Well duh.

If you've been reading, or talk to us about any of the happenings around here ever, then you've heard of Sad Santa.
To review- we started calling him Sad Santa because he always wore a red coat and a hat and has a beard and shuffles around like a sad puppy.
He grumbles. I don't think he has any teeth. With the amount of soda he drinks I'm not sure how he has any functioning organs but it sure does make him happy. God forbid the soda machine ever breaks. We'll find him down there hugging it.

He no longer grumbles outside of our window at odd hours and we've all become accustomed to each other so he's less bizarre. He's basically IS a shuffly puppy.
We've never been able to understand much of what he says other than "soda" or "quarters" or "helloooooo!" from across the parking lot.

And after 6 months of figuring this dude out we have confirmed that Sad Santa, (aka Warren) the guy nobody really talks to, the guy nobody can understand, the guy who does random stuff and doesn't always respond, communicates using friggin sign language.
He's signed to us several times recently. I don't know if he never did before but he does now.
Too bad nobody told us this a long time ago. I at least would have made sure to speak only while looking at him directly (because he can understand a lot that way) and I would have known why he was always using hand motions.
Geez. 

Did I mention that the water was turned off again the other day? I was covered with chlorine and was awaiting a shower. No biggie. I'm sure it's good for killing something once that stuff soaks in to your skin. Right? Science?

This is merely a summary.

But I think you'll be able to see a little bit of where we feel like maybe we're getting screwed over and that these people haven't the slightest idea what they are doing.

So, what's been up at the Suites, you may or may not ask yourself ever?

Our ceiling is sort of fixed. They were kind enough to fix the holes as we found them. Dennis took the time to actually take out all the wet and moldy stuff for us since the "professional" didn't do a damn thing. This left us with a hole about 5 feet wide by 8 feet long.

(I definitely recommend AVOIDING Fossil Creek Drywall. They did absolutely nothing to remove the wet insulation and didn't show up for 2 following appointments.)

The nice drywall guys showed up on time as planned, got supplies, and got to work. What a pleasant change. If I can find their name I'll gladly promote them.

The guy says to Dennis, like any guy would when fixing a giant drywall hole, "so we texture and paint and everything?" No. "Oh...why not?" ........You'll have to ask Krystal. (Psst. Since you don't want to ask Krystal, I'll tell you here-- it's not REQUIRED by code enforcement. So rather than having the guys who were already there finish the job the way it should be finished, they'd rather keep the couple hundred bucks for more important things like...our new security team, I guess? I'll go in to that later.) We have drywall and I can no longer feel the breeze or the rain coming from our ceiling. There is no doubt that there are many more leaks that we didn’t see or find but that’s their problem.

They claim they are fixing the roof soon. A contract has been signed. We’ll see what happens there.

It’s going to get noisy for the people on the 3rd floor. Here’s what I would do if I was in charge- sent a notice to everyone that there will be workers on the roof for this approximate amount of time. Apologize that there will be noise but clarify when, where, and for how long that will be.

Here’s what they do- It’s gonna be loud! You’re not even going to be able to handle it! We don’t know when. Don’t ask questions.

Since I’m not really sure how I could adequately go back and summarize what has been going on the past few months, I’m going to do so with quotes. Enjoy.

“I’m concerned that the roof is still leaking even after the patch job. There’s not much more we can do before the actual roof replacement that is still months out. “ (There was apparently many things they could do…like patch the other holes.)

“I know Lauren and Arin explained that we wouldn’t likely fulfill the year term on your lease because of the planned rehab.” (Absolutely incorrect.)

“Unfortunately, I don’t think the unit should be occupied until the roof is done.”

Krystal Erazo, March 23rd 2015

“I want to support you….”

“It would be stressful for anyone, and coming out of one stressful living situation to another is incredibly unfortunate.” (This one is just for humor’s sake since she’s since threatened to call the police because Jason was asking questions at a Community Meeting. Quite the community.)

Alma, March 25th

“I can’t guarantee against future water or damage or maintenance and replacement that will undoubtedly affect you and your unit.”

Krystal, March 26th

“We were never told that we would have to vacate the unit for any of the building construction. It seems that there was never any intention to allow us to stay as long as our lease stated. Please clarify if I misunderstand the situation.” (Limited response, as usual.)

