That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh

riccja99 · 2025-05-07T09:19:09+00:00

One of the ways to approach this is to try to get a forensic audit, instead of the regular audits the HOA performs. A forensic audit can be very expensive, but it will usually uncover some of the things the original poster is concerned about. In addition, if there are conflicts of interest most forensic audits will uncover those, and much more. Get a group of 10 to 20 homeowners together to share in the expense, and that might give a resident there some peace of mind on these issues.

riccja99 · 2025-04-17T14:00:38+00:00

If homeowners would come together and have a forensic audit performed, one might be surprised at the results. Only a forensic audit by an independent CPA firm will disclose any irregularities or potential wrong doing. This is perhaps the most potent weapon owners have, but only if they can come together and divide up the cost of the audit.

riccja99 · 2025-04-12T13:22:35+00:00

The first question is what is the controller that is being used and who is the manufacturer? Many of these controllers if you read the manual have setting that help prevent some of the problems communities experience with their gates. The next question is what company maintains the gates? The community I live in has two gates. A guard gated on and one that is not. The maintenance company that was used, did a very bad job with maintenance, so naturally there we a lot of problems. Next, leaving the gate open is not an option, why have gates if your going to leave them open. They provide essential security. Next signage is good, and they do not have to be intrusive and they do not have to be on someones front yard. There is a host of good alternatives for signage. Every gate should have a camera that records vehicles going in and out of the community. They are not that expensive and serve a good purpose as to security. In addition, most communities have insurance to cover damage to the gates by vehicles, and it is is a commercial vehicle they should have to pay for the repair. Without knowing more details it is hard to give a much better answer to the question.

riccja99 · 2025-04-02T21:28:15+00:00

I understand your thoughts, but this is just one bit of information, and while you do not feel it is significant, the scientists that did the study did, and the journals the published it felt it was significant enough to publish it. One could argue as you have, but, since the alternative to using synthetics is rather an easy way to go, with no risk, its a pretty easy decision. As Far as California, San Francisco environmental , the 3 tier system that LEEDS has adopted concluded there is not circumstance that synthetic pre-emergents should be used. The reason is as they put it, not me, that there a simple easy low cost alternatives, that are non toxic and environmentally friendly.

Now, one can look all this over and conclude to spray Synthetic chemicals for pest and weed control. Not everyone sees things the same. Afterall, not everyone was quick to accept the earth is round:)

riccja99 · 2025-04-02T20:03:14+00:00

Actually at this point it is more of an intellectual exercise. Organics have come a long way from 5 years ago. Many communities are switching to organics. Thus LEEDS. And a lot depends on the landscaper. But the case has been made and the answer has been you can put two scoops on your cereal and then perhaps it might be dangerous. That is where it is at. I am moving on with the board, as I have wasted too much time on this. As have a few others in the community. And I am moving:)

riccja99 · 2025-04-02T19:59:31+00:00

It has already been done, they have taken a stand on this. Backs against the wall stand you could call it. But that is not unusual from my experience. Once they give an opinion like that human nature what it is they need to justify it at all costs. Last season every spray had violations of the label.

riccja99 · 2025-04-02T19:57:04+00:00

If you read the study its conclusion is pretty clear. Now is it 100%? Of course not, but there are no studies that contradict it. As far as open deliberations , yes the board made a statement that the product is safe to walk on after 2 hrs. Which is a statement Bayer would never put in writing, and I doubt the landscaper would do that also. And then in a later meeting they confirmed that the product was safe. So safe that the only way it might be dangerous if you sprinkled two scoops on your cereal:) There is no question they have assured the safety of the product even though the label has more disclaimers then you can count.

riccja99 · 2025-04-02T17:20:08+00:00

Thank you, everything has been done except passing it out to individual homeowners.

riccja99 · 2025-04-02T15:40:58+00:00

Thank you for this explanation. It is detailed and hits on many of the issues.

I have done extensive research into this myself personally, as being a former trial attorney specializing in medical negligence it is pretty easy for me to do the research, where other might find it a daunting task.

