Adios Endicott.. I'm Goin' Home

I'll write a full closing post once I'm settled in a new apartment, but my time at The Endicott is over and thus the end of The Endicott Dispatch is near.

I'm currently staying with old friends while I search for an affordable apartment near to the VA hospital where I now get my health care. Even with the uncertainty of not having a 'home' yet my health has taken a dramatic turn for the better. My Blood Glucose readings have gone from averaging 165 to (in just two weeks) a 14 day average of 105.. All of my pants are too big for me now and my belt is at it's smallest notch. Of course not everything is that good.. I'm dreading the moving of my belongings that are now in storage (after being moved by the company contracted by CATCH) and seeing all the damage done by the movers during their moving and packing of my stuff into the storage unit. 


More on their destructive technique and it's effect on my furniture and other belongings will be in my final post........ I'll have pictures for sure, but this might call for video (& potentially explosive language!!). -- Stay tuned....

Where Did Our Cleaner Go**? -&- Why Did It Have To Be This Way?

-

A day or so before Christmas I was saying "I hope this place gets cleaned before Christmas..". The carpeting needed vacuuming, the elevator floor was all salty from the recent storm, and both entrances needed cleaning also. But Christmas has come and gone, and the only change has been for the worse.

Since then, on my floor, pine needles from someone's Christmas tree have added to the mess in the hallway. Every Sunday I listen for the drone of a vacuum cleaner and the sounds of the brush hitting the edges of the walls near my door but I've heard nothing for close to 3 weeks**. Prior to our Bed Bug infestation the cleaning guy Gene was around all the time (multiple times each week) and the place was looking pretty good. Lately as I said, Sunday seemed to be the day the hallways get vacuumed. That's fine but in the fall, and especially in the winter with all the sand and salt the dirt builds up quickly. Also from a maintenance standpoint the longer the dirt stays on the carpeting getting ground in, the shorter the life of the carpet and the longer it takes to clean (not to mention how bad it looks). Added expenses of time and equipment cost for more frequent carpet cleaning also have me wondering why this is being neglected.

Then there's the Bed Bug issue. It's absurd to say that you're doing what needs to be done to eliminate the bugs when the hallways and common areas are left untouched for this long.

- One of the main points that was made to me (when the property manager forced me to get a pest treatment [suddenly] on the originally scheduled day [I had rescheduled the appointment due to health issues]) was that if the pest company treated all the other apartments around me and didn't do mine at the same time, the bugs would be forced into my apartment..

I can only assume that [he] (and the guy from the pest company who told me the same thing) didn't expect me to use logic when assessing that claim. For when you follow that logic every space in the entire building would have to be done in one day (It wasn't, and every treatment [to date] has only covered parts of the building at a time). This building has spaces between the walls and ceilings and many apartments have apartments above, below, and on either side of them so there are plenty of pathways for bugs and other* pests to travel.

The Bed Bugs have been spotted in the hallways on numerous occasions, so regular (or even daily) vacuuming of the hallways would seem to be called for if you're serious about controlling or eliminating them.

Of course if you're truly serious about eliminating the infestation you should do what was done (in Manchester[?] at around the same time). Moving the tenants into temporary housing so that the entire building can be treated fully and more aggressively.

This 'piecemeal' process that the residents of the Endicott have been put through, having to move all our stuff (every month for 4 months until December for me), totally disrupting our lives in so many ways and for so long, is terrible.

What's worse is the fact that not a word has been communicated to us about our sacrifice or troubles. No 'We're sorry that your lives have been so disrupted, and that many of you have had to discard rugs, mattresses, bedding, furniture and other items..". No outreach informing us that some expenses can be reimbursed, or help in procuring items to replace things like beds or furniture.

What did happen was that instead of facing the problem and dealing with it honestly and with a sense of urgency (and compassion for residents), decisions were delayed, the problem escalated rapidly complicating the solution and it's cost.

And on the public front, adopting a policy of not speaking to the media (and then [some] complaining that "Nobody is hearing our side of it...") makes it appear that they have something to hide. Someone needed to be chosen to take charge [publicly], talk to reporters and simply say 'this is the issue, we're aware of it, and this is what we're doing about it'. Avoiding/shutting out the media looks very bad and is evidence of a situation out of control.

Finally, the incident where I was bullied into keeping my original appointment by the property manager when I'd (responsibly and promptly) called and postponed my appointment was disgraceful. I was scolded by the property manager saying "You can't just call at the last moment and cancel the appointment!" when the truth was that the document with my appointment time on it was left (on a Friday afternoon) in front of my door, in the hallway, without even a knock on the door (I was home all day).

The office was closed by then so I couldn't talk to anyone until Monday.

So at 8 AM Monday morning I called.... and called... at first not even getting an answering machine to leave a message (which I eventually did). In fact I ended up calling CATCH to investigate why no one was answering. Not long after that the phone rang and it was the woman from the MB Mgmt. office telling me that she'd had car trouble. I explained my problem and she agreed to postpone my appointment for the pest treatment (that Thursday).

I'd called as soon as humanly possible and had been told that the appointment would be rescheduled, and no one advised me otherwise.. until Thursday morning at 9 AM.

I was asleep when a knock at the door woke me. I shuffled groggily to the door and opened it to see the pest technicians standing there.... I explained that I had called and arranged to reschedule the appointment, and then I heard our maintenance man say (from somewhere out in the hall) something like 'you have to have it done today.. Gerry (the property manager) will be here shortly to talk to you'.

I just stood there, not quite believing what was happening.. The pest techs decided to go on to another apartment and told me to do my best to prepare my apartment for treatment and they'd be back around noon.

