What is The Allegiance of the Meeting Street Homes at Rosedale BOD?

Kathy Lenze is one of the Meeting Street Homes at Rosedale Board members.  I was looking into her affiliates.  Pictures are worth a thousand words.

Affiliate of Kathy Lenze.

I love Corned beef hash too!  LOL

Affiliate of Kathy Lenze

Affiliate of Kathy Lenze

Jill VanZandt is another Meeting Street Homes at Rosedale Board member, and she is Facebook friends with Kathy Lenze.

I have written several article surrounding Meeting Street Homes at Rosedale Board President: Jamie Darche Warren.  She is Facebook friends with Kathy Lenze too!

This Board of Directors clearly are not committed to being neighborly to Blacks.  I have served on the Board with Jamie Darche Warren, Kathy Lenze, and Jill VanZandt.  Unfortunately, being neighborly, has been the last thing on their agenda as far as the Blacks are concerned in the subdivision.  Sadly, they have repeatedly refused to resolve any of my grievances.  This information is being provided for public knowledge.

Meeting Street Homes at Rosedale Board Goes Bonkers

Jamie Darche Warren

Katherine (Kathy) Lenze

Harold Hudson

Jill Vanzandt

"Board Decision: 

After discussion and meeting, the Board of Directors has voted to keep all the fines and move forward with the lien.  Your payment plan offer was submitted to the Board separately- as soon as I (attorney/collections office) receive the feedback on this matter I will advise you accordingly."

Dear Jamie, Kathy, Harold, and Jill:

I AM NOT YOUR BITCH.

Furthermore, I served on the Board of Directors for ten years, and I have never seen ANY BULLSHIT LIKE THIS!!!  Who the hell you think you ALL are that you "ALL" were going to approve my "payment plan?"  Clearly, you must think that I am Bozo the Clown!

Our subdivision consists of 33 units (under 50 units):  YOU ALL can't hide!  Really?  Continue dodging me. When the next special meeting comes up,  please make sure that  I am on the AGENDA.

 Dear Amy Kinney Walsh of Key Community Management:  I definitely need the minutes for the above referenced Board of Directors meeting as soon as you can.  The Charlotte NAACP is waiting on this documentation.  On a separate note, I appreciate you acknowledging receipt of my prior request.

To my fellow Association members:  You are welcomed to continue to do Nothing like you have for the last decade.  It was suggested that if I do not like the way that I am being treated that I can relocate. My response is that Blacks in the South have always have had to deal with racist White people.  It's 2017 - nothing has changed . . . .  and in the words of Jennifer Holliday: 

I'm stayin', I'm stayin'

And you, and you, and you

You're gonna love me .  . .

Jamie, Kathy, Harold, Jill:  Read between the lines. (above)

Is Key Community Management discriminatory?

Key Community Management Inc. web page pictured above asks if I am puzzled by the lack of communication and excessive fees?  YES, I am totally displeased with the lack of communication with Key Community Management community manager, Amy Kinney Walsh.

I have never spoken to Amy Kinney Walsh.  Amy Kinney Walsh has never returned my phone calls. Amy Kinney Walsh did not send me a "dated final notice" prior to having their attorneys file a lien against my property.  I even left her a voicemail in December/ January about how I was trying to stabilize my banking situation after being hit with a $44,000.00 levy.  Amy was a new liason for our community.  In my voicemail, I emphasized that I was a former officer of the HOA Board and that I was very informed of the history of our community.  Since I never received a return phone call, I thought that everything was in a pending state until I could get refocused on my HOA responsibilities.

In addition, I knew that Brian and Jamie Darche Warren (a White couple) had received a phone call on August 12, 2010 (pictured above) prior to the Legal lien on December 16, 2010 on their property at  13127 Rosedale Hill Ave. Surely, Key Community Management was going to extend me (a Black woman) the same courtesy of a phone call before submitting my file for formal legal action.

Yet, they did not.  I even asked the attorneys on March 13, 2017 to inform Key Community Management, Inc. that I was disappointed with the absence of a courtesy phone call because I had been waiting for a verification of debt letter.  I did not receive a verification of debt letter from the attorney office until March 11, 2017 despite both email and written requests being sent beginning February 27, 2017.  I had to mail off a return receipt letter around March 2, 2017 because I had not received an email response from the attorney's office.

