An Opinion By Jan Bergemann 
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc. 

Published February 19, 2007

It seems the "emperors" of the Galt Mile Community Association have a problem dealing with the fact that their "peons" suddenly consider making their own voices heard. Two articles published in THE FORT LAUDERDALE CITY NEWS under the headline TALES FROM THE GALT GULAG -- PART I + PART II definitely got the attention of these directors. Imagine the damage to their big EGOS by somebody daring to speak out -- and telling the truth, carefully hidden for so long! 

And they acted as expected! Fitting the description of GULAG, they tried to stop the newspaper from being distributed in the condos they rule, even giving the guards written statements to stop copies of these newspapers from being distributed on the premises. One board member even went so far as to call the advertisers of this paper, telling them what a bad newspaper they are using for their advertisement and threatening them with a boycott by the Galt Mile residents! Even if the caller refused to identify himself, the Caller ID showed that the phone call was made from 954 564-5402 and the name on the Caller ID was Joe Ernest.  Joe Ernest is the current VP and Treasurer of Playa del Mar.

Gee, the truth must really hurt to get that desperate!

What a shame they can't copy the Russian example! Russia had the party-line newspaper Pravda (comparably to Berkowitz's website) and everybody else daring to contradict was sent to Siberia. I guess they would like to do the same, but their power doesn't seem to be that far reaching? So far they have resorted to screaming and yelling at opponents -- HOW DARE THEY -- and some slanderous remarks -- openly or even more behind closed doors!

I guess it was all fine as long they could unopposed insult people on their website, calling people names or plainly ridicule any opponent -- including legislators -- daring to contradict the party-line?

As usual, when there is a lack of good arguments to factually deny the allegations made public in the articles in THE FORT LAUDERDALE CITY NEWS, they have to be satisfied with calling opponents "convicted child molesters,” "wife-beaters" or similar nasty names! Classy efforts! But, again as usual, the proof for these accusations is missing. Missing like many financials documents that would most likely show the financial mismanagement in these condominiums, caused by arrogance, incompetence or straightforward greed and -- as it seems -- even criminal misconduct.

But sometimes a “house of cards” built with intimidation quickly falls apart when the unit owners find out the real truth -- and what is really going on behind closed doors.

Before going into details about problems in specific associations, let's make one thing very clear. The Galt Mile Association doesn't really have a task in regards to managing or maintaining the condominiums. It's just an invention of some power-hungry folks who founded this group in order to claim that they are speaking in the name of all the owners in the Galt Mile condominiums.  It's a group of self-appointed individuals, who are definitely not elected, but use funds from the different associations to further their own goals. 

Just ask them who voted them into the directors' seats or who made them president -- like Pio Ieraci likes to call himself? This group that is trying to push their private agendas on every owner and make the same false claim as does CALL --  the lobbying group of the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff -- namely that they represent the opinion of all the owners living in the associations they claim to represent!

Nothing could be further from the truth!

SOUTHPOINT CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC. had the bad example of Robert Rozema, who passed away a few days before he could be served with a lawsuit that alleges misuse of funds and criminal misconduct among many other issues.  Please read here about the detailed allegations. It sure is an eye-opener!

ESSEX TOWER CONDOMINIUM saw unit owners being sued for finding out that the contractor hired by the board for a very expensive job didn't even have a license. Read SHUT UP -- OR BE SUED! Lawsuits were filed, obviously with the intent to intimidate the owners and to create cost for the unit owners trying to defend themselves against these lawsuits. In my opinion the lawsuits could not have been taken serious from DAY ONE.  Filed by attorney Robert Kaye, one lawsuit was withdrawn before a judge had the opportunity to laugh it out of a courtroom! But that was predicted to happen after the lawsuit was filed. The intention of the lawsuit actually was pretty obvious from starters! It was just a matter of time before the charade was to be withdrawn.