I don't recall what I did next.

At some point Gerry showed up with Ray the maintenance guy and proceeded to explain how important it was to keep to the schedule, and the part about how the bugs will all come into my apartment if I don't get it done that day..

I told him that I had called and was supposed to be rescheduled, at which point he made it sound like I'd called them at the last minute (like I explained above). He also said that the woman I spoke with to reschedule my appointment "...had been fired." and I was left with the impression that it was related to my conversation with her! (Later he said that there were other issues that contributed to her dismissal)

By this time I was starting to lose my patience, not only because of the situation in general but because of Gerry's tone, unfounded accusations, and dishonest arguments. Speaking of his 'tone', it varied between accusatory and bullying, to disingenuously warm, grabbing my hand and holding it while he tried to blow sunshine up my butt (as the saying goes..).

I finally gave up, not having the energy or presence of mind to stand my ground. I said I'd do the best I could to move everything so the treatment could be done and they left.

Something else to bear in mind is that during the [previous] treatment a prized piece of family furniture had been badly scratched despite the fact that I'd put a soft ottoman upside down on top of it for protection and specifically telling the pest technicians to be careful, and being assured that they would. After discovering the damage when I returned I called MB Mgmt. and alerted them.

No one ever contacted me about the incident.... Not MB Mgmt., not Southern NH Pest Company, no one.

I brought it up during the call to reschedule my appointment and the woman said Gerry wanted to know if I could provide pictures of the furniture before the damage occurred. Huh? - Even if there were 'pre-damage' photos, unless they happened to be close-ups it was highly unlikely that it could be determined if there was any prior damage, and even then we've always had some form of place mats or other items on the top for protection.

When I brought this up to Gerry that morning (adding that I'd been a professional photographer for many years) he maintained that I was wrong and that he had been a photographer too.. Even if that was true.. Even if he was a [freakin'] NASA imaging enhancement/analysis specialist it would still be highly unlikely.

- Bottom line, more obvious BS/sunshine..

By the way, when I brought the subject up with the pest technicians later that morning one of them basically shifted the blame to the MB maintenance worker(s).

And if you're wondering about an insurance claim? For one, I'd let my apartment insurance lapse just weeks before because I couldn't afford it, and even if I hadn't there's the standard $500 deductible. As far as me making a claim on Southern NH Pest (who makes a point on their web site of saying that they have excellent insurance coverage)? I brought up the situation when I reinstated my coverage with AAA Ins. the following week and the rep wasn't encouraging at all. If I had been a current customer he told me that AAA would have been in a position to arbitrate for me, but by that time the question was moot.

I have to tell you that treating residents/renters in this manner is uncalled for. I know for a fact that this would not be the case if Hodges Corp. was still our property management company. It's been downhill ever since they were replaced with MB Management.

Among other things, I've have to deal with chronic depression and other psychiatric issues for around ten years. Lately you can add heart problems and more to the list.

This is not something I'd ordinarily admit, but I feel it necessary to emphasize how wrong this situation was.... That day brought me closer to suicide than I've been for years (which the woman I spoke with at CATCH later that day probably noticed). And it's pretty sad that I don't see things changing for the better any time soon.

UPDATE 1/30/2011: Now that all the residents (I was the last) have vacated the building I can say that it never did get much better. The bright spot was probably when they added "Bob" to the maintenance dept.. Always with a smile and laughing frequently, he was certainly a refreshing addition.

I really look forward to being able to put all my things back in their place and know that I won't have to move them again*** (unless *I* want to). I look forward to being able to do laundry and not have to put everything into sealed bags. I look forward to putting things back into cupboards instead of having plastic tubs piled up all over the place. And the day I can climb into bed without first checking myself for bugs will be a good day indeed.

I'd also like to have [from MB Management] the same friendly feeling I got every time I walked into the office at Hodges Realty Corp. .

I really don't think I'm being unreasonable.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

* One day I listened while what sounded like a family of rats (or something with claws) climbed up the space inside the wall/partition next to my refrigerator, then across my ceiling to parts unknown. At first I thought workers were threading wiring up through the walls, but after calling the office I was told that there was no work being done in the building.

**[Update] while writing this Gene showed up to vacuum so I went out and wished him a Happy New Year!

- [Update II] I'd like to suggest that Gene might need either a new vacuum or more bags.

It wasn't for lack of effort because I heard him vacuuming our hall for quite a while, but when I went out that night I noticed that a good deal of the pine needles (and other dirt) was still there! -- Also, I heard the hall being vacuumed again yesterday (Wednesday).

That's a welcome sound! THANK YOU!

***[Edit/Update 1/30/2012] Well today we know that didn't last long. The pest treatments continued every few months right up until our forced relocation to enable CATCH to refurbish the building and welcome new tenants paying higher rents. No more 'undesirables' out in front of the building making certain people uncomfortable.. Apparently the sickly color choice and the filthy peeling paint and cracked glass down on the Green Martini side wasn't a serious problem as [literally] nothing was done to it for years.. Not even a simple cleaning to get rid of the cobwebs and dirt built up from years of neglect.


I hope the place gets a nice makeover and I hope the new tenants enjoy it.. And I hope they like the management. 

Penny Wise and Pound Foolish

Above is the three page document I was given (on Friday) with the time of my pest treatment (the following Tuesday) and the preparation instructions required. The attached bugs are some that I captured with tape as I saw them and wanted to save to show management/pest personnel. If you click on the individual images they will open up into a full-sized (and clear) image.



