Videos Are Weapons in Surf City Feud

It started a year ago with complaints at the Harbour Vista condominium complex that a man was taking up too many parking spaces.

Then one resident's car was towed. Another had his car's tires slashed and motor oil dumped at his doorstep.

Now, the quiet Huntington Beach development crackles with the tension of a battlefield--and it's all caught on tape. Police are called to the complex almost daily--nearly 150 visits since January--to break up shouting matches.

Homeowners have sought temporary restraining orders against each other. A few have simply moved out. The situation has become so disruptive that real estate agents must disclose the neighborhood battles to potential buyers.

What set this feud apart is the weapon of choice: video cameras. The man at the center of the dispute has 15 cameras mounted inside his windows to record everything that moves outside his home. He carries a minicam and still camera around the complex whenever he leaves his home, frightening neighbors--and their children--who resent being videotaped.

Other neighbors have retaliated with their own video recordings, creating lens-to-lens showdowns in the condo common spaces peppered with cursing and shouting. There is now a library of videotapes--evidence that both sides use to show they are in the right.

"We can't focus on being normal individuals living in a community," said William McCord, the beleaguered president of the homeowners association. "Never in my wildest dreams would I think that I would have to spend 10 to 15 hours a week on this. I don't sleep anymore. It's killing my wife."

It's not illegal to videotape people in public, so authorities said they are powerless to resolve the dispute.

"Basically you have a group of people not getting along, and they're doing everything they can to irritate each other," said Huntington Beach Police Lt. J.B. Hume. "The videos we have seen have been taken to the D.A.'s office, and it was determined that no crime has occurred."

*

John Rogers had four cars. But he's entitled to use only two spaces in his condo complex's parking lot. It's been a touchy subject with neighbors ever since the 37-year-old man and his mother moved in three years ago.

A year ago, the condominium association board confronted Rogers about the problem. Rogers complained he was being singled out and accused neighbors of frequently parking illegally.