Skip to main content

Info Bytes 07.06.23

CIC Info Bytes are frequent, succinct updates that provide educational and engagement opportunities to help your community thrive! Subscribe to receive CIC Info Bytes updates by email . Join us on Reddit at r/HOA .

ISSUE # 69

CIC Info Bytes 07/06/23

CIC Info Bytes are frequent, succinct updates providing educational and engagement opportunities that help your community thrive! Please forward and share this newsletter with your peers, neighbors and colleagues so they can connect and join .

Our goal is to curate content that provides a robust basis for contextual understanding to support practical takeaways for you and your association. This bi-weekly newsletter is packed to the brim. We've done our best to create meaningful section breaks and incorporate engaging visuals. When in doubt, Ctrl + F!

N.B. We pay for subscriptions to access a bunch of valuable content and try our best to share the wealth by providing temporary free access to select articles. If you find that you do not have access to an article, please consider supporting journalism by subscribing yourself.

💻🔎 SEARCH ALL ISSUES using our Newsletter Database or via the omnibox (upper right corner of your screen). ↗️

Condo Connection on X (Twitter) Condo Connection on X

Join us on X (Twitter) and Reddit.

Condo Connection on Reddit Join the Condo Connection Listserv
SUPPORT

THANK YOU to all our current and past supporters.  You’ve made it possible to continually enhance this newsletter and our free website and resources.

WE HUMBLY ASK (twice a year) FOR YOUR SUPPORT.  

Condo Connection is a volunteer effort, begun nearly three years ago, that’s become a resource trusted by thousands of homeowners and a few brave professionals.

If you’ve found value in Condo Connection, please support us:

  • Download a blog article, checklist, or resource material 
  • Subscribe to receive downloadable copies of ~sixty (60) documents including blog articles, checklists, example governance language, policies, procedures and resolutions, an example satisfaction survey, and more!
  • Give the gift of Condo Connection resources to someone you care about
  • Make a donation:
    • $5, $10, $26 for twenty-six issues of CIC Info Bytes in 2023
    • -OR- whatever makes sense for you.

This newsletter reaches hundreds of people.

Will you help us reach our goal of 10 subscribers in 2023?

MAJOR UPDATES

Budget Checklist

  • Our Dollars & $ense page keeps growing.  We’ve created a budget checklist that can help communities in every state.

HOA United

  • Condo Connection is proud to support HOA United’s homeowner-centric efforts to create positive, lasting impacts for community associations.  Please visit the HOA United website for more information. 
BLOG, NEWS & DISCUSSION

Rochester Towers Saga Continues

Don’t Evict the Tortoise 🐢

The Sounds of Nature…Are Like Nails on a Chalkboard

Weed Killer

This Community Is Livid

  • What would you do if one of your Board members made homophobic comments in a community Facebook group and then doxxed residents who called them out?  This HOA Community is Livid

Caveat: Do You Assume to Know Your Neighbors?

Flags WILL Fly

  • The developer of a new 1776 Gastonia community calls it patriotic.

      …This development, which the company has described as “where freedom lives”, is for homeowners 55 and older. And not just any homeowners: “patriots” who will be required to fly the US flag on their properties, on a pole provided and maintained by the subdivision. Each 1776 community (Fankhauser plans on more) will also donate a home with no mortgage, free of cost, to a wounded veteran through the nonprofit Building Homes for Heroes…

      …1776 Gastonia is part of an even newer type of neighborhood: one where community members presumably share ideals or interests…

      The housing community that will require ‘patriots’ to fly the US flag — Victoria Bouloubasis | The Guardian | 07/03/23

      Condo Connection has an entire page dedicated to freedom of expression.

Flags WON’T Fly

Oversight

Reassuring Words

  • The following three paragraphs are an edited version of this Miami Herald op-ed.  Eliminating the industry-centric jargon reveals some tantalizing truths for community associations.  Enjoy!

      The most helpful and informative media reports will offer insights on how associations and owners/buyers should approach the challenges that lie ahead. First off, they should point out that concerns over board member liability should never deter owners from volunteering to help the community they call home…Board members are shielded from liability under a community’s Directors and Officers insurance, which defends and protects them from lawsuits, in addition to the indemnification provisions of the articles of incorporation of their association and the laws governing not-for-profit corporations. 