It was bound to happen.. When The Hodges Co. was replaced as the property management company for CATCH's properties one of the things that changed was our monthly pest inspections. I was promised by the new property manager that they would be resuming the apartment inspections at some point. That was at the end of 2007 and now the Endicott is experiencing a Bed Bug Infestation.

I've lived at the Endicott for just under seven years and have never had a problem with pests of any kind. After spending 1994-1997 in Ft. Lauderdale it's been a welcome change! Frankly I was surprised that such an old building didn't have any noticeable pest problem.What I'm not surprised by however, is the fact that we developed a problem after the apartment inspections were stopped.

When Hodges was our property manager we also had quarterly safety inspections. Now those inspections are few and far between, and the items checked are much fewer. I tend to notice things like that because I worked for Concord Royal Gardens inspecting apartments.

Now I'm no 'Mr. Clean' but I keep my apartment generally free of leftover food or anything that might attract bugs. I vacuum and dust when I get ambitious and generally keep things clean, which isn't easy when you've inherited your father's belongings and live in a one bedroom apartment. Through my experience inspecting other people's apartments I know how bad conditions can get, and I can only imagine what can happen if the inspections are stopped or reduced.

When I heard about our bed bug problem I did some research on the Internet, and one of the first things I noticed was news articles about 'the recent increase of bed bug infestations'. I wonder if the issue was covered by the property management trade publications. I haven't asked around but if the subject hasn't been covered it should be.

What I learned on the first web site I checked for information about the little buggers was not comforting. Once an infestation gets going it's very hard to stop. Bed bugs can live for up to 18 months without food. It only takes one male and one female to survive somewhere in the building to quickly repopulate, so they're really hard to totally eradicate. They're small and fairly flat (especially the young ones!) and can crawl through some stitching holes in furniture and things like mattresses. The one [fairly] good thing I learned was that they don't transmit diseases when they bite. That's a small consolation to ponder while you try not to scratch the bites..

Climbing into bed and going to sleep isn't something to look forward to when you know that during the night these little blood suckers will go to work, and the next morning you'll likely have groups of bites somewhere on your body. The itching usually takes a while to start and once it does it lasts for days, although regular applications of something like hydrocortisone ointment or Bactine™, or one of the many other 'bug bite' products can help quite a bit (depending the location of the bites).

The history of my experience started with a visit from our maintenance man and a guy from a pest control company. They asked to look under my mattress and the subsequent inspection turned up no bugs. That was a number of weeks ago. Recently I started to see what looked like ticks crawling across the carpet. One, then another until I it was almost daily. Each time I'd grab a piece of tape and catch it then tape it to a sheet of paper (originally to show to a pest specialist but quickly became a 'collection'!). I started hearing about people's apartments being sprayed for bed bugs here and there and soon I started feeling the itching and seeing groups of red bumps on my feet and legs.

In the last 2-3 weeks it hit my floor. The first apartment I heard about was my former neighbor Hazel. They treated her apartment, and I'm not sure about the exact time frame but [days] later she couldn't be contacted by friends or relatives (the Concord Police knocked on my door asking if I'd seen her) and later unfortunately was found deceased in her apartment (I'm going to miss Hazel).

Then Tony in the apartment across the hall from me told me (after asking him if he had any problems with bed bugs) that no, he hadn't seen any but that pest control had come in and 'bombed' his bedroom. He said that's the only room they treated and that he had to leave for several hours.

That brings me to last Friday when our maintenance guy knocked on my door and handed me three sheets of instructions regarding preparations required before the treatment of my apartment the following Tuesday at 9:30 AM. He emphasized that all the instructions had to be followed precisely prior to the appointment, I had to arrange to be gone for 3/6 hours (I'm not sure which, and the instructions said 3 hrs on one page and 6 on another) and that they were 'doing the entire building' instead of the previous approach.

I wasn't able to even start the massive preparation until Monday evening. I literally worked through the night and thought I was almost done by the 9:30 AM appointment time. The instructions included stripping the bed, discarding and/or washing everything then securely bagging the items, emptying all drawers inspecting and bagging everything, vacuuming, and removing every outlet cover (among other things like moving all the furniture away from the walls, oh and also make sure there's room for the pest control folks to work!).

Did I mention that this is a one bedroom apartment?

The way I read the instructions and the fact that the guy across the hall only had his bedroom 'bombed' led me to believe that just the bedroom & closet was to be treated and that the room had to be empty except for the mattress and box spring (and the cloth removed from the bottom of the box spring). Thus everything from my bedroom (and packed BR closet) was in the living room area.... 9:30 arrives and the maintenance man shows up, looks around, and tells me that the entire apartment is being treated and that the bedroom didn't have to be emptied just things piled in the center of the room!

By that time I was so tired and soaked in sweat I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I looked around in disbelief trying to figure out how that was even possible. After working frantically all night and being so tired my disbelief started turning into mild rage. He said "keep on working", he now had to call the property manager and talk to the pest control guys who were on the floor below to figure out how to proceed, then he left.

Did I mention that I have heart problems including high blood pressure, Type-2 Diabetes, and Chronic Depression? - Yep, and right about then I wasn't sure if I was going to have a stroke or a nervous breakdown or both..

I decided to sit down and ponder the situation while I drank what must have been going on 3-4 gallons of water by that point. The temperature was fine, the A/C was set at 68 degrees but I'm so out of shape that I was sweating buckets and my back was hurting just standing up straight. After a while I started to think about how all of this might have been prevented if the monthly inspections hadn't been stopped, and started yelling out loud "How do they expect people (with all sorts of various conditions including age, physical/mental, etc.) to get all this done in such a short time?". "Damn it! This isn't my fault, if anyone's it yours/CATCH's, and if you hadn't tried to manage this property on such a low budget this might not have happened!". @#$%^&%*!