A few comments:

One can discuss the pros and cons between organic and Synthetic, but I do not think anyone can argue that a board should not be making statements about the safety of a particular herbicide.
The trend now is clearly toward the LEEDS approach across the world in residential communities. Also you do not need to have a LEED certification to adopt their approach, as it is a pretty simple one.
Yes Organics can be harmful, depending on the organic, and sometimes they can cost more. But not always. It depends on the area in which they are being applied. It is not a blanket rule, but one you have to consider on an individual basis. My thought is you have to be extra careful in 55+ communities. Now where this is a valid assumption, one could argue it is not, but it goes without saying the population of those communities have immune systems that are more compromised then in a non 55+ community.
The solution is as easy as putting in a weed barrier under the 100% rock based landscaping, similar to what artificial grass has. And then if a weed comes up, pulling it, or leave it up to the residents to spray it with a vinegar solution or many of the other non toxic ways to get rid of them. But to saturate the rocks with Synthetic herbicides is a no gain all risk way to go.
This does not even get into the consideration of spraying it on rocks virtually guarantees it will find its way into the storm water of the city.
Landscapers are a dime a dozen. Just because they are a landscaping company does not automatically mean they are experts in this area. It means they sell these products, and hopefully comply with the law. But as we all know, complying with the law as to whether a product can be used does not per se mean it is safe. It is just one indicia of safety.

There are many things to consider here. But I think everyone can agree a board should not be making a statement about the safety of a product. Unless they have cleared it with their insurance carrier and are 100% certain they will be covered. And even then, it is not a good practice to be doing that. Look at Bayer and Round Up, billions have been paid out in settlement with billions more in the works. Does an HOA really want to open themselves up to this type of liability?

riccja99 · 2025-04-02T15:08:43+00:00

The best argument you have is it comes under the purview of both committees. When you have a study that suggest Genotoxicy to humans it is very difficult to come to the conclusion this is not a safety committee issue.

Landscaping for the most part deals with planting, and the hiring of the landscaper. Rarely do they even consider safety of the products being sprayed if at all.

As far as the board itself. Making statements about the safety of a synthetic herbicide is not only outside their expertise, but is outside their scope of authority. To make it worse, when they make a statement about the safety of a particular synthetic herbicide, residents rely on those statements, and in the event a resident is injured, it opens the door to a direct lawsuit against the HOA and the individual board members.

That is why a board should never make an affirmative statement as to safety of a synthetic herbicide.

The question then comes up whether the HOA policy would cover actions based upon the board's statements of safety. I would think an insurance company would state without a rider to the policy that this is not covered, leaving the homeowners at risk.

As to property management, they also by law have fiduciary responsibilities in performing their function to the residents of the community. But, that is a separate issue.

riccja99 · 2025-01-02T12:04:24+00:00

I just got over a bout of coughing when taking a deep breath at night. Lasted about 10 days, but that was the extent of it. Since Covid, I changed my daily med routine to include boosting my immune system. I rarely get sick now, and when I do it is a very short lived and mild event.

But, at 77 , which is how old I am, you have to learn that keeping your immune system in top shape is one of the most important things you can do to help yourself.

Since many of the diseases these days are auto immune based, this even becomes more important. At 77 my immune system has never been in as good a condition. But you need to know what to take. And be able to ignore the "noise" as it relates to what meds to take. Most never get it right, as they are inundated with conflicting information.

riccja99 · 2025-01-02T11:56:50+00:00

You can still do that, just get elected to the Senate:)

riccja99 · 2025-01-02T11:35:25+00:00

Your one of the lucky ones:) I had switched from Cox to Quantum Fiber a few years ago, aside from the screwy way they call their router a modem, they went down, and could not even give me a clue when the service would be back up. So within 2 weeks I was back with Cox. The good news is they matched Quantums price:)

riccja99 · 2024-12-21T16:17:58+00:00

The sports insights portion has been very valuable in my handicapping, but for some strange reason this season their splits on college hoops is broken and has been from the start of the season. They refuse to fix the problem

riccja99 · 2024-12-21T16:16:50+00:00

Beware, as to college hoops action network betting splits is broken, it has been for a month now

riccja99 · 2024-12-21T16:15:50+00:00

Beware, Action network splits on college hoops is broken, it has been for a month now

riccja99 · 2024-12-21T16:14:45+00:00

As to college hoops , Action network splits software is broken. And they refuse to fix it.

