Thursday, May 21, 2009

Door 3

Since the last post, Housing has come over and cleaned up the heap of asphalt. Thanks OHC.

The Courtyard


Five seconds ago Madelaine came and got bags for some of the tenants who are cleaning up. The leaves in the court yard near the lounge will be history before you get his blog. Thanks guys! And thanks to Madelaine - At her own expense she planted some flowers near the little church in the court yard. Now if we can get the squirrels to leave them alone..............

The Parking lot near Door 2

Thanks to Pat and Frank, the front is clean. They might be seniors and they might not be in the best of health but they are good tenants who do their share to keep our home as tidy they can. Not a mean feat when one considers the wind in the area and the few badly behaved tenants who think the rest of the tenants are their own personal maid service and throw their garbage on the ground - even when they are standing right beside a garbage can.

Pat and Frank - you guys are real gems!

Housing - you really do need to put 'house broken' on your list of criteria for getting an apartment here.

Speaking of broken

The doors to this building are all in various stages of broken. Unless someone wants to go back to when this building was erected to get their pound of flesh from the original builders, trying to get a pound of flesh from tenants who find themselves on the wrong side of a stuck door is pretty low. It is not Housing's fault and it is not all the tenant's fault. The building is sinking and it does not take a rocket scientist, or in this case, an engineer, to know that sinking puts mechanical fixtures out of order. And it has done this to our four doors. Sometimes they stick and won't open. I could be wrong but I don't think so but the sinking is also the reason for the cracks that are constantly happening on that side of the complex. Me thinks you need an engineer to find a way to stop it or slow it down if, in fact, that is even possible or economic.

Right now there is a rumour going around that one of the seniors here has been fined for shaking the door when it would not open. I sure hope it is just a rumour. Particularly since we are getting very little justice with our tenant complaints. Well maybe we are and maybe we are not but since Housing people like to hide behind the word "Confidential" we don't really know. You folks at Housing really need to learn the difference between 'confidential' and 'secret' and secrecy is never good outside of war zones and wartime espionage. If someone has been caught for trashing our building, we have a right to know and arrest is a public thing - nothing confidential about it. If they have not been arrested, then we do not have justice. In which case, how about an update. Either way, since the complaint about the trashing is ours and maybe yours, we really need to know that something is being done.

If the above about the senior and the door is rumour, then something needs to be done to put it to sleep. There is already way too much hate and distrust without rumours creating more. If it is not a rumour then I think we should know why this particular incident has gotten action but our complaints, some which go back four and five years, have apparently been ignored. Tenants are not cars on an assembly line. They are people with feelings. If your luck takes a nose dive, they could be you. Not all of us are here because it was planned this way.

And it is easy to update us. Just respond on this blog and I will see that it is posted on the board and in the lounge.

Friday, May 15, 2009


The trouble with saying 'to hell with you folks" is that I still live here and I still want to live some place that is clean and comfortable and safe, so whether you like what I say or what I do or not, I am still going to do it. Sorry if you ever thought what you do in the hallway is private - it isn't and never was a place where anyone could expect 'privacy'.

Door 3

The picture above was taken outside of door 3. During the day and especially during the spring and summer months, this door gets a lot of traffic. This mess you see has got to go!

I have no idea who put it there - I am not all that interested in playing the 'Blame Game.' I am more interested in playing the "Let's get it fixed up" game. And what is it?? It is a pile of asphalt that is ugly and rough and when it gets hot, it will be a sticky black mess that will get tracked into the apartment building and the carpets and the tiles in our apartments. It is also an accident looking for a place to happen. Someone is going to trip on it and go flying and break a leg, an arm or worse. It is not in the interest of tenants or Ottawa Housing to leave it there. Tenants could get hurt. Housing could get sued.

I know that our Maintenance men have been kept busy trying to stay ahead of the notorious 'hole puncher'. Seems to me that this particular sticky problem is something perhaps a couple of our bigger, stronger tenants might get some satisfaction out of fixing up. But to do that we would need the proper tools. This is not my forte but some sort of heavy duty scraper? And then something that is capable of washing the remaining tar remnants away.

This is not a job that can wait much longer - it is soon going to get hot and this mess will be that much more difficult to clean up and, most likely, a good deal more expensive to clean up.

The Hole Puncher

While he has toned down his nasty deeds, he has not stopped. There are more holes on floor 2 and 3. I know I keep hearing from OHC that they are working on this, I can only hope you are getting somewhere. Again I strongly recommend screening - with an IQ of at least 50 and some house training as your criteria.

Some Notes of Interest

Gail is back from the hospital and looking pretty good. Gained a few pounds which looks very good on her!

Walking around the building is getting like walking through a wild life park - well maybe that's an exaggeration but this week I have seen a wild turkey and a cute little rabbit on top of the usual collection of squirrels and birds. The Cardinals have been out singing their little hearts out and adding a flash of colour to the trees. And I do believe there is a hawk or two coming by for a pidgeon pie breakfast too.

The Tenant's Association will be slowing down on some things for the summer so check the notices they put on the various boards to be sure the activity you are interested is is still happening or not. If you happen to see the dude who keeps cleaning tenant notices off the boards, you could call Al or Florence at Housing and tell them who and how you know. The only ones being hurt with this nonsense are other tenants who looked for notices about taxes and found it gone or who were trying to sell or buy something and found their notices torn down. It is in YOUR interest to help us find out who this is and report them. Do not waste your time fighting with them; just report them.

There have also been a few people complaining that their laundry has been stolen. Here again, you have to call. Make a note of the times and the place so that Housing can go back to the films to find them. It is unreasonable to expect anyone to be sitting watching those cameras 24 hours a day, every day. You have to help too. This goes for anything - deliberate damage, theft and etc. One thing I can assure you of is that your name will never be mentioned. "Confidential" is Al's very favourite word.

Bed Bugs

Think this is an Ottawa Housing Problem? an Ontario problem? maybe a Canadian problem? Think again! and check this out:-
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090515/pl_mcclatchy/3234191

Monday, May 4, 2009

The Last Post

Well this has been quite a week.

Housing finally came up with a local newsletter full of all manner of hopeful fixes and changes. The holes are well on the way to being fixed. The grounds are relatively tidy though they could be better.

And I was treated to a half hour long monologue trashing all the things I have tried to get changed - the drug addicts, the vandalism, the lack of communication from Housing and the deteriorating sense of safety and security.

I am still waiting for the contract for the phone. To correct the present situation, a letter off the top of my head will not do. It needs the accompanying documentation. Lots of firey words at the meeting about it but not one of you has done anything towards getting it settled - which means no one wants to get off their duff and find the paperwork required.

So, I am backing off! Quitting! Call it what you want. If you are a tenant and experience noise late at night, holes in the walls, theft, or anything illegal - take it to someone else or go sit on the swing and complain to each other and badmouth each other.

Have a good life and remember, in case of rape - lie back and enjoy it. After all, the efforts made to make this a safe place are not good. They take away your privacy! In case of theft, be kind and give willingly. After all, the efforts made to make this a safe place are not good. They take away your privacy! Clearly some people here think privacy in a hallway (???) is more important than safety. Then go sit with everyone else and complain - around here this is the next obvious move! Just do not come to me. I think you are illogical and foolish.

This was once a very nice property. You have turned it into a slum. If you did not punch holes in the wall yourself, by not doing anything to stop it, you are just as responsible for the slum as the drug addicts and/or hole punchers who did. Small bloody wonder that Ottawa Housing does so little. What a greedy, selfish and ungrateful lot you are!