Parades and Progress

Editor's note: The Blog would like to thank Glen Iris Lofts homeowner Steven Sharp (Ph II, Unit 501) for submitting the following post.  If you would like to guest author a post on the Blog, simply let us know via e-mail. 

I remember my first gay pride parade in Atlanta.  I had spent the night at, let's just call him, a friend's place.  I lay in bed after a night of not much sleep.  Get your minds out of the gutter, people... I am a chronic insomniac :-)

I remember that morning well. His small 1920s apartment with the worn, faded hardwood floors and large crown moldings and baseboards, was in one of those older brick apartment buildings close to Piedmont Park, when they still had older brick apartment buildings close to Piedmont Park.  The bedroom was flooded with too much sunlight, too much brightness on that Sunday morning in June so many years ago.

"Get out of bed!" he said to me, a cross somewhere between a request and an order.

"I don't feel like it," I said.

"It’s an important day," he responded.

"Why is that?" I asked.

"It's gay pride."

"I'm not marching, and I wasn't planning on going."

"Parades don't just happen," he explained to me.  "There's a lot that goes into them."

He continued, "The ones who are brave enough and take the time to march are just a very small part of what makes a parade a success."

"Imagine a parade with only floats and people marching with not a single spectator, no applause, no friends congregating along the route as the parade passes them by.  It would be a much different experience than what Atlanta's gay pride is with over 300,000 spectators and bystanders who traverse Piedmont Park gay pride weekend."

"I guess I never thought about it that way," as I threw my legs onto the floor, smoothed out my hair and realized that the only thing I knew about gay pride was what I had seen on the six o'clock news.

I still wasn't sure if I was going to go to the parade on that way-too-bright day for someone with a pounding headache, but my head was certainly filled with racing thoughts.

When I asked if I could submit a post to the Glen Iris Blog, all I could think about was our amazing gay pride parade - not the one as it actually is, but one with only people marching, no crowds on the sidewalks spilling onto tenth street, no cat calls, no cheers, no applause, just an emptiness along the parade route.  I imagine the looks on the faces of those who are marching compared to their expressions when the streets are packed, and I realize that the residents of Glen Iris Lofts are very much like I was all those years ago. Not aware that they are an integral part of the parade, that their voices are needed, that the Blog needs comments, it needs cheers and it needs more people posting comments to help it thrive and keep those who write it motivated.

Make an effort to get involved with the things that affect your life. Leave a comment, post a reply.  With everyone's input, comments and energy, Glen Iris Lofts will become a place where everyone has a voice; everyone has an opinion that is valued, where everyone has the same rights and opportunities as their neighbors.

Use of surveillance cameras within our Association

Given the extraordinary amount of time required to both research blog content as well as author posts, the Blog now posts original content six days a week, Monday through Saturday.  However, every Sunday we will post other articles, blog posts, etc. that may be relevant to the Glen Iris Lofts community.

Today's post is a re-blog from the HOA Law Blog, titled Surveillance Cameras Within Your Association, authored by Steven J. Tinnely, Esq., posted January 26, 2012 and addresses the use of security cameras in HOA common areas.

Video surveillance cameras are now being installed almost everywhere, so why not in your homeowners association (HOA)? When used properly surveillance cameras can provide additional security, a greater sense of safety and a deterrent to would be criminals. Yet several questions and considerations are often raised with respect to the installation of surveillance cameras within a HOA.

Cart-Gate: No carts? Kit says just make two trips

It’s not exactly news to anyone who’s read Kit’s e-mail that she has a petty streak wider than The Home Depot parking lot, but what may be news to many homeowners at Glen Iris Lofts, is just how quickly she’ll throw them under the bus to accommodate it.

In a stunning display of just how little the Sutherlands really care about the needs of GIL homeowners, they announced yesterday that they intend to have the janitors throw the one brand new utility cart the Blog recently donated to the community into the trash and said ‘no’ to the donation of four additional carts!  And, in a year when we are staring down the barrel of over $400,000 in necessary building repairs with only $250,000 in the bank – and had to increase monthly assessments by 15% just to pay the regular bills – you think they'd have been happy to have the nearly $1,000 donation.  Yet they weren’t.  And that’s because from their perspective, when - and if - they decide homeowners can have more carts, they will just roll that cost into whatever increase they’ve got brewing for everyone next year.  Problem solved.

Isn’t it time that our community be treated like something more than a grade-school playground where immaturity reigns, petty trumps practical and all you can hear from those that are supposed to be leading us and setting a good example is ‘I know you are, but what am I?’

Might Glen Iris Lofts be a lot better off if the janitors left the new utility cart where it was and threw the Sutherlands out instead?

the Blog

CART-GATE

Dear Neighbors:

The Blog recently donated a brand new cart for homeowner use, since they always seem to be in short supply.  Fully knowing that Kit Sutherland would sooner take it away and deprive every one of its use than she would have anyone who doesn’t already know about the Blog find out about it, we installed an RFID tag on the cart so that when it went missing, we would know who took it – and that would be unit 519, Andrew Mark Hicks.

But you know Kit – being a bit of a tech-not (by her own admission), she didn’t know what an RFID tag was and became convinced it was some sort of sinister plot to upset the security of our community, and sent out the (somewhat embarrassing) e-mail, below.  (Continued...)

