Monday, May 11, 2009

The Fountain Of Information - Fountain Court Condos

Monday, May 11, 2009 -

HEADLINES - (Three of them today!)

- An Anonymous Letter To Suzanne Halprin
- MORE Illegal Acts By YOUR Board (Re: Special Owner's Meeting Notice)
- Introducing The New "Did You Know?" Column

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-- AN ANONYMOUS LETTER TO SUZANNE HALPRIN --

Please see the attached "scanned" copy of the hand written anonymous letter to Suzanne Halprin, which she received last week. It is attached to this emailed edition, file name "2009-0508-FCC-Sue's First Hate Mail from ANONYMOUS". Following is a re-print of exactly what it says (the SIC's indicate spelling errors in the hand written letter):

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Sue,

Everone (SIC) here always felt you were not to (SIC) bright, but lately you proved us all correct!

Your association w/ trouble maker, shit stirrer Lenny takes it all. You win first prize on screwing yourself, along with everyone else here. Do you not see basically you are sueing (SIC) yourself, devalueing (SIC) your property.

You best think more about what you are doing. Are you that deparate (SIC) for a friend to chum with someone who has nothing but a big mouth? He has nothing to lose, whereas you own property here with no place else to go. This property is not worth much now, once people find out of the law suits (SIC) and problems, none of it will sell & be of less value. This will
encourage less & less desirable people to move here & you will be on (SIC) stuck among them.

Please for your sake & ours get rid of this bum & any association with him. If he were so damn smart he would be on his own & not always laying on someone else's leg. You must be brain-washed. Think of your future to (SIC). Remember, he has nothing to lose but a sheep.

He is making a fool of FCC Residnce (SIC) & you. THINK!

(Unsigned and no return address on envelope)

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OK. Now lets take a look at this letter and analyze what it is saying, paragraph by paragraph and/or sentence by sentence.

First, while the anonymous author called Sue "not to (SIC) bright", in the first sentence, it should be noted that the author made TWO spelling errors in that same first sentence... so maybe they were looking in the mirror when they were writing this letter. ;-) The mistakes continue with a total of NINE obvious spelling errors in a short, one-page hand written letter. Hmmmm.. judging from the fact that Al Oglesby signed his own name and spelled it wrong (it's spelled "Olgesby" in his signature) on the email that he sent out last week about the upcoming Special Owner's Meeting, one has to wonder if he wrote this error laden anonymous letter. ;-) Here is a
copy/paste of exactly how he signed that last email, dated May 3, 2009...

"Sincerely
Al Olgesby, CCIM, CPM, CEA
Property Manager
Fountain Court Condominium Assoc."

I am a BIG proponent of freedom of speech so I don't have a problem with this author's references to me having a BIG mouth, being a shit stirrer and a trouble maker (mainly to those who deserve it, much like the Media are considered trouble makers by lying/cheating politicians and the police are considered trouble makers by criminal enterprises). Neither Sue nor I feel
the want or need to reply to any of the name-calling since those are the author's opinions and everyone is entitled to their opinion. Sue did mention that I am NOT laying on her leg since I pay my fair share of the expenses and she also mentioned that she would rather "chum" around with me than hang around with a "sheep" like the anonymous author. Obviously, the anonymous author is following around the Board and Manager so closely that if they stop, the anonymous author might have to wipe the brown stuff off their nose. ;-)

Next, lets look at this author's claim that Sue is "devalueing" (SIC) the property and "sueing (SIC) yourself". Please NOTE that neither Suzanne Halprin or I sued FCCA first. We only sued FCCA in response to them suing us first and counter-sued FCCA as part of our defense to try and stop the current Board and Manager from continuing to break the by-laws, declarations, rules and even Louisiana law. As you will see in the coming days, weeks and months, MANY of the illegal things they are doing are a BIG reason for any lowering of property values at FCCA and some of their illegal actions could cause many more lawsuits and even some mortgage companies to possibly accelerate the loans on some of the owners at FCCA so the mortgage
company can get out from having any loans on this property because the owners are allowing the Board and Manager to break so many of the by-laws... many of which provide distinct legal protection for mortgage companies. All that I've done for the past several years is expose and point out the illegal activities of the current and past Boards and Managers and all the current counter-lawsuit is doing is trying to force the Board and Manager to follow the by-laws, declarations and Louisiana law so that mortgage companies will continue to make loans on units at FCCA. If mortgage companies ever decide to stop lending... NOW THAT WOULD SEVERELY AFFECT PROPERTY VALUES!!!!

