I received my "MONTHLY" news letter as well. I'm not sure if this is coincidence or not but I do find it a bit ironic that after I send an email on Monday to the property manager at CAM that I get a news letter a couple days later addressing everything that was in my email. I would like to think I had something to do with that but a 2 day turnaround seems extremely quick for any HOA management office to accomplish.

@JaMc: If restrictions aren't going to be enforced why do we need HOA ? Great point ! I agree with you ,that is the most important thing to keep property value up .Our deed restrictions say cars cannot sit in the street for more then 24 hrs without moving. I think that is what I remember off the top of my head . At any rate what that does is prevent people from storing cars are working on cars parked in the street .. What I found out over here in ACIA your Board cannot send a warning or even several warnings & then just haul the cars off . Those streets are public streets & the HOA board has no authority over public streets . If you have a situation where both sides of the street have cars parked & it really creates a bottle neck then you may be able to do something .But I doubt your Board would want to mess with it . I think the streets need to be passable for a fire truck & a police car in an emergency .

It really comes down to a simple lack of neighborly respect, pride, and an increasing societal sense of entitlement and laziness. I've watched my neighbors and their children play "musical cars" in their driveway many times. Yes it takes some effort on their part but no cars are left in the road and whoever has to leave first in the morning has their vehicle at the back of the line in the driveway. They are amazing neighbors! So when I drive around the corner and little Johnny has his car parked in the middle of the road because he is too lazy to get up when mom/dad has to leave for work and after all he is parked in front of his house on his street, then I do kind of wish the trash truck would take little Johnny's mirror off.

@JaMc:
Love It !!!!

I feel that after all my ranting it is only fair that I give a update and summary of last night's HOA meeting.This meeting compared to all others since the blue trash can debate was apparently a packed house. Largely due to the newsletter that was just sent out. It consisted of a grand total of 7 residents, 3 board members, 1 CAM rep, 2 pool company reps, and 2 landscaping reps. All residents had the same complaints. CARS PARKING IN THE ROADS! Amongst the declining appearance of various streets due to unmaintained yards, trash cans being left out, crumbling fences, and a general lack of HOA communication. The budget and dues were discussed but the official budget meeting is Oct 23. The Board may have brought on some unnecessary scrutiny by reporting that only 87% of the HOA dues had been collected to date because after some discussion we did find out that at the end of last year a total of 93% had been collected and by the end of this year we should expect around the same. That leaves a total of around 60 accounts delinquent which coincides with the number of accounts that CAM HAS pushed through to legal. (yes you read that correctly) The website and newsletters should be coming back and I appreciate the board admitting the ball had been dropped in that regard. We should also expect to start seeing signs in the neighborhood again reminding us of HOA meetings. I also found out that CAM has sent out 577 violation letters as of Aug 31st. The majority of these letters are derived from the CAM representatives bimonthly inspections. So I would say CAM is at least doing what they can with legal wording and letters. Regarding their "hands being tied" I would say that's how it would appear due to the lengthy process and the amount of resets a resident is legally entitled to. This process was overcomplicated and the power of an HOA board or management company against a unruly resident was greatly reduced starting in 2002. This stripping of power came largely as a result of a legal case in Houston where an HOA foreclosed on a ~$150,000.00 house and sold it for $5,000.00. (google it). To further bastardize this system, if a resident attempts in any way to start paying, then the process starts completely over.We do have some help with the cars in the road but I know it is not the answer many people would like. Basically, the roads are owned by the county so it is 100% legal to be parked there. This is also the reason an HOA can't have speed bumps installed. So the recourse is to call the constables if any car in the road is parked illegally. IE: to close to an intersection, blocking a fire hydrant, or facing the wrong way. You can call/email CAM if the cars are parked up on the grass as this an easement violation. Ultimately the HOA and the board do need help and I hope I can become more active and that we will have a lot more residents at the Oct. 23rd meeting.

Glad you went to the meeting & reported back to us . Sounds to me like your board cares , Cam is a different story & I think there were 3 or 4 HOA's in the area that fired them over the last couple years .

@JaMc thanks for your update. I knew the meeting would be enlightening as I learn something new every time I attend. As for CAM, our rep has more than just Atasca Woods on her list of HOA's and I feel like she would have to spend every single day driving all those streets to keep up with all the problems that are out there. Not to mention all the hours she's spending in the office filing legal documents, working with the lawyers and homeowners on their accounts, sending letters for violations, the daily phone calls alone can be overwhelming. If we as homeowners would step it up maybe we wouldn't have to be so hard on CAM. Until you do the job at CAM one shouldn't throw stones. I know this first hand from giving out the pool tags and the verbal abuse I took just because people thought I was employed by CAM yet I am just a homeowner (like you) volunteering my time.

Thanks. Appreciate your update. Hope to attend next meeting. Did anyone mention the assisted living homes in Atasca Woods? Thought this was against deed restrictions. Have called several times; Pam/Teresa aren't available...voice mail only.????

The assisted living homes fall under a whole other set of guidelines (government) and HOA's can't keep them from moving in as long as they follow the guidelines they are given. Another one of those HOA/CAM's hands are tied. Most of the owners of the assisting living homes own more than one and trust me I've seen them in action at one of our HOA meeting, as they know exactly what they're entitled too as far as the law goes. They had every T crossed and I dotted. You can't fight the government when it comes to the disabled and/or elderly. Would you really want too? It could be one of your family members in the facility someday.