The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • A11

Filename: A11-MAIN-AJCD0205-AJCD created: Feb 4 2008 Username: SPEED2 Tuesday, Feb 05, 2008 MAIN 1 1 A AJCD 1 1 A Cyan Magenta Yellow Black 1 1 A Cyan Magenta Yellow Black AJCD File name: A11-MAIN-AJCD0205-AJCD created: Feb 4 2008 Username: SPEED2 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ajc.com 4 Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008 A1 1 MORE INFORMATION AND OPINIONS ON TOPICS: An opinion column discusses the role of political in American democracy. To learn more: ONLINE: History of the parties: www.edgate.com/ The American Presidency: ap.grolier.com/ BOOKS: Parties? The Origin and Transformation of Political Parties in by John H. Aldrich Tie Atlanta Journal-Constitution issue NEW ATTITUDES New Attitudes is a weekly opinion column written by readers between the ages of 15-22. E-mail submissions or questions to or call 404-526-7371.

HOW TO SUBMIT AN OPINION COLUMN: Submissions should be 750 words or less. E-mail columns to fax them to 404-526-5610. Columns submitted to the AJC may be published, republished and made available in the AJC or other databases and electronic formats. Association fees another casualty of meltdown By GEORGE E. NOWACK JR.

The headline in last Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced ings up 24 percent in Another headline in that edition warned pets often victims of Those stories, as well as all the stories about those affected by the subprime meltdown, have failed to mention another victim community associations. According to the Community Associations Institute, one in Americans lives in a community association (condominium, subdivision or co-op). Locally, upwards of 90 percent of new construction is either a condominium or a subdivision. Community associations are created by written covenants, generally called a declaration, in the county land records. The covenants make the property owners mandatory members of the association, obligated to pay are like taxes, providing the income to allow an association to perform its duties.

The amount depends on the level of services provided by an association. The level of services is established by the covenants. Typically, condominium fees are higher than subdivision fees because most condominium associations maintain the exterior of the units and many include certain utilities like water and cable television. Subdivision fees depend on the extensiveness of the amenities. The bigger the pool, the more tennis courts, the larger the fee.

Many people treat dues as an expense that is almost voluntary. It gets paid in good times and is one of the bills that is ignored in bad times. Foreclosures have a devastating impact on community associations that is not felt by other creditors. A foreclosure wipes out the owed on the property. A foreclosure does not have that effect on credit cards, auto loans and other consumer products those debts remain intact.

Bankruptcies, however, affect associations the same as other creditors. If liens are in place, an association is a secured creditor and will be repaid as a creditor in a Chapter 13 with all the other creditors up to years. Rising bankruptcies, foreclosures and unemployment have formed a perfect storm that is going to hit community associations. Rather than wind and water damage, owners will be hit by a cut in maintenance and services landscaping, paint, roofs, lighting, concierges, parking attendants, tennis instructors, on-site staff and swimming pools, if they can be That will result in a further decline in resale prices as purchasers shy away from associations that have lost their curb appeal. It will also result in a loss of business for vendors that provide services to community associations.

As the number of families experiencing increases, so do the number of delinquen cies in community associations. Unlike other debts, the collection of delinquent becomes personal due to the impact of one payments on another neighbor. Despite that personal relationship, a board of directors must treat the delinquency as a debt. Failure to do so will, sooner or later, result in a decrease of maintenance and services the need for a special assessment. It will be sooner if a board of directors fails to implement collection policies to ride out the storm.

A board of directors should use its newsletter, e-mail, to remind owners of the importance of paying assessments on time and stress the consequences that delinquent accounts have on every owner. If an owner is unable or unwilling to pay, then a board must become a debt collector. A board, or its management company, should send a reminder notice when a payment is days past due, and then a demand letter to every delinquent owner that is more than 30 days past due. Follow-up letters and phone calls should be attempted to encourage payment. If a payment is more than 60 days past due, collection action should be com menced.

In addition, to the extent authorized by the covenants, boards should: File liens or notice of liens when a payment is 30 days past due. Suspend access to amenities. Suspend parking privileges. Those actions may be viewed as unneighborly, but they must be done. Delinquent owners must accept the fact that their association is a business, and like any other business, it must collect its accounts receivable if it is to stay in business.

Unlike other businesses, delinquent accounts impact the level of services provided to people who have paid their obligation. Board members should be If a member is unable to pay in full, a board should recognize that something is better than nothing; a written agreement allowing partial payments and a promise to pay the remainder should be considered. How an association weathers this storm will depend on how successful a board is in convincing owners that dues must be paid with the other bills. Boards must be willing to act at the signs of delinquency. Failure to do so will increase the impact of the perfect storm.

George E. Nowack Jr. is an Atlanta attorney specializing in community associations. Harassment a gift no student needs By EMILY GIOMETTI Gather round, children. story time.