I did not receive a Key Community Management response from my March 13, 2017 letter until the attorney emailed me on March 30, 2017.

I feel like a victim of discrimination surrounding my race by Key Community Management, Inc of Matthews, NC.  The all White member HOA Board lead by Jamie Darche Warren has had a history of excluding Blacks.  Brian and Jamie Darche Warren were also the couple that introduced and assisted Key Community Management to abruptly take over our Association account from a different management company about a decade ago.  Despite a foreclosure on one of the Association's properties, the Warrens continue to lead our community. Being White definitely comes with privileges in the case of our Association and the community management company, Key Community Management of Matthews, NC.

Rosedale Meeting Street Board agreed to ask non-members to Join

According to the August 2015 Board meeting minutes of the Rosedale Meeting Street Homes Board of Directors, three directors agreed to ask "renters" to join the Board.  Translation:  Allow non-members to control other members' monies.  I was appalled as the mere suggestion of this.

Is it legal? Yes, the Bylaws allow for this situation because the original Builder(s) needed to be able to have control of the Association without actually owning a unit within the subdivision.  Logically, once the majority of the units in the subdivision actually had ownership/members,  the members of the subdivision should control their own monies as an Association.

So to ask "renters" or non-members to control our Association's monies seemed insane.  The Board President Jamie Darche Warren explained in the Annual meeting that she meant "no harm" but with five members running for three vacancies, why were renters even considered?  Actually, one other member also considered running.  So we would have had six members running for three vacancies.  With two of the three Board members planning for re-election, there was only one Board vacancy in question.  Now, if any member of our Association had any question about whether or not I as a member was interested in working on our Board, then they would had to be totally distanced from the Association as a whole. So essentially, there were NEVER any deficit in members wanting to work on the Board. Why even consider renters to join the Board?????

On a separate note, the winners of the election all had absentee proxies counted with their names on them.  No names were mentioned when the Annual meeting notices were mailed out so outside of existing Board members running for re-election, the six absentee proxy voters had no inclination that they had other members to choose from except those soliciting for votes outside of the meeting.

So the election was slanted before it even began.  The absentee proxies are legal, and since the people running actually was present for the election, I will not complain.  The only reason that I am even addressing this matter is because I believe in "out of sight means out of mind."  Where there is smoke, then there is often times "fire."  

I do not trust our Board President, and I look forward to Board meeting minutes every other month.  As one of the only minorities present at the Annual meeting, I appreciate many of my neighbors making me feel welcomed.  It was much appreciated.  I was disappointed that we did not see a lot of change in leadership, but I am hopeful that the little change that did happen will make a difference in the year to come. 

White Board President Attempts to Violate Black member's Rights Yet Again

Jamie Darche Warren, in response to my last article on this blog, emailed the management company to ignore my request for more information on this Black woman who interrupted my salon services on March 26, 2015 over some anonymous note that was left on her car that she was accusing me of leaving.

As "Board President" why does Jamie Darche Warren continue to interfere with disagreements between other members and their renters?

This is not the first time she has attempted to violate my rights as a member of this community, and apparently, at the rate she is going, it will not be the last.  She attempted to violate my rights last October 2014.  She gives "renters" the idea that she controls the other members because she is considered the "Board President."

The sad part is that the renters put their trust in Jamie Darche Warren versus contacting their landlord and having their landlord deal with me.  I do not take kindly to being harassed and disrespected by renters nor other members.  If anyone steps across the line with me, I speak up.  I have that right.

So Jamie Darche Warren,  you need to mind your own business and find a way to stay out of mine.

RENTERS talk to your landlords first or the management company.  Jamie Darche Warren is NOT my mama nor does she have any authority over me.

To the ROSEDALE Meeting Street Homes community, we deserve better leadership.  I have only seen Board meeting minutes from 2014, and it took about a month to get those.

It would be nice if our Board members would actually start respecting our Bylaws and have regular meetings with regular Board minutes.  Now, leading meetings should be a part of Jamie Darche Warren's job as Board President versus continuing to keep drama going on and on and on.

I am trying to mind my own business.  Jamie Darche Warren, can you stay within your scope of duties?

Since the Board has continued to reject my request for a community meeting, blog articles like this serves as community announcements.  Hopefully, our state legislators are working on making HOA's more regulated in the state of North Carolina.