After a few minutes (and more water) I cooled off, got up and started moving things back into the bedroom, cursing only occasionally when the sweat blurred my vision or my back twinged. I slowly worked away and around noon I was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was also wondering why neither maintenance nor the pest guys were there yet.

The maintenance guy never returned but around 1:30 PM the pest control guys showed up dressed in their space suits. I explained that I'd done the best I could but couldn't empty one closet because there was simply no space. They were cool with that and said that they were going to be returning (every week?) for a while anyway. They told me to leave and come back at 5:30 PM.

When I returned at around 5:20 they were gone. There was no note/paper work regarding safety instructions regarding treatment residue or their return date(s) and my door was left unlocked. After a while the apartment seemed to be unusually warm so I checked the A/C unit and discovered that the filter was totally clogged with a white powder. Elsewhere there was a very light amount of residue on surfaces and the floor was slightly tacky.

I'd forgotten to call in three of my prescriptions and ran out the day before so I picked them up while I was out. I took my meds, had a bite to eat, then I started the whole process in reverse....

Today I'm happy to say so far so good. I've only seen two bugs and both of them were dead! It was nice to wake up and not see or feel any bites! I do however feel like I ran a marathon yesterday. My body is sore as is my mind. This morning I finished up returning things to their places and by noon I was relaxing watching TV. I started to nod off and was just getting up to take a nap when there was a knock at the door.

Now I rarely get visitors, or even people knocking at my door aside from maintenance and occasionally Concord Police looking for someone, so the last one I expected was a reporter and photographer from the Concord Monitor.. and guess what she was asking about?
[UPDATE 8/28/09]: The article "Bedbugs infest Endicott" [by Amy Augustine] was on the front page of the Concord Monitor Online today. Thankfully there were no photos of me..

Evidently another resident in the building contacted the Concord Monitor and they were knocking on doors and asking about the issue. When they asked me if I had anything to say I was more than willing to tell them my experience and thoughts to date (even though I'd answered the door unshaven and in my boxers and a T-shirt).

Afterward I did wonder what the reaction from the property management company might be, but I have to hope that they will handle the situation maturely and professionally. Frankly I was impressed when I spoke with the new property manager on the phone. He was congenial and professional, and as opposed to the manager who preceded him seems in control and not hurried. Situations like this can generate a defensive response especially when it's an organization. Then multiple egos are at play and a lot depends on the management style of the company and how far that extends down the ranks.

This is a serious situation for everyone involved, from CATCH to MB Management, and also the residents of the Endicott. With an infestation the State of NH officials could get involved. Here's a quote from the New Hampshire Department of Justice web site 'DOJ > Consumer Protection & Anti-Trust Bureau > Consumer Sourcebook' >

Landlord Responsibilities: "[...]

RSA 48-A:14 sets minimum health and safety standards for rental property in towns that do not have ordinances that establish housing standards. An apartment does not meet these minimum standards if:

• It is infested by pests and the landlord does not conduct regular inspections and pest exterminations [...]"
  

Now it's my understanding that from this point forward regular inspections have been resumed which is great news. Lets hope that the pest control company can gain control of the infestation and ultimately eradicate all the bed bugs. That goal is going to be incredibly difficult to achieve from what my research into the subject tells me, and frankly won't be achieved without the residents active participation. Attentiveness and strictly adhering to the instructions provided are essential, as is frequent and open communication between management and residents. Assistance needs to be provided to residents who need help understanding what needs to be done as well as those who need help moving items. It's also a good idea to double check to make sure the required items have been done, well before the actual appointment. I realize that's not easy when you only have two maintenance personnel who I'm sure have a pile of job tickets to attend to.

Keep in mind that the efforts required of the residents for the treatment(s) are difficult for those in good health, and this is not our fault! Communication is so important in all facets of life and the lack of communication and outreach in this case is a perfect example. With it this could have been caught in time and stopped before it turned into an 'infestation' and a major disruption in the lives of the residents affected not to mention a giant and potentially legal headache on the management/landlord side.

The Endicott has a number of residents who have special needs and require additional assistance and monitoring. The man in the apartment below mine is in a wheelchair, and I learned yesterday his mattress was covered with literally hundreds of bed bugs. I don't know what kind of living assistance he has (if any) but I have to believe that his bug problem would have been caught much sooner if someone was at least checking in on him weekly. Others have psychiatric issues that affect their ability to recognize and communicate problems such as this. All this has to be taken into consideration, not just in this situation but to prevent other issues that can crop up in buildings that house people with special needs.

I realize that the current financial situation has an effect on everyone and that budget cuts have made an already under-resourced care system even worse. I expect that CATCH hasn't escaped the effects of the economic downturn and various budget cuts either. I think it's important to keep that in mind. But in some areas (like outpatient/independent psychiatric care & supervision as well as home health care for disabled low income people) some basic needs of our most vulnerable citizens aren't being met, and this incident is one example of that failure. Whether it's state agencies or whoever, nobody should be left to wallow in a bed full of bed bugs.

I'll try to update this post as I get more information from both residents and management. To date the only communication from management is the 3 pages of instructions delivered to me last Friday. I seriously hope there is much more to come. Back when Hodges Corp. managed us there was a steady stream of letters and other communication as well as a extremely friendly and welcoming staff. I wish that could be the case again.
I should note that yesterday afternoon I called Hodges Corp. to ask our former property manager some questions connected with this issue. She was evidently busy so I had to leave a voice message, but at the time of this post/3rd edit [3:33 PM] she's not returned my call.