      Directors who act in a reasonable manner will be able to rest assured that their indemnity and insurance protections will shield them from liability. They will also be protected by the business judgment rule, which holds that directors have broad discretion in performing their duties absent a showing of mismanagement, fraud or breach of trust.

      Instead of becoming overly preoccupied with unwarranted liability concerns, now is the time for condominium owners to do their part to help ensure their association is overseen by the very best directors.  Condominium associations need excellent boards of directors comprised of dedicated owners. 

Committed…to What?

  • As CAI celebrates turning 50, far too many homeowners are fighting foreclosure, borrowing from family to fund $90,000 special assessments, living in a hotel or temporary shelter because their condominium isn’t safe, filing lawsuits because their Board refuses to comply with the law or simply giving up because it’s all just too much.  

      What started as an inclusive nonprofit that granted homeowners an equal, if not equitable seat at the table, transformed decades ago into a business industry trade organization forced to abandon its c3 status for c4 recognition that could legally sponsor lobbying.  Condo Connection has one big ask for CAI: be honest about who you serve and start empowering homeowners.

      This isn’t a black-or-white affair.  CAI has definitely accomplished some good deeds for homeowners, but the organization bears almost no resemblance to its origins.  CAI’s own publications tell the story.  Deborah Goonan and The HOA Primer, respectively, provide readers a fantastic summary of CAI’s transformation here and here.

      Intention and perseverance are swinging the pendulum toward homeowner-centric awareness and action.  After all, the 75 million people living in over 355,000 community associations who pay over $100 billion annual assessments deserve to be represented, don’t they?

      Do you trust your Homeowners' Association Board? — Deborah Goonan | Parli.com

Adventures in Mismanagement and Ineffectiveness

Race to the Bottom

Speaking from Experience

  • NYT columnist Ronda Kaysen speaks from a decade of experience:
    • Before you act, know your rights and your leverage. Read your lease, read state and city laws, anticipate the worst-case scenario before you decide what to do.
    • ...it helps to find allies.
    • ...hell is other people. Yes, they resent their landlords and co-op boards, but they are pretty down on each other, too... pets, children, musical tastes and smoking habits. One person was shocked when his neighbors reported him for walking around his own apartment naked.
    • Talk to [your neighbors]. A bottle of wine or a box of cookies can go a long way toward keeping the peace. But when your rights are violated, and the law is on your side, don’t be afraid to rock the boat and protect yourself.

LEERY™ for HOAs

  • Got questions?  Ask LEERY™! 
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

View past coverage: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13.

Energy

  • COOL: Energy out of thin humid air.

      Reducing emissions won’t be enough to reach international goals for limiting global warming, many climate experts say—it will also require removing billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the air every year.

      ‘It was an accident’: the scientists who have turned humid air into renewable power — Ned Carter Miles | The Guardian | July 02, 2023

      ___________________

      HOT: Just a week into summer, heat waves are causing a surge in electricity demand across the U.S. South, in part to power ACs. The startups say highly efficient ACs can help ease strain on the electric grid and help it withstand sizzling temperatures.

      Companies such as Blue Frontier, Transaera and Montana Technologies are raising money from investors including industry giant Carrier Global and Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures to develop more efficient technologies. Many of those efforts focus on the humidity rather than the heat, using new materials like liquid salt to dry out the air.

      The startups are rushing to capitalize on a wave of government regulation and incentives such as tax credits and rebates for high-efficiency products that are part of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act.

      Electric vehicles require six times the mineral inputs of conventional cars, according to the International Energy Agency. The IEA estimated in a 2021 report that mineral demand for use in EVs and battery storage could grow 30 times by 2040.

      The Race to Build a Better Air Conditioner — Amrith Ramkumar | WSJ | June 28, 2023

      See Issue 68 for more aircon innovations.

The Cost of Net Zero

  • Across the developing world, mineral-rich nations say they are moving to end the era of extract and export.

      Countries with vast deposits of the ingredients essential to making electric vehicles are digging in and trying to take a bigger share of the expected EV boom.

