This blog was created because, after speaking to many tenant's at the Jefferson, we thought that there was a need for our voices to be heard by a management team that often seemed to turn a deaf ear to our requests and concerns. Later, tenant's with similar concerns at the Axiom asked if they could be a part of the blog too. We were glad to oblige.
It has been our goal to impress, upon all parties concerned, the potential for a mutually beneficial relationship between management of these two building's, its tenants, and this blog. As more and more of you weigh in on the various topics that concern you, we have gained some insight into your major concerns and will do our best to air them in this forum and to make them available to the front office.
And now for the important part...
During the last few days I have gotten a good amount of e-mail, no less than a dozen, from tenants wondering what went on in the building during several nights in early April. The account, to the best of my knowledge, goes like this:
On Monday the 5th an assault occurred that sent one person to the hospital and at least two to jail. It began with an all-day party party on the roof hosted by some tenants from the seventh floor. Evidently its was serious enough that there was blood splattered throughout the hallway.
On Tuesday the 6th a "repoman" slipped into the parking garage to repossess a resident's car by waiting on the street and following someone into the garage. This isn't a difficult task in this building. In fact it's quite easy. Are you safe in this building? Is your car safe? Think about that the next time you write a check to management for parking.
On Wednesday the 7th a stranger followed a resident into the building at approximately 8pm and an "incident" ensued between the intruder and the female resident. There are many single woman in this building that must find this quite disturbing. That isn't to say that this should be less disturbing to ANY tenant in the building. This is supposed to be luxury building and the price of our units sure reflect that, but is safety considered a "luxury? "
One tenant mentioned that "all day Saturday the loading dock door was up and the supposedly locked door to the building was left propped open." I witnessed this myself, as I walked through that door to empty my recycling. The door didn't appear "propped" open to me though. It didn't seem to me to be closing properly.
This same tenant mentioned that "drunken baseball fans leaving the Nats game felt free to wander into the loading area and drop off their empties." Living so near to the park I think we can all expect that this might become a usual event. In that case we, the tenants, and especially the management, had better keep this in mind and take precautions.
So what should be done?...
I would like to encourage everyone to let management know how concerned you are about these and other, similar events that have transpired in our/your home, and to encourage them to take steps to insure that these types of things don't happen again. Alternately, I would like all of the tenants of our two buildings to feel free to air your concerns through this blog and I will do my best to see that they are taken seriously by management. I believe it is read with some degree of regularity by management, so they should have a window into your thoughts. If they are not reading this blog regularly they are foolish not to.
It has been said many times on this blog and in the hallways and elevators of these buildings by many others, that some of our less responsible tenants have used "our home" as a place to play, to party, to extend their college days...or whatever. Well it's time for management to identify these folks and send them packing before a really serious event occurs. How about a dead body? Perhaps someone drunk falling off the roof. Would that do it? Perhaps a lawsuit? Is that what it's gonna take?
I don't mean to be overly dramatic but what is the logical conclusion to a bunch of drunken knuckleheads on top of a twelve-story building. It would be a good idea for management to learn how to identify these folks beforehand--and it shouldn't be hard--and to make sure they don't get into a lease here, and if they do, to let them know up front that this building is home to many people and not an opportunity for a few to use this building as their party pad. Frankly I don't care what anyone does in the privacy of their home as long as it doesn't interfere with or endanger any other tenant but clearly this is not what is happening. These types of events shouldn't be happening here.
These are a couple of my personal experiences...
I've been to the pool exactly three times and exactly three times a party has broken out literally around me with the area near me commandeered by a half dozen or more people complete with their own entertainment system, beer, bottles of wine, and booze. Each time it was the same people.
I was playing pool with my girlfriends son once and a fellow comes up to me and tells me I have to leave because they have the clubroom rented out for a party. We were almost finished with our game and I told him so but this person decides I need to stop my game NOW. Well I wasn't about to get into an altercation with someone in front of a young boy, let alone someone a foot taller than me, so I packed it up, but it didn't make me feel very good about the security in this building or the people it allowed in. This guy wasn't even a resident. Haven't seen before nor since.
A few further points...
Are the people entrusted to manage this building in way over their heads? Are they prepared for the level of troubles that can occur in this area? I grew up here and I remember what this area once was. It's cleaned up pretty well now, but I know this building is full of people who come from all over the country and have no idea what SE Washington used to be. Do you know that DC was for some time the murder capital of the country? This area has been polished up a bit but a lot of desperate folks still live around us in the immediate area. Still it seems that our trouble is coming from within.
I would like for management to create a letter with details of the events that occurred this past week, explain what they are doing to correct these problems and to deliver one under each tenants door, just s if it were a late rent notice. this needs to be standard operational procedure--to keep tenants informed about what goes on in this building. Anything less would be negligent.
I have the contact information for the senior regional Director's at Greystar and I might publish it and encourage readers to lodge their concerns with this person, but I think it's worth giving the internal group here the opportunity to do the right things. I know that the front desk is being a little more vigilant about asking guests to sign in and that's a good start, but much more needs to be done.
Management needs to find some way to weed the assholes out of this building!
The letter we received did not contain enough information for residents to realize the true threat and change their behavior when entering the building accordingly. I always hold the door for someone directly behind me - I was taught it's rude not to. But when I found out that one incident was a serious assault and another could have been (and may have involved a knife, if rumors are true), I decided that I will risk rudeness for safety. More detailed information should have been provided so people are fully aware of what has been going on around them. It is all of our responsibility to be vigilant about everyone's safety.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, I found the woman who has the front desk shift Sunday morning to be sleeping for the third time in a row. Even though she was snoring, and didn't awake even when I went behind her station to get my paper, I still had sympathy for her - it's a tough job. But with the recent incidents, we just can't have a sleeping concierge. They must not only be awake, but taking IDs of visitors and enforcing the 3 visitors per resident rule, no matter what time of day.