[Update 8-29-09]: It's been nice not waking up with bites since they treated my apartment. I now have both the mattress and box spring enclosed in dust mite/allergy covers (@ $28 apiece..) and new [white] sheets. The white sheets will make it much easier to spot the little buggers if/when they return. I'm on constant lookout when I move around the place and wonder how long this respite will last. I'm also hoping that we're provided with instructions regarding future visits from the pest company, claims for expenses incurred, and maybe even some kind of letter from management or perhaps a visit from the property mgr.?

We'll see.. and I'll keep updating this post as events unfold.

___________________________________________
Here are a few links to information about Bedbugs:

"Bed Bugs - Description, Life Cycle, and Habits of Bed Bugs" [About.com]
"Getting Rid of Bed Bugs - Why Is Getting Rid of Bed Bugs So Hard?" [About.com]
"How to Kill Bed Bugs" [About.com]
"Bedbug Bites" [About.com]

Does Anyone Think This Is Acceptable?

How long before someone takes responsibility for this area and starts keeping it clean?

Does the person responsible for this area have any reasonable excuse for letting this disgusting mess persist like it has? Do they have any pride in their job, or the city of Concord?

Is it a matter of money or personnel?

I for one would like to know the answer to all of these questions, and I'd like to see it cleaned up and kept that way.

Would it be left like this if the Mayor, City Manager, or other officials had to walk by this every day? I doubt it..

People using the dumpster or the stairs next to it frequently have to avoid stepping on garbage, trash, broken glass, etc.. The source of the garbage/trash not disposed of properly is mainly from certain residents of the Endicott, and the nearby restaurant-bar.

There's no doubt the area needs to be cleaned up and maintained. All the parties involved including the sources of the mess and those responsible for maintaining the area need to get together and come up with a solution. This disgusting and frankly embarrassing situation can't be allowed to persist any longer.

The above images are all recent and show the varying states of the area surrounding the dumpster next to the new parking garage's north side.

The Endicott Building Needs Help!

Here a couple of shots of our front entrance. When it comes time to start fixing this place up, the entrances would be a good place to start. Why no one has put forth the effort to even wash the dirt off in the five years I've lived here is troubling. The trim next to the door needs to be replaced and then the whole entrance needs to be painted. The entrance to Butter's restaurant/store just north of the Endicott on Main Street would be an excellent color and look to copy.



Below is one of the side entrances and the surrounding areas. Someone please tell me who chose this color! Unfortunately this section of the building is separately owned, so getting the whole exterior of the building repainted is going to take some consultation and all parties working together to make happen. I understand that assistance is being sought from a historical preservation fund (possibly the NHPA?) by the owner (Peter Shapiro?) of this part of the building that includes Pachamama and The Green Martini.
Lets hope that he is successful.
I know that everyone concerned, from the business owners (and their patrons) to the Endicott residents, other business owners in the neighborhood, and Concord residents who want to see a rejuvenated downtown, want to see this building renovated.

After Tomorrow

Things will be quieting down here in New Hampshire (until November).

For me (and my neighbors here at the Endicott Hotel on Main St. Concord) that means figuratively and literally. Over the past several days (since the Iowa Caucus) the political supporters have been out on the streets like I've never experienced since I moved here in 1979.

The morning of the Iowa Caucus I was awakened by someone beating a snare drum out front. I assume it was a Ron Paul supporter as they were the only ones out that day. It was a frigid day but sunny, and the Paul faithful were out en masse here in Concord.
Since then it's been crazy and noisy, starting around 8 AM and lasting all day long. Horns honking, sometimes blaring all the way down Main Street, groups of supporters chanting or yelling, sometimes to cars going by, other times at each other.

As I said, I've never seen enthusiasm like this here in Concord before the primary, or before the general election. Despite the noise I think it's great to see so many (mostly younger) people out participating in the political process and working for their candidate.

Much of this enthusiasm is undoubtedly due to the unprecedented failure of President Bush and the torturous last seven years. The combination of an unnecessary war that many were fooled into supporting until the truth became evident, an unduly secretive and deceptive President and Vice President, seemingly endless scandals in the Republican party, and a Republican leadership that either looked the other way or was complicit in a plan to dominate and marginalize the opposing party. All the while rubber stamping everything the President asked for, whether legal or not.

With the price of oil and gasoline tripling, real estate in trouble, the NSA allowed to spy on Americans uncontrolled, billions of dollars spent in Iraq but unnaccounted for, New Orleans neglected, incompetant political appointees heading critical agencies, the Justice Department politicized, and much of the rest of the world now fearful and wondering how far down the road to crazytown Bush will drive the war wagon. Oh, and I almost forgot the disregard and obvious contempt for the Constitution, the Geneva Convention, and the rule of law in general as it pertains to Bush's imperial presidency, and the disdain for the poor and the social programs that help them, not to mention the neglect of the veterans that Bush needlessly sent into harms way. Is it any wonder that there is this massive call for change?

As I've heard others say, the President promised to unite the country, but it didn't happen the way he said it would (did anything?).
In the end he did succeed in uniting 80% of the country.... in opposition to him and his failed policies.

After all that has happened over the past seven years, why would any sane, caring person even consider voting for another Republican?

Now for those who need information on where to vote, registration information, absentee voting, etc. here's a link to the City of Concord's "Elections" web site.

Now VOTE !

More Snow - Still No Parking Provided For Residents

Oh Look, It's snowing AGAIN....

