Alternative Dispute Resolution

I live in Los Angeles, so perhaps it is not surprising that the dispute I am embroiled in involves parking.  It is a long standing and difficult to solve problem.  Nevertheless, I feel that more and more the residents have gotten used to ignoring our parking CCR's which have not been enforced.   Not sure I would get much argument there, but it is a difficult to solve problem.  I have gone to meetings and demanded that something be done and have complained that I think my safety is threatened; emergency vehicles have no access! After a couple of years of frustration I have contacted the "Alternative dispute Resolution" program at the Los Angeles city attorneys' office.  

The head of our management company informed the ADR people it was something only the board could resolve.  Then the head of the board called and wrote emails to inform me that this is not how we resolve things, you should not have gone to ADR,  I had to be more patient, why would I do such a thing, etc.   But most curiously the president of the board said the head of the management company said "ADR does not apply of our HOA" and "they have no jurisdiction."  When I pressed the head of the management company to clarify this he emailed that:

"As I understand, there is no dispute regarding parking.  The concern is enforcement.  IDR’s intent does not apply here. "

Did I attempt to engage in Alternative Dispute Resolution through the wrong body?? What does this mean??
Tom

Unfortunately, many people don't believe that ADR applies until there is some sort of money at stake. I suspect that in your case, they only see you as having a complaint and won't consider the issue in the manner you do until such time as you put their feet to the fire.

Thomas I would suggest you visit http://www.davis-stirling.com/index.html under Main Index they have an extensive section on ADR in California, you might find your answer there.

Thomas
Your association should send out their dispute resolution policy on an annual basis. This policy should outline the procedures for both IDR and ADR. I am going to attempt to attach a sample policy that has references to the civil code that you can check out.

Thanks. This website must be useful because the remarks about the nature of "past battles" and "more people being satisfiend than not" are very perceptive! -Tom

Thomas,
Your management reply and your perception of what they said is probably a little left of center. I would imagine if you confront them with the ADR document and question why they don't abide, they will say your issue does not apply in the way it is proposed. Just games and if they really had concern for your trouble they should actually help you pose something that is acceptable. Or it could be someone had a bad day and just didn't want to mess around with the subject matter. It is more strange but probably unavoidable that if you would have an issue between you and the C/M, you are expected to go there for consul to dot the i's and cross the t's.

Just keep getting on and gradually you will push the right buttons and a door will open a crack. That crack can come in many ways, accept them all, from a Board Member asking you specifically about your problems to an invite to speak before the Board or a proposal; to have a sit down with the P/M.

Once the nuts and bolts are established and written down and conveyed, the rest is more patience than brains. Just keep leaning on the door.

Well Tom, I am glad to hear we got this little problem solved. As often happens with this association stuff we get so far in the morass , we forget what the problem was. But again, we did it, and we can expect that to last for as long as it takes to post this message. But as an old salt (I expect), you do know that many times, the chase is better than getting the gold.