Win a free $30 Cactus Car Wash gift card by solving the Glen Iris anagrams!

Solve the following Glen Iris anagrams and you could win a free $30 Cactus Car Wash gift card! 

1.  CREDIT USE BEGAN (2 words)                                             I                            E

2.  SCORN PIGPENS (2 words)                                            E                                    

3.  SLY DRAMA HUNTER (2 words)                                                                          

4.  BOD AT RISK (2 words)                                                                                         

5.  RECENT LOFT FICTIONS (3 words)                                                                     

6.  TRANSLATED HURTS US (2 words)                                                                    

7.  EACH COMING SIGN (3 words)                                                                          

Jot down the correctly unscrambled words in an e-mail and send to the Blog at gil@go.to by midnight, this Sunday (January 22) to win your free car wash.  If more than one correct (and complete) entry is received, the winner will be chosen at random from among the correct entries received.

Please be sure to include one of the following methods to receive your gift card, should you be the winner: your mailing address (if you would like your gift card sent to you via U.S. Mail); your parking space number at Glen Iris Lofts (your gift card will be left under your windshield wiper blade).

Also, be sure to indicate if we have your permission to use your name when we announce the winner or, if you would prefer that we use a screen name to identify you as the winner.  Either way, just let us know :-)

*One Cactus Car Wash gift card in the amount of $30.00 will be mailed to or left on the winner's car on Monday, January 23, 2012.

Enjoy!

the Blog

The solution to this anagram puzzle can be viewed on the continuing page. (Continued...)

BREAKING NEWS: We’re broke.

2012 should be a year to celebrate – our Association will have its 10^th birthday.  But the guests to that party will have to bring their own kazoos, ice cream and cake – because, after nearly a decade of Sutherland control and domination of Board operation, we are, effectively, broke.  Yes, you read correctly, broke.  You could say that we are an island surrounded by a sea of Sutherland red ink.

We ended 2011 with total assets of $214,035 that are expected to be augmented by an additional $46,106 in reserve fund additions over the coming 12 months, for a projected total of $260,141. However, we also have repairs that have been identified and determined to be necessary expenditures (Continued...)

The $3,064 phone call...

Given that we pay nearly $25,000 a year for the services of a professional management company and given that we have a treasurer on our Board, who, presumably is given the freedom to do her job by her supervisor (which is doubtful, so I would remind folks to be careful and not lay too much blame at Jennifer Keir's doorstep), it's vexing that one can hardly turn around in our budget without bumping face-first into wasteful and unnecessary spending or instances where costs are higher than they would be if we weren't paying a 'stupid tax'.

Although the Blog shouldn't have to tell our Board and professional management company about it, we are on the wrong rate plan with Georgia Power.  Pick up the phone, call 888-660-5890 and tell them that you want to switch from the 'Small Power and Light Plan' to the plain old 'Standard Residential Service' plan.  We'll save 8.63% on our electricity costs by doing so.  And with this year's expected spend of $35,500 on electricity, that comes out to about $3,064.

Look into it.  Do the math.  You'll see.  We could have $3,064 more in our pocket at the end of the year without having to give anything up in return.  It's free money.  It doesn't get any better than that!

Whomever is baking all the cookies ought to share!

Not that the Blog would presume to do the Board's job - because certainly they are capable of doing that themselves. Or, are they? Natural gas usage - which only our stoves are supposed to be consuming -  has increased steadily between the 2003 to 2012 budget years - partly due to errant under billing by the gas company that went undiscovered for a time and partly due to rate and usage increases.  The Board carved out $15,500 for natural gas costs in 2012, a modest increase over the prior year, because, according to Stuart Sutherland, 'gas prices are going up'.

But has Stuart or anyone else on the Board stopped for a moment long enough to do a reality check? At the current price of natural gas, to consume $15,500 worth, every single unit at Glen Iris Lofts would have to have their stove top burners going all out for eight hours of every day for the entire year! And I mean all 110 units...8 hours...every day, seven days a week.

Perhaps there are units that have installed gas water heaters or gas heating appliances? Who knows, but the Board needs to wake up and pay attention to business and get to the bottom of this issue, rather than have the hand-off of thier out of control spending to homeowners every year continue to serve as the poor substitute for the management of our Association's affairs that it is.

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...)

The Cozy Developer Do-It-Yourself Kit

There may be a few - as in, maybe five - homeowners out there who haven't figured out by now that the developer has a lot to thank his friends Kit and Stuart for. And to those blind, remaining few, I invite you to do a little test yourself to see just how cozy the Sutherlands are with Jerrold Miller.

The next time you see Stu-Kit, just ask them this simple question: What is the Board doing to actively pursue the more than $5,000 in unpaid assessments that Jerry Miller owes our Association? They will tell you one of three things - none of which will be a straight answer. They will:

1. Hide behind a claim that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits them from disclosing that information - which it does not. So, if that's what they tell you, consider yourself lied to (but you would be in good company, since that's what one reader told the Blog that's the garbage he got when he asked).

2. Tell you that once his unit is sold, the Association 'may' receive some funds. If this is the baloney you are given, repeat the part about asking when we will get the more than $5,000 he owes our Association? You still won't get a straight answer, I assure you...you'll see.

3. Barring an answer similar to either of the above, you will then get a nuanced version of 'there's not much we, as an association, can do - which is absolutely untrue.  Our Association can pursue (Continued...)

