Well, the Mayan calendar has officially ended.
Perhaps we should be selling "I survived the Mayan calendar" tee shirts?
Were the Mayan's Wrong?
No, the Mayan's were not wrong. Their calendar ended exactly at the date and time it was supposed to. Similarly, our Gregorian calendar for 2012 will end precisely at midnight on December 31, 2012.
So what went wrong? Nothing. The problem was the human beings who made a faulty interpretation. They said that at the end of the Mayan Calendar that the world would end. What actually occurred was the current cycle ended.
Cycles have specific beginning and endings. So the cycle ended. Other cycles in our lives include the phases of the moon, the seasons and so on. The end of a cycle is not the end of the world. It is an event that marks the beginning of the next cycle.
Will the world end? Of course the world will end. We simply do not know precisely when.
Will the future be better or worse? Yes, it will be both. There will be better times and there will be difficult times.
My Point? We don't have a new Mayan Calendar because no Mayan has created one. Saying the world ends when a piece of paper ends a date trails is about the same as saying the world will end when I burn my checkbook.
My Suggestion?
Deal with the things we can and should deal with. Watch less TV and spend less time on the internet. Take care of our personal business, develop ourselves and get critical thinking skills. Don't expect someone else to make things happen. Plan for our death and celebrate our life.
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Above: Intermittently, for a time, boards informed owners of association finances
Newsletter 2008 excerpt is an example of earlier board willingness to communicate with owners.
The boards of 2019-2021 prefer not to do so.
https://tinyurl.com/BLMH2021
Life and observations in a HOA in the Briarcliffe Subdivision of Wheaton Illinois
Best if viewed on a PC
"Briarcliffe Lakes Manor Homes" and "Briarcliffe Lakes Homeowners Association"
Updated Surplus Numbers
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Updated Surplus Numbers: Actual surplus 2018 per audit was $85,163.
Boards 2011-2018 implemented policies and procedures with specific goals:
stabilize owner fees, achieve maintenance objectives and achieve annual budget surpluses.
Any surplus was retained by the association.
The board elected in fall 2018 decided to increase owner fees, even in view of a large potential surplus
Average fees prior to 2019
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Average fees per owner prior to 2019:
RED indicates the consequences had boards continued the fee policies prior to 2010,
BLUE indicates actual fees. These moderated when better policies and financial controls were put in place by boards
Better budgeting could have resulted in lower fees
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Better budgeting could have resulted in lower fees:
RED line = actual fees enacted by boards,
BLUE line = alternate, fees, ultimately lower with same association income lower had
boards used better financial controls and focused on long term fee stability
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