The crews that clear the snow must be wondering if this pace is going to continue all winter!
Come to think of it, their families must be asking the same thing.

Personally, since I've decided to park in the parking garage whenever it snows it's costing me a lot of extra cash. At $4.00 per day (opposed to the $2.00 it was before the city doubled their rates!) it adds up fast for someone on a small fixed income. There should be some way for the city to make this less of a burden on low income citizens as it's essentially a flat tax, which is inherently unfair to low income citizens if it isn't offset somehow. And for the residents of the Endicott who for some terrible reason aren't provided with any place to park by our landlord (CATCH) it's doubly troubling. For residents who are mostly low income Section 8 recipients it's truly unconscionable for an organization like CATCH to neglect this issue. In the 5+ years I've lived here the additional money I've had to spend for parking adds up to hundreds of dollars per year!

The extra cost isn't the only thing either. The daily threat of getting our cars towed is one more unnecessary burden we have to live with. To try to ease the cost, and because most of us just can't afford to pay to park in a metered spot every weekday, we park across the street in the parking lot for the strip mall on Storrs St. despite the signs warning that it's for store patrons only. I've been towed once and it cost me $150 to get my car back!

Take a minute and picture yourself having a small fixed income where every single dollar is budgeted. Then picture yourself having your car towed and held (for ransom) unless you can somehow come up with $150. Don't forget, they're also charging you a daily storage fee, so the longer it takes you to get the money (if you even can) the more it costs you. Imagine if you had to wait the better part of a month until you get some money again to be able to get your car back. How much is that going to be? Will you have enough left over to pay rent or buy groceries? What about getting to work, going to doctors appointments, or if you have kids?

These days unless you have someone you can borrow the money from you might be forced to go to a 'Payday Lender' and pay a huge interest rate (20%?) to get your car back.

Before I moved into the Endicott I sat down with the property manager from Hodges (our former management company) and when I asked about parking she indicated that 'they were in negotiations to try and procure parking for us'. That sounded hopeful, and because I'd already spent over a year on a waiting list I wasn't going to refuse the apartment!
Since that day (in addition to the property manager) I've contacted Dave Florence in the parking department, Allan Bennett who represents Ward 6, Matt Walsh, the city planner, and even the property manager (Heritage Realty in Mass.) for the strip mall to try to get us some parking, all to no avail.
Well, that's not entirely accurate. Dave Florence did offer Endicott residents first dibs on reserved parking in the new parking garage. In case you're wondering, the rates for leased spaces in the Capital Commons parking garage are "$1,344 per year for a covered space and $1,044 per year for an uncovered space". While that offer was better than nothing, personally if I could afford to pay that I wouldn't be on Section 8!

It's bad enough that this situation has existed as long as it has, but to let it continue to without some relief for people who already have more than enough to worry about will be callous and unnecessary. C'mon CATCH (and the city of Concord), please step up to the plate and put an end to this situation ASAP.

What Has Happened To Concord's Police Department?

This is hard for me to understand. Especially with all the negative press they've had lately. But unfortunately this morning at around 1:50 AM another representative of the Concord Police department has given them a black eye when dealing with the public. About fifteen minutes before that someone woke up everyone in the building who lives on the side facing the new Concord Commons building when someone from the city crew that was clearing snow used a snow blower to clear the alleyway between the buildings! If that wasn't bad enough, after they were done they continued with shoveling (that's what they should have done with the small amount of snow in the alley in the first place), but the person doing it kept banging his shovel on the wall of the building to knock the snow off. I finally opened my window and yelled at him that there were people trying to sleep up here, to which he yelled something belligerent! At that point I decided to call the police to make a noise complaint.

I called their non-emergency line, a woman answered the call and I proceeded to explain what the problem was. She immediately stated "there's nothing we're going to do about that"....
I started to say "but I thought there were noise laws...". The next thing I knew she had hung up on me. I just sat there, still holding the phone to my ear for close to a minute, trying to contemplate what had just happened. Just a few minutes before I was sleeping soundly, and now I was literally shaking with disbelief. I sat there for another minute or so and called the police back. I wasn't sure what I was going to say, but I couldn't, and wouldn't stand for that kind of rude behavior from people who work for the public!

When the phone was answered it was by someone who identified himself as the shift supervisor. I explained what had just happened, along with my original complaint. This time I got a courteous person who took the time to listen to my complaint, and even though he also said there was nothing they could do, he explained that it was because because the snow removal crews weren't subject to the same noise laws that everyone else is.
He apologized for the behavior of the previous person and listened patiently as I continued to go on that I was able to understand the need to clear the streets at night, but that the job could have been done by shoveling alone instead of a snowblower, and also that the person doing it should have been more thoughtful towards the residents and definitely not belligerent like he was when told he was waking people up.


In all my dealings with the Concord Police over the years 99% of them have been professional and courteous. Every one of them was polite and helpful (except for that one rookie who treated me like a criminal after my late father's car had been towed away and I was distraught). That 99% seem like genuinely nice people. I have the utmost respect for them and the dangerous job they do, and the last thing they need is another example of one of them being rude to the people who pay their salary. What this woman who answered my call did was take a bad situation and compounded it by being curt and rude.

I'll be speaking to our local and state representatives about this latest episode and we'll find out what they have to say about it.

And one last thought.... The episode I just read about in the police log regarding a man who had just been released from prison after 30 years and was homeless was troubling. Sure he had been told to leave the building and was technically "trespassing" , but instead of arresting him, the human thing to do would have been to find him shelter for the night and steer him towards a public assistance program. Instead they sent him back into the system. How cold and heartless can you get? That's not the kind of society I want to belong to, and it's not the kind of society I believe we should strive for. Shame on the officer who made the decision to arrest him instead of giving him the help he so obviously needed.

