Continued from A penny saved is a dollar burned...
6. $21,600 The money the Sutherlands have spent to have our community Intranet hosted with WebEx and the most expensive options package they had. Never mind that nearly all of the money spent for those features was for naught, as everything that would have made it a truly useful resource for homeowners necessarily also enabled them to sometimes criticize the Sutherland Board - and Kit wasn't going to have that - not for a minute.
So, the pricey features were gutted until all that remained was a one-way communication from Kit (until she changed her profile name to 'The Board' on the Glen Iris intranet) and the ability to download a copy of the Rules and Regulations that she and Stuart wrote themselves. After years of over-paying for the features Kit took away from everyone to silence dissent, someone must have pointed out to her that a bare bones Web host plan can be had for $25 bucks a month - when we had been paying $250 - so we downgraded to the intranet and Web host we have now. Yet another leap backward in technology brought to Glen Iris Lofts by our Dear Leader.
So, the pricey features were gutted until all that remained was a one-way communication from Kit (until she changed her profile name to 'The Board' on the Glen Iris intranet) and the ability to download a copy of the Rules and Regulations that she and Stuart wrote themselves. After years of over-paying for the features Kit took away from everyone to silence dissent, someone must have pointed out to her that a bare bones Web host plan can be had for $25 bucks a month - when we had been paying $250 - so we downgraded to the intranet and Web host we have now. Yet another leap backward in technology brought to Glen Iris Lofts by our Dear Leader.
7. $19,500-$24,400 The cost to install and maintain the forever busted off 'anti-tailgating' arms at the front gate. Those were added by Kit Sutherland to keep the masses that are waiting - engines revved and driving gloves wrapped firmly around steering wheels - to leap at the next opportunity to follow a home owner's car through the gate. Her plan turned out to be more than a little bit short-sighted, as anyone wishing to 'tailgate' their way onto the property can still do so, only now they snap the barrier arm off in the process, costing GIL homeowners $800 a pop for the pleasure. Then there are the never ending expenses that have come from the constant mechanical and backup battery issues related to the barrier arms (due to code requirements, if barrier arms are going to be used they also have to have a backup battery system in case of a power failure, as is required for the gates themselves). Given the steady stream of property crime at GIL since the day they were installed - including at least two cars stolen from the garages outright - it's pretty clear that the only party to have gotten much benefit out of the barrier arm boondoggle is Controlled Access - the company that was deft enough to turn Kit's security paranoia into a tidy sale and an eight year continuous stream of revenue. Bonus!
8. $4,500 The cost to 'power wash' the garages a few months ago. Of course no one could really see much difference as they didn't bother to hose off the 1/4" layer of dust coating the maze of pipes hanging down from the ceiling (an oversight particularly noticeable on all of the white PVC pipes) or think to use any detergent additive when cleaning the concrete. When the notices were first posted asking everyone to make sure they moved their cars on the appointed day, we wondered why the term 'power washing' was used on the elevator notices instead of 'pressure washing'. Once the job wash finished, it became a lot clearer why it wasn't.
To be continued...
This is very true. You might also note that two motorcycles were stolen from the garage as well which cost their owners a lot of money in loss. Motorcycle insurance rarely pays for the replacement costs of a theft like that and the owners had to foot the bill.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, I could not agree more about the pressure washing debacle. What a joke that was. They didn't even clean all the bird poop that maligns the steel cabling along the exterior walls of the garages. This is a health hazard. When you consider this and the fact that it was completely undetectable that anything at all had been done to the garages, it was very clear that this was just another Sutherland waste of HOA funds. They would have been better to bathe Kit with that money. At least then some of the stench 4th floor 660 residents have to face coming form unit 409 when they get off the elevator would be alleviated.
As far as the intranet, Kit HAD to set it up so that we could not communicate with each other and so that she was the only one with the Hitler like power of communication. Revolt over the insidious mismanagement and lack of responsible governing that the Sutherland's were using to poison the neighborhood was beginning to happen. Kit knew she had to prevent the neighbors from a reasonable communication avenue, otherwise they would all have risen up and continued to expose her for the charlatan that she is.
Fortunately now, with the genius of this BLOG, Kit Sutherland and her vastly evil and hateful ways are now begging to get some light shed on them. That is why I read it every day and I am sure to tell my friends about it. Kit & Stuart Sutherland need to be stopped from their egregious hateful reign of terror and bullying as well as debunked in their efforts to rape and pillage the coffers of our HOA.
Kit and Stuart Sutherland should be ASHAMED of what they have done to this community under the thin veil of community service which is no more than a concise plan of self service at the detriment of the community. Shame on you Charlatans!