With the summer coming, the noise, lack of respect for the property, and violent incidents only have the potential to get worse if not addressed immediately. The problem-residents clearly don't take the front office seriously - perhaps putting them on notice in writing that they are on probation would help? And terminating leases for repeat offenders (three strikes)?
My lease is up for renewal shortly, and I am facing a hike in rent. I will not pay 10% more for rent when I feel less safe than ever in my own home - hell, I may not stay with the same rent at this rate.
Same song, different verse.
ReplyDeleteThis happened last summer and was just as unacceptable then as it is today. And just like last year, I'm not holding my breath that the problem will be dealt with swiftly.
I'd like to know if the person who invited these people into our building, and assaulted tennants, is being evicted. I don't feel safe in the building anymore.
By management saying 'lock your doors', that's not a solution to the problem. It's a cop-out. The solution is evicting tennants who are the root of such issues and hiring off-duty police to monitor the common areas. We pay rent, we need to feel safe and secure in the building.
I know that the management lives in the building, what if it were them who was assaulted or woken in the middle of the night because there's blood all over the hall? Unacceptable.
In response to the events of last week, I sent a letter to the building management. I also sent a copy to the regional manager of Greystar Management, as well as the regional Manager for JPI (building owners). It is only fair that all the companies involved in this property be held responsible for what is happening in our place of living.
ReplyDeleteI made sure to emphasize that as a single woman living in the building, I deserved to know what was going on in order to keep myself, and my apartment safe. I also mentioned that if security is not increased, or that there is not a real explanation of what has been going on. I will terminate my lease, and will not pay any fines associated with breaking my lease, because they had violated their end of our agreement.
I also let them know that I understood (I work with law enforcement) that there may be ongoing investigations and that they may not be able to respond directly yet. But that they should tell the residents that instead of fabricating stories regarding what really happened around the building.
I hope each reader takes the time to send these same concerns not only to building management, but to the managers of the management company and the building owners.
Clearly this is an issue of great importance to the tenancy, and rightfully so.
ReplyDeleteI have long lamented the fact that the Graystar managed buildings designate their buildings as "Luxury" apartments, but granite counters does not a luxury-building make! So often it's the intangibles that really make a building a luxury building. You will find many of the older upper Northwest apartments have this down, but I'm sure they have their problems as well.
Our management clearly lacks some of those intangibles, but who knows, perhaps they don't have the support of the parent company either? A number of months ago I posted a comparison of apartmentratings.com sites from a number of Graystar buildings across the country and the tenant complaints were virtually the same. It appears that this fish rots from the head.
Regardless, assuring the safety of the tenancy is a basic and very critical role of building management, and in all fairness I'm sure that's a tough task in a building of this size, but it IS incumbent upon them to do their best to put in place measures that best insure that goal. "Lock you doors" is really not sufficient. Anyone who really wants to get through your door will find a way. I can just imagine how frightening it would be to have someone trying to enter your apartment.
Aside from complete strangers entering the building this problem however, cannot be laid completely at the doorstep of the leasing office. It is also the responsibility of tenants to act appropriately. I'm really not privy to the details of this incident on the 7th floor, but I can't help but wonder if alcohol was at the root of this problem.
With a building of this size it’s hard to know what all of your neighbors look like so it’s probably not a good idea to allow anyone in behind you whom you do not recognize.
One issue that I’ve only touched on in the past, but one in which I believe is crucial, and certainly relevant, is the clubroom usage.
It is absolutely ludicrous that the clubroom can be rented out to a tenant and then packed with strangers who have absolutely no ties to this building. There is already a history of trouble coming from that arrangement in the past. I think that IF the clubroom is to be rented out for non-building sanctioned events, it should have a restriction as to how many people are allowed in there and the number should be intimate—say no more than 25 people.
More weekend nights than not, that clubroom is pumping with a bunch of people who don’t belong here and who could provide a potential hazard to the tenants in the building. Pour some alcohol on a bunch of partying strangers and you have the potential for disaster.
It’s my belief that renting that room out is unfair to the tenancy. Why should any area, supposedly designated as an “amenity,” be off limits just because someone plunked down enough cash to restrict the rest of the building for their “private” party? This is clearly a moneymaking venture with the residents of the building only a secondary concern. I think a truly secure building wouldn’t allow such a thing—in fact, once that party room is rented and the staff has left for the day, there is no one to monitor the behavior of the attendees. Certainly that isn’t something that should be put upon the concierge. I think this is one move that management could make to beef up security in the building. Now don’t get me started on the roof!
To help put people's minds at ease...the tenant who had the guests who were responsible for the incident is no longer living in the building.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who is renting the party room could easily roam around the hallways. These party room rentals should include security stationed in sight of the room for the entirety of the party.
ReplyDeleteSigns or a schedule should be posted stating when it will be unavailable.
Stronger security is needed at the parking garage. It is way too easy for ANYONE to get followed in. How about an electronic arm that can only raise with a fob?
In light of all the events over the past year, which I too have endured, I do have to say that with the crack-down of tenants signing-in their guests, only having 3 guests and having security who lives in the building (or so I heard), things seem to be more peaceful over the past few months. Thank you for implementing what is necessary.