Winter And The Holidays Are Upon Us

Well the ground is now covered with snow and it freezing outside. Cars are sprayed with salt or whatever they're putting on the roads these days, and slush builds up around our tires.

The car washes are busier than ever and for a while now there's more than one car wash in Concord! For too long (since the one next to KFC on Hall Street closed) you had two choices, the car wash on Loudon Road, or drive to Thirty Pines in Penacook. Now the addition of two on Manchester Street makes it much easier, and for me just seeing them more often gives me a needed reminder to stop and wash the salty winter sludge off.

Unfortunately for some here at the Endicott, winter apparently means leaving your trash somewhere other than in the dumpster. I've been seeing bags of trash left down by the entrance to the Green Martini, on the first floor by the elevator, and this morning two bags down on the corner by the sitting area (unfortunately the city didn't clear that walkway). That's only a few steps away from the dumpster!

I'm hoping that it's one of the more elderly or infirmed residents that find it especially hard to get around in the winter, and not someone who's just lazy. I grabbed the bag I saw by the door last week and took it to the dumpster myself, but something needs to be posted or somehow communicated to the residents by management. There is also a mattress and box spring that was left in the alleyway leaning up against the fence by the back door of the Green Martini.
And while I'm talking about the alleyway, Bob needs to make sure that when he parks his company truck in that alley he leaves room for people to get through with trash and whatnot. I was barely able to squeeze by with my trash the other day!

It needs to be made clear to all the residents that they can call MB Management if they have something large to dispose of or they find it difficult to get their trash to the dumpster. We have someone who is paid to keep the building clean, and the maintenance people should have trucks to remove large items that residents can't dispose of on their own.

I hope MB Management produces a distributes a new Resident Handbook soon as the old one from Hodges doesn't apply anymore (or does it?). I seem to recall that we were informed by CATCH that there would be a new one coming out with the change of management. So far there hasn't been any communication from MB since the initial letter with address and phone number.
Speaking of which, I tried calling the office of MB Management Monday and got a message that the number wasn't in service! A subsequent call to CATCH informed me that Marie Poole was on her way over there to find out what the problem was.
Thank goodness for Marie. She's so attentive to our needs and is so pleasant to deal with!

(Update: In speaking with Tiffany (who works for Kathy at MB) she said that the phone situation lasted for about three hours before it was resolved.)

And so is our new property manager Kathy at MB. So far she's been very receptive to some issues I've brought to her. Nothing has changed yet, but I'm trying to be patient. She told me that she was excited that the old Endicott Hotel was one of the properties they were hired to manage and that she hoped to get it looking better soon.

I plan to do whatever I can to [both] help that happen, and keep the fire lit (as it were). It's sad to see the condition of this historic old building, unkempt and dirty with peeling paint in the entryways, lights that haven't been replaced in years, with the old and I must say ugly paint on the upper facade and the beautiful bowed windows that overlook the street. This wonderful old building has been badly neglected for too long and it deserves better. Especially now that it has a brand new building next door and the city is focusing on development of the South Main Street area.

It's a bit discouraging to look out my third floor window across at the uninhabited floors of the new building, and especially when I walk by the empty space on the ground floor adjacent to the new theaters. I picture a busy coffee shop-bookstore or casual dining restaurant there, but I'm told that because of Gibson's Book Store across the plaza the former isn't likely. The lack of occupants to date concerns me, as I'm sure it does the owner and the city, but I'm hoping that the current situation will be but a distant memory as the downtown comes to life.
It will be a welcome change.

What's up with Concord and it's city workers?

It's 1 AM here at the Endicott and just now someone started up a snowblower outside!
Now I'm all for cleaning up the sidewalks after a storm, but in the five years I've lived here this is a first.
Aren't there noise ordinances in Concord anymore? What are they thinking?

The snow cleanup that normally goes on isn't bad (and has to be done at night) but this is exceptionally loud and undoubtedly woke some people up!

I have to say the crews do an excellent job clearing the snow that piles up after storms, but whoever OKed the use of a snow blower next to a residential building at 1 AM needs to be re-educated.
(It wasn't long ago that I called Jeff Hoadley the Director of Public Properties and left a message/complaint about a city worker running a leaf blower in the alley between our building and the new building at around 7 AM.)

I also have to say that overall the condition of the streets and highways (and other 'Public Properties') of Concord is embarrassing. Weeds growing up untouched, trash strewn along the sides of streets, and most recently trash left untouched around the dumpster beside the brand new parking garage and in the freshly landscaped sitting area down at the corner of Storrs Street and Pleasant Street extension.

On most days (before the snow came) if you walked by the dumpster behind the Lighting Place you'd see broken beer bottles, food and trash from the restaurant, and other trash scattered around from the stairs by the dumpster halfway out to the street. I have dozens of photos I've taken of the trash left scattered around. It remained there unless I picked it up (which I did every time I saw it) or people from the bar/restaurant cleaned it up.

I assume that much of the mess is caused when the trash truck empties the dumpster, and god forbid the driver from getting off his butt to clean up anything that falls out in the process! And not once have I seen any city workers cleaning the area or picking up trash scattered around the public seating area. In the mornings they have someone check and empty the trash bag in the trash receptacle, but in the process they walk right by and ignore any trash in the nicely landscaped area around the benches.

