Gardening!

I did a post last June about the possibility of doing a small garden area on the Seven-11 side of the building. The original post is here. It is now the time of year, with spring fast approaching, when it is time to revisit the subject. We have located these affordable, and movable bins at UrBin Grower that may be the perfect starting package for the "eager urban gardener". The website is here.











The kit comes with (2) 20x20x12 inch self-watering containers as well as 2 soil separators, 2 watering trays, 2 gallons of pumice, a set of seed trays, 4 gallons of dry coir with trace minerals, 1 bag of coir chips, and 1 brick of coir mulch. In short everything you would need to start with a small urban garden in which you could grow herbs, flowers, or vegetables such as tomatoes.
If you are interested, please contact me, the author of this blog, or Markwood Management.

This is Not Your Frat House

We have another WTF? winning moment.
This last weekend there were not one, but two large, very noisy parties on the second floor of 24 Norman Street. One was on Friday night, the other on Saturday night. They were so large, that they spilled out into the hallway, where people were found to be drinking, smoking, and making enough noise to wake people in the adjacent units, if not the entire floor. This would have been bad enough during early evening hours, but this party was in full swing at 2:30 a.m. Several complaints were logged by Markwood Management, from residents on all three floors of the building. There were also cigarette butts as well as other various items of trash strewn throughout the stairs and hallways.

It cannot be stressed enough that this is a serious violation of condo bylaws, (as well as just common consideration for your neighbors), and there will be serious consequences for anyone, owner or tenant, who violates these laws. There are prohibitions against making any loud noise or disturbance between 12 midnight and 9 a.m. There are also prohibitions against smoking or drinking in common areas (i.e., hallways, stairwells, laundry room, outside of your unit, but inside the building) at any time.
If you lack the sense or consideration that would tell most people that having a loud party at 3 a.m is a bad idea, know this: this is not your frat house or college dorm. This is not your friend's house in the suburbs. This is a tightly-packed, small building in which sounds and smells travel easily down the halls and through the floors. In short, this is not a building suited for late-night parties.

If you are an owner, re-read your condo documents. If you are subletting to a tenant, it is your responsibility to inform them of the bylaws governing the building. "I didn't know" is not a viable excuse. If you live in the building, you should be aware of the bylaws.

If that isn't enough for you, remember that your careless behavior and "F*ck you" attitude is not engendering any good feelings or generosity from your neighbors.

Markwood Management has the right and the will to levy stiff fines for these violations.

And last, you may be subject to a visit by the local constabulary if it happens again.

Remember, a little consideration goes a long way.

About Getting Towed

Recently I had a conversation with a resident who had his car towed from the side lot.
He was understandably upset about it, especially since the car was stuck there because of a dead battery. He asked what the policy was. The policy is clearly stated on the bulletin board and in the condo documents, however, here it is. The side lot is intended for temporary parking. Many people seem to have varying ideas about what temporary means. That means drop off and pick up, most commonly for things like groceries, packing for a trip, things of that nature. Think of it like the drop off area at an airport. You don't park so much as hover. You should really try to limit your time there to no more than 20 -30 minutes. Obviously, many people do not appreciate this or stick to that timeframe.
The time limit is not arbitrary. We have 39 units in the building. Some residents have more than one car. It is small space. If you hog it as your personal parking area, it is generally going to be an inconvenience to somebody else. In short it pisses people off, and you are begging to be towed.

There are some exceptions. Vendors doing work in the building (cleaners, carpenters) sometimes park there for several hours. People moving into the building obviously will be there longer. People with health issues that limit their mobility, or people with disabled cars. However these things are not a free pass to abuse the parking area. It is that person's responsibility to call Markwood Management and inform them of these issues before the tow truck arrives.

Generally as trustees, we look for people who are either habitually abusing the privilege, (you know who you are) i.e., parking in the area for several hours repeatedly over several days), or have left their vehicle parked there for more than a day. We also are especially stringent on Tuesdays, when we need the side lot open for the trash pick up to access the dumpster.
If you are parked out there late on a Monday night, or early Tuesday morning, you will probably be towed. We also look for people who use the area their personal driveway, without regard for the people living in the building, people who say, park there and play their vehicle radios at high volume.

As with most of the building issues, a little thought and a little courtesy go a long way.

Parking Meeting

Some of you may be aware that trustee Nate Gravel has been spearheading an initiative to reduce the parking fee we pay to the city of Salem. There is a Parking Board meeting on this subject being held at the Salem City Hall annex at 120 Washington St., Room 314 Washington Street this Monday, February 7th at 4:30. It is open to the public. If you can make it to the meeting, please do. The presence of more owners and residents at the meeting may lend our argument more credence. If we pay less for our parking, (which comprises almost half of our total annual budget)
we may be able to avoid raising our condo fees.

