Crime Watch

Marc Tumeninski from the Crown Hill Neighborhood Association sent this notice recently.

From: Marc Tumeinski
Date: Sat, Oct 30, 2010 at 7:46 AM
Subject: crime in neighborhood and citywide police crimewatch meeting on November 3rd
To:

Dear neighbors,

There seems to be a spate of break-ins and other crime recently in our neighborhood. Keep a careful eye out and call the police if you suspect anything or see anything. Call 911 for an emergency obviously; other police contact numbers are here:
http://www.worcesterma.gov/police/contact-info

I was told of:
• several house break-ins on Crown, Congress and Oxford
• stolen cars
• copper stolen from All Saints

Also, next week on November 3rd at 6:30 pm at the Lincoln Square police department, there will be a Worcester Police Department City-Wide Crime Watch Meeting. All are encouraged to come, listen and share what is going on vis-a-vis crime.

thanks
Marc

Roof Project to begin next week!

Al Jacevicius and crew will begin the roofing project next week, on Tuesday morning, October 19th. The first phase of the project will be to repair the interior of all the parapets by cutting/grinding mortar joints & repointing/replacing bricks to make the parapets structurally sound for the acceptance roofing material. Depending on what they find, this could take 3-5 days.

No one will be required to move their vehicles from the side of the building during this work. There will be no ladders placed against the building.

Two contractor vehicles will be parked on site. The work will begin at about 8:00 A.M. and continue until 5:30 P.M., at the latest.

*** UPDATE 10/20/10 ***

Al Jacevicius had to gather more supplies yesterday and was not able to start on the roof. He is planning on getting them on the roof this afternoon.

Also, a concern was raised that replacing a roof during these colds days is not the most practical thing to do for the type of roof we'd be installing. In the late '70s, early '80s, there were problems with installing rubber roofs in cold weather. They could crack during installation. That has changed.

Today's rubber membrane roofs are specifically designed to be installed in temperatures all the way down to freezing. Now is the ideal time to install the roof, since it is not too hot. On a sunny day in November the temperature on the roof may get to 70 degrees.

The rubber membrane does not get brittle in the cold. It does not need to be heated during installation. It is specifically designed to expand and contract with changing temperatures.

We hope this alleviates any concerns that this is not the proper time to renovate the roof.

*** Update 10/25/10 ***
The start of the roof work was delayed last week. Al Jacevicius had to be hospitalized last Tuesday night for a hematoma on his hip. He is back home today and Wellington Property is expecting to discuss the schedule with him tomorrow. The monthly Trustee meeting is also tomorrow and we plan on knowing more then.

70% of the roof work is the repair to the parapets, so that they can accept the roofing material. We want this done correctly and don't want to rush through it without Al's guidance. He apologizes for the delay.


*** UPDATE 10/27/10 ***

Al and his crew will begin the parapet work on this Thursday morning at 8:00 A.M. The work will continue through Friday and Saturday. The Saturday work will begin at 9:00 A.M.

He is bringing in a second crew, so he will have 9 men working this project. He expects the parapets to be complete on Saturday afternoon, so that application of the rubber membranes can commence on Monday, Nov.1st. 

The project could be complete before the Annual Meeting.

*** UPDATE 11/03/10 ***

The parapets are ready for the next step. Rubber membranes and other materials will arrive on site at about 10:30 am today (Wednesday). The materials will be lifted to the roof by a small crane. 

Rich from Wellington Property will be on site with Al at 10:00 am.

Annual Meeting scheduled for November 9, 2010

We will be holding this year's meeting at the Fanning School on Tuesday, November 9th, from 6:30 P.M. - 8:30 P.M. 

The Fanning School is located at 24 Chatham Street, a short walk down the road from our building, walking towards downtown.

Recent Power Outages

By now you should have seen the blue notices hanging in your stairwells or on your doors. The recent power outages at 41 Chatham, 27 and 29 Irving were caused by too many air conditioners being used at one time.

Peter Grasso from Grasso Electric came out to look at our current electrical system (100 Amp/3 Phase) this past week.

Looking at the array of meters, we have 4 Vertical Banks with 4 Breakers at the bottom of each Bank. We have 3 legs of power feeding in from the 100 Amps, Leg A, B & C.

1. The first Bank on the left is being fed by Legs A & B.
2. The next Bank is fed by Legs B & C.
3. The next Bank is fed by Legs A & C.
4. The far right Bank is fed by Legs A & B.

Bottom line.....Only 2 Banks were being fed by Leg C.

Peter moved some of the loads off of Leg A to Leg C (Stacks at 29 Irving/4th floor, 29 Irving/3rd floor and 27 Irving/1st floor.)

Peter said that this is the best balance he can provide, based on the measurements. It could get you through the summer but recommended that residents would need to cut back on the A/C.

We understand that it is hot, but ask that you be considerate of your neighbors and cut back on the A/C usage.

The board has asked Wellington Property Management to look into an analysis to bring in more power. More than likely we will need to get approval from National Grid to bring in more power and this could be a lengthy process.

The board plans on discussing this more at our next meeting on July 27,2010.

Our Courtyard as an Ashtray

You might find it unbelievable, but someone who lives here has decided to use our courtyard area as their own personal ash tray. It is disgusting and disrespectful. Why would someone litter the place where they live?

Cigarette butts litter the area directly behind 29 Irving Street - on the brick walkway, on the concrete ledge, and in the bush area.