More to come about this in the below NEW "Did You Know?" column.

When we inevitably prevail in our counter-lawsuit against the current FCCA Board, it will force them and future Boards to start being more open to the owners around FCCA, so that owners will be invited to the monthly/quarterly Board Meetings and be able to ask questions and find out what is going on ahead of time, instead of when it's too late! If and when the current and/or future Board(s) start doing things RIGHT, spending YOUR money responsibly (instead of acting like Washington, D.C.) and being fully open to ALL OF THE OWNERS at FCCA, then things will start to improve. Until then, you are right in your assertion that property values will fall. Suzanne Halprin does not control the Board, Manager or the purse strings at FCCA, YOUR Board and Manager controls them and that is who you should be directing your anger towards... not someone who is standing up for everyone at FCCA and is trying to make the Board start following the law... instead of constantly breaking the law.


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-- MORE ILLEGAL ACTS BY YOUR BOARD (Re: Special Owner's Meeting Notice) --

Even after it has been legally pointed out to the Board and Manager in our counter-lawsuit, they are once again promoting the upcoming election of a "Treasurer" which is yet another direct violation of the by-laws. It has been pointed out many times in TFOI and in letters and now in court proceedings that the declarations and by-laws DO NOT ALLOW THE OWNERS TO VOTE for the Officers of FCCA (namely the President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary). What the by-laws do clearly state is that the Owners vote for the Board Of Directors and then the Board Of Directors hold a meeting and vote on who is going to be President, Vice-President,
Treasurer and Secretary. This is one of the MANY by-laws and declarations that FCCA has been violating for MANY years. The way the current and past Boards have been doing things would be comparable to the United States holding an election for King, Queen and Prime Minister... when these titles are not allowed according to our Constitution and U.S. Law. FCCA has been
and is currently trying to hold elections like they were a State or the United States in allowing the owners to vote for the President, V-P, etc., BUT that is not how things are done in Corporate law and FCCA is a Corporation so the stock-holders (aka owners) vote for the Board of Directors and then the Board of Directors decide who is going to be the CEO, President, etc., of the Corporation. I hope this further explains to the current Board and Manager so they will start to understand the by-laws and rules that they so love to selectively enforce on others, while ignoring the by-laws when they pertain to them.

There are also many other inconsistencies where the letter talks about the Proxy being allowed in any May 14, 2009 vote but also will be used in the Annual Meeting, usually held in November, but then on the Proxy itself, it says "For the May 14, 2009 Special Owner's Meeting Only" so who knows what they are going to try to do with these proxies at the Annual Owner's Meeting... BUT WE WILL BE WATCHING!!!


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-- INTRODUCING THE NEW "DID YOU KNOW?" COLUMN --

As mentioned above, I will start publishing a regular "Did You Know?" column where I will re-print an actual by-law, rule or declaration and then examine and explain it... usually it will be one of the MANY that the current and past Boards and Managers regularly violate.

Did you know.... that a past Board ILLEGALLY changed the by-laws in 2003/2004 when they got enough owner's proxies to vote on changing the section of the by-laws pertaining to what percentage of owner's votes are needed to make changes in the by-laws. Yeah, I know that's confusing. LOL

Let's look at the original language in the Declarations and By-laws and how the current and past Boards and Managers have regularly, repeatedly and ILLEGALLY violated the protections set up in the declarations and by-laws.

In the By-laws, Article VI, Section 3, NOTICE OF AMENDMENT OF DECLARATION OR BYLAWS states:

"The Board of Directors SHALL give notice to all Mortgagees seven (7) days prior to the date on which the Unit Owners, in accordance with the provisions of these Bylaws, materially amend the Condominium Instruments."

