Tenants group

Look. I have to keep my ghostly appearance up, so I'm gonna continue maintaining my anonymity, but if tenants want to use this site to form a meet up, happy hour, whatever, I will be happy to facilitate that. I've never been to the Courtyard down the street, but they probably have a bar or something where people can meet and talk about making this joint a better place. It is our HOME after all. Just let me know. Send an e-mail to capyards@gmail.com with your thoughts.

Dear Door Slammer

I discovered that if you close your door gently when you leave that it hardly makes a noise at all!! Yeah really. You don't have to fly out the door leaving a full-on slam as you hit the bars.

Maybe you haven't experimented with this but it REALLY works.

Here's an idea. How about thinking of your neighbors for one freaking minute and NOT slam your door as you leave for God knows where.

I know it might hurt that bulbous little brain of yours to put it in gear, but if you just think for a moment I'm sure it will make sense to you. Just be courteous. Think of someone else just for a moment. We're not all slapping our livers around on the weekend.

Have you re-upped?

I'm curious... Has anyone signed a lease for an additional year? Are you paying the introductory price or the full price?

I know how I feel about it. I'm ok here at the current rate, but it won't be worth it at the full rate and paying for the garage. I will bolt if that rates don't stay the same.

The person that showed me my apartment is no longer here, but she sold it as being a pretty hot destination. I don't blame her at all. It looked like that would be the case for a while, but boy-o-boy did they put the breaks on around here!

It's strange. The Waterfront seems to be moving forward with its plans. The arena stage, apartments and condos... a mile down the road however, at Navy Yards it's a different story. What's with that?

Hey Stink Ass! Wipe down that exercise machine

I guess it's too much to expect someone who doesn't know much about etiquette to know anything about gym etiquette, but protocol in such instances is to wipe down the exercise machines after you finish using them. This is called Gym Etiquette. All the gyms have it--except ours evidently. From what I have noticed it's more the exception than the rule that someone actually uses the wipes provided in the gym to wipe the machines down. Why else do you think they're provided Copernicus?

I propose a few rules for the gym.

1. A recent shower is courteous!
2. wipe down the machine after using
3. OK there's no need for the excessive grunting when your throwing that 10lb dumbbell around. We're all very impressed with your prowess.
4. figure out where the washing machine in your apartment is and USE IT!
5. If you must spread out to do your hour of stretching please do it in your apartment before hitting the gym or do it out of the way of the machines. We see you and you look so professional.
6. Wash Yo Butt!! -- Attributed to Flav-O-Flav, Public Enemy

Im pretty sure that the person upstairs from me is raising horses.

I haven't seen anyone around the complex that looks like a jockey ...

but whatever is in the apartment above me is galloping around like it's coming down the home stretch at the Preakness. Initially I thought it was a kindergarten class but I have since changed my assessment. This thing definitely is tipping the scales more than your average 5 year-old.

I don't know much else about the person upstairs except that it must be a "He" because he pees standing up every morning at about 4:30, he takes baths (maybe a couple a day) and he has a weed whacker that he likes to use at about 11:00 -11:30pm. OK maybe it's a vacuum but it's definitely at 11:00pm.

One of the "pleasantries" of living in this building is being able to hear the plumbing, and thus, the bathroom habits of my neighbors. This is definitely NOT a perk, nor would I consider it one of the "luxuries" of the J@CY, but it is a reality. Oh well. Apartment living!

Neighborly

Tell a friend in the building about this blog. Better yet tell someone you don't know!

This is scary!!!

I checked out some of JPI/Greystars properties elsewhere just out of curiosity. There seems to be a common thread here. Bad Management! These apartmentratings.com sites look just like the Jefferson at Capitol Yards site. It's pervasive throughout this management company's holdings. Very disappointing.

Jefferson at Orchard Pond in Gaithersburg MD

Jefferson at Inigo's Crossing in Bethesda, MD

Waterloo Place, Baltimore, MD

GrandMarc at the Corner, Charlottesville, VA

Jefferson Hills, Framingham, MA

See the trend? Bad management. These were not cherry picked either. They were literally the only five sites I looked at. I would be willing to bet that all of Greystar's properties are rated similarly. The complaints sound like our own.

The Axiom at Apartmentratings.com

This was posted about the Axiom on apartmentratings.com

http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/DC-Washington-DC-Axiom-at-Capitol-Yards-970532.html

Notice a trend?

I'm really only trying to get the folks managing these buildings to get off their lazy butts and proactively improve the conditions here. These could be really nice buildings to live in, and they mostly are, but man are these folks out to lunch!

The Jefferson at Kennel Yards

Such consideration.

Do you folks think I complain about the dog poop problem too much? Well this little present was left on the walk Saturday morning along with a Heineken bottle, a couple of plastic cups, a plastic water bottle and some other assorted crap. Sorry, but this is a regular weekend occurrence.

What kind of moron allows his/her dog to take a dump on the sidewalk fifteen feet from the door and just leaves it there?

What's my point? My point is this. If inconsiderate morons are encouraged to lease here, then we will have a building full of inconsiderate morons. A building full of morons equals an unpleasant living experience.

