The Latest Media Hatchet Job on SCA

By now many of my readers may have seen the latest hatchet job performed on Sun City Anthem by local media, this time by reporter Michael Lyle in the Anthem View section of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Lyle’s article covers little new territory, revisiting once more the case of resident Doris Vescio, who claims the Association has unfairly required her to take down or reduce the height of a fence for which she was granted a waiver to exceed the standard height of wall and fence combined.

My understanding is that Ms. Vescio has acknowledged in writing that her contractor extended the wall/fence combination to a height even greater than she was granted in her variance.

I exchanged several e-mails with the reporter while he was researching his article. At one point he wrote me, “I want to make sure my story is completely balanced. If you want me to quote you from the past e-mails,” he added, “please indicate I have your permission.”

In response, I sent reporter Lyle a quote that he could use. In my quote, I described how I approached Doris Vescio to converse with her about her case when I saw her at a recent legislative hearing at the Grant Sawyer Building, but as I began talking with her, her handlers who had brought her to the hearing literally pulled her away and urged her to not to talk with me.

Board President Jack Troia also accepted the reporter’s request to talk with him. Unlike the Channel 13 hatchet job when Troia was caught on camera uttering a terse “no comment,” this time he spent a great deal of time explaining to Lyle the processes that SCA uses to deal with requests for variances and appeals from decisions that are adverse to homeowners.

Troia even went beyond that, advising the reporter that he would discuss details of the Vescio case if Ms. Vescio would sign a waiver of her confidentiality that would permit Troia to do so.

None of the reporter’s dealings with Jack Troia –absolutely none- made it into his article.

So much for writing a “completely balanced” story.

In fact, the one-sided story is replete with details about, and comments from, Vescio supporters and self-styled HOA advocates Jonathan Friedrich and Rana Goodman.

SCA resident Goodman is referenced in the article as saying that one of the many complaints she has filed with the Real Estate Division’s Ombudsman office “included being told she couldn’t speak at board meetings.”

I found this difficult to understand in view of the fact that any homeowner who wants to speak at either or both of the two member comment periods at Board meetings merely has to obtain a numbered ticket and is then allowed to speak.

Perhaps Ms. Goodman can clarify what her complaint regarding speaking at Board meetings was all about. Most importantly, what is the status of that complaint? Is it open? Is it closed? Was some action undertaken? Was it dismissed? Frankly, I have never heard anything about this and don’t recall Rana writing anything about it.

Some time ago, Jonathan Friedrich sued his own HOA. A source told me the court recently issued summary judgment against him and his case was thrown out of court. I do not have additional details at this time, and I will certainly correct this information if it is shown to be inaccurate.

In a conversation today (Apr 26) with resident Forrest Fetherolf, who has been an advocate for Doris Vescio, he told me that some sort of letter had been transmitted to the Board by Vescio, and that the letter included a waiver of her right to confidentiality. When I asked Board President Troia about this after today’s Board Book Review, he denied that a legal waiver of confidentiality was part of the document. This, of course, could be simply addressed if Ms. Vescio were to execute a clear and definitive waiver of confidentiality.

 

Comments

[Janice Bosco]

The article in today's Anthem View concerning Sun City Anthem HOA is typical. Today's media is neither fair nor balanced.

[Sherryl]

Funny, I've seen Rana at the podium of many a Board meeting ... speaking. Once in a while she even makes sense.

[len chapman]

I also called this reporter and received no response. I am writing to the editor telling him what a hatchet job this was. I am also telling him that I am writing to the companies that advertise in the view and telling them that until we get a fair shake with this story I will boycott their products.

If several thousand people up here did the same we would get some action.

By the way who made Rana Goodman our spokes person? If I remember correctly she ran for the board once and was soundly defeated (thank goodness)

[Michael Lienhard]

Regarding the current HOA article and comments from the past, there seems to be a small number of people in our community who take great delight in trashing our community and the individuals chosen to help manage our community. They do this within the community, in the RJ, Vegas Voice, on outside blogs and in the state legislature. In general, they seem to take pleasure when our community and its leaders are viewed in a negative fashion and in several cases actually work to perpetuate a problem then brag about it. For the most part, this group is very vocal but they are also selfish and self serving.

Most of us chose a HOA community for the amenities it provides, agreeing to the rules and regulations. But now this very select group of people feel that SCA is a terrible place to live and if the community would only do things their way, life would once again wonderful. However, they ignore the remaining 13,000 residents who seem to be happy living here and those 13,000 residents are called apathetic because they don’t speak up and support the position of this small group.

This hand full of residents continuously hammer every decision and every effort made by our association. In doing so they often provide inaccurate or incomplete facts. They cherry pick comments and present them with a negative twist. When they can’t address the issue with facts, they attack the person or persons involved.

Most of us know who they are, but in the event you haven’t heard:

There are the two gentlemen who are currently on trial for filing a false police report and view themselves as ace accounts and association watchdogs. One is a BOD candidate who, despite being on the wrong side of the law, promotes integrity, honesty and openness, while publishing articles inside and outside the community defaming the community and its managers. Together, they have cost our association, in 2010, over $30,000 to research and respond to allegations against our association, with no fault found.

Then there is the individual who claimed to be the Villa’s representative (he never was) who now advocates compassion and being neighborly. All this after being accused of accosting our community manager, filing unsubstantiated complaints with the Ombudsman’s office and presenting “toilet paper awards” to our BOD.

