The Clear Lake Riviera Community Association desperately needs new management. Ballots will be in the mail on May 15 and must be returned by June 24. Voters should throw the existing bums out! Board members running for reelection should not get one single vote. Board members not up for reelection should be recalled. There are several good reasons.
First, two directors (Alan Siegal and Sid Donnell) are not members in good standing. They're violating Article VI, Section 1of Riviera rules that establishes term limits: “Directors shall be elected for terms of two years and shall serve until their successors are elected and qualified, and not be eligible for reelection after serving a two-year term until they shall have not been a director for at least one year …” Also , Article VI, Section 5 of the By-Laws says, “The board may fill a vacancy by calling for a special election to choose a new director.” Al and Sid have not done that. They offer lame excuses for clinging to power. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” political scientists say, and this board shows, by breaking this law (and others, see below), they've been corrupted by power. Apparently, board members, Boone Bridges and Sandra Orchid, go along to get along.
Second, the board is entertaining an ugly idea of doing away with Proposition 13 for people living in the Riviera. Proposition 13 will no longer protect Rivierians from the 1-percent-of-purchase-price tax limitation. This board wants Rivierians to pay for road improvements through a special tax organized by the association. That’s an increase in property tax. Lake County tax collectors have finally found a way around Proposition 13. Incredibly, some people on some streets won’t have to pay the extra tax.
The county, state, and federal governments are already responsible for road improvements. Rivierians are already paying high taxes for roads. Unfortunately, government officials aren't spending the money properly. They're wasting it. They're bloating up bureaucracies and buying fancy new vehicles for government employees. Now, of course, they want more money.
Third, the board has recently decided to enforce a farcical 20-year-old, 100-foot fire ordinance (Rivierians must cut natural brush 100 feet from any building, no exceptions). Using everyone's fear of fire, they've stampeded some Rivierians into compliance. There are many, many reasons Rivierians should reject this board’s ludicrous 100 foot-from-every-building-fire-yell and get them out of office, quick.
First, the real fire threat to Riverians comes from outside the Riviera, according to Kelseyville Fire Chief Howard Strickler (on the phone 4/29/08 to this writer). Fire departments can handle small brush fires but have no control over wildland firestorms that build up outside developed areas. He also said, no home in the Riviera has ever been destroyed by brush fire originating from within. Board members are aiming their anti-fire guns in the wrong direction. Common sense tells them to spend their limited resources on fire breaks around the Riviera like Buckingham residents did, recently. Chemise, manzanita and other native chaparral are all gorgeous plants. Most Riviera lots are small and by the time owners build houses, garages, driveways and septic systems, there isn't much natural habitat left, anyway. Thirty feet is reasonable. One hundred feet is harebrained idiotic.
Second, Lake County supervisors, after public input, recently disagreed with the board’s 100 foot law unless the fire chief, “ ...determines that extra hazardous conditions requires a firebreak of more than 30 feet ...” (Ordinance 2861 Section 5-4f2c). The 30-foot ordinance was passed recently in March. The Riviera board is in conflict with county supervisors. They must go.
Third, the preposterous 100 foot law has made some Riviera streets look like a war zone or strip mining operation. Now, bare hillside lots are subject to erosion and instability. During heavy rains, old septic systems (installed without curtain drains) fail and sewage is washing into the streets where kids play. Engineered septic systems also fail when filters aren't timely changed and again, kids walk through sewage on their way to school. Some wide-eyed followers are even spraying herb poisons on their lots to keep them completely bare or using chemical fertilizers trying to make non-native plants grow. Herb poisons and chemical fertilizers make their way into ground water and eventually the lake. Yet, this board continues to yell fire in a crowded theater when the real danger is outside the theater.
Fourth, most Rivierians love natural habitat and wildlife and are willing to accept a reasonable fire risk to be close. They enjoy live oak, chemise, manzanita and other chaparral plants. Some moved here to see deer, quail, doves and all the Riviera bird species. Wildlife needs cover. For centuries now, Americans have traded reasonable fire risk for the enjoyment of natural settings. They also know chaparral between roads and homes provide privacy and noise reduction better than evergreens some silly people plant. Evergreens burn hotter and faster than natural vegetation. Out-of-control board members are on a campaign to destroy the Riviera in attempt to save it. They must go!
Fifth, the board’s crazy 100 foot law places financial hardship on the elderly, soccer moms, widows, people who live far away and those on fixed incomes. Some Rivierians have more than one lot or a large lot and can't, of course, use a weed-whacker to cut down chemise. Some unscrupulous contractors are making a fortune cutting and chipping those areas that homeowners should keep. Also, the No. 1 cause of home loss in wildfires is flammable roofs. If people could afford it, they’d install tile roofs and nonflammable decking.
Sixth, the board is not enforcing their crazy new 100 foot law uniformly. Americans love democracy and democracy demands everyone be treated equally under every law. If the board fines one home owner $250 they must fine every homeowner who has the same or worse condition. Selective enforcement of a moonstruck rule leaves the door wide open for all sorts of nasty discrimination. Some people are saying enforcement is selective because uniform fining would cause an outcry heard around the world. Board members might have to leave the country.
Finally, the board is illegally enforcing their 100 foot law. Article 12 of the by-laws say “violators” must receive a letter of the violation (The association is fining owners who have not received letters of violation). Article 12 also says legal action will be taken to enforce correction of a violation (homeowners can defend themselves when the board follows this law). A tyrannical association is fining members without due process. They’re skipping the legal process. They're also saying they have the right to inspect every inch of homeowners property without a search warrant. Like Taliban beard inspectors of Afghanistan, they’ll regularly inspect your bushes.
If it hasn't already happened, some widow or other disadvantaged homeowner will meet the right attorney, one day soon, and sue the pants off Clearlake Riviera Community Association. Any one of the above reasons is enough. One little old lady was recently seen, on Monte Cristo, in the hot sun, cutting bushes and putting them in her station wagon. She got a threatening letter from the association. One heat stroke or one heart attack caused by an illegal board, illegally enforcing lunatic laws, is a considerably greater danger of financial loss than brush fire.
These board members must go far, go fast and stay long. A new board must follow the rules and stop the scorched-earth, slash-and-burn-policy.
Darrell Watkins has lived in Clearlake Riviera 22 years. An early-retirement teacher, he’s a successful businessman in Clearlake and running for election to the board.
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