections of State and County laws and regulations ... and the additional protections offered by the owner.
While Mr. Constantine and the HOA Board claim to be trying to protect the residents of the park, the biggest threat to our future would come if they throw the park into litigation or force the owner to sell the park to a new owner or hedge fund. Life is not just going to go back the way it was. One way or the other, the owner will sell the park.
People who claim that the owner is just "in it for the money," seem to forget that he hasn't increased rents by the full amount allowed for several years. Last fall, the park re-slurryed the roads at a cost probably in the $60-70,000 range. I didn't get an assessment for that cost ... did you? Our leases state that he could have passed that along to us. Would a new owner be so accommodating? Not likely.
How much Mr. Constantine has to do with the misinformation that is flooding the park, I don't know. However, much of the language and numbers that are being thrown around seem to sound like things he has said in letters to the lawyers, to me and to the County in his recently filed, 38-page, convoluted, barely coherent letter asking the County to deem the conversion application incomplete.
Mr. Constantine and the HOA Board, while continuing to say they are not opposing the conversion, are doing everything they can to stop it. I keep wondering whom they represent? Not the residents who want to buy their lots. Not the over-80 residents who would have their rent capped. Not the lower-income residents who would be eligible for state rent control. Not the residents who would just prefer to continue on their leases as they are today.
Once again, I want to reiterate that Mr. Constantine does not represent me, an opinion that seems to be shared with many others here in the park. I do not know who will pay his legal fees if he drags us into court ... but I do know that no one wins when things go to court ... and, in the long run, we residents will lose.
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A few days ago I posted an open letter to attorney William Constantine, the attorney who has been retained by the homeowner's association to help with the conversion. The letter contained my opinions about his "tone" and presumed stance on the conversion.
I now want to apologize completely to Mr. Constantine for my misunderstandings of him and his position on the conversion.
After a lengthly reply letter from Mr. Constantine and a few emails, we discovered the cause of the misunderstanding. At the July 9th homeowner's meeting, someone passed out this flyer:
This conversion process is complicated and involves something that is very near and dear to our hearts ... our homes. We need to be careful to strive to find facts and rational information and avoid inflaming emotions unnecessarily. Let's try to make sure everything we share with each other is factual.
Mr. Constantine, please accept my apology and I hope your assistance with this process helps all of us make the right decision for our specific situations.
Joyce Wycoff
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