Legislation is past due to assist NC neighborhoods.

Black Board President Ousted at Secret Rosedale Meeting in 2006

In 2006, I, Benita Blocker, served as President of the Board of Directors for the Rosedale Meeting Street Homes Association until Jamie Darche Warren, Brian Warren (husband) and Jane Ryan met secretly at Jane Ryan's home to oust me from my title for no reason at all except they just didn't like my leadership style. The meeting minutes are pictured above.

Now, it is 2014, and "holding secret meetings" are nothing new for Jamie Darche Warren and Jane Ryan.

I recently called on the Rosedale Association members to remove these two for unethical actions, but I have received no support.  It is humorous at this point because the Board leadership always expect a low turnout because historically the members of the Rosedale Meeting Street Homes Association just do not care to be involved.  I did NOT want to believe that our members don't care, but despite all of my efforts to communicate this long-term dictatorship by the Warren's and Jane Ryan, no one seems to care.

I have been singlehandedly trying to watch over how our Association money is being spent over the decade, but with the last "political play" that Jamie Darche Warren and Jane Ryan made surrounding our 2014 Annual meeting, I can no longer protect our Association nor can I offer a different perspective.

Rosedale Meeting Street Homes Association members, you either stand now for someone with longevity on your Board or just continue to fall for everything that Jamie Darche Warren and Jane Ryan want to feed you.

The choice is yours!!!!

Board President Described as Way too Personal in the Past

History repeats itself again.  As you can see from the picture above in October 2005, Jane Ryan resigned from the Board because Jamie Darche Warren's response to another Association member was "way too personal."  Since 2005, Jamie Darche Warren and Jane Ryan have had a long standing relationship, even a friendship as I would describe it.

Jamie Darche Warren managed to "steal" the election in our 2014 Rosedale Annual meeting last month.  Maybe her historical behavior of becoming "way too personal" was the driving force behind it?  Maybe Jamie Darche Warren has been on a "power trip" for "way too long?"

Our Board attorney states she has to protect our elected Board, but two-thirds of our Association did NOT elect the current Board.  Only about 9 members of this Association elected this current Board.  They continue to hide behind the property management, the Board Attorney, and their Executive Sessions.

We, as an Association, need to have Jamie Darche Warren and Jane Ryan removed from our Rosedale Board of Directors.  If you so choose to vote them back in at a special meeting, then at least, let us do it the right way.

In the latest efforts by your current Board of Directors, they were upset about my postings on what was our Association page on Facebook since my unseating happened during the "runaway" election at the last Annual Meeting. So the Board attorney takes out time to let me know that

 "the Association has an obligation to seek a court order for a temporary restraining order against any person who improperly represents him or herself as acting on behalf of the association by creating a page in the name of the association and including improper, shameful, and untrue content on that page."

As you all know as a long standing past Board Director, I created that page on Facebook and have managed it for over a year.  It has had as many as FIVE followers.  Yes, 1-2-3-4-5 followers.  Did the Current Board of Directors have anything better to do than to waste our Board Attorney's time over a tiny page on Facebook?

In response, to the Board attorney's request, the page on Facebook has been promptly renamed, and I will continue to manage it as I have always done for the last year.

There is one thing that I do agree with the Board Attorney: 

we do not want this gridlock to negatively affect the values of our properties or cause buyers to look to buy elsewhere.  Our neighborhood has seen a lot of turnover in the last ten years.  

With that said, Key Community Management was NOT helpful in providing me the mailing addresses for the other half of the members who no longer occupy their units.  It is a great thing that property ownership is public record.  I have had to put in a lot of overtime to lead this effort to get our Board back.  

Rosedale members: Please mail me your petitions as soon as you can so that we can get this gridlock taken care of before Christmas 2014.  Thanks for your patience and commitment to our Community.  Please feel free to run for the potential Board vacancies.  At the special meeting, if the community wants to vote for a full clean slate of a Board, then it may not be a bad idea.

Historically, we have had the same old problems from the same set of Board members, it is time for fresh, ethical leadership in Rosedale.  Kindly do your part in taking our Board back!

Are Rosedale Board members on a Power Trip?

Over a year ago on November  5, 2013, Jamie Darche Warren made a motion as a part of her hidden agenda, and Jane Ryan seconded that motion.  The motion showcased their ignorance of our Bylaws.