This irreverent behavior is a slight to the condo as a community. We all live here together and share this area. The association also pays to have this area maintained so that everyone here can enjoy it.
I'd ask that the individual(s) please pick up after themselves and stop littering the courtyard.

Here are some pictures showing how much of the area is covered in litter:

Roof Project Moving Forward

The Board voted in favor of a motion, which was made and seconded, to replace the roof this year and fund the expense with a commercial loan.

We are investigating our best option for a loan and plan to have the work on replacing the roof begin around September 2010.

Courtyard Furniture

The Trustees are currently looking into replacing the furniture in the courtyard. We are hoping to replace it soon so everyone can take advantage of the warm weather!

We are in the process of getting a quote from the same company that made the beautiful tables and chairs for downtown Worcester, but we are also looking at place like Home Depot, Lowes and Target...

Check out Renaissance Site Furnishings (company that made the Worcester tables) for more pictures of what they can make!

If anyone has a recommendation they'd like to make about courtyard furniture, leave a comment or send an email to ChathamCondos@gmail.com

Trees along Irving Street

If you take a walk down the Irving Street side of the building you'll notice that the tree areas have been cleaned up and re-mulched. Ken Alderfer and Robyn Casati spent some time on Sunday afternoon to do the work. Thank you!

Lets hope the dog owners of the neighborhood appreciate their work and are respectful enough to pick up after their dogs!

Because we are waiting for the city to remove the damaged tree, it was left as is.

Update: Tree @ 29 Irving Street

I spoke with the city again about the tree @ 29 Irving Street. They have our request on file from back in September by Ann (Thanks Ann!). However, due to the beetle problems, the tree inspectors are really behind on work.

The Tree Inspector will need to come out and file their report before the city will act on removing the tree. The Customer service Rep I spoke with also informed me that it is generally the city's policy to not replace the tree.

FYI to file a DPW work request with the city call the Customer Service Center @ 508-929-1300

On a related note, I would still like to organize a mulching/clean up of the sidewalk and tree area on 29 Irving Street. I had intended to do it back in May, but looks like this coming weekend might work. If you're interested please e-mail ChathamCondos@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

Citizen participation in local government

Just an FYI... if you feel like volunteering or being more involved with Worcester, the city could use your help. There are open positions for boards and commissions:

http://www.worcesterma.gov/boards-commissions

"All residents committed to preserving the vitality of our democratic institutions are urged to volunteer their services to one of these local government agencies whose effective operations depend so heavily upon enlightened citizen participation."

File Cabinet in common area

A random file cabinet has appeared in the basement of 29 Irving. If you are the owner of the file cabinet, could you please remove it from the common area.

If anyone knows who it belongs to or has information about how it got there, please e-mail ChathamCondos@gmail.com. If no one claims it soon, it will be given away.

New Board of Trustees Chairperson

This past Tuesday was the monthly trustee meeting. At the end of the meeting, after some kind words, Gary nominated Izzy to be the new Chair of the Board. We unanimously agreed. Thank you Izzy for stepping into this role! Congratulations!

Our Park and Trees

The Trustees are currently looking for volunteers within the association who would like to be more active in the care of our community.

1. We are planning a clean up along the Irving Street side of the building towards the end of May to remove litter and old mulch around the trees and sidewalks. During the clean up we will be adding fresh wood chips and possibly some natural animal repellant around the trees. Worcester Forestry has been contacted about removing/replacing the dying tree, but we do not have confirmation on if or when they will be doing this.
   
   
2. The Board has discussed the idea of purchasing an electric lawnmower to eliminate some annual labor expenses for mowing the park. We are currently looking for volunteers within the association who would like to help mow the park. If we have enough volunteers we will move forward with the purchase of the electric lawnmower and set up a rotating volunteer schedule.

If you are interested in volunteering please send an e-mail to chathamcondos@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

Community Meeting Follow Up

Thank You Ann for providing an open forum for all owners to come out and discuss their thoughts and concerns for our community!

Some key points of the evening (in no particular order)

1. The need to elaborate in more detail the monthly minutes from the Trustee meetings. The minutes should give more details with what was discussed (problems, repairs, etc), how will the problem/repairs be resolved, and most important deadlines or dates for the resolution. It was noted that monthly minutes will be sent via e-mail & via postage to those without e-mail accounts. Financial overview of bank accounts will now be added into the minutes
2. The need to provide a semi-annual meeting where we will discuss action plans and receive feedback from other owners.
3. The ned to expand time for open discussions ( an area for people to speak and or voice concerns) at the yearly meeting and be able to provide a more detail plan of what we have done or what we see happening in the future.
4. A clear channel of communication when individual issues arise. Owners should contact Rich first via phone 508-898-993 or mail PO Box 1492, Westborough, Ma 01581.
   
   If after first calling Rich, they would like to discuss things with a trustee, they can email chathamcondos@gmail.com or contact one of us directly.

Contacting Community Police Assigned to Our Area

To help foster a more informed community I'm posting a past e-mail (from September 2009) discussing the local police presence in our neighborhood.

"...If you want to report a quality of life concern, such as vandalism, drug activity, loud/disruptive behavior, etc, we have two police officers assigned to our district who handle just these types of issues...

Use this number: 508-799-8682

If you call between 7 and 8:30am you can speak directly to one of the officers. Between 8:30am and 4pm they are out in the neighborhood, but you can still call that number to leave a message for them.

You can also send messages for them via our district's city councilor, Barbara Haller at HallerB@ci.worcester.ma.us and she will forward it to our officers."