Techia - great that you requested an emergency meeting. To me, the elevator situation is no longer a matter of inconvenience. This is what I wrote to property management.
My concern is not one of inconvenience but safety. There is one air vent in the underground waiting area. I don't know if the airflow capacity was designed for a large group being there for extended period of time. I called the security because I had an infant with me. Lack of oxygen in underground parking lot is a real and known risk. While unlikely for healthy adults, the most serious consequence due to carbon monoxide poisoning is death. Safety has to be prioritized above convenience.
So yesterday a small group of us met with Shelley Carol (councillor for our ward) and the members from our board of directors. Peter, Matthew, and Crystal. I was actually very disappointed with the turnout. There were only around 20 some odd residents there. I urge you all to attend next Tuesdays meeting with the lawyer the board has hired to determine next steps for recouping funds for damages and impact to our maintenance fees etc. If you don't show up and have your voice heard nothing will be done to improve. As everyone has seen with the Toronto elections that is a terrible thing.
Some Key Highlights Mentioned
- Shelley claims that we have some 85 page document full of promises that the developer has made to the city for having the chance to build all the condos in these areas - big question mark for me is that how are we keeping them accountable and does our board even know about this document (I will try and ask next week
- Some residents from the 4th were very upset and I can't blame them for the lack of process and communication coming from the board and property management (the board and property management at the meeting have promised to look at these processes and ensure a better response next time such a incident occurs)
- Elevators was another huge item that people mentioned - still no one could come up with answers - I am hoping property management actually steps up and speaks at our next meeting and face some of these tough questions and be honest and fully transparent
Recommendations:
- I noticed that there is a huge disconnect with the board, property management, and the developer - I advised them that they need to understand their roles and responsibilities and be much more transparent with their communication - that was a huge thing that was stressed - communication of information was a big beef from all the residents - they obviously haven't sat down together to put a communication plan in place
- I also told them that we brought up all these issues and potential next steps so please have someone own these items and send these out for other residents to review and to do a lessons learned debrief - people are forgiving when it happens once but when it happens multiple times and it doesn't improve people have a right to be pissed off
Anyways, those were just things that were mentioned. Many residents just wanted to be heard and it was very sad to hear how some of the 4th floor residents were being treated.
Hope to see a better turnout next week.