KJ, March 26th

“Jason and Kathay are on an annual lease. I directed staff to communicate at lease up that the year was required because of the voucher, but that a mutual rescission was likely because of pending plans for building rehab. This was never communicated to Jason and Kathay, resulting in disappointment , frustration and lack of trust in LHA. Had they moved in with the idea of it being only temporary, the necessity of moving early may not have presented such a hardship. The miscommunication is moot now, because the lease was executed and is in full effect.”

Krystal, March 27th

“I really can’t offer a definitive and clear answer to if you can fulfill the term of your lease if the unit is not condemned.” (It was not condemned.)

Krystal, April 3rd

“…complaints and accusations toward staff will not be tolerated.”

Krystal, April 17th

April 20th- the Warranty of Habitability was sent. We would have sent it before but the numerous people we had talked to about our situation did not tell us it was something we actually needed to send.

“They certainly ought to be accommodating after all you've been through with this.”

Lee Dunham, our attorney, April 21st

“If unit fails inspection and landlord does not fix the issues, we will need for you to move…”

Luz, Boulder Housing Partners, April 22nd

“After speaking to Michelle (Code Enforcement) this morning we understand she is preparing to send the notice of violation in the next few days.

Since you have been unwilling or unable to fix the problem thus far, we would like to know what your intentions are for our unit.

Do you intend to fix the leak or do you intend to terminate our lease?”

KJ, April 21st (Limited response, not really answering any direct questions. As usual.)

“This circumstance with the unit and your lease is the result of a leaky roof, you haven't done anything wrong.”

Krystal, April 22nd

“There is currently a hole in the ceiling due to no fault of the tenants. LHA has said that they will not be fixing the hole.”

Lauren, MHP, April 22nd

“Yesterday, we received the Habitability request you sent by certified mail. Having received that, no further decisions or communications will be made by me without legal review.”

Krystal, April 23rd

*Note the change of tone and the world of new options that were opened up to us after submitting the Habitability request, and contacting BHP...thus putting the rent payments in jeopardy.*

“I have scheduled with Fossil Creek Drywall Inc, to replace the insulation and patch the ceiling on Tuesday, April 28 between the hours of 12pm and 4pm. I have asked that they do a very basic patch. The only real permanent solution is the roof replacement after which a more permanent repair will be completed.” (The guy cut out about an inch around the hole.)

Krystal, April 23rd

“…repairs can be made while tenants are in their unit.”

“We will be asking Landlord to repair the issue within 30 days…”

Luz, BHP, April 24th

“For clarification, are we to understand, per the repair notice from BHP, that we will not be asked to leave our unit and that we can fulfill the original lease?“

KJ, April 24th

“There is no need to relocate for this repair, there has never been any changes to your lease.”

Krystal, April 24th

“There is still much wet insulation in my ceiling.” (This is when Dennis came and cut out half of our ceiling because he “wanted it done” instead of waiting for the people to come back who did it wrong in the first place. Code Enforcement also returned to retest the ceiling. They had said it was “fine” the day before but didn’t actually check anything. It was still wet several feet out from where it was cut.)

Jason, April 28th

“I have scheduled Fossil Creek to come out to your unit Monday, May 11th between the hours of 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM to install new insulation, gypsum board, and fire tape for your ceiling.” (They never showed up.)

Manuel, May 7th

*Fossil Creek also failed to show up another time after this but I can’t find the exact date.

“To clarify the basic drywall patch that was completed last Wednesday completes the job. No paint, texture or other finish is planned for the patch. It is intended to be temporary.”

“You called last week to ask if you could paint the patch with paint that had been supplied. LHA won’t be contributing any resources for labor or materials. You are welcome to paint the patch if you’d like on your own.”

Krystal, May 21st

“I took the time to paint the ceiling. I cannot afford to have it properly textured and painted the right way. But I do take pride in where I live.”

Jason, May 22nd

And there’s OH SO MUCH MORE! It’s all just full of things they can’t do, things they don’t know, things that won’t work for us, and ABSOLUTELY NO-NONE-ZILCH accountability from anyone at this organization. It’s mind blowing.

It's the little things.

There are SO many other things happening at the Asylum right now that I wouldn't know where to start so here's a little bit of Saturday.

I parked up in the front of the building because I was going to load up some boxes to take to storage. I've done this, unfortunately, many times in the 2 months we've lived in this hell hole.
I walk in to get the cart and a lady asks me if I live there, and I said yes. She told me "You're not supposed to park there." I said "uh...I'm just going to load up some stuff."
"It doesn't matter. Alma says unless you're handicapped you're not supposed to park there. She says you have to park somewhere else. I got yelled at for it by Alma so I thought I'd tell you."
Instead of saying, "Well is Alma here right now?" I just said thanks.

