The Wall Street Journal published an article about the Town Center Implosion/Explosion/Brouhaha/Debacle/Travesty/Ticking Time Bomb/Who Struck John Story/Boschian Situation this morning, and I am grateful for their attention, although the excruciating technicalities of our story can hardly be explained in one brief article, even if it does include a photo of me. (pretty nice one too.)
Therefore, as so often occurs in ANY Town Center Discussion, the introduction of,say, TEN FACTS results in (at least) 187 three part questions, and an equal number of comments, generally divided among the following three groups; #1-The hopelessly self-congratulatory who would NEVER buy a wood house, especially in, whatareya nuts?, Florida, #2-Those who always FORCE THEIR Condo Board to bury copious reserves in the swamp for safekeeping, and #3- The ones who VISITED Celebration but, being VISIONARIES saw the highway of problems laid out before them like the yellow brick road, and ran for their lives. This group inevitably references either “The Stepford Wives” or “The Truman Show”. (Noting their choices also allows them to be clearly identified as “Boomers” or “Millenials”, information which may well come in handy for the algorithm I am constructing)
And to responders one and all I say THANK YOU! And good try. LIFE in Town Center is, sigh, COMPLICATED. It is SO COMPLICATED that rather than us settling in at the Court House in Kissimmee for a lengthy, HOMETOWN kind of trial-picture Clarence Darrow perspiring, fan in one hand in the high, high ceilinged old courthouse, fighting for OUR side I am confident-TCCA will be trucked off to the Big City, to the Orange County Complex Business Court. Because, as I have said, we are COMPLEX.
MEANWHILE, up in the BIG APPLE, Metin Negrin stores the Lexin Mantle of Perpetual Victimhood in a convenient desk drawer, slipping it on over his head whenever a performance as the Managing Director of Lexin Capital AND President of the Town Center Foundation threatens to be evaluated in a LEGAL sort of way. Mantle in place, Mr Negrin cries out loudly that HE is the true victim here, after all WHO KNEW?
To which all Unit Owners, like the frogs in an Aristophanean chorus call out in one voice, YOU!
YOU are the one who was supposed to know.
YOU are the one who read the contracts,
YOU are the one who performed the inspections,
YOU are the one who made the budgets,
YOU are the controller of every decision.
YOU YOU YOU
And I apologize as we Unit Owners have not yet fully mastered the “chorus meter” but I believe our point remains obvious.
We excited future owners had NO IDEA he was SUCH a victim. WE all thought he was a skilled business man with PLENTY of the expertise and advanced organizational skills required to assume his rightful place as Our Leader. We had confidence that Disney MUST have vetted him, performing Due Diligence Extraordinaire regarding his intentions as well as his abilities, so detailed that it examined him right down to his mitochondria before handing over the keys to OUR part of the Magic Kingdom. Disney had to KNOW, to rest assured that Mr. Negrin possessed the chutzpah and grit to identify, obtain and oversee a top-notch team skilled in property management and asset preservation, in accurate and anticipatory budgeting and planning and RECORDKEEPING as these basic fundamentals of Property Management were ALL to be in his wheelhouse. Being in CONTROL was the job which he coveted, and which none of us asked him to take. His selection as the Dalai Metin was memorialized in Osceola County Documentary Stone before the first person bought the first Town Center Condominium.
Indeed, every word of the historical documents which govern Celebration Town Center, The Town Center Condominium Association and The Town Center Foundation were created under his direction, and crafted to remain under his direction in perpetuity.
So TCF exists, Metin is a Member (Class B), AND TCCA Unit Owners are ALSO Members (ClassA)and we exist on an imaginary Level Playing Field, with consensus just a friendly vote away.
There has been far too much talk about VOTES around here lately, which makes me hesitate to even bring it up. But I believe you will find that voting in Town Center comes with absolutely NONE of the contentious, Facebook unfriending possibilities which have been problematic in other elections. I have made a little CHART here which I believe illustrates just how SIMPLE Lexin has made the often tedious tabulation process.
And while every one of these documents was written by Lexin employed attorneys, and artfully designed to give Lexin 100% control over the FOUNDATION, which in turn has 100% control over the Residential Owners.
He appears to LOVE and NEED the implied control,while-in my opinion-ignoring the corresponding statutory OBLIGATIONS.
When the nights are chill and the rain is pouring through the roof we find comfort simply reviewing Florida Statutes which GOVERN 617 Not-For-Profit Corporations-which is how The Town Center Foundation is defined by Lexin and its attorneys.
Because when you READ Florida Statutory Law, you feel GOOD. TCF is looking out for us, in every way on every day, after all Metin and his Board-mates have all sworn to
Act in Good Faith
Accept the Duty of Care and show
Good Faith and Loyalty in the BEST Interests of the Corporation.
How can this go wrong, right?
Rescuing Celebration 