Tech-No: Zero Web presence is a cinderblock around the ankle of GIL home values

WE’RE A DINOSAUR   Nearly every loft development in Atlanta maintains a public-facing Web page where prospective home buyers and others interested in learning more about a particular loft community, can see which units are currently on the market and 'for sale', learn what sets thier community apart from others, the available amenities, etc.  But ours does not – even though the Blog couldn’t find a single instance of a loft development our size that didn’t. And, as anyone that knows anything about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) could tell you, our domain name (glenirislofts.com) would all but guarantee a top – if not the top - ranking in Google’s search results for the search term ‘glen iris lofts’...if there were a publicly accessible page at that address with any meaningful content.

In this wired age, missing an opportunity to appear on page one of a Google search is a major fumble that should be addressed immediately. And it’s not just the homeowners with units currently for sale that would benefit, either. Greater exposure attracts more interest and more potential buyers, a fact that could only positively impact resale prices, and resale prices directly and profoundly impact the value of everyone else’s unit in the development. (Continued...)

Glen Iris Farm, Pt. 2: Napoleon gets an attorney

It was always the pigs who put forward the resolutions. The other animals understood how to vote, but could never think of any resolutions of their own.

-George Orwell, The Animal Farm, Chapter 3

THE PROBLEM (Oink)  The only problem with giving people the right to vote is that, all too often, they don’t vote correctly.

THE BACKROOM DEAL  Although the By-Laws specifically state owners are to write the names of those for whom they are voting, what we pigs must do is help them be better Comrades and voters by writing down only the very best choices for them, so they don’t become hopelessly confused and make the wrong choices.

‘But then what shall the purpose of voting be?’ squealed one pig, after pondering the scheme for a moment. ‘So there’s voting!’ boomed Napoleon. ‘And so that people have the opportunity to vote for my wise choices’, he added.  And, then, with a watery snort that misted the air a full three feet in front of his snout, he turned his attention back to the hushed and ominously intense conversation he had been having on the urgent matter of his continued Stewardship of the animals with a very sinister looking pig with nervous, darting eyes and whose eerie ability to move about a room unnoticed reminded everyone of a pig they had known many years ago but whom had not been seen since the day Jones left the farm and it was decided that one pig would go to the city to learn how to read laws and make resolutions and things.

A VIDEO PRIMER  The Blog created this video to help better explain exactly how homeowners were duped into a system where there is voting, but no choice.

THE BARNYARD SCOREBOARD  Pigs 2, Homeowners 0!

 

As long as people continue to accept the Board’s ‘ballots’ as though they are the only 'true' ballot, when, in reality, they are only an artifice specifically designed to ensure that homeowners actually (Continued...)

Glen Iris Farm, Pt. 1: The rise of Napoleon and the Stewardship of pigs

They had come to a time when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes.

-George Orwell, The Animal Farm, Chapter 7

PROBLEM (Oink!) Too many homeowners participate in the Annual Meeting in February and, to make matters worse, they are watching their money more closely, after having over-spent during the holidays.  This untenable situation simply creates too much unnecessary risk to our eternal Stewardship of the poor animals – and they need us!

BACKROOM DEAL  Move the Annual Meeting from the middle of February, as the By-Laws clearly appoint as the time for the Annual Meeting, to the middle of December. ‘But people are so busy around the holidays!’ squealed one pig. ‘Oink, that’s the point’, grumbled another.

COVER STORY  By moving the meeting to December, you also make the new year's budget official starting January 1, as opposed to March.  As a result, the the new monthly assessment amount can be collected on a schedule that's more closely aligned with the budget and our fiscal year.

COVER STORY FACT CHECK  From a budgeting perspective, there's nothing more ‘magical’ about January than December.  If the two months present different levels of expense or income, then you plan for that - that's the purpose of a budget!  Contracts with vendors expire at staggered periods throughout the year, depending on the month they were first signed, so it isn't like our expenses are all radically different in January than they were the month prior.  And even with a December budget adoption, the marginal increase in revenue (this assumes every budget is bigger than the last because, I think everyone would agree that's the pretty much the norm anymore) comes only one month sooner than it would have otherwise – and we have sufficient working capital to cover well beyond the incremental new revenue represented by just one month’s assessment increase.  As for alignment with the fiscal year, whats so difficult about budgeting January and February with what you know will be the revenue and then budgeting the remaining ten months with what the new revenue number will be?

A change in the budget process that would make more sense than bumping forward its approval would be to construct it in an orthodox manner where 'pine straw' isn't its own budget category, but, rather, is included in a 'Landscape Maintenance' category. (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...)

Let's take it back!

Tired of backroom deals, half-truths and feeling like what's really being managed around here is you?

Change is coming.  Be a part of it.

Suther-spam: Part 3 – Stuart’s watered down truth hoses homeowners

As anyone in attendance at the Annual Meeting can attest, there was a lively discussion about water.  All that seemed to be flying around the room there for a while was water: prior water billing, water meters, water conservation, water budgeting, current water billing, water, water and more water.

And no wonder - 13% of the 15% increase in dues for 2012 is directly linked to the Board's budgeted item of $70,000 to pay for water and sewer service for the coming year.

But what was also flying around the room, as it turns out, was a lot of bullshit about water, too. So, if you left the meeting a little bewildered by all the assertions, proposals, claims and counter-claims going around that evening, you're not alone.  Many homeowners had difficulty making sense of it all.  So, in an effort to help homeowners separate the water from the bullshit about water (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!'