Thursday, the 12th of July will probably go down in the history books. I don’t know if whether I am excited to watch the fireworks or if I will regret getting in the middle of everything. 
It will be time for our usual monthly resident meeting where I live, and the tension is already building. And so far for some it is not a pretty sight.
The long struggle between residents and what they perceive is their enemy, staff members of this apartment complex.
If you have kept up with me for any length of time, you know already that there’s been this battle about keeping the doors open to the community room on the weekends. This hasn’t been allowed to happen in AT LEAST five years. The community room was remodeled and since that point, its been closed on weekends.
My own feelings about the situation is that if it is closed, then it is closed. I’ve learned to deal with it throughout the years. Granted that sometimes my weekends can get extremely boring, but I have just dealt with it and found something else to do to fill my time.
But others are crying foul. They want the community room open for their own reasons. They keep hounding the fact that we are responsible enough to take care of things on our own. For the very, very few times that it has been open on Saturdays (i.e. private parties) the ones that want it open for all time take advantage of it. But then the Board of Directors who take care of things have insisted that at least one member of staff be present if the community room is open.
Residents get totally psycho about it too. They cry out that we are all adults and that we don’t need a babysitter. But I’ve come to learn that the reasons for having one staff member present is for insurance reasons.
So about a month ago, we had learned that a member from the Board of Directors was going to come to our resident meeting and personally explain their decision to keep the community room closed. However, that doesn’t really work well. That would mean that someone from the Board would have to leave their job in the middle of the day and come talk to us. Some of them cannot afford that type of luxury.
To the Board of Directors, this entire idea has made them sick and tired. They said “NO” and they are frustrated to the max with the residents as to why they seem that they cannot understand that answer. For years and years they’ve repeated themselves to exhaustion.
And since none of the Board members are able to come in personally to the resident meeting, and they are no longer willing to discuss this issue with the residents, it has been put upon the shoulders of the apartment manager to squash the matter once and for all.
I remember making the suggestion that since nobody can come to the meeting, that they put something in writing such as an e-mail or an official letter stating that it came from the Board of Directors. But again, they are tired of dealing with it. Their answer is their answer and they will not bend.
I also learned this morning that the apartment manager got totally reemed by his boss about the matter. And he doesn’t like having that happen. So, I think (for him) that this is now a personal matter and he’s not going to mess with it any more. He is going to make his statements for himself and for the Board of Directors. And once he has finished that, he will no longer talk about it with anyone.
I expect there to be some kind of a reaction. I honestly do! It won’t change things, but it’s about to get VERY interesting around here. My feeling is that some are still not going to accept the Board’s answer and will keep fighting this until their last breath. It sounds as if staff members are going to stand firm, and once this “announcement” is made, they are going to walk away because the matter will then be closed. Will the residents finally “get it”? Or will staff members crumble?
So when I return from the meeting, I’ll be sure to post a follow-up blog.
Hang on to your hats people!! The storm is here!!!
Dambreaker 