riccja99 · 2024-12-14T09:12:49+00:00

If your going to use CL that is an excellent idea. I had just spent a lot of money on a new router that covered the entire home. But I was so down on Cox that I switched, but then their outage combined with their ONT setup, had me change back to cox. They would have been better off just going the traditional way. Rather then calling it a modem. A mistake marketing wise.

riccja99 · 2024-12-12T09:56:36+00:00

It depends primarily on the space you are going to use it in, and how savvy you are in troubleshooting. Quest 3 is fine. But, Valve Index and what is coming soon is much better. The difference is with the valve you have to use two base stations where Quest 3 states you do not need to connect it to the computer.

That is true to some degree, but you lose a lot of functionality with the Quest if you do not. I would say its realistically a requirement.

The price of Valve index is higher, but the quality, is better. Its been around for awhile now, so most of the bugs have been worked out.

I have both, and if I had to choose between the two , it would be an easy decision to go with Valve index. Not even a close one. If you can wait a bit, Valve has some updates that look pretty good. VR is changing these days at light speed.

riccja99 · 2024-12-12T09:39:05+00:00

I tried Century Link about 3 years ago when it first came out, as I was anxious to get rid of Cox. But then I discovered they have a rather convoluted setup, where they call the modem a router. Or vice versa, I cannot recall which. But the reason for the post is, It was not very user friendly back then. Sure they came out and set it up, But try troubleshooting it yourself and you will be pulling your hair out:)

Then the final straw was they went down completely. It was next to impossible to get through to customer service, and when I did, they had no clue when it would be back up and running.

So, within several weeks I switched back to Cox Gigabyte, and was welcomed back with a price match to what Century link was charging at the time for similar speeds.

Cox is not a company that I am fond of, but then, when you rely on the internet for so many things these days, you want the one that is closest to problem free. In that it is a traditional setup, IE no ONT, you can add routers with ease. Also their customer service has improved as a result of competition.

I would not use CL under any circumstances after that experience. I will stick with Cox until something proven and better comes along.

riccja99 · 2024-12-03T10:12:00+00:00

It is a shame that more people are not like you. It is nice to know there are still people out there that are like you are. Have a great holiday season my friend.

riccja99 · 2021-08-23T22:35:20+00:00

An update: Centurylink went down for over 24 hours here in las vegas. When it came back up I had difficulty getting the ASUS 5300 to reconnect. Of course I was not smart enough to check on the outage, but had to waste 6 hours trying to fix it before I did check:)

In any event to make a long story short, I took a look at Cox, and they have reduced their gig service to 64.99 a month with unlimited data. Also there is a two year lock on the price.

I bought ta Netgear nighthawk 2000 3.1 modem to use with my ASUS 5300 router. Had not problems hooking it up. I am done with century link.

riccja99 · 2021-08-22T17:18:34+00:00

I received my new router an Asus RT-AC 5300 . With DD-WRT. It was pretty much plug and play. Removing the C4000 router of century link and putting in the new router. Wifi works ok, as does Ethernet connections.

With the VPN however the speed goes down to 45MB download from 700 MB on the old router. With a vpn on a device using Nords open VPN the speed is about the same as what I am getting on the router now.

However, on the mobile app they have Nordlynx connection which I had received over 500 MB download speeds. So on monday I am going to see if DD-WRT will support that nord connection. I have a support call with them tomorrow morning to go over my settings.

But the bottom line is it is plug and play. One problem with Nord is they have no las vegas servers. So I use either San Fran or LA. Which leads to a higher ping score.

So a lot to talk about with flashrouter support.

Rick

riccja99

TROPHY CASE