I remember growing up and hearing the delightful words of Mr. Rogers, “It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, A beautiful day for a neighbor, Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?”
It doesn’t look like Justin Bieber will be singing this song anytime soon about his neighbors – or vice versa.
According to Beiber’s neighbors, they are fed up with his reckless driving, partying all night behavior and claim that his actions have violated several of the association’s rules. It looks like the neighbors are also planning to refrain from paying the monthly assessments in an effort to pressure the association to enforce the rules against Bieber. While this may seem like a good short-term idea, unfortunately, this attempt at vigilantism may end up causing more of a headache for everyone involved and the disgruntled owners may be responsible for additional fees based on the nonpayment of the assessments. A better approach may be to call a special meeting to address the concerns the owners are having with their unruly neighbor and the lack of enforcement of the rules by the association. As Suzanne Leff points out in a previous blog, Board members must have the tools to communicate effectively with their owners and should consider these options for increasing transparency, educating owners, and fostering community within an association.
While we can’t all live in the “Neighborhood of Make-Believe”, with good governance and effective communication, we can all live in a neighborhood of Beliebers.