Sutherlands bounce check to Association

No one is particularly thrilled about the prospect of having their lesser moments made public, and that's even truer when those that would make them public would do so with the apparent objective merely to embarrass or discredit. Worse still are the occasions when lesser moments are fabricated out of whole cloth for the same purpose. One wouldn't have to walk too far down either direction of any hallway here at GIL to find a homeowner that will claim to be a victim of this sort of demagoguery at the hands of the Sutherlands. And I personally have witnessed people that have found themselves caught up in a Sutherland gossip and discredit campaign that was either a dramatic embellishment of facts or that had absolutely no basis in fact at all.

This 'sort of behavior' - to borrow a phrase from Kit Sutherland - is dangerous politics, because with each successive engagement, the retail price of hypocrisy is ratcheted upward, should one ever find one's self at the cash register paying retail for their own lesser moment. But knowing this doesn't require any special insight; admonishment that reportedly came from Jesus' own mouth more than two millennia ago has served to better advise those that would 'cast the first stone'.

That's why I think it would be surprising for many to learn that Kit and Stuart have bounced a check to our Association at least once. It's true (documentation included and follows post conclusion).  Of course, (Continued...)

Change is coming to Glen Iris Lofts…

No one who reads the Glen Iris Board meeting minutes is going to walk away with anything other the clear and sobering assessment that our Board leadership isn’t much interested in change of any kind.  Precious little time is spent on discussion of how things may be improved – unless of course one counts the time the Board leadership spends shooting down suggestions for improvements.

The list of resident demands for change that have gone unheeded is long and distinguished.  Whether it’s the enclosure of the lower Phase II car park that the homeowners who park there were willing to pay for themselves, the constant clamor for the installation of security cameras on the property to do something – anything – to address the serious property crime problem we have struggled with from day one and still continue to struggle with nearly ten years later and whose rate of occurrence hasn’t decreased at all, or whether it’s a guest parking policy that doesn’t really match the ‘needs curve’ of guest parking accommodation by homeowners.  And there are countless other issues or ‘hot buttons’ that various homeowners have that fail to be addressed – or even considered – year after year.  Most who are knowledgeable about the political realities here at Glen Iris will tell you the simple truth: it doesn’t really matter what you or any other homeowner wants, if Kit doesn’t want it, it ain’t gonna happen.

But, finally, there is some good news for everyone that calls Glen Iris Lofts 'home'.  Although the (Continued...)

SAFETY ALERT! Many GIL lofts at risk for fire

VERY REAL DANGER  Most GIL homeowners are probably blithely unaware that their loft has a serious construction defect that substantially increases the probability of having a potentially devastating house fire.  Although the Blog has not been able to determine how the Glen Iris developer, Miller-Gallman, was able to skirt the local building code and slide the defect past city building inspectors, the dryer venting assembly of every loft we inspected was found to be in substantial violation of the local building code. (Continued...)

The Glen Iris Lofts Neighbor Map (Download)

The Blog would like to thank Chris Gordon (Ph II, 611) for creating the Glen Iris Lofts Neighbor Map and sharing it with everyone!  It's an easy way to get an idea of who lives down the hall or across the way!

Note: If you see the message "Sorry, embedding multiple documents..." below instead of the file contents, simply click the link below and open or save the file to your computer.
Glen Iris Lofts Neighbor Map

Exciting news and an open letter from the founding author of the Blog...

AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE FOUNDING AUTHOR OF THE BLOG

TO THE BLOG’S MANY SUPPORTERS
The generosity of your loyal readership, comments, e-mails and offers of support has been truly amazing, and I thank you.  Apart from making the countless hours required by this endeavor more rewarding, your support has provided incontrovertible evidence that a new day is dawning for our shared community. Your overwhelming support is witness to the well spring of interest, concern and desire to participate that exists in the hearts and minds of everyone here at Glen Iris Lofts. (Continued...)

Are you sure loft living is right for you?

While it's true that I have had no formal schooling in psychology and will readily confess that people’s true motivations have been successfully (and sometimes, disastrously) hidden from me numerous times, I am comfortable in saying that I have been able to figure people out way many more times than not.  And I have an insight I’d like to share with you.

No one living here at Glen Iris Lofts would need much of a ‘sixth sense’ to readily see the iron wall that immediately goes up around Kit and Stuart Sutherland when they’re told something could be improved or is less than perfect the way it is.  Their reaction is quick and it's almost visceral.  Frankly, the speed and degree to which they so frequently take offense when others are merely  trying to earnestly, and with good intention, participate in the improvement of our shared community, has always struck me as just plain weird.  And, while I wish I could report that I had those two all figured out, all I can say is that I am confident that I have identified at least part of the problem and what may, at least, partially explain why they seem to rub so many people the wrong way.

As is true with anyone, the key to making sense of someone’s behavior lies in recognizing that you have to try to understand where people are coming from, first.  And, up until recently, I would have told you that I hadn’t even a micro-clue on where those two are coming from – and not for want of thought or contemplation on my part, either. (Continued...)

Queen for a day: What would you change about GIL if you were Kit forjust one day?

The Blog wants to hear what's been on your mind when it comes to things you would change about life here at GIL. Just imagine that you were the Queen of Glen Iris Lofts for just one day. What would you instruct your Board to do?

The edicts don't have to be grand and they don't have to be whatever you think has any reasonable probability of coming about, either. Remember, you're Kit for a day, so what you desire will be!

Share your items with your neighbors by way of posting comment(s) to this post. You may do so anonymously if you wish and you may make as many comments as you would like.

*One request, if I may...please don't post that what you would change is that you could be Queen for all time. Someone's already giving that wish all they got.
And please let's keep the queen jokes to a minimum - I'm aware that there are many queens here at GIL, but I'm not talking about 'queen' like fabulous...I'm talking about 'queen' as in 'off with their heads!'