2011 Annual Meeting

The 2011 Annual Meeting of the 24 Norman Street Condominium Trust will be held Monday, January 24, 2011 at 6:00 pm in the Heritage Room of the Heritage Plaza Condominium, 10 Norman Street (next door, lower level)Salem, Massachusetts.

Look for the official meeting package and proxy in your mailbox. It contains information for your review before the meeting. You will be electing three trustees for one-year terms. George Courage, Nate Gravel, and Jessie Zuberek have volunteered to serve as trustees. If you are interested in adding your name to the ballot, please contact Markwood Management no later than January 21, 2011, and be prepared to present yourself at the meeting.

Please make every effort to attend the 2011 Annual Meeting, as important information will be discussed and your input will be greatly appreciated.

Please direct any questions to Markwood Management. Thank you!

WTF? Situations

I hate sounding like the resident curmudgeon, but there have been some things happening around the building lately that indicate some tenants here at 24 Norman Street have a different standard of behavior when it comes to living in a condo . Things that make me say "WTF?".Here are a few "WTF?" examples from the last few weeks:


WTF? #1 The Front Door
























The front door key code entry system broke the week after Christmas. A notice was posted soon afterwards informing people that they would need to use their manual front door key.
Key? What's that?
Apparently many residents did not have keys, or had never bothered to get one. In spite of the fact that Markwood's phone number is clearly posted in several places in the building, and the fact that they offered to distribute keys to tenants for free, the front and back doors were found propped open, the locks tampered with and jammed, and on one occasion even taped open, (which created an unnecessary security and safety issue) because...people couldn't be bothered to take 5 minutes and call Markwood for a key? Seriously?



WTF? #2 The Dumpster























Unless we miss a pickup for some reason, there is generally a lot of unused space in the dumpster on any given week, however you would never know it to look at it. It is mostly at the back of the dumpster. If people would take a little more care in where they place their trash inside the dumpster and make sure that it is distributed to the back first, rather than piling up in the front, then we won't have it looking like it did this week. Because this looks so attractive...to rats. Also, kudos to whoever left the giant cardboard boxes sitting on the ground.

WTF? #3 The Recycling
























I have already posted about breaking down cardboard boxes to fit in the recycling bin, some people are actually doing it. I saw someone tearing up a cardboard box to fit it into the recycling bin just last week and almost wept for joy. Many of you however, are still not getting the message. You need to pick up and take care of your own trash... so that it doesn't blow all over the sidewalk and the street and make the building look like a college dorm after an all-night kegger.

WTF? #4 The Laundry Room

















If you are planning on doing several loads of laundry, please plan on sticking around the building until the laundry is done. There are only 6 machines for 39 units. (Do the math)
There is nothing more frustrating than finding all the machines full of clothes in the morning, and then finding those same clothes in the same machines in the evening.
It seems like some of you are putting in a load before you go to work and not checking them until you come home at night, or return from an extended vacation abroad. That leads to scenes like this one. However if you don't mind your clothes being handled by strangers, or tossed into a damp, mildew-ey pile, please continue this practice.

It doesn't take much extra effort to make a big difference in how the building looks and feels. Maybe an extra five minutes of effort or thought.
You may be thinking "What's the big deal? We have maintenance people and trustees to take care of these things", or "If it's outside of my unit, it's not my problem", but those attitudes are short-sighted. Do you care how where you live looks? Do you care if it feels clean, neat and well maintained? Sure, we pay people to clear snow, do landscaping, pick up trash, put out the recycling, vacuum, mop, and do general repairs, but they can't make the building feel like a decent place to live if we, the tenants who live here, demonstrate that we don't care about it through our careless behavior.

Front Door Update

A new key-code system was installed on Monday. The new buzzer panel is up and running. Take note that there are a couple of changes, due to the new system:

Press "9" on your (residents') phone to buzz someone in
Press "0" before entering each resident's personal entry code
It appears that all phone numbers, cell and land-line, regardless of area code, can be used.

You will also note that one can now scroll through resident names on the panel. Markwood will continue to publish the directory as the electrician told us that scrolling was a bit awkward.

Carol from Markwood Management will be at Norman Street on Thursday and will be testing the operation of the system to see if a letter containing more information about its operation should be sent to the owners and residents .

Please let us know if the front door is finicky.