 |
| Abalone shell ... one of the hardest materials known to man ... is made, basically, with saltwater and spit. |
I am for *this* conversion. Conversion in general is a highly-regulated process with a lot of protections for residents, whether they want to buy or continue renting. However, in the past, a few park owners have used the conversion process to break rent control or evict lower-income residents. Those unfortunate situations led to lots of new regulations and protections.
However, I can still imagine situations where conversion would not be a good thing … in predominantly lower-income parks for instance. And, I can imagine park owners who might not be interested in creating a fair and equitable process.
I would NEVER support *that* conversion.
Those circumstances do not exist in this park. We have a wide diversity of ages and income levels. There are a lot of people who will benefit by real estate ownership … and the owner has gone above and beyond the minimum requirements to offer protections for the people who do not want to buy their lots. One example is his offer to cap space rents for residents over 80.
The HOA Board is now officially against *this* conversion.
11/16/2013 UPDATE
Meeting Moved: When the County Supervisor found out that there was a plan to picket the park when she visited, she had the meeting moved to another location.
Meeting Cancelled: When the County Supervisor for Arroyo Grande offered to serve as an unbiased moderator for a discussion about both sides of conversion, representatives from the HOA Board declined to attend. Her assistant said the Supervisor was very disappointed.
Why would the Board decline the opportunity
to state their views in person with the new Supervisor?
****
The HOA Board, which for months has been claiming they are not against conversion, have now filed their opposition to *this* conversion, appeared on local news to fight it, and are, reportedly, now planning to picket a meeting scheduled here in the park today with a County Supervisor. In many of their statements they've said they are not against conversion … they are against *this* conversion.
- Apparently, they think a resident-initiated conversion would be a better thing because they could get a cheaper price for the lots and would be able to take control of the park.
- Apparently, after months of spreading misinformation, calling people "liars," "plants," and "greedy," and now officially obstructing the conversion process, they think the park owner would be willing to deal with them.
While I don't think that mystical conversion will ever come about, I also want to make it clear:
I would NEVER support *that* conversion.
While, ideally, a resident-initiated conversion might be a good thing, it would have to be led by people who have qualities of leadership sadly lacking in the conversion opposition group in this park. To support *that* kind of conversion, we would need to be able to trust those leaders.
How would we ever trust people who have been so willing to spread misinformation and use fear tactics as their primary strategy?
How could we trust people who were supposed to be representing the entire park but have chosen to ignore the elderly, the lower-income, the residents who actively want to purchase their lots, and the majority of the park who just want the information they need to make a decision for themselves?
How could we trust people who actively discouraged area professionals from coming to a public park meeting to share their information about values in the local area?
I don't know the positions of all members of the HOA Board, but as an organization, they seem to belong to the "not *this* conversion" group of opposition. How can we trust them when they are willing to print blatant lies in their newsletter ... for instance, this scare tactic from November, 2013:
"If this subdivision goes through, everyone will likely lose an average of $100,000 or more of their investment in their home." (emphasis ... and comma ... added)
Few of us even paid $100,000 for our homes. Unless we did massive remodeling, how could we possibly lose more than that? We need facts and the truth. Until the Board starts to deal in those, I could never trust them with my future.
I don't know the positions of all members of the HOA Board, but as an organization, they seem to belong to the "not *this* conversion" group of opposition. How can we trust them when they are willing to print blatant lies in their newsletter ... for instance, this scare tactic from November, 2013:
"If this subdivision goes through, everyone will likely lose an average of $100,000 or more of their investment in their home." (emphasis ... and comma ... added)
Few of us even paid $100,000 for our homes. Unless we did massive remodeling, how could we possibly lose more than that? We need facts and the truth. Until the Board starts to deal in those, I could never trust them with my future.