In order to cover up their incompetence, two sets of Meeting minutes were generated as either suggested by Jamie Darche Warren herself or Key Community Management.  I am unclear who originated the idea.

So in summary, there are two sets of Meeting minutes for 11/5/2013, one- that you as an Association member are designated to receive upon request, and then there is a second set of "executive" meeting minutes that reveal additional details of the incompetent motion that was carried.  I also have in my possession the original set of Meeting minutes revealing the true power trip that Jamie Darche Warren and Jane Ryan orchestrated in November 2013.  I did not feel that it was appropriate to post Board meeting minutes online, but I would be happy to share those documents and more at a special meeting.

Also, for the record, I feel that having two sets of meeting minutes is unethical, and who is to stop this current Board from continuing to hide unethical actions?  Certainly not, Key Community Management.  Their duties are to follow orders from one Board member: Jamie Darche Warren or whomever is the designated Board point of contact. This approach is quite disturbing especially when that point of contact is on a power trip.

In further support of my findings, you see in the email above that Jamie Warren implies that Benita Blocker is not respected as an equal member of this Association.  If Jamie Warren does not respect me as a "Board member at Large," then how can I expect her to respect me as a non-Board member.

How can any member of this Association expect to be respected by Jamie Darche Warren, Jane Ryan and the new Board who secretly took over?

 It is time for our Association to take our Board back.

All Rosedale Association members except the current Board members plus three members who refused my last mailing should receive a petition in the mail shortly to remove both Jamie Darche Warren and Jane Ryan from our Board.  If any of the eight members who have been excluded from my mailing want to join my effort to bring back order to our Association, please let me know, I will be happy to mail you a petition.

Note to Jamie Darche Warren:  You have spent over a year trying to get me off of the Rosedale Board.  Congratulations, you succeeded.  I hope that your victory is as sweet as you have ever dreamed it to be.

Note to Rosedale Association members:  Our Association deserves transparency, fairness, and a code of ethics.  Jamie Darche Warren and Jane Ryan have ruled our Association long enough.  It is sincerely time to take our Association back.  Please sign your petitions and send them back to me.  Upon removal of these two Board members, Key Community Management should call for a special meeting to fill the two vacancies.  If you are curious about how transparent our Association is being run, you can ask Key Community Management about the two separate meeting minutes for November 5, 2013, then let me know what they say.

In the meantime, consider joining our Board.  We can use a fresh perspective.  I do not know many of you, and you do not know me.  I assure you that I stand for the greater good of our Community.  Please support me, and thank you in advance for your patience.  We can get our Board back together!

Was a Secret Meeting Held in Rosedale?

On Tuesday, October 14, 2014, Jamie Darche Warren brought in six absentee proxies to the annual meeting.  The names of Kathy Lenze and Nathan Diehl were on all six proxies.

Facts:

1. Both Kathy Lenze and Nathan Diehl were ABSENT at the OFFICIAL Annual Meeting.
2. Association members did NOT receive advance notice that Kathy Lenze and Nathan Diehl were candidates.
3. There were only six members of the Association present at the OFFICIAL Annual Meeting.

Concluding Facts:

• Jamie Darche Warren and six other Association members decided prior to the Annual Meeting that they wanted Kathy Lenze and Nathan Diehl on the Board.
• There were more Association members present at this "secret meeting" than there were present at the official Annual meeting.  At least, 7 members present at secret meeting versus 6 members present at the Official Annual meeting. 
• Those seven Association members secretly conspired to steal the Board election, and they sent Jamie Darche Warren into the Annual meeting with their results in the form of absentee proxies.
• Some may say that Jamie Darche Warren was lobbying to unseat the Board members up for re-election, but Jamie Darche Warren as Board President did NOT inform the existing Board members of her lobbying efforts.  How disrespectful can a Board President be to its existing Board members?

I am lobbying to have both Jamie Darche Warren and Jane Ryan removed from our Board because our Association deserves decent, fair, ethical people on our Board.  I am NOT secretly hiding my efforts to get these two Association members removed.  I am making sure that the current Board is aware of each article that I post.

Many of our units within the Meeting Street Homes Association are NOT owner occupied. Formats such as this one are more effective than trying to knock on everyone's door.  Please join me in making our Board better.

