Assigning blame in communities

Anyone who has spent time on a board of directors knows that the board or the management company is always to blame for anything that happens.  From a flooding rain to their neighbor with a wild dog if it goes wrong the leaders are thought to be at fault.

As a long time board president I was told that I:

• don’t care
• am selective with enforcement,
• negligent with maintenance
• etc.

I have to chuckle when these things are said because I am among a few people in the community that volunteer their time to the betterment of the community, so obviously I do care. 

What made me think about this post was a conversation I had with my son last night as he was in a heated argument with his mother.  I got the call as from mom as the argument was going on because he had gotten very disrespectful.  She was blaming me, he was blaming her and I was stuck in the middle blaming Verizon for selling me a cell phone.  Just kidding about the cell phone, but after about 30 minutes of calming down my son and explaining why he should not talk that way to the person who carried him for 9 months things seemed to be better all around.

It seems like an odd connection but dealing with misplaced blame everyday is just part of life as a leader.  The real message here should be accept blame when you are responsible, fluff it off as just part of life when God decides to dump 4 inches of rain in 1 hour on frozen ground and someone’s carpet gets wet.

Creating a sense of community

I was chatting with an old neighbor yesterday about working with online (virtual) communities when a light clicked on about creating a sense of community.  If we can create a sense of community in a virtual environment, why can’t we create a sense of community where there is real community which is a condominium community? 

If you lived in a planned community then you will know what I am about to write is 100% the case and that is we are quickly losing the sense of community.  People are going about their day to day lives and ignoring what is happening to their left and right. 

A planned community can have a host of benefits, including security, sharing, personal support, and networking.  Yet in today’s environment we probably can’t answer a single question about our neighbors other than possibly how many people live in the unit and what their gender is.  Chances are these same people are pouring their hearts out to strangers online in a social network.

So the question is can we merge the two environments and bring the sense of community back to our condominiums through our own social network?  I believe it is worth a try.

When all you have to do is move your vehicle…

After 16 years of condominium living it still amazes me how many people have to be push started just to get them to move their vehicles after a winter storm. 

We are not asking them to do any work other than clear off the car and move it so the plows can come through.  Doesn’t sound like an unreasonable request? 

How many single family home owners would like to only have that one little responsibility after a snow storm?

What is even better is when they do finally move their vehicle at their convenience they leave the space full of snow and take one of the spaces which was cleared because their neighbor was responsible – that really sends the sparks flying…

I would love to hear feedback on this issue