And Section 4. MORTGAGEES' APPROVALS states:

"Unless all Mortgagees SHALL have given their prior written approval, neither the Unit Owners Association shall:

"... (e) Materially amend the Declarations or the Bylaws, including, but not limited to any amendment which would change the Percentage Interests of the Unit Owners in the Project...."

And Section 5. OTHER RIGHTS OF MORTGAGEES states:

"All Mortgagees or their representatives SHALL be entitled to attend meetings of the Unit Owners Association and SHALL have the right to speak thereat. All such Mortgagees SHALL have the right to examine the books and records of the Condominium during normal business hours and to require the submission of annual audited financial reports and other budgetary
information within ninety (90) days following the end of any fiscal year. They SHALL also receive notice of all meetings of the Owners Association and be permitted to designate a representative to attend all such meetings."

NONE OF THESE SECTIONS OF THE BY-LAWS HAVE EVER BEEN FOLLOWED AS FAR AS ANY RECORDS THAT I HAVE SEEN IN THE PAST FIVE TO SIX YEARS.

There's a reason why this language was included in the Condominium Documents... to protect the owners and the Mortgage holders from a Board or Manager that decides to ignore, circumvent or outright break the law concerning the Declarations and By-laws.

In fact, in 2003, when Sultan Mirza, Fred Rapp and Ronnie Breath were the Board of Directors, they garnered enough proxy votes and other owners to MATERIALLY AND SUBSTANTIALLY CHANGE THE DECLARATIONS AND BY-LAWS by lowering the voting percentage needed to vote in any future changes to the Condominium Documents. There is a reason why the Louisiana Condominium Act and the original documents required a SUPER MAJORITY, not just a 50% plus one majority, to make any changes. This was to protect ALL of the owners, their mortgage companies, etc., from a runaway Board doing things that might be severely detrimental to the overall financial and corporate stability of the condominium association.

Considering the FACT that they DID NOT notify ALL of the mortgage companies of each and every Owner's Meeting for the past MANY years and further have held illegal votes to change the Declarations and/or By-laws without notifying the Mortgage companies and further that they have not had the annual audited financial reports prepared in the past MANY years, these past and current Boards and Managers may be seriously jeopardizing future owners at FCCA in their abilities to get a mortgage. If prospective buyers can't get mortgages, then the prospective sellers will not be able to sell their unit... or will only be able to do cash sales, meaning the property values will go down since there will not be as many qualified buyers available.

DO YOU REALLY WANT FOUNTAIN COURT TO GET SUED OVER AND OVER BY OWNERS AND MORTGAGE COMPANIES UNTIL YOU ALL ARE FORCED INTO BANKRUPTCY COURT BECAUSE SO MANY OF THE OWNERS JUST SIT BY WITH THEIR HEADS IN THE SAND IGNORING ALL OF THE ILLEGAL, UNETHICAL AND IMMORAL ACTS OF PAST AND CURRENT BOARDS AND MANAGERS????

This is just a fraction of an iota of the many more columns, "Did You Know?", that will be highlighting and exposing the MANY other illegal acts that past and current FCCA Boards have and are continuing to do!!! I just thought this one was suiting since the Board called this Special Owner's Meeting and FAILED to notify any of the Mortgage holders... in direct and repeated violation of the By-laws!!!

There is so much more to say and report on but until next time... let "The Fountain Of Information" flow!!!

Sincerely (and NOT anonymously),

Lenny Vasbinder, Editor
TheFountainOfInformation@gmail.com
http://www.TheFountainOfInformation.Blogspot.com
Cell-504-621-1870 eFax-413-318-0742

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Lenny Vasbinder NHSNOLA@gmail.com
Cell-504-621-1870 Fax-413-318-0742
http://www.NeighborhoodHomeServices.com
P.O.Box 74031, Metairie, LA 70033-4031
Handyman Services, Lawn & Garden Care, Residential Contractor, General Cleaning & Trash Hauling, Etc.

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