      In parts of Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia, governments are restricting the export of raw minerals, demanding that miners build processing plants locally and looking to tighten control over foreign-operated mines. The steps are sometimes described as resource nationalism, and their increasing popularity is reshaping supply chains that underpin the shift toward cleaner forms of energy.

      Mineral-Rich Developing Nations Demand Bigger Piece of the EV Pie — Jon Emont, Juan Forero, and Alexandra Wexler | WSJ | July 1, 2023

      ___________________

      European Power Prices Go Below Zero Again as Solar Output Surges — Will Mathis | Bloomberg | July 4, 2023

Environment

  • HOT!: Global temperatures have smashed through records this week, underscoring the dangers of ever-increasing greenhouse gas emissions generated from burning fossil fuels.

      The average worldwide temperature reached 17C (63F) on Monday, just above the previous record of 16.9C in August 2016, according to data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. The threshold only lasted a day. On Tuesday, the average temperature hit 17.2C.

      The new highs illustrate the extremity of 2023’s summer in the northern hemisphere, and bring into focus the slow pace of global progress on curbing emissions.

      Earth Keeps Breaking Temperature Records Due to Global Warming — Will Mathis and Aaron Clark | Bloomberg | July 4, 2023

      ___________________

      Supercharging Nature to Suck Carbon From the Air — Ed Ballard | WSJ | June 22, 2023

      ___________________

      PLASTIC is both a modern marvel and one of our most vexing climate catastrophies.

      How worried should we be about what’s become known as “the plastic pollution crisis”? And what can be done about it? These questions lie at the heart of several recent books that take up what one author calls “the plastic trap.”

      “Without plastic we’d have no modern medicine or gadgets or wire insulation to keep our homes from burning down,” that author, Matt Simon, writes in “A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies.” “But with plastic we’ve contaminated every corner of Earth.”

      How Plastics Are Poisoning Us — Elizabeth Kolbert | The New Yorker | June 26, 2023

HOUSING

Housing Affordability & Homelessness

  • The number of people in Los Angeles County living in cars, on the sidewalks or in tucked-away tents, or sleeping in shelters, rose by 9 percent from a year ago, the latest measure of how intractable the homelessness crisis has become in California.

      Local officials described the latest count, 75,518 people, as a disheartening sign that efforts to move Angelenos off the streets have not caught up with the rate at which families are losing their homes.

      The number has ticked upward over the past several years, from 52,765 in 2018. (A count was not conducted in 2021.)

      The Number of Homeless People in Los Angeles Increases by 9% — Jill Cowan | NYT | 06/29/23

    • ___________________

  • The property insurance market is like a big game of hot potato where the potato is risk. That is how Melanie Gall thinks about it, anyway. She co-directs the Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security at Arizona State University.

      Let's assume you have a mortgage. Your mortgage holder is not willing for you to take that risk, so they force you to have homeowner's insurance coverage.

      There is another participant in this game of hot, risky potato, something called reinsurers.

      So reinsurers are insurance companies who insure insurance companies. They passed on the hot potato to the reinsurer.

      But lately this potato has just been getting too hot. The cost of reinsurance has skyrocketed in the past year or so, as much as 30, 40%. And that's partly why State Farm said it would stop writing new policies in California recently.

      What happens when insurers can't get insurance? — Adrian Ma | NPR | 06/30/23

      ___________________

      What to Do When Your Home-Insurance Policy Isn’t Renewed — Veronica Dagher | WSJ | 06/26/23

      ___________________

      Florida high-rise condo owners feel financial pinch with rising assessments +insurance costs — Stassy Olmos | WFTS | 05/24/23

      View ALL insurance coverage on our Insurance page.

      ___________________

      The Florida Insurance Guaranty Association, which handles the claims of insolvent insurers, plans to borrow $600 million of bonds, according to preliminary offering documents. It is the first time in three decades the agency has tapped the municipal bond market to help support insurance claims.

      The bonds, which are being sold in multiple series through the Florida Insurance Assistance Interlocal Agency, are backed by a 1% emergency assessment levied by the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation, similar to a tax on a range of insurance policies. The average premium in the state is about $4,200 on a roughly $350,000 home, so the assessment translates to about $42 a year, Neal said.

