I was a victim of fraud in the nineties. The older residents of my community were holding meetings behind our backs and already had agreement between themselves about how they were going to fleece our community, stripping it of our common grounds. They excluded us out of critical meetings with the new developer who was going to finish off the second phase of the development. They were told by a good ole boy with connections to the Mayor into believing that we had no power to stop the new developer because our community had not yet been turned over to us. So, they assumed our common grounds were up for grabs, and let us believe that was the situation. They thought that if they could cooperate with the developer, and support his plans that the developer would agree to transfer the common grounds around their property over to them. So they participated in a con-job, bullying and willfully spreading lies to the rest of us about the status of our community.
In the end, I figured out that the Mayor's friend lied to all of us. I found the papers he had signed ten years earlier that transferred the community over to us homeowners. In other words, we had all the rights to stop the new development, but the greed among the homeowners who wanted those common grounds interfered with a clear understanding of what happened.
I spent the last twenty plus years firming up the details to clearly see the extent of their evil machinations. I had to, because I knew I had been conned. You see, in order to cover up the extent of their conspiracy, they had to hold HOA meeting to make it look like they were on the up and up. I attended those meetings, which I call the Sitting Duck meetings. It was in those "legal" HOA meetings where they spread lies and misinformation in order to control what we knew, which then, limited the decisions we were able to make. We were being conned.
But, they must have felt pretty stupid because their con job blew up in their faces when the developer took over the property he wanted with a replat, and then told the crooks in my community thank you, but he didn't have the power to deed common grounds over to them. They must have been furious. They figured out that the good ole boy friend of the Mayor had lied to them. But they kept it to themselves and I believe they have been using the Association funds and common grounds to make themselves whole. It's those private meetings that they hold between themselves that turns this into a conspiracy, because they never stopped gaslighting.
And here is where I connect with your post: They told everybody outside of our community that we had approved every step of the decision making process because we attended the Sitting Duck meetings where they gave us an American Kabuki dance. It will always be a reflection of this horribly corrupt community, how they tried to spread their stink on us because we attended the "legally noticed meetings" where information was strategically spread to us.
I'll never forget how they kept pointing fingers at me, because I attended those meetings. I had to dig out of feelings of Christian guilt to understand that I was a victim of fraud. I tried to change things, but couldn't, because I learned like everybody else that comes across Shadow Governments, how resilient they are, because they are basically the status quo.
And that's why I have, for the last sixteen years, avoided the HOA meetings. In this community, legally noticed meetings are just the place where they spread misinformation and outright lies in an effort to control our decisions and perceptions. Should we dare to ask the right questions, the gaslighting and bullying just increases.
The only way to stop it is to expose the corrupting nature of this small town status quo.
= new reply since forum marked as read
