Photos the mis-management team of our association don't want you to see.

Hidden hazards like this "don't exist" according to the Board of Directors. These huge sprinkler heads litter the common area under tall grass during much of the year and are an ever present danger to the community.

Have you ever seen such a antiquated and dangerous sprinkler head such as these in a public park, school yard, or common area anywhere in this country?  Of course not, because you won't!  Such dangerous conditions are not allowed to exist in such public areas and this is obvious to anyone with a pea-sized brain.  Try running into this "knee breaker" while playing ball with your kids and then try finding an attorney who won't take the case !   If it wasn't truly sad, it would be really funny.  But it's not funny at all.

Wood piles and refuge heaps "don't exist" either according to our board members who say there is nothing to worry about even though these debri heaps were allowed to sit rotting for years at a time. This is our board's idea of city beautification the Cotati way. The worst part of East Oakland does not look this bad !

Now, here is a charming and quaint sight to behold upon driving down your street each and every day.  No, it's not a scene out of the "Beverly Hillbillies".  No, it's not a photo of a crack house in Lake County.  Sights like these were in plain sight everyday on West Cotati Oaks Court for years until this homeowner dropped the hammer on his roommate who was responsible for this mess.

How would you like your kids playing in, and around, this garbage heap?  My family and my guests are forbidden from this "junk yard" for fear for their safety. Our common area has become a breeding ground for crime, the homeless, and trespassers because our neglect for this common area is a running joke in town.   The Landscape Committee was supposed to find cost effective ways to clean up these messes, not delight in humiliating homeowners for not taking time away from their families and homes to do these jobs themselves. Since these photos were put up on this website, miraculously, the park is being cleaned up little by little.  The magic of the internet can work wonders helping sleeping homeowners take a hard look at themselves and their responsibilities to the community.

Or, how about a hidden hole covered with dried grass that you or your kids can step into and break your legs?  These kinds of hidden traps are an unbelievable reminder of the known, hidden dangers that will shock the concious of any court of law if ever introduced as evidence.

It's what you don't see that can hurt you.  After moving away all the dried grass, the danger is clear. All of these hidden dangers have been documented and witnessed by concerned citizens in the neighborhood who want to testify. The board and it's committee members knew of these dangers and did nothing robbing us all the safe enjoyment of this property. The Association's attorney cannot help them now. The harm has been done, and now fixing the problem is only one step in the right direction, but cannot undue the years of denying us all the rightful and safe enjoyment of our common property. The case of neglect, arrogance, and apathy is quite obvious and someone should be held responsible for paying for mismanagement of this kind.

Unfinished landscape projects have been allowed to sit in this type of a dangerous state and forgotten about for years without one concern for the health and safety of the association members, or the trespassers to the property who we are under a legal obligation to protect ! Be thankful we have not heard from any parents or individuals that they were going to sue us for everything that we own because one of their family were injured at the hands of the W.C.O.H.O.A.

If that's not enough to turn your stomach, the poor homeowner who had to wait years for this dangerous sidewalk condition to be rectified had to repair the common property himself.  Even after requesting his neighbors to get involved by complaining to City Hall for months, this problem was ignored by our mismanagement team as "...someone else's problem..." .  How many people were injured, is unknown. Even after begging the mismanagement team and the city to get involved for the safety of the the kids, the issue was ignored to keep the dues low at the price of safety. The mismanagement team refused for years to take responsibility for this section of sidewalk, while claiming to take full responsibility for other sections of sidewalk in the Association. It was an insane situation for us to watch.   But, after years of getting jerked around by the management office, the story now has a happy ending!

Since we brought this story to you, things began to happen. (Funny how this happens....) The board of directors were still too stubborn and cheap to rectify the problem for the sake of the kids and pedestrians in the neighborhood, so I understand that our neighbor, Chris Davis took it upon himself to do all the work necessary to put in a new section of sidewalk at his own time and expense. Big Thanks, Chris ( and his family that did without him during this project...) !     That's one less lawsuit that needs to be filed to get things done, and another testament to the mismanagement team's ongoing efforts to ignore it's responsibility to save a buck gambling with our financial future. See, doing the right thing is infectious.

Here is the only unmowed parcel of common area that existed in the late summer of 2003 in order to punish one member of the Landscape Committee for not doing "his fair share..." of mowing the weeds in the common area.  This is the common area parcel behind 176 West Cotati Oaks Court after the owner refused to be a part of the half-ass efforts of the Landscape Committee who could not do the job professionally, or timely, with any amount of expensive landscape tools and equipment given to them.  

Here is a truck illegally parked for months on West Cotati Oaks Court before the mismanagement team decided to do something about it or face litigation from the City of Cotati. I want to thank Mark Weston for helping address this issue.

Here is a photo of a dead tree that our mismanagement team took two years to haul away. Two years ! Why are we even paying dues?

Here is our Landscape Committee's idea of proper weed abatement in 2000 - 2003 before they listened to the voice of reason that came from the City of Cotati and from yours truly. I guess you get what you pay for. Volunteerism is great, but if it can't get the job done, what's the purpose?

