Entering my second campaign for Director on my condo/coop/mutual homes association, I find myself peculiarly aware of the subtle similarity between being a parent and being a Director -- the constant almost childish squabbling, the pointing of fingers, the constant struggle to find some balance.
Everyone wants, underneath their appeals to fairness, to get away with something: the motorcycle in the backyard, the colored windowframes, the bamboo, the meth lab in the shed, the kids who deal drugs from the back bedroom, and invite their rivals over for a shootout.
I'd like to solicit stories and advice, especially, on how to run, since I'm one critical and prickly son of a bitch, who is nominally interested in the financial and legal stability of the association, so my home doesn't become a millstone in my late retirement.
Like most of us here NOT in politics as a candidate, I resent having to lie to people to get their vote. My reputation is curmudgeonly, often speaking out at meetings on some important but overlooked point of law or procedure, like proper notice of meetings that change our rules in an important way, or the necessity to follow corporation code.
These intrusions into the sweet harmony of the rushed-to-completion agendas are only lightly appreciated, although some compliments, of a backhanded sort are sometimes given.
I read up on the HOA (Home Owners' Association) sites, but what I really want to hear from you lucky ones, who live in or know about such politics, (25% of Californians live in an HOA) is anything you think might be enlightening or useful to someone engaging in these family politics.
I find myself explaining to people who won't run for the board (I'm always looking for a second to an unpopular motion, so I can open discussion on it - the Overton Window) that the often brittle disputes that occur are nothing more than slightly less acerbic family fights.
No government is closer to home and family than a condo association: financially, they can wreck your budget, and socially you meet your representative perhaps every day, and maybe take out your crankies on them.
And people get rabid about pets, and plants, and paint, and parking. They want to remodel beyond or in spite of the rules. The contract is merely a formality to be dismissed on the basis of a fragile relationship based on perhaps a shared cup of watery coffee at a Christmas party.
And having a license plate that reads [GOD FREE] gives me the chance to check out that theory that atheists can't get elected.
So humor me. Tell me what's on your mind, and chest, about those wonderful wacky HOA's!