Aaand since I don't care what arbitrary rules they have in place I went to my room, got my boxes on the cart and brought them back down to put in my car. Like I always do.
And do you know who was parked there in the place you're not supposed to park unless you're handicapped? Alma.
I don't even get a hello from the woman (because we're not allowed to speak to anyone who works at the building and they're not to speak to us....plus, rude) so I also did not get "yelled at" because that would have been absurd. Just like everything else that happens at the Asylum.

*****
On my way up Sad Santa was asking for 4 quarters. I didn't have any on me but since I could actually understand what he was asking for I told him I'd be right back down and I'd see if I had any.
I did but I need them for laundry. I grabbed some of my less useful change instead to give him. I can guarantee it was going in to the vending machines so it didn't really matter if it was quarters, unless he was going to do laundry....which I find unlikely.
It wasn't until I gave him the little bit of change that I realized he was asking to change a $1 coin for quarters. He tried to give me the coin but I told him to keep it since I don't need it and I wasn't sure I'd even given him a full dollars worth of change. I was pretty sure it was enough for a soda at least.
As I was walking out, a guy with a dog (who I'd seen walk away from Sad Santa in the parking lot and throw his hands up) was shaking his head saying "He always gets ya, that guy!"
Well he hadn't got me yet but at least this one time he wasn't asking for anything but an exchange.

*****

I also saw the angry kid and his angry mom from downstairs come out with their not at all angry dog that we hear get kicked on occasion. The dog looked untrained but healthy and happy so at least there's that. 

Nice(ish) while it lasted.

Say you're a landlord and someone needs repairs done in their home, what do you do?
You fix it.
OR, if you're the Longmont Housing Authority, you tell them they have to get out.

But I'll back up a bit. Last Tuesday or Wednesday, I think it was.

They've patched the roof a couple times I believe. I'm not sure they're very good at it but since I haven't been up there I don't know. Someone came to give an estimate for the ceiling repair. We took down the shower curtain so they wouldn't have to. We're thoughtful like that. We didn't put it back up because someone else was coming the next day to give another bid.

Then comes 3am.

Jason: Do you hear that?
Me: Yes...
Jason: What is it??
Me: I think it's the shower.
Jason: *up and about* It's not the shower!!
(The rest I'll not share as it's not very suitable for a family audience.)

We hadn't put back any of the buckets because nothing had been dripping. We didn't put back up the curtain because we were just going to have to take it down again.

Jason did, however, start working on one of his paintings that somehow ended up directly under the dripping water.

Delightful. The subject of the moist painting? The key to hell. It was very fitting to the rest of the week as it turned out.

 

This has all led to us being told that we'll have to leave if code enforcement determines that our unit is uninhabitable. They're also saying that we'd have to "vacate" in June when the roof is being replaced. This was never mentioned before.
I've asked 3 times what their understanding of our lease terms are but we get no reply.
I guess the Housing Authority doesn't put much stock in signing a lease.
"I know [2 staff members here] explained that we wouldn't likely fulfill the year term on your lease because of the planned rehab." Um...nope. We signed a lease. They signed a lease. There was no mention of "oh by the way, this is completely irrelevant." We wouldn't have signed it if that was the case.

Yesterday when it was snowy and rainy I assumed we'd have a leak. We didn't. Pleasant surprise. We're hoping maybe the patch has settled. In the meantime they're offering us a unit we can't actually fit in so we'll see what they decide for us since apparently we don't matter in the slightest.

I've asked what exactly is going to happen to the rest of the people living here while they "rehab" the building but I have received no answer. We're in a shit spot but at least we're able to function a lot better than 99% of the people here. They can't just be told to "vacate" their homes.

“The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” Prov 29:7

  

The love.

Today Ruby said that Jason and I reminded her of her daughter and son-in-law.
Why? "Because when you look at each other you can see the love & friendship between you."
And then she went to church. Of course. :)

Just a few minutes ago the stereo started playing for no particular reason. Interesting. 

Water water...nowhere.

I thankfully just got OUT of the shower but now...the water won't turn on in our apartment. So that's new. It's too bad the ceiling isn't overflowing anymore. Just kidding. That also sucks.
Nobody needs water on a Saturday morning, right? Sigh. I'll just brush my teeth in the parking lot or something.
If it was planned, a little notice would have been nice. But who knows what's going on.

The slamming of everything continues under my feet though. Old reliable.