Democracy with Human Face

On January 13, 2013 I made my first talk radio appearance on PNN for the show entitled Democracy with a Human Face.  Richard Spisak, a long time activist and progressive did the approximately 10 minute interview.  To listen click the show's link above.

Join Rick and his guests, Emine Dilek, journalist, Meredith Ockman, VP State NOW, Karen McArtur, Move to Amend, Susan Smith, Pres. Prog. Caucus and Rep. Raul Grijalva, Co Chair Congressional Progressive Caucus for tomorrow (January 20, 2013) night's show entitled Champions of the People. Show starts at 7:00 p.m.

I'll be listening...

You Gotta Read That!

Each time I meet Matt Weidner, Esquire he gives me a reading assignment.  I was first introduced to Matt at a foreclosure teach-in with April Charney, Esquire at the University of South Florida, Marshall Center in March of 2012.  That assignment, to read the Pooling and Servicing Agreement.

On Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at the Foreclosure Defense in 2013 (live video broadcast) I/we were given a digital binder of a little over a thousand pages of pleadings, charts, citations to read.  I will admit, that this reading assignment is a lot more exciting than the PSA was.

Thank you Matt. It continues to be great learning experience.

My Day In Court

She Ain't No Judge Haury!

Judge Perlman's first day on the foreclosure bench was smokin!  I was first introduced to Sharon Perlman on November 9, 2012 at the workshop, View From the Bench.  Described as brilliant, it seems Judge Perlman's mandate is to clear the court's docket of the "60,000 pending foreclosure cases" before you can say 'Objection!" 

"It's coming from above, to push the cases through," someone close to Judge Perlman told me.  "Judge Haury asked too many questions" the person continued.  I think if you are in a position of granting an entity the power to frauduently steal someone's home with the blessing of the court, then by God you should be allowed to ask "too many questions" but those days are gone. Judge William Haury was transferred to Criminal court, Room 990.

Judge Perlman's courtroom was also used by Judge Garcia-Wood when she sat on the foreclosure bench.  The audio system is still not working.  Homeowners and citizens sitting in the gallery have a difficult time hearing what the Judge and the parties are saying as construction noise and the attorneys back-slapping, high fiving and greeting clients fill up the air space.  There were moments however, when the room was quiet and you could hear the Judge, the attorney and/or the homeowner but those were rare moments.  The phrases I heard repeated throughout the day were "It's been four years - Denied" "Four years is enough time- Denied," "How many bankruptcies? Denied. "What a waste of time."

I do appreciate justice being served swiftly but there is no justice being served here.  Under the law, the lender must prove that it has the right to foreclose.  However, proving that is difficult because of MERS (Mortgage Electronic Register System), securitiziation, the stripping and selling of the loans and the lack of a paper trial as to which entity bought, sold, resold and now holds the loan.  Discovery takes time.

Our Courts must insists that all parties, including judges, abide by the rules of procedure. Whether or not the judges know (and we know, that they know, because they are brilliant) that the banks, their servicers and their attorneys are using fraudulent documents to foreclosure on homes are choosing to perpetuate the fraud, by not taking the time to review the documents place before them, assuming that the Plaintiffs know the law and are not lying and by not asking the appropriate questions.  It was interesting to see a bank's attorney willing to give the absent homeowner 20 days to respond to the Motion to Dismiss and the Judge denying the motion and order that it be set for trial during the trial period April 15 through May 15, 2013.  What if the homeowner had a death in the family, pehaps a child or a husband?  What if the homeowner did not receive notice of the hearing?  What if the attorney has another trial set for that same period? or is out of the state?

Our judges, in particular Judge Perlman, who is thought to be brilliant, should use her brilliance in the service of justice; not in the interest of time or in the interest and service of those who can afford high paying attorneys like the banks and the servicers.

So, to all homeowners, especially those who are representing themselves, Pro Se, the justice clock has stopped.  You now have three choices:

1. Loan Modification - and if you cannot get one, oh well!
2. Short Sale.
3. Eviction.

That is the direction our foreclosure court is going.  Best of luck to all homeowners and when the luck runs out as it seems it may have - call the movers!

Oh, you have one other choice - OCCUPY!

What Would Dr. King Do?

The following is a speech I gave at the Unitarian Universalist Church, downtown Fort Lauderdale on January 13, 2013 in celebration of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In a speech delivered April 4, 1967, Dr. King asked that we play the role of the Good Samaritan. Many of you here would know that story but for those of you who don't, and for those who cannot remember it...

    A man in the crowd asked Jesus, "who is my neighbor?" and Jesus replied that there was a man travelling on the road to Jericho when he was felled upon by theives.  They robbed him, beat him up and left him on the side of the road to die.  Some time later, a priest came by, saw the injured man and crossed to the other side of the road.  A little while later, a Levite passed by, saw the injured man and he too crossed to the other side of the road.  Later still, a Samaritan riding on a donkey, came upon the injured man.  This Samaritan, got off his donkey, rushed to the injured man, bandaged up his wounds, put him on the donkey and took him to the nearest inn.  At the inn, the Samaritan told the innkeeper "whatever you spend in caring for this man I will reimburse you upon my return."

Fast forward to the 20th century... and Dr. King said that we "must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway."

Florida today is our Jericho road.  Men and women, especially those of color, are robbed of their homes, emotionally beaten up and left on the side of the road by the profiteers of Wall Street.

The State of Florida ranks number one in deliquent mortgages.  That is double the national average and at 8% does not include those already in foreclosure nor does it count those whose homes are underwater but are still making their mortgage payments.

During the *five (5) year period 2008-2012, 1,274,919 homes were foreclosed right here in the Sunshine State. ** Broward County, in the last two and one half years, saw 59,000 foreclosures.  As a visual, picture every single home in the cities of Naples, Fort Meyers and Sarasota, empty, boarded-up, abandoned.  ***1900 foreclosures are filed every month at the Broward County Courthouse and that is in addition to the 60,000 pending foreclosure cases just sitting in the courthouse, waiting...

Overwhelmed yet?  When you do the arithmetic, we're talking about 6 million people if we were to say conservatively that four people lived in each of those homes plus a pet.

Where are all these people?
Where are all these pets?

The result of a foreclosure if followed by an eviction is homelessness.

The Florida Homeless Coalition one day/one night count in January 2012 tallied the number of persons living on the street or staying in emergency shelters to be 54,300.

Yes, these are large numbers - but they are more than that.  They are fathers, mothers, children and yes, we are our brother's keeper.  Sure, we can say, it's their foreclosure, their fault, I pay my mortgage, lawd knows how times I've heard that but our property values are lower; our cities don't have money to pay our first responders and our retirement plans are not what they used to be.

So... the question is, what are we doing?

We know what Dr. King did. He stood shoulder to shoulder with the sanitation workers, he crossed the bridge at Selma with his neighbors.

Are we going to follow in the footsteps of Dr. King and stand shoulder to shoulder with our neighbors in their eviction defense?

Are we going to demand that our government pressure Fannie and Freddie into principal reductions?

Are we going to fill the courtrooms so that judges know we are watching?

Or are we going to cross to the other side of the road like the priest and the Levite?

*      Counsel on Homelessness 2012 Report
**   WLRN Miami January 2, 2013
*** Judge Tuter, View From the Bench, November 9, 2012