![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Nov. 19th, 2001
In my sulking over light bills and missing games and unruly kitten and that Stalker right in the entrance to the Shelter in PE2 handing me my ass four times (I finally just ren from it today), I forgot all about the meteors. Someone send me a leftover meteor. A meteor doggie bag.
But I'm now almost done with PE2. After nearly a year. I suck.
But I'm now almost done with PE2. After nearly a year. I suck.
Posted to aptratings.com
Nov. 19th, 2001 12:18 pmWhen I first moved into my apartment at [Sarah's crappy apartment complex], all was peachy. But in the last couple of years, it has gone rapidly down the tubes.
First, the foundation of the building I´m in is in very sorry shape; huge cracks have sprouted in my walls, the tub tile is cracking, and bits of my balcony have fallen off. [SCAC] management swears that the foundation is fine, although they don´t hesitate to fix the foundations of the buildings containing the pricier 2- and 3- bedroom units.
Second, maintenance, such as it is, leaves much to be desired. Someone came in a couple of months ago to regrout my tub tile; all they did was squirt some caulk on it. Already, one of the tiles is beginning to pop loose again. And let´s discuss the laundry room: One laundry room for the whole complex, containing four washers (75 cents a pop) and four dryers (ditto); about half of which actually work as advertised. In the five years I´ve lived here, I have never once found all four washers and all four dryers in perfect working order at one time.
Third, I believe this is supposed to be a low-income housing community. My current monthly rent on a tiny 1-bedroom apartment: $410. How they expect me to pay this on the less-than-$16k yearly salary they require, and pay the light bill, and pay the phone bill, and buy groceries, and keep our old car running is beyond me.
Fourth, trash pickup (though, to their credit, it´s been good lately) has been iffy at times; they are supposed to pick trash up Monday, Wednesday, and Friday before 10AM. Sometimes trash has sat outside until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, sometimes it hasn´t been picked up at all, and when it´s left overnight, management invariably threatens the residents of that building with a $25 fine per bag, never mind the fact that the trash wouldn´t be sitting there if the maintenance staff had done its job and picked it up at the proper time. While we´re talking about trash, at one point the dumpster in the back of the complex--a huge, semi-trailer sized compactor thing--was literally overflowing with garbage, with a huge mountain of still more bags of trash piled up around it. After many irate calls to management, this was cleaned up.
Fifth: not since I was in the military have I had so many people coming into my dwelling without so much as notifying me if I´m not home. Even worse, in the last couple of weeks, someone was let into my apartment to install a fire extinguisher. This is fine. The fact that my other half´s class ring and most of my Playstation games came up missing afterwards is not. I can´t prove that these people stole our stuff, but I know they did, and I´ve heard similar accounts from other residents.
Sixth, some residents are endlessly harassed about leaving bicycles chained up outside, while management looks the other way if it happens outside one of the pricier units. I own two bicycles; I keep the good one inside and the old one outside, as there is no room for two bicycles in my apartment. At least once a week, I come home to a nastygram on my door threatening "further action" if the bicycle is not removed. I´d be happy to remove the bicycle from my balcony if bike racks, present in every single other aparment complex I´ve ever seen, were put in here.
Seventh, and most disturbing of all: this complex is a haven for gangs. Security is nonexistant, the main entry gate sticks open and is left that way for weeks at a time sometimes, pedestrian entry gates are often jammed open or otherwise tinkered with to keep them from locking, and lighting in the inside parking lot is abysmal. At least four times a year, I come home to a warning letter on my door about an armed robber or child molester or other such undesirable in the area. There have been break-ins into both apartments and cars, and I actually caught someone attempting to steal my bicycle right off my balcony in broad daylight, while a [SCAC] maintenance man stood down below oblivious to my yelling and running after the would-be thief. (I did get my bike back after a brief chase on foot, thanks).
About the only good thing about my apartment that I can think of would be insulation. I hardly have to run the heater at all in the winter, and there have been times where it´s been 30 degrees out and I´ve actually had to turn the AC on. Which saves me a bundle on my light bill in the winter, but it´s just not worth the rest of the mess.
In a nutshell, stay away from [SCAC]. If I could afford to right now, I´d bail.
First, the foundation of the building I´m in is in very sorry shape; huge cracks have sprouted in my walls, the tub tile is cracking, and bits of my balcony have fallen off. [SCAC] management swears that the foundation is fine, although they don´t hesitate to fix the foundations of the buildings containing the pricier 2- and 3- bedroom units.
Second, maintenance, such as it is, leaves much to be desired. Someone came in a couple of months ago to regrout my tub tile; all they did was squirt some caulk on it. Already, one of the tiles is beginning to pop loose again. And let´s discuss the laundry room: One laundry room for the whole complex, containing four washers (75 cents a pop) and four dryers (ditto); about half of which actually work as advertised. In the five years I´ve lived here, I have never once found all four washers and all four dryers in perfect working order at one time.
Third, I believe this is supposed to be a low-income housing community. My current monthly rent on a tiny 1-bedroom apartment: $410. How they expect me to pay this on the less-than-$16k yearly salary they require, and pay the light bill, and pay the phone bill, and buy groceries, and keep our old car running is beyond me.
Fourth, trash pickup (though, to their credit, it´s been good lately) has been iffy at times; they are supposed to pick trash up Monday, Wednesday, and Friday before 10AM. Sometimes trash has sat outside until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, sometimes it hasn´t been picked up at all, and when it´s left overnight, management invariably threatens the residents of that building with a $25 fine per bag, never mind the fact that the trash wouldn´t be sitting there if the maintenance staff had done its job and picked it up at the proper time. While we´re talking about trash, at one point the dumpster in the back of the complex--a huge, semi-trailer sized compactor thing--was literally overflowing with garbage, with a huge mountain of still more bags of trash piled up around it. After many irate calls to management, this was cleaned up.
Fifth: not since I was in the military have I had so many people coming into my dwelling without so much as notifying me if I´m not home. Even worse, in the last couple of weeks, someone was let into my apartment to install a fire extinguisher. This is fine. The fact that my other half´s class ring and most of my Playstation games came up missing afterwards is not. I can´t prove that these people stole our stuff, but I know they did, and I´ve heard similar accounts from other residents.
Sixth, some residents are endlessly harassed about leaving bicycles chained up outside, while management looks the other way if it happens outside one of the pricier units. I own two bicycles; I keep the good one inside and the old one outside, as there is no room for two bicycles in my apartment. At least once a week, I come home to a nastygram on my door threatening "further action" if the bicycle is not removed. I´d be happy to remove the bicycle from my balcony if bike racks, present in every single other aparment complex I´ve ever seen, were put in here.
Seventh, and most disturbing of all: this complex is a haven for gangs. Security is nonexistant, the main entry gate sticks open and is left that way for weeks at a time sometimes, pedestrian entry gates are often jammed open or otherwise tinkered with to keep them from locking, and lighting in the inside parking lot is abysmal. At least four times a year, I come home to a warning letter on my door about an armed robber or child molester or other such undesirable in the area. There have been break-ins into both apartments and cars, and I actually caught someone attempting to steal my bicycle right off my balcony in broad daylight, while a [SCAC] maintenance man stood down below oblivious to my yelling and running after the would-be thief. (I did get my bike back after a brief chase on foot, thanks).
About the only good thing about my apartment that I can think of would be insulation. I hardly have to run the heater at all in the winter, and there have been times where it´s been 30 degrees out and I´ve actually had to turn the AC on. Which saves me a bundle on my light bill in the winter, but it´s just not worth the rest of the mess.
In a nutshell, stay away from [SCAC]. If I could afford to right now, I´d bail.