      Florida Sells Bonds to Backstop Its Homeowner's Insurance Industry — Nic Querolo | Bloomberg | 06/26/23 (Yahoo! Finance  Reprint)

Housing Market

  • The Case for Decoupling: Blowing Up Real Property Commission Norms…

      These lawsuits are finally coming to a head after simmering for several years, and if the plaintiffs succeed, they could rewrite the rules of how agents get paid. The seller might no longer pay out both agents' commissions after the sale closes. Instead, a buyer would pay their agent directly. Proponents say these changes would increase competition among agents, dramatically lower commissions, and potentially save consumers as much as $20 billion to $30 billion a year. The defendants, led by the NAR, argue that the current setup actually favors consumers by providing broad access to an efficient real-estate market.

      Despite the potentially earthshaking consequences, most local real-estate agents — who, to be fair, have more pressing short-term concerns — have largely ignored the cases. But if the plaintiffs prevail, these cases could radically reshape what buying and selling a home looks like, and they represent the biggest existential threat to the real-estate industry today.

      Multibillion-dollar lawsuits could radically reshape how we buy and sell homes forever — James Rodriguez | Insider | 06/26/23

Built Environment

DOLLARS & SENSE

Condo Connection's financial coverage is indexed to our Dollar$ and $ense page dedicated to all things CIC finance.

Inflation and Monetary Policy

  • What recession?  Many of the hundreds of thousands of people fired by finance and tech companies over the past year could be forgiven for thinking a coming recession was the big reason for their fate. That looming, inevitable US downturn which Wall Street experts and talking heads have loudly predicted for more than a year now. The one that hasn’t happened yet. Now, it would seem, some members of the Cassandra party are finally coming around to the possibility that it never will. A flurry of new data showed continued strength in several corners of the US economy, reaffirming an unavoidable picture of resilience. Purchases of new homes climbed to their fastest annual rate in more than a year, durable goods orders topped estimates and consumer confidence reached the highest level since the start of 2022, according to the Tuesday reports. Another release showed housing prices in the US rose for a third-straight month. “The consensus view continues to stubbornly call for a recession starting in a few months,” Stephen Stanley, chief US economist at Santander US Capital Markets, said in a note. “But the economic data are telling far different story.” That story was laid out in the latest reports on retail sales, inflation-adjusted consumer spending and the job market.

      — David Rovella | Bloomberg Evening Briefing | 06/27/23

      ___________________

      That the US economy is expected to plunge into a recession later this year is perhaps the most anticipated downturn on record. The last two years have been a chronicle of a recession foretold. But global investors who had positioned their portfolios for the slowdown have been left twiddling their thumbs (and losing out) as the economy shows one sign of strength after another.

      Waiting for this recession feels ever more like Waiting for Godot. When is it coming? Could it even — as Jonathan Levin suggests — be time to say openly that it’s been canceled?

      It depends on whom you ask…

      Recession Starts Looking Less Great, More 'Godot' — John Authers | Bloomberg | 06/27/23

      ___________________

      MORE RATE HIKES.  It seems that US Federal Reserve officials struck a weak agreement to pause interest-rate increases in June, and in doing so all but committed to hike them again later this month to keep fighting stubborn inflation. 

      The minutes from the Fed’s June 13-14 meeting show that while almost all officials deemed it “appropriate or acceptable” to keep rates unchanged last month, some would have supported a quarter-point increase instead. “It was a little surprising given that the decision was sold as unanimous from Fed officials,” said Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. “There was a divergence of opinions, with some officials pretty clearly giving some reluctance for a one-month pause.” Officials supporting a hike in June cited tight labor markets and relatively few signs that inflation was slowing toward their 2% goal, according to the minutes. 

      Some policymakers have expressed concern that core inflation, in particular, hasn’t budged much in the last six months. Whatever the disagreement among Fed officials, it’s fair to say the key takeaway is that more hikes are coming.

      — David E. Rovella | Bloomberg Evening Briefing | 07/05/23

      A slew of interesting data points.   Almost half of market participants in a Bloomberg survey expect at least two more rate hikes. That’s a remarkable shift for a market that was pricing in cuts in 2023 as recently as this month.  A soft landing now appears elusive, though the US may be stuck in a pre-recession limbo for the rest of the year. That’s probably why many investors see fixed-income outperforming commodities and stocks.