Please read as well the other articles:

Condo Association lawsuit targets city code employee
Condo management sought quick fix  and

Condo management under state investigation

THE PLAYA DEL SOL ASSOCIATION, INC. has owners complaining about the president, who obviously is as well the construction manager in a huge "beautification" project to the tune of $2,600,000. Besides asking for accounting of the money, the owners complain about projects that are of very low quality, for example the re-tiling of the pool. If you read the unofficial website of the Playa Del Sol it becomes pretty obvious that owners expect the board to account for the money -- but failed so far to get the right answers. But I guess being construction manager and board president is a pretty big task for one person. No wonder that not all seems in best order! Oh, Oh -- the finances! Why do certain boards have such a hard time showing where the money goes?

PLAZA EAST CONDOMINIUM is infiltrated with agitators and anarchists -- according to board president Richard Loarie. Read his letter, including his own philosophy (quote): "Persons who initiate and rumors suffer from lack of Self-esteem, have Irrational Beliefs, Guilt, Insecurities, and lack Affirmation."

And if you live in this nice and friendly environment please don't be surprised if you are awakened in the middle of the night by the obnoxious sounds of a false fire alarm. It seems to be business as usual, since a brand new fire-alarm system, paid with a special assessment of $310,000, obviously lacks fine-tuning. Please read: False fire alarms at Fort Lauderdale condo has residents angry, wary. But please don't blame the board, they are just volunteers trying to do their best. Otherwise you might find another letter like the one quoted above posted at the bulletin board!

REGENCY TOWER SOUTH ASSOCIATION, INC. has with Mel Reisberg a president who is, according to county records, not even a deeded owner and shouldn't serve on the board. It pays to be a bully and shut up the opposition who claim that he isn't eligible to serve on the board. And when board members dared to vote against his will, he recalled these board members, making up his own rules of staging the recall and plainly certifying their "recall" at a board meeting. Comment of a unit owner: "It's difficult to deal with a power-hungry board president on a power-trip who is not even a deeded owner and shouldn't be allowed to serve on the board in the first place!"

When Reisberg was reminded that there are actually Florida Statutes that regulate condominiums, he just shrugged his shoulders! 

PLAYA DEL MAR ASSOCIATION, INC. saw the fight of "President" Ed Napolitano to stay on the board, since his being a board member clearly violates the association's own bylaws. In order to stay president he needed the help of Becker & Poliakoff attorney Robert Rubinstein, who used every "legal trick" in the book in order to win a battle that should have been lost before it started. Ed Napolitano has never been a deeded owner, no matter what Robert Rubinstein claims in letters written at the expense of the condo owners. The bylaws make it very clear: Bylaws specifically state: "A certificate shall be recorded in the Public Records of Broward County, Florida." No such recording can be found in the public records -- or in the official records of the Broward County Property Appraiser.  

Please read: Bylaws clearly state: Board member must be an owner!

It seems that Napolitano couldn't even make truthful statements on the candidate sheet prior to election.  He claimed to be a licensed contractor! Even his wife had to admit publicly that he is not! But actually, his wife is vice president of the bank where all the association's money -- we are not talking small potatoes here --  was transferred after he became president. 

Winning an election must mean a lot if these folks are even willing to violate the laws. The DBPR even issued a warning letter for holding a secret meeting behind closed doors! See: ATTORNEY ALLEGEDLY VIOLATES FLORIDA STATUTES

And the latest twist in the game? Board member Lucille Fannin sued challenger Mark Stern for slander! Cause of the lawsuit: The quit-claim deed of board president Ed Napolitano that was never recorded! So, we see another chapter of this never-ending argument. At a Meet The Candidates Night even a court reporter was present, while Lucille Fannin made more attempts to bait Mark Stern into more comments on this matter. But the only ones losing their temper were Lucille Fannin and Ed Napolitano! Hope the court reporter caught all that was said -- or screamed? Fanny, isn't it? Exactly the people who caused the problem in the first place are the ones who complain the most -- and file lawsuits!

I guess unit owners should really wonder why these kinds of people are clinging to their seats on the board? Maybe there is more to it than they really claim? Poor volunteers trying to do their best to serve the community?

One wonders if these are the kind of people the condo owners really want as their leaders -- or do they just not know the truth? It seems that way, because nobody in his right mind can willingly elect leaders like these! It seems these leaders are actually living on borrowed time. Even dictatorial boards can't prevent the truth from being known in the long run -- nor permanently stop the Fort Lauderdale City News from being distributed in these condominiums!