An Unwelcome Coincidence

The building today, September 16, 2012

And here we are.... Back in Western Mass after 33 years.

I'm told this apartment building is the former 'Chesterfield Hotel'. At what point it was turned into apartments I haven't discovered yet.

Now I've mentioned some coincidences between my former residence and this one. Both are former hotels and both are owned by similar organizations. The reason I had to move out of the Endicott was because they decided to do a major renovation (and upgrade) of the building and that required all the tenants to move out.

Last letter from CATCH / MB Management regarding moving out.

For the previous several years I had been entertaining the idea of moving back to Western Massachusetts. By the time my father passed away in April of 2006 I'd already stopped my security blogging on the Concord Monitor Online website and really had nothing significant tying me to New Hampshire. My mother was suffering from Alzheimer's and though I knew moving to Mass would mean a significant increase in my cost of living I'd be able to visit her much more. Unfortunately I was still waiting to hear from the management of Nash Hill Place when she passed away in March of 2010.

Fast forward two years to March 2012. I've just recently moved into this new apartment and I'm trying to settle in. I need stability and absolutely hate the disruption associated with moving. So imagine what it was like to get this letter:

Deja vu?

Seriously, what are the odds? Of course nothing was mentioned to me about this when I was shown the apartment or when signing the lease nor at any time in the month (or so) prior to receiving this letter. I don't know if it would have made any difference because Nash Hill Place still didn't have any openings (and couldn't/wouldn't even tell me where I was on their waiting list..), I hadn't found anything else and I felt I was over-staying my welcome where I was staying. This place was suddenly available, the price was right, and despite being further away than I'd hoped it is a nice quiet place (well, except for occasional sudden heart-stopping outbursts from my neighbor's autistic son next door). I have birds singing and wind rustling the leaves (& a collection of wind chimes down on the porch) and crickets and peepers to listen to instead of the sounds of city traffic in downtown Concord, New Hampshire.

No, compared to the noise* of a busy city intersection with buses & trucks, amateur drag racers, motorcycles (especially during the Loudon race week), and every four years politicians and their supporters literally banging drums out in front of my building at 8 AM with those "Honk if you support _________" signs, this place is wonderful..

I recently heard that the grant for the renovation was not granted but then just the other day I received another letter implying that the process was ongoing, and if renovations do occur it won't be until early 2014. Maybe by then I'll have finally moved all the belongings out of my storage unit in Easthampton (it's a long process when you have no help and try to do most of it using a Toyota Camry).

So there you have it, my first blog post in ages.. It feels good to start writing again. I think it might be the weather picking me up. This first real taste of cooler dry air is nice.



*Of course the narrow space between my building and the recently built office building 20 ft away worked to amplify those sounds and *especially* the emptying of the dumpster every day around 7 AM.


Edited on 9/28/2014 (I added 1 word and added a space between sentences.)

Nothing's Changed

Lately I've been sleeping during the day, so things have been relatively quiet.

I find that getting up after midnight and reading Internet news and blogs, then writing and/or compiling material for future posts allows me to really focus without a lot of distractions. The down side is that it's hard to get normal things done that can't be done at night.

I'm trying to avoid being awake during the day and evening when my neighbor has friends over that have crying babies and unruly young children.

Unfortunately the young guy upstairs has odd hours and does things that literally shake my apartment frequently. There's one part of his floor that if he walks heavily it rattles some pipes in my ceiling. And when he gets out of his recliner it's like something hit the building. Many nights (around 2 AM) when he returns (from work?) it's like he has a full 'sea-bag' and throws it on the floor.
Doing this, knowing that he's disturbing me greatly, shows such a lack of respect and utter contempt for me and management.

Yet it continues with no end in sight....

Ah the joys of living in a sagging old hotel with thin carpets (with no padding underneath) and tile flooring.

Hey at least there's no kid riding his Big Wheel up and down the hallways yelling "redrum!", right?

All kidding aside, it makes my quality of life intolerable at times, and the worst part is that no one seems to care enough to do anything to fix it. For someone who suffers from chronic depression this is anything but helpful.

As I write this he's banging around over my head, literally shaking me in my chair at times, showing an absolute lack of respect for me and the management.


As far as the Endicott and the issues I've written about in past postings, nothing has changed at all. January 3rd when I took my rent check up to the MB management office one of the maintenance men was there and I asked him for the screen for one of my windows. It was taken by one of the maintenance guys from Hodges (the previous management company) when my air conditioner went in. He said that he'd have to look for it and would be over sometime that afternoon. He asked for, and I gave him permission to enter my apartment if I wasn't there. I returned from my errands around 5 PM but saw no evidence that he'd been there, and no screen. There was no note, and no communication to date regarding the status of my screen.

MB also has a list of repairs that need to be done in my apartment, not the least of which is the bathroom ventilation system that was messed up when the company "Energy Improvements" installed new bathroom light/fans and kitchen ceiling lights in all the apartments . The fan pretty much has to run 24/7 or the cigarette fumes from my neighbors fill my apartment.
[None of the other repairs are 'emergency' repairs.]
Not a single word has been communicated to me about this or any of the other concerns I brought up to our new property manager.

And zero communication regarding the upstairs neighbor who's received 3-5 written warnings/complaints, and as far as I know still won't answer his door for management (or me), and still refuses to contact the office as requested. Yet he's still living here and hasn't been served with any papers as far as I know. And I haven't been contacted regarding it either. All the communication has been instigated by me.

The building is still dirty and dingy, nothing being cleaned other than a quick vacuum once a week. The entry ways have the same dirt they've had on them for years. The walls get painted once in a while, and I don't think they've ever been washed in between paintings.
The exterior paint has needed scraping and new paint for years, especially the two doorways on the side of the building. Of course since there's multiple owners of different parts of the building it's that much harder to coordinate things like that. I hear that the other owner (besides CATCH) has been trying to get a grant or something from the historical preservation folks and/or the city to pay for external renovations.

In the mean time what would be a beautiful former hotel sits here neglected and uncared for. Now that I think about it, I'm feeling pretty neglected too.

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 !

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.