Once when there was part of a sandwich roll and it's contents smeared around at the bottom of the stairs (directly in the middle) next to the dumpster, I asked the server inside the restaurant [politely], then later one of the owners if they could have someone go clean it up. After both of them arguing with me saying "How do you know it came from us? It could have been from anyone, it could be from someone living in the Endicott..." she eventually said that they would take care of it. (The only reason I didn't take care of it myself and avoid the nastiness was that it was a gooey mess that required a hose or other cleaning supplies).

Does it really matter how the mess got there? Shouldn't we all take some pride in our block and keep it as clean as possible? People walking that way shouldn't have to jump over food and avoid broken beer bottles!
I certainly try to do my part, but shouldn't the city take the same pride in keeping the public areas clean and looking good? Who's responsible for that area between the Lighting Place and the new parking garage where the dumpster is? Why has it been ignored and collecting broken beer bottles, cigarette butts, and other trash?

I haven't spoken to Mr. Hoadley or others in person yet but I plan to at some point. Until then I can only guess as to the reasons the city looks so unkempt and some of it's workers seem to lack common decency and sense at times. Maybe part of it's money, maybe some of it's being able to find and keep good thoughtful workers.
I just know that when I walk down many city streets seeing the same litter sitting there day after day and see the same weeds growing higher and higher along the highways, and especially when I see the city spend millions of dollars on a new parking garage and landscaping, then see it not being cared for, I'm disheartened.

They're still putting the finishing touches on the new parking garage and the other morning I enjoyed the protection from the rain while I got some fresh air and drank my coffee.

Today the workers from Galaxy Glass in Manchester are out there finishing up with the caulking in the sub-40s fall chill.




I for one will be glad when the project is done. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a beautiful building and it's a huge improvement over the vacant lot (although I had a nice bright apartment and a view before it went up. Not so now.).

The residents of the Endicott, especially the ones whose apartments face the construction site have put up with the noise that started daily at seven AM, and the fine dirt that clogged our air conditioners and covered our window sills with a fine powder. By the way, I had to buy a new air conditioner because the previous one which was only a couple of years old couldn't handle the dirt and died a squeaky death.

At the start of the construction when the piles were being driven to hold back the street, the vibration was so bad I had to open up all of my cupboards so that they wouldn't rattle all day long, and important pictures had to be taken off the walls for fear of them coming down. Even then it was like living inside an ultrasonic cleaner.
The construction company had seismic equipment to monitor the shaking and they had to inject some kind of material into the foundation of the Endicott to shore it up before starting.

Now all that disruption in our lives is over for the most part and all we're left with are memories, and speaking for myself a big crack in my bedroom wall next to the window. Prior to construction some people came in and videotaped the condition of the walls in our apartments. They said they'd be back to check things out after construction was done, but to date I haven't seen anyone.

So it's been a long noisy expensive experience for this resident.
At least the building didn't fall down. There were times when that seemed like a real possibility. Now lets hope some businesses fill the building and the theater is supported. It would certainly help the Red River Theaters if a successful restaurant moved into the space on the first floor next to their sign. There's plenty of parking now in the attached parking garage. Let's fill it up!

Welcome

Welcome to the first post of The Endicott Dispatch. The name refers to the building where I live which is a century old former hotel in downtown Concord New Hampshire.

I want to cover local topics ranging from what's happening inside and around the Endicott, to issues concerning the city of Concord and the state of New Hampshire.

I welcome comments as long as they're polite and relevant. Do to the scourge of 'comment SPAM' I have to use the challenge option to weed out automatic SPAM bots to the extent possible.

I also will be using "Jiglu" (at least initially) to help with 'tagging'. If you have any issues with it please let me know. And since I live solely on a single Social Security Disability payment each month I'm going to explore Google AdSense and possibly a PayPal [link] to help pay for things like my medications (and coffee, which currently is my substitute for the Ritalin/Concerta I can't afford because the drug company Novartis wants to pawn me off onto Medicare Part-D [which I can't afford). *See my blog post that includes more detail about the situation on this page.

I hope to produce an informative and entertaining blog that people will enjoy and support.
My thinking at this early stage is that some of the posts will be similar to a 'Letter to the Editor', and in my case that would be the local Concord Monitor newspaper.

This is my second 'real' blog. The other is called "Inside Tom's Brain" and is also hosted by Blogspot-Google. To this point it has been primarily political and media commentary with some personal issues posted every once in a great while. I, like I imagine many people, have started and basically abandoned several blogs over the years. You've seen it I'm sure, every large web portal wants you to start a blog on their site. Microsoft's "Live Spaces", the Opera browser site, your ISP offers a free web site, and the list goes on.

OK I admit it, I'm weak. It seemed like a good idea at the time, right? But especially for people like me with serious ADD, the last thing you need are more things you need to attend to. The internet is distracting enough. All I have to do is start reading the news or my daily email and I'm off on a tangent that continues to split further and further from what I'd originally intended (or needed) to do. So even for those without ADD I bet this sounds familiar. If the standards of all these sites allowed it and applications like Windows Live Writer could post to all of these disparate sites I'd be able to write the post once and if I wanted to then distribute that one post to all my blogs.

I must say though, that I haven't done an exhaustive search for applications of this type, and for all I know someone has developed just such an application. As far as the ones I've seen, some can distribute what I write to the major blog sites but not all.

So there it is, the traditional first post of a new blog, and as my mind has drifted and my attention span has been tested (I have the TV on also [with the sound off], and I stopped to write a post about Mika Brzezinski and MSNBC's "Morning Joe" for Inside Tom's Brain just now..) I think I should stop before I lose any more focus.

Thank you all for being here and please come back soon!