What questions do you have?  Key Community Management is a vendor who pays our bills.  They do not attend Board meetings.  They can only tell you third and fourth party information and  biased history based on the Board President's viewpoint.

Got questions, comments, or opinions?  Please feel free make your comment in writing.  I have served on your Board for several years.  Thank you for your continued attention on this matter.

Backstabbing Behavior is Typical of Board members in Rosedale

 In March 2014, Annie's Salon which offered body massages was in the location of where Applause! Hair Design is now.  As you can see by our Association's Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions Article X Section 2(b), massage parlors are forbidden within our Association.

As a Board member, I had been pushing to get this business relocated within a ten month timeframe to keep our Association in compliance with our rules.  Board member Jane Ryan who admitted to patronizing the legitimate massage business challenged my motion repeatedly. So in March 2014, a massage table box apparently blew into the area behind my salon with the address for Annie's Salon listed on it.

I addressed the lady at Annie's Salon about the box, and she told me that someone (being a Board member) had already mentioned this to her.  So in summary,  I addressed the Board about the massage table box and then someone from the Board goes behind my back and mentions the box before I could talk to her about the debris.  Furthermore, after finally getting a motion approved to set a date of around March 2015 to get the massage business relocated, the massage business moves out within weeks of that Board decision.  How coincidental is that?  Someone on the Board had to have told her and the homeowner about the Board decision.  The next thing I hear is that a Black Beauty Salon is going into that space.  Of course, how coincidental is it that a potential "direct" competitor of my beauty salon business is now going into that space? It felt to me like a "revenge" move by the other homeowner for me trying to bring his unit in compliance with our Association's Covenant, Conditions, and Restrictions.

Anyway,  Applause! Hair Design  takes over the  spot.  You can see in the picture below that it is the same address.

Unfortunately, as I stated in a separate blog article, the new husband/wife team are not hairdressers, and they initiated an aggressive solicitation campaign on our block.  As I was getting more and more annoyed with the solicitation, I addressed my fellow Board members in this letter below asking for feedback.

This would have been the perfect time for Jamie Darche Warren (board President) to discuss with me about her "free enterprise" belief, but she did not.  Instead she went behind my back and addressed the Applause! Hair Design salon owners who are NOT members of the Association and told them about "free enterprise" and they could solicit fliers on the block if they wanted to.

As you can see by the letter below from the female salon owner, Jamie Darche Warren went into their salon representing our Board unilaterally.  Our Board had NOT agreed for Jamie Darche Warren to visit Applause! Hair Design salon. Nor did any Board member give her permission to undermined my request for solicitation to stop.

My request for solicitation to stop as an Association member speaking to non-members was to protect my business of ten years from this new business that was not even 60 days old.  Furthermore, the female salon owner makes false accusations with no supporting documentation in her email.

In addition, if I harassed anyone's children, then I need to see a police report.  I might add that the husband/wife team sometimes go out of town and leave their hairstylists running their salon.

So in a nutshell, Board member(s) Jamie Darche Warren and Jane Ryan have consistently gone behind my back as a fellow Board member to undermine and disrespect me.  Both of these backstabbing acts were centered around a unit that Jamie Darche Warren used to own as detailed in a previous blog article.

I feel that both Jamie Darche Warren and Jane Ryan should be removed from our Meeting Street Homes Board of Directors.  I ask that Association members please join me in my cause.  I want fair treatment for all of our members. Not all of our current Board members embrace equality.  I have not had any Board member nor management company representative to attempt to resolve my grievance at this time.

All White Board Attempts to Violate Black member's Right to Lobby in Rosedale

The new 2014-2015 Meeting Street Homes at Rosedale Board of Directors consists of

Nathan Diehl

Kathy Lenze

Jane Ryan

Jill Vanzandt

Jamie Warren. 

(in alphabetic order)

At the publishing of this article, I believe that Nathan Diehl is a White male.  Two requests for him to correspond with me have been sent to him by US Postal Mail, and I had no response to date.  All other members of the Board are White.  Only Jill Vanzandt and Jamie Darche Warren were present at the last annual meeting where Nathan Diehl and Kathy Lenze were elected using six absentee proxies in combination with the six members present including myself as described in a separate article on this blog.