There’s also the “financial expert” and researcher who likes to challenge everybody and everything. If, for some reason, he can’t find what he’s looking for he goes public and claims it doesn’t exist or that someone lied. He’s never been on a committee or helped the community in any way but claims to know more about the issues and workings of the committees than the committee members themselves.

Let’s don’t forget about the homeowner advocates who claim the HOA is doing mean and nasty things to our homeowners. They make statements to the state legislators regarding HOA changes as though they represent the “silent majority”, when in fact they have no idea what the majority of the residents would like to see. They’re selfish and self serving. And remember, the position they support affects the whole state not just SCA. How arrogant!! One individual stated before the legislature that she lives in a senior community and those who don’t speak up and agree with her position are apathetic.

There are also the “Bully Blog” authored by the “heavy Hitters”. These folks can’t ask a straight question or provide a straight answer. The little information they provide is usually incomplete or inaccurate. As a result, instead of addressing an issue they usually attack the people involved showing little or no respect for the individual.

By the way, none of these folks have served on an association committee, advisory group, or helped the community in any way. Sorry, my mistake, at least one was an ineffective former board member.

I guess my point is this small number of people do nothing for the community but find fault and are so unhappy living here that they will go to any extreme to get their way. They will try and change the HOA laws without actually knowing what the homeowners want to see. Some will do things like file false reports or complaints with authorities and sic the IRS on the association. They participate in anti HOA groups and publish articles outside the community and even outside the state denouncing our community and way of life. This small group of people simply find fault with nearly everything the community does, and as I said earlier, their position is just do things their way and life would be wonderful.

I’m not so sure.

Mike

[David Berman]

Mike, those are very heartfelt and thoughtful comments from you.

Anyone famiiar with the workings of the news media knows that bad news, even when it is a very small part of larger good-news stories, is what drives media interest. The public wants to hear about what's wrong -even if it's not even true- than about what's right.

It's hard to fight back with good news, but at least our community has a chance each year to tell our minority of HOA haters what we think of their efforts to drag down our community. We do it through our Board election results, and I'm hopeful that we'll be doing that again when we welcome our new Board members next Monday.

[Harvey195]

As I recall, there was a time when Rona did write about your friend Mr. Weisman (rest his soul) being told to sit down when he went to the podium to speak. Is it possible she was referring to that when she spoke to the reporter. Reporters are known to take things out of context on occasion.

[Al Glickman]

I don't know who Mike is (although I probably should), but his comment hit the nail squarely on the head.

This comment, maybe with a bit of editing for the general public which doesn't know who the individuals referred to are, should be sent in as a letter to the editor to both local newspapers. Maybe a top line or heading saying something like "there has been so much negative publicity about HOA's, particularly our HOA, in the news recently, that an opposing viewpoint needs to be heard" can be attached.

[John Burke]

Mike,

A minor correction. One was a member of the Governmental Advisory Action Committee. (I think that was its proper name). Apparantly unable to work cooperatively with others in a subordinate role, the individual single handedly destroyed the committee for which they had originally been an advocate and had actively encouraged the board to create.

Al, Very good idea!

[Bob Sansing]

Big Al:
I will give you a hint about Mike; he is co-chair of the new Fitness Committee. Now you can learn who he is and shake his hand for telling the truth.
To the remainder of our residents, I identified this gaggle of gluttony and named them the "village idiots". They never seem to disappoint me in their continued hatred of SCA.
My wife and I moved to SCA on 2002 from a town of 9,000 people and in that town there were about a dozen Village Idiots of our own.
In other words, I believe you can find a small segment of every town like SCA has its' own version of Village Idiots.
The solution to their pollution is simple; just ignore them at every turn. That is what they hate the most, being ignored.
I have just come home from the Volunteers Luncheon which was fabulous and I couldn't have picked a better place to live than Sun City Anthem.

Regards,
Bob Sansing, ex-SCA BoD Director
Proud to serve my community

[Jay]

Mike,

I have one suggestion for this small group of individuals who attempt to undermine everything and everbody that is good at Sun City Anthem, resort to personal attacks and lies, contribute nothing to the community, and seem to hate all aspects of living in the community:

GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Frank Blaha]

Great comments! glad to see the "silent majority" and those who really do make a contribution to our community, start to speak out.

I like Sansing's approach the best. Just ignore "the Village Idiots"!! They aren't worth us wasting our time on, and even engaging their hypocrisy.

[David Berman]

Frank: Rana has taken to responding on her forum to any critical comments my readers post on my blog, so it's a pretty good bet that you will find yourself featured there in fairly short order.

Since Rana does read my blog, as I read her forum, I hope she understands that the reason she can't post here and I don't post on her forum has nothing to do with any differences we may have. It is strictly because of the policy I implemented quite a while ago due to my belief that blog/forum owners and operators should not post to the forums operated by others. Just a personal preference of mine.

[Al]

David,

It is a credit to this blog and its readers that so many have accurately nailed Goodman and her gasbag cronies. As long as decent people speak out and expose this cadre of miserable cretins, we can at least isolate them among their own kind.

It is a fact of life that the worst elements always seek those who mirror their dysfunctional mindset. So, while they continue to represent the forces of darkness, this blog is a beacon of light, as reflected by the abundance of thoughtful insight posted here.

I agree with those who point out that the hate mongers have not captured the hearts and minds of many SCA residents. The results for previous BOD elections (and ideally the current one) reflect the intelligence and decency of most of our seniors.