My tale begins on the enchanted pathway known to some as I-285. On a dreary, drizzly Friday afternoon, I was making my voyage home to Marietta after an exhausting week at school and work. Stuck in wall-to-wall I was socked in the middle of commuters anxiously venturing toward their weekend. I was innocently minding my own business, ping through CDs trying to pass the time. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a beat-up old pickup staying persistently next to the right of my car even though ahead in the lane was moving.

I hesitantly glanced over, expecting the worst. And there he was. Santa Claus. Old enough and with enough white facial hair to impersonate the cheery gift-giver, Santa was staring intently at me. He decided to present me with gifts of his own a series of gestures sexually obscene enough to make the shock jock Howard Stern blush.

Normally in the given circumstances, I would pretend to be engaged in a nonexistent cellphone conversation or look down and act strangely fascinated by my shoes. Oh, pretty colors! But today was different. Fed up and tired, I gave Santa a look enough to melt steel and crisply presented the old buffoon with my own gift my middle The look on his face was priceless. and ashamed, Santa briskly changed lanes. I think he got the point.

I tell this story in light of the recent scandal at my school, the University of Georgia. UGA College of Education professor William N. Bender was recently exposed by The Red Black, an independent student newspaper in Athens, for having sexually harassed female students for years. The university, in a statement Thursday, said administrators had received at least three complaints since 1989 that Bender acted inappropriately toward female students. Bender continued teaching until he was recently required to proctor online-only courses after being found to have violated the anti-harassment policy.

He has submitted his resignation, effective in May. In the meantime, the university is going to continue to pay this guy, the very man who, quite like the I-285 Santa, harassed innocent girls? outraged. And you, as alumni, students, teachers, parents or future parents of students in the Georgia education system, should be as well. Fathers, how would you feel about your daughter going off to school for a little educational enlightenment only to be harassed? Or mothers, do you feel comfortable adding another worry on top of drugs, alcohol and partying that make you lose sleep at night over your college-bound child? Bender should not be rewarded with a paycheck in our society, let alone in education. And not just UGA at fault here.

During my time at Pope High School, I witnessed the principal the head honcho himself resign after being accused of sexually harassing students. Point being, education system needs to do more to ensure students are in safe hands with the educators they employ. Likewise, responsibilities end when they drop their kids off at school. We all have the ability to question and research those who are teaching students. I am proud to be a student and, soon, graduate of UGA and am deeply troubled this situation could tarnish the name.

But a moral to every story and, like the tale of my I-285 Santa, actions should not go unpunished. But hey, mind me. just a ole dawg whose bark is worse than her bite. Emily Giometti attends the University of Georgia. Foreclosures have a devastating impact on community associations that is not felt by other creditors.

NED LEVINE L.A. Times Syndicate A more constructive approach to the Jekyll Island issue By ART HURT The heated controversy over the master plan for Jekyll Island redevelopment was so unnecessary, so predictable and so avoidable that we must ask ourselves, were they It is a fact of life that, when redevelopment is considered in an environmentally sensitive area, there will always be differences of opinion, with the developers, architects and engineers on one side and the environmentalists and conservationists on the other. They will differ in mind-set, in goals and in perception of what is to be accomplished by the redevelopment process. This is often a problem in private property zoning matters but is a far greater problem when it involves public property Jekyll Island, for instance. When public property is involved, the end product, the plan, is going to have to be seen by both sides as a satisfactory amalgamation of acceptable compromises, resulting in not exactly what each wanted but in a plan each side can accept and support.

From the beginning, this simple concept has gone right over the heads of members of the Jekyll Island Authority, the managing body for the island, as they have missed opportunity after opportunity to form a cooperative and helpful alli ance with the public, which owns and uses the property. With regard to the master plan for redevelopment, JIA has willfully and systematically excluded the public from any participation in the planning process. They have neither sought, nor allowed, any input from the public, and they have ignored pleas from the public for information and for opportunities to submit ideas for consideration for future. They have sought council only with the real estate developers. The public has reacted to being ignored and dismissed.

Thus, JIA has created this ugly squabble. A logical way to begin such an endeavor would be with widely distributed questionnaires, town hall meetings, hearings, requests for letters of suggested plan components, and the appointment of a citizen committee to collect and compile the wishes of the public into a coherent contribution to the master plan. Then this should go to the developers, architects and engineers in the form of a guideline as to what should be accomplished. Without such a guideline, the developers will naturally proceed in their own mind- set and design a project to maximize their bottom line, something unacceptable to the public. With such guidelines, project development could proceed without the rancor, without the useless waste of time and money and without all the destructive political Having been active participants, the public, when a plan is rolled out, could not quarrel about it, the developers would be seen in a positive light, the architects would have saved money by avoiding unrealistic designs, and the JIA would have done its job.

To steer the JIA toward this type of approach would take a directive from the governor and from our Legislature. Those who want to see a more reasonable approach taken by the JIA should contact Gov. Sonny Perdue and their state legislators and request a change of direction. Maybe, just maybe, it is not too late. Jekyll Island is worth the effort.

Art Hurt is a small-business owner living in Atlanta. Linger Longer Communities The controversial 64-acre development would front a pristine section of beach on state-owned Jekyll Island..