      Bond Traders Are Heeding Powell's Pledge to Stay on Volcker Path — Mark Cudmore | Bloomberg | 06/25/23

Cashing In

  • It’s Rarely Been This Expensive to Be a Bank.  Many regional banks increasingly relied on brokered deposits and advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank system.  

      US banks have found a way to replace some of the hundreds of billions of dollars in deposits that flooded out their doors early this year. But it's expensive, and not particularly sticky.

      To shore up their books after a flurry of withdrawals by customers, midsize banks across the US have turned to a patchwork of other sources that demand significantly higher interest, typically around 5% or more. Regional banks borrowed billions more from the Federal Reserve, Federal Home Loan Bank system and — to an eye-popping degree — leaned on brokered deposits cobbled together by little-known intermediaries.

      'Hot Money' Is Piling Up at Banks and It's Starting to Take a Toll — Jennifer Surane, Linly Lin and Mathieu Benhamou | Bloomberg  | 06/28/23

Cashing Out

  • CONSOLIDATION EQUATION: One conclusion that a lot of people have drawn from the 2023 crisis of US regional banks is that the US has way too many regional banks. There are more than 4,000 banks, which creates a lot of work for bank supervisors, and which means that it’s hard for depositors to be sure that their bank is safe. When depositors get nervous, they run to household-name too-big-to-fail banks, leaving the other, you know, 3,990 banks vulnerable.

      One obvious solution to this problem is to turn those 4,000 banks into, say, 2,000 banks, or maybe 20 banks. That would make life easier for regulators and supervisors — fewer banks to keep track of — and also make each individual bank a bit bigger and more diversified and hopefully more robust…

      The basic problem in banking is that competition is good but financial stability is also good, and they are kind of at odds with each other.

      Lots of Banks Means Lots of Bank Mergers — Matt Levine | Bloomberg  | 07/05/23

GOVERNANCE MATTERS

Disclose Your Records

  • Your community has records.  Your members (homeowners) have a right of disclosure to inspect and receive copies of almost all those records. 
  • The following article summarizes the entire series of events across two separate, yet related records disclosure lawsuits related to Boca View in Boca Raton, FL.  This condominium doesn't want to provide records access to its owners.  There are five Boca View lawsuits over the past decade.

      The first suit (in this series) came from unit owner Eileen Breitkreutz who was legally entitled to disclosure of financial records.  Her pro se defense was a mistake in this case and the appellate court ruled against her in a $395,000 judgment to recover the association’s legal fees.   Eileen filed bankruptcy.

      The tide turned in this latest (second) suit where the court ruled and ordered Boca View to allow the plaintiff’s representative to inspect the records:

      After two separate orders from two separate judges, the Boca View Condominium Association’s governing board still has not allowed a condo owner’s personal representative to inspect financial records as requested nearly four years ago.  Attorneys for the unit owner, Eleanor Lepselter, are now asking the court to find the association in contempt and impose fines of $500 a day until it complies….

      “To me, this is a fight that didn’t need to happen,” Tynan said. “There are laws about the records; that they’re supposed to share them. It’s open and shut. You’ve got to provide the accounting records. You might not like it, but you have to do it.”

      Boca View records suit: Lawyers hurl accusations at each other — Ron Hurtibise | Sun-Sentinel | 03/24/23

      As of May 24, Boca View has separately sued the plaintiff (Lepselter) in a new case 9:23-cv-80820.  Here’s the complaint.

Volunteers Are Not Employees

Local Ordinances & Municipal Codes

Online Threats

  • First Amendment rights generally do not extend to community associations; however, community associations are not intended to police free speech.  Learn more about freedom of expression.  Every community should take notice when SCOTUS acts.

      The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the First Amendment imposes limits on laws that make it a crime to issue threats on the internet, saying that prosecutors must prove that a Colorado man who had sent disturbing messages to a singer-songwriter had acted recklessly in causing emotional harm.

      “The state must show that the defendant consciously disregarded a substantial risk that his communications would be viewed as threatening violence,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote for five justices in the 7-to-2 decision.

