They Had been Robbed of Hope

There's an Alice Walker quote, "The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." This week we got notified that after months of homeowners' hard work and even longer of Unidos' hard work, the Capistrano Villas 1 HOA has met their election quorum! (Technically, the meeting will be postponed and the quorum lowered and its that second quorum they have met.)

It would be difficult to overstate how important this moment is. According to collective memory, there has NEVER been a enough submitted ballots to meet an election quorum, which means bylaws can't be updated, community rules and regulations can't be updated, and all the broken issues stay how they are. Hortencia said, "Ive been a homeowner here for 37 years and this is the first ballot I've ever turned in." Because people had been robbed of hope for change. This summer they're taking that hope back.

-Heather Chapman