More Street Sweeping July 12 –July 23, 2010

There is going to be a second round of street sweeping later this month. Residential sectors will be swept from 8AM to 5PM. Sweep days are the next day after your trash day. To find your street sweeping dates, just locate what zone your street is in, and match it with the calendar. Monday sweep schedules are for the preceding Friday's trash day. For example, if you live on Atlantic Street, which has a Friday trash pickup, and you are located in Zone One, both sides of your street will be swept on Monday, April 26th.
Norman Street is officially Zone 2. We are scheduled for sweeping on Wednesday, July 21
* NEW THIS YEAR: ALL RESIDENTIAL AREAS WILL BE POSTED AS NO PARKING/TOW ZONE AREAS -CARS MUST BE REMOVED FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE STREET ON YOUR SWEEP DAY. There will be a concerted enforcement effort to keep cars off the street during posted sweeping times so that our street sweeping is effective. Please remember to move your car.
(Please note: Certain weather conditions prohibit the use of the street sweepers: during moderate to heavy rainfall and extreme cold temperatures, sweepers will not be able to operate. Please check www.salem.com for weather-related canceled sweeps and more information.)
There will be a concerted enforcement effort to keep cars off the street during posted sweeping times so that our street sweeping is effective. Please remember to move your car.

Since our entrance corridors have already been swept, residents will be able to use these main streets as alternative parking areas on the day of their neighborhood sweep.
The following streets are considered entrance corridors and can be used as alternative parking:
Loring Avenue, Lafayette Street,Bridge Street, Boston Street, North Street, and Essex Street (the portion from Boston Street to Washington Street).

Window Air Conditioners

Markwood Management is about to send letters to those people who have installed window AC units to let them know that the units are not permitted at 24 Norman. They will also be posting the building. Check your condo documents, nothing is allowed to hang out of the windows or from the sills, including air conditioners. If you are subletting, let your landlord know that they will need to get this fixed. If you take a look at the left hand side of the building you can imagine what it would look like if there were more window units. Markwood presumes that the window units have been installed because the in-the-wall AC units are no longer working properly. They suggest using Preferred Air (978-750-8282) and recommend them, but any licensed HVAC vendor is acceptable.

Water Quality Brochure

If you are poking around the front stairway, you may spy a pile of these brochures sitting on the floor. They are the Salem and Beverly Water Supply Board 2009 Water Quality Report.
It outlines where our water comes from, how it is processed, and most interesting of all, lists all of the levels of microbiological, inorganic chemical, and heavy-metal contaminants, including copper and lead, that are found in our drinking water. Pick one up. It makes for some interesting reading. On second thought, maybe you don't want to know...

Gardening Anyone?

Several people in the building have expressed interest in the possibility of starting a small garden in the area on the west (White Hen) side of the building. As you can see in the picture it is partially paved and largely unused. Markwood management is open to the idea, but a lot of questions would need to be answered first. It would likely be modeled on one of those urban community gardens like you see in Boston.



















The condo association would provide the space only, the individuals involved would be responsible for purchasing pots, soil, raised beds, and whatever else is required for a garden and maintaining it. Herbs vegetable, or flowers, maybe some tomato plants. The pots or raised beds would need to be move-able so that maintenance can access that area if they need to. Don’t know what the pest situation would be like either. I’ve never seen squirrels or chipmunks around the building, but you never know. We also need to figure out how much sun that area really gets. It seems like it gets a lot of afternoon sun. Getting access water might also be an issue as there don't seem to ba any outside faucets. I’ll keep you posted if and when this develops.
If you are interested or have any suggestions, please leave a comment or contact me.

Possible Parking Solution?

On a recent trip to New York City, I spied this contraption in the Chelsea area of the Village. It might be a possible solution to our ever-growing parking problems. It lifts the cars vertically. You can put a lot of cars into a very small space, although you need to remove the cars in the reverse order that they went in. It's a thought anyway...

Two Updates

The repairs to the water damage in the back hallway have been completed. The walls have been stripped, damaged wallboard replaced, skim-coated and painted. The repairs also include a new, more secure door to the roof. The workmen finished the end of last week.
























The bolt hole on the bicycle storage area wall has also been enlarged to better accommodate the bolt, and it now works smoothly.

Outside Storage Area

For those of you with bicycles, (or a desire to get one) you may be interested to know that there is a small storage area on the driveway side near the front of the building. The door has a combination padlock on it (contact one of the trustees or Markwood Management to get the combination).Because of the shared combination lock, it is still recommended that you have an individual lock for your bike if you are using the area.
There are some hooks on the ceiling for hanging bikes, and a wooden floor so that the area stays fairly dry. The light fixture is currently not working, so night-time use is not recommended.
It may be more convenient than storing your bike in your condo, at the bottom of the back stairwell, or in the space behind the laundry room.