      Justice Kagan acknowledged that “true threats,” like libel, incitement, obscenity and fighting words, are not protected by the First Amendment. But she said the risk of chilling protected speech warranted imposing an added burden on prosecutors.

      “The speaker’s fear of mistaking whether a statement is a threat; his fear of the legal system getting that judgment wrong; his fear, in any event, of incurring legal costs — all those may lead him to swallow words that are in fact not true threats,” she wrote.

      Supreme Court Puts First Amendment Limits on Laws Banning Online Threats — Adam Liptak | NYT | 06/27/23

      Case 22-138: Counterman v. Colorado — Decided 06/28/23

Transparency

Legislation Page

Legislation

  • North Carolina has a vote coming up for homeowner-centric HB542 (23 bi-partisan sponsors).  This legislation modifies § 47C (condominiums) and § 47F (planned communities) and some additional statutes.  Non-exhaustive summary below.  N.B.  This legislation did not make a full senate vote in 2023.
    • UNLESS the declaration (CC&Rs) expressly provides to the contrary:
    • MANAGEMENT CONTRACT LIMITS: A contract between an association and a managing agent shall not exceed one year and shall contain no automatic renewal provision. 
    • MANAGEMENT REMUNERATION PROHIBITION: A managing agent shall not be compensated in whole or in part based on the amount of fines collected by the managing agent on behalf of the association.
    • PARKING ENFORCEMENT PROHIBITION: In no event shall an association enforce any restriction on parking on a public street or public road for which the North Carolina Department of Transportation or local government has assumed responsibility for maintenance and repairs.
    • USE OF UNITS ENFORCEMENT PROHIBITIONS: No fine shall be levied for violation of a provision restricting or prohibiting tutoring, educational lessons, academic lessons, music lessons, or swimming lessons provided in the owner's unit to a group of no more than five people at any one time, regardless of whether compensation is received for such lessons.
    • FORECLOSURE PROTECTIONS: The association, acting through the executive board, may enforce a claim of lien by judicial foreclosure, as provided in Article 29A of Chapter 1 of the General Statutes, provided that all of the following requirements are met:
      1. The amount of the unpaid assessments exceeds two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) or 12 months of assessments, whichever is less.
      2. The debt secured by the claim of lien does not consist solely of fines imposed by the association, interest on unpaid fines, or attorneys' fees incurred by the association.
      3. The assessment remains unpaid for at least 90 days.
      4. The executive board votes to commence the proceeding against the specific unit.
    • ADMINISTRATIVE CHARGE PROHIBITION: Impose reasonable charges in connection with the preparation of statements of unpaid assessments, which must be furnished within 10 business days after receipt of the request, in an amount not to exceed two hundred dollars ($200.00) per statement or request, and an additional expedite fee in an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00) if the request is made within 48 hours of closing, all of which charges may be collected by the association, its managers, or its agents. Except as provided in this subsection, an association shall not impose a charge for administrative tasks required upon the transfer of title to a unit. Violation of this subdivision constitutes an unfair and deceptive trade practice under G.S. 75-1.1.
    • CHARGES FOR DISCLOSURE LIMITED TO ACTUAL COSTS: Impose a reasonable charge for providing copies of records requested by a member, not to exceed the actual cost of photocopying the records.
    • LIMITS ON ATTORNEYS’ FEES: In an action to enforce a claim of lien securing a debt consisting solely of fines imposed by the association, interest on unpaid fines, or attorneys' fees incurred by the association solely associated with fines imposed by the association, an award of attorneys' fees shall not exceed fifteen percent (15%) of the amount recovered.
  • View newly effective CIC-specific statutory requirements on our Legislation Page.
  • Please contact us if you’re aware of legislation to feature from YOUR state!

+++ Have a question that you'd like to ask directly to your peers? Ask YOUR listserv! +++

Homeowners | Volunteer Leaders | Managers & Management Companies | Vendors

Click here to submit a volunteer feat to be featured in an upcoming CIC Info Bytes!

Support Ukraine

A Note About Ukraine

The people of Ukraine are undergoing tremendous displacement from their homes coupled with loss of life, tragedy and suffering. Considering the global landscape can help us gain perspective in our daily lives. CIC Info Bytes readers expressed their support for Ukraine last year. Please voice your own support!