Shortly after sending out Wednesday's Gateway Gazette, Waterford Village President Joe Delia (who I served on the traffic committee with) sent out the e-mail below under the subject headline "Which Association Will be Next?" I actually like that headline and wish I came up with it myself. Joe is anti-Gazette as you will see when you read his e-mail.
Joe, up until this week, was sort of like the community Godfather if you will. He ran a semi-secretive organization that met once a quarter and included the "heads" of the Gateway H.O.A.'s. The Godfather, uh, I mean Joe, would invite the Sheriffs department, a staff member from GSD and few other friendlies. A few years ago, pre-Gazette I was invited to update the head of each family, uh, I mean H.O.A. President's, on the park.
At the time, I was the esteemed chairman of the Gateway Park Committee. That was created after Bob Nielson's $7 Million Tennis Complex was rejected by the greater Gateway community. What's interesting about the meetings Joe held was that nothing ever happens with the information being talked about at his meetings. Nobody read about it. It never came up at GSD meetings. I never heard my H.O.A. talk about it. I'll bet most of you didn't even know this group met.
I can tell you a funny story about this group. Not too long ago, G.S.D. Supervisor Gary Neubaur wanted to attend. There was nothing pressing. Gary is just interested in getting involved, talking to the H.O.A's, etc. I like to call it doing his job. Mr. D flat out refused to allow him to attend the meeting. Told him he was not welcome. As far as I know Gary did not find a horse's head in his bed the next morning. I'm pretty sure that would have made the news.
Here the e-mail that went out to all the "heads" yesterday. My brilliant observations continue below.
From: Joe D'Elia
Date: April 21, 2010 10:02:22 AM EDT
To: Joe D'Elia
Subject: Which Association will be next
This is the Gateway G news headline today.
Daniels Preserve Board Member 2 Years Behind on Dues
Info like this on the internet is not conducive to the sales of homes in Gateway.
This must be stopped.
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Let's think about this now. The Gateway Gazette is preventing homes from being sold in Gateway.
Would anyone agree that, perhaps, rules imposed by a few power-hungry elected officials prevents people from buying in Gateway?
Would anyone agree that, perhaps, while regular folks are working and H.O.A.'s are snooping around their homes looking for violations, prevents people from buying in Gateway?
Would anyone agree that an elected official berating a residents for not pledging allegience they way he wants them to prevents people from buying in Gateway?
Would anyone agree that residents get pissed off when special deals are made for one person regarding their dues and not available to everyone? And that person turns out to be an elected official!
Would anyone agree that residents don't really like it when they're asked to pay the personal legal fees for a board member?
To answer your question "Which Association will be next? Which ever one screws residents next. You see Joe, everyone has an H.O.A. story they want to get out. Mostly because they feel like they are being ignored by their H.O.A or disrespected by the management company. Residents pay dues that are too high, they are locked into cable contracts that are too long and they dole out too much money to management companies that are ripping them off.
The Gateway Gazette cannot be stopped my friend.
It is my mission in life....or until I get bored and move on to something else.
Delia also sent out a "farewell" e-mail disbanding his "organization" due to "the lack of adequate attendance." He then listed all the communities that did not show up to his "farewell" meeting. Now, I wonder, if berating these communities in this way, on the Internet, is really conducive to home sales? I think not.
Communities that were unable to attend, no show or did not respond -
Cypress Pointe (no response)
Cypress Cay (no response)
Silver Lakes (responded)
Callaway Greens (responded)
Timber Ridge (responded)
Summerwind(s) (no response)
Sabal Dunes (no response)
The Cottages (responded)
Champions Green (responded)
Devonshire Lakes (responded)
Stoneybrook Master (no response)
Magnolia Lakes (no response)
Daniels Preserve (responded)
Hidden Links (stopped asking}
Hampton Park (still under WCI)
