Hundreds of Pembroke Pines condo owners showed up to a community meeting Wednesday hoping to get an explanation about a monthly fee increase, but the situation got out of control before some could even make it inside.
Video showed the chaos outside of the Century Village Pembroke Pines Clubhouse after dozens of residents say they were not allowed inside for the community insurance meeting.
“They said, 'oh, it’s overcrowded, so you cannot go inside,' and they started closing the doors, so they want to go inside, but they don’t allow nobody to go inside," resident Dilsa Bressler said. "And we are talking about really, really old people.”
Unit owners were invited to attend the meeting for an update on an increase in monthly fees. An email from Century Village to residents announces unit owners will be paying an additional $100-$200 per month due to “skyrocketing insurance premiums.” The email states they may also have a special assessment.
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“So now we are over $700 a month that we are paying just in HOA fees, and they’re going to kick it up to $1,000 a month," resident Joe Hutchinson said. "We have no choice we have to sell. As a matter of fact, I just put my house on the market 10 minutes ago."
Tensions were so high that more than a dozen Pembroke Pines police officers responded to the clubhouse. The department said no injuries were reported.
"One security guy — and he was one of the supervisors there — he was a big guy, and he grabbed this little old man and picked him up and threw him out into the street like he was a ragdoll," Hutchinson said. "I couldn’t believe it!”
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Most of the residents living in the 55 and older community are retired and say they simply cannot afford it. As it stands, some are just trying to make ends meet.
"They don't have no plan B. They are hardly making a living every month. To see how to buy food, how to do this, how to do that," Bressler said.
Century Village told NBC6 over the phone that they didn't have a statement.
