IPNTA
Newsletters
November 2005
Report on Building Services: Rats, Pigeons, Elevators...and much more
IPNTA’s Building Services Committee (BSC) monitors the delivery
of services by management to tenants. The disruptions of the last few
years, including elevator and window replacement, balcony and plaza renovation,
and the renovation of vacant apartments, along with reduced maintenance
staff, make our job feel like swimming upstream, but if swimming upstream
makes changes, that’s just what we’ll do.
Our tenants have experienced inconvenience to the breaking point. Management
needs to hire enough staff to supervise and execute renovations while,
at the same time, provide daily maintenance of services so that tenant
quality of life is not reduced.
Currently, one Stellar management person is in charge of both jobs,
and though he is working hard and tries to accommodate our requests, he
is doing double duty. We have requested additional supervisory staff and
may need to take stronger action to get it. Remember two years ago and
our revolving doormen? It was a member of the BSC who organized the tenant
petitions that led to a return to our regular doormen. (Soon after, Mike
Grasso, head of security who came up with the revolving doormen concept
was let go.) People power.
At present, and until the underlying problem of insufficient staff is
remedied, a member of our committee is in almost daily contact with management
to address problems as they arise. In addition, the committee meets on
a monthly basis with Debbie Dolan, Tobias Sahl, Vinnie Hernandez, and
Bill Wallace to make sure that ongoing problems are dealt with in a timely
fashion.
A few of the recent problems have been:
Rodents: If a tenant complains about rodents, and management
doubts the tenant, we don’t take no for an answer. We were hands
on with a couple of apartments that needed holes repaired. We are currently
working to address a serious rodent problem at the pizza store near N.
Moore.
Pigeon poop: We have heard the tenants’ many complaints
and have worked with management to arrange for pigeon deterrents to be
placed on the roofs of the townhouses.
Townhouse lighting: Many of the townhouses have received new
exterior lights. Other related problems are being addressed.
Plaza repair: Who can say which of the renovations is the most
intrusive, but our townhouse neighbors on the North Plaza have been enduring
a lot of noise and dust. (The townhouses are ably represented by their
VP, Manuel Cabrero, whose report is also in this newsletter.) The BSC
regularly tours the plazas to ensure compliance with procedures entailing
covering and hosing down dust as well as access during renovations.
Differential heating for different faces of towers: Winter
is coming, and we are asking management to supply uniform heating throughout
the complex.
Balcony Renovation: Balcony renovation has been completed at
310 and has begun at 40. The evolution of how renovation has progressed
illustrates the effectiveness of our committee. When renovations began
on the south face of 310, the entire bank of tenants—over 200 apartments--were
told in May to remove all articles from the balconies. They were told
that repairs would last at least 8 weeks—in fact, they lasted longer—that
there was no way to notify single lines in order to reduce inconvenience
and waiting times (who wants to live with porch furniture and plants for
two months?), and they were given few guidelines on protecting against
dust. Tenants were angry; many refused to comply, and at the low point
of our dealing with management, many tenants received a threatening note
from management’s lawyer. The BSC took immediate action on that
one, and all notes from management regarding repairs pass through our
committee. (It’s important to state that, from the get go—even
as procedures were bumpy, individual reps of management and maintenance
provided help for tenants needing assistance in removing terrace articles.)
The BSC worked all summer to iron out the other difficulties. By the
time work began on the west face, one line at a time was alerted, there
were more guidelines in place for dust protection, tenants complied more
quickly thereby speeding up repairs, and inconvenience lasted about 3
weeks, not 3 months. The operation is running even more smoothly at 40
thanks to Vicki Green.
Renovation of new apartments: Some floors are on their fifth
renovation. (There were three in the past year on my hall, so I know first
hand what it’s like.) For a while, the BSC had guidelines in place
to reduce tenant inconvenience. These faded over time, and we are currently
revving thom up. They include: timely notification of renovations to apartments
on either side and above and below the target apartment, daily vacuuming
of carpets around apartment being renovated, and compliance with building
codes. (Try taking a nap on Sunday to be awakened by cannon fire next
door. We are vigilantly working to reduce such aberrations.) We are currently
trying to arrange the shampooing of carpets after all renovations on a
floor are completed to take care of the ground-in dirt and mildew from
leaks created when workers leave water faucets on.
Elevators: 310 and 80 are just emerging from a month of reduced
elevator service with one elevator down and others in continuous use by
maintenance and workmen. The rush hours of 8 to 8:30 in the morning have
been maddening for tenants who have to get to work or school. Now that
all elevator banks have been restored to service, management’s guidelines
are: 1) no workmen doing renovations are to use any elevator but the one
designated for their purpose, and doormen are required to make them adhere
to that guideline, and 2) building maintenance, i.e., trash collection,
which ties up another elevator line, will not take place before 9:30 when
the morning rush is over.
This is just a brief summary of our interactions with management on your
behalf. Those of you who have contacted us know that we get back to you.
If you have any problems that fall into the category of building services,
first, call maintenance and try to get a work order. If you cannot get
satisfactory results, call Tobias Sahl in management’s office. If
you need more assistance, please drop a note into your lobby box (with
your contact info so we can call you) or e-mail vclammer@aol.com or vicki40harrison@aol.com.
We can’t work miracles, but we can swim upstream.
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