How would you like your kid falling off his/her bicycle and landing on this hazard containing sharp, steel edges that the Landscape Committee and mismanagement team argues does not EXIST?   This is the handy work of the City of Cotati with their fancy engineers and "expert" safety people. With experts like this, who needs enemies...    They ought to be hog tied and prosecuted for such wilful and wanton neglect for the health and welfare of the community to allow this to exist only three feet from a pedestrian pathway.   It is utter insanity, and a perfect example of wasted tax dollars used to mame and injure others. There is not a knife in my kitchen as sharp as one of these edges on this drainage inlet. The mismanagement team has repeatedly claimed that they are confident this inlet is safe.  Can you imagine seeing something like this in La Plaza Park or at Cater Field?  The Rancho Cotati Little League would never allow it, but for our kids, it's okay?

I would hate to be the police officer who trips over this menace late at night patrolling our park, and sues us for his permanent disability claims. Many months out of the year, this trap is completly hidden by tall grass. I cannot believe people get paid to intentionally set up situations to injure other people.

But, it get's worse. Penny pinching efforts have attempted to make the drainage inlet safer, but do we really think these four posts will save your child's skull from getting ripped open after falling on this steel plate?   This is why alcohol and volunteer landscape projects don't mix!Dozens of bicyclists speed past this drainage inlet each day. Will these four little posts prevent serious injury if someone slips and falls on it? Can we get some used lumber donated to finish this project in my lifetime, or do we have to wait for a lawsuit to have a judge enforce some sanity on our common area. What do you think? What is the smart move?

And if you don't know what to do with a bathtub, why not just store in your frontyard for your neighbors to look at for a few years? Why not? "Look the other way..." is the common theme that runs though our mismanagement team.  So, ask yourself, really, who are the troublemakers here?  Who cares about the membership, and who is looking out for YOU and your kids?

After looking at this mess in the common area for over a month because the mismanagement team ignored this health hazard, the City of Cotati was forced to clean it up at my request.  I gave up and could no longer go it alone while the mismanagement team had no routine inspection policy, no clean up policy, no nuissance abatement policy, no security patrol policy.  The only policy the management company seems to really know is the "deposit the check and laugh" policy.

I even offered to put in a garbage can in the middle of the park, chained to the fence for safety, but the board thought that was too good of an idea to adopt since they did not think of it first.  Two years later, the Board of Directors came up with a great new idea, to put in a garbage can !   No, I'm not kidding.  This is how it works; if it's not their idea, it is stupid. And get this. We are still waiting for a cheap garbage can chained to a fence post while garbage is dumped on the common area every day. How many years will this take to be completed is anyone's guess.

Below is one of my favorite examples of mismanagement and outright distain for the health and safety of our children at play.  Who in their right mind would allow something like this to exist on a trail that hundreds of neighborhood kids and city trespasser frequent each week? Only a deranged individual void of any common sense would deem this acceptable behavior for a homeowner's association. This "pit" was open and in disrepair for months during the summer where beer bottles and used condoms were found around this site. This whole area should be declared "Off limits" and completely fenced off until it is made safe for all of our trespassers.

In the heat of mid-day August, between the hours of noon and 4:00pm, this useless watering technique was seen for years on our common area at YOUR expense. You don't have to be an "Enstein" to see the futility in this waste of precious water, but the Landscape Committee would not listen claiming this daytime watering technique was essential because it fit into their schedule. After complaining to the local city council about this conduct during their city campaign to save water, this activity mysteriously ceased and evening watering resumed.

Sometimes, I think the members just park on the prohibited side of the street just to irritate the mismanagement company, and to protest the fact that there are no signs whatsoever indicating where, or how long, parking is allowed. I can't park here for ten minutes before being yelled at by a board member to move and move it now.   Two sets of rules for two sets of homeowners. Stand up for your rights, and feel the sting of the Association is the Association battlecry.

Here is a photo of a busted up, broken down, canopy that can't seem to find a home. If it were on my property, I would have received ten complaint letters by now to remove it, or a monetary fine would be quickly imposed. Finally, after this photo was put on on the website, the canopy is finally being constructed.  Thank you to those who have bent ears to improve the neighborhood which raises our property values, too.

NO less than six political signs graced the front yard of this home in 2000.  Political activism is alive and well in this neighborhood. Since these candidates were supported by the mismanagement team, no violation of the CCRs was lodged against this homeowner.

This is an example of how we look the other way when the board members park overnight in front of their houses in violation of the rules.    The rest of us have to obey the rules. But not these two board members.  They pretended to care, but did as little as possible, never mowed a blade of grass in the common area, and paid their homeowner's dues like good little robots while our home values suffered by not keeping pace with comparible homes in well maintained P.U.Ds, plain and simple.

You ever wonder what happened to that Sound Wall Committee that promised to work tirelessly on this project in consideration for a seat on the board?  They promised that they would begin the process of soliciting CALTRANS for protecting our neighborhood with a sound wall? What happened, you ask? You guessed it, NOTHING................. I voted for them to do something and deliver what they promised. How could I have trusted this bunch to do what they promised? This is a photo of a typical freeway sound wall in another town that we could have had if the board did it's job.

More photos to come.