I have been lobbying to have Jamie Darche Warren removed because she has attempted to violate my rights as a member of this community.  The details of this personal violation is also described in another article on this blog.

Apparently, this all White Board of Directors voted to have our Board Attorney to send me this letter above.

Thank God that the Board Attorney did not charge our Association to send out this letter implying false accusations and attempting to violate my right to lobby.

The Board attorney and I had a brief discussion, and she clarified that

1. I have a right to lobby
2. Defamation consists of speaking untruths, and 
3. I have the freedom of speech to tell the truth.

As far as harassment and abuse that is mentioned in this letter, I have seen no police reports.  The new Board can either deal with me as a paying Association member and as professional adults on a private basis or they can answer to the public in a forum such as this blog.  The choice is up to them.

Our Association deserves good leadership, fair treatment for all of its members, and protection of the rights of all of its members.  Any members of the Meeting Street Homes at Rosedale Association that want to support my petition to remove Jamie Darche Warren from the Board of Directors, please feel free to contact me.

Any Board members who want to meet with me to work out a plan to move our Association forward together should also contact me.  I will continue to keep you posted on articles such as this one.

NOTE:  I protected the identity of the Board Attorney because she did not charge our Association for this letter and her time to counsel us on our rights, and if she has to continue to deal with this disagreement, then our Association money will be spent to pay for the legal fees.

White Board member Targets Black Board member in Rosedale

Jamie Darche Warren seems to have spread untruths about me, Benita Blocker, within the Rosedale community based on the number of  "cold shoulders" that I have received.  So I am writing to shed some light in case some members of the community are interested in my side of the story.

In the email above, Jamie Warren
1) is incorrect in who made the initial complaint about the new hair salon that recently opened.
2) tries to control me which intrudes on my rights as a member of this community.
3) complains about my actions to protect my business and my rights as a member of Rosedale.

Jamie Darche Warren should be removed from the Board on the grounds of dictating rules to other members such as myself.

In my email above, I correct Jamie Darche Warren on the fact that my complaint initiated others to complain in response to my complaint.

 In the email above, I complain how Jamie Darche Warren believes that she is my "momma" or that she has supremacy over me.  Jamie Darche Warren does not respond to me.

 In the email above, I explain to Jamie Darche Warren that I am also entitled to "free enterprise" since she went behind my back and told the renters that they could solicit on our block after I told them that their aggressive solicitation practices had become annoying to my clientele.  She had no financial investment in the matter, and she personally wanted to see the renters and I argue.

Now, that I am standing up for my rights as a member of this community, Jamie Darche Warren who was NOT up for re-election conspires before the annual meeting to gather SIX (6) absentee proxies to bring to the annual meeting.

So at the annual meeting, there were six votes present and six votes counted from absentee proxies for a total of 12 votes.  I was up for re-election, and I was the only one present at the annual meeting that was running for re-election.  Without the six absentee proxies, I would have won or at least tied to remain in my Board position.  However, because Jamie Darche Warren brought in the six proxies with names of members that were not even present, two new members were elected to the Board who did NOT even show up to the annual meeting.  This move to unseat me on the Board is probably legal, but it is "dirty" and political as can be.

None of us are paid for these Board positions.  As the only Black on the Board in Rosedale, I felt that diversity was important as well fair treatment enforced for all members.

Our Board deserves better than Jamie Darche Warren who allowed one of our properties in the community to go into foreclosure, and our Association had to absorb her delinquent HOA dues.  How do you get elected as President of the Board when you are not even a role model for the community?  Maybe Jamie Darche Warren wanted to befriend the tenants occupying her former foreclosed unit because she still feels a bond as the original owner of the property?

Regardless of whatever delusion that Jamie Darche Warren is under, as a Black member in good standing, I demand that my rights as a member of this community be respected. I have a lot of documentation supporting other discriminatory actions that I have suffered under Jamie Darche Warren's leadership.

 Members of our Rosedale community can make a difference by having Jamie Darche Warren removed from our Board.  Again, we deserve better!

Jamie Darche Warren refused to resign prior to the publishing of this article. She refused to apologize to me for violating my rights as a member of this community.  The new Board members have not reached out to resolve my written complaint mailed to them. Political games can ruin the "neighbor" in "neighborhood."  Members should take action before you find your own rights disrespected by this new Board.