The building needs to monitor this situation. I can't believe their Laissez Faire attitude.

"It's not my job!" Right?

Experimental video here in our neighborhood.

RUBELL FAMILY COLLECTION + Conner Contemporary Art

announce the third in a series of art events:
EXPERIMENTAL VIDEO (3) : selections from the RUBELL FAMILY COLLECTION

exhibiting work by:

Fiona Tan, Paul Pfeiffer, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, Aeronut Mik,

Dara Friedman, Rineke Dijkstra, Sven Pahlsson, Simon Martin and Francis Alÿs

When: Sunday, Sunday October 11th from 4-7pm

5pm- MERA RUBELL in conversation with curator/video artist BRANDON MORSE

Where: Capitol Skyline Hotel : video lounge / bar / pool
10 "Eye" Street, SW - Washington, DC 20024 | (202) 488-7500

Here's the very cool Capitol Skyline hotel's web page

Conner Contemporary Art Gallery's web page

These are a few of my favorite things.

So we all know there isn't much around the buildingin terms of amenities or entertainment, so our

de facto neighborhood is Capitol Hill and there are some great places to spend some time and a little

cash. Let us know your favorite place and we'll

feature it on the blog (I know. Big deal)

Here are a few:

The Ugly Mug. Sounds like a coffee place (probably cuz of the mug) but they sell booze so they can't beall bad.

Groovy Cards and Gifts. Here's a really useful place, because it's so hard to find a decent greeting card.

Matchbox Pizza. Our very own.

Originally in Gallery Place and now on Capitol Hill.

Jonesing for a pickle? Who isn't?

Get your pickle fix on with the pickle guy at

Eastern market's In A Pickle.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

I want to give a shout out to the concierge desk and the maintenance staff at the J@CY. They really are first rate. From the lovely Latina who keeps the building clean and whose smile is equally bright, to the friendly faces at the concierge desk both night and day, to the guys who quickly and accurately make repairs in our units...I say THANK YOU!

And let's not forget...it's the front office who dispatches them.

This is cute

Have you ever seen the corporate creed on the wall of the office?

Owner Values

When JPI’s founders set out to build the best fully integrated apartment company in the industry, they turned to their own personal values as a foundation. Recognizing the fact that each individual must personally decide on what values they will base their personal and professional conduct, these Owner Values are biblically based, (yikes!-ed) and they are key to the JPI mission of “Building Quality for Our Customers.” JPI’s founders have committed to hold each other accountable to these values as they want their Associates and customers to hold them accountable to these same values every day.

• Be faithful and obedient to God
• Be respectful to and help develop all people
• Be committed to excellence
• Be committed to service
• Be a person of character
• Grow profitably

Our Principles

• The customer comes first
• Integrity
• Respect for people
• Team approach
• Management by fact
• Commitment to continuous improvement

Our Creed

Now we stand, the chance of our lifetime, a chance to
establish the standard of a company for all time, a chance to go forth unfettered by the past and build a company that is
as nearly ideal for its purpose as painstaking investigation and careful thought can make it.

Realizing that good is ever the enemy of the best, we seek to be the best. There is ever before us the ideal of excellence.

It is our purpose to build a company that will endure for
our friends and Associates, that will command the respect
of our peers, and that will quicken the pride of succeeding generations.

I wonder if they've ever been in the building?

I'm really WANT to say nice things. Really I do.

Apparently an unhealthy trend has developed at J@CY.

One of the persons commenting on this very blog mentioned that they hadn't received their lease yet even after being at J@CY for many months. Well guess what? ME TOO! And guess what else? Several tenants in the building have told me the same thing!

What is up with that? I am becoming VERY suspicious of this trend. What are they up to? I'm sure whatever it is, it's not good. You had better believe I'm going to look into this further with a lawyer, or perhaps with the DC housing agency (Yeah I know. Good luck) or both. If there is a lawyer out there familiar with such practices I would appreciate your weighing in on this one. This is very strange.

I find myself asking this question. What advantage does the management gain by not having signed off on your lease? I have my ideas.

• They can ask you to leave whenever they want?
• They can raise the rent whenever they want?
• You are a month to month tenant?
• The terms that you and they agreed to are unenforceable?
• They can deny you amenities

I'll keep you informed on what I find out about this. I don't like this one bit...No sir I don't like it!

In the meantime here are some helpful links.

Office of the tenant advocate

JPI, the building owner's website

Man! They're really making this hard for me.

Look. I love dogs. I really do. I've had dogs of my own and it has been a wonderful and rewarding experience BUT...as I walked down the lobby hallway to my apartment today, and for the third day in a row, the hallway smells of piss and ammonia and crap...jeez I'm trying here... and there are wet spots on the carpet.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't have a dog, but really now...okay I'm gonna say it...you really should be...SHOULD BE smarter than the dog. Ok I said it. I know I'm going to get hell for this but Ok I said it. I know this is a "dog friendly" building, but that does not mean dogs rule the building. Ok? This is this, that is that. Dogs aren't on the lease.

Ok I feel better. Only a little bit, but I feel better.

Oh and I want to apologize in advance for any dog whose name IS on the lease.