I am touched to hear that so many people are unhappy with the outcome of the UCO vs. WPRF brouhaha. We didn't know that there was not 10 or 12 million to be argued about. It was a surprise when it came to such a small amount. Concerned people became upset with the various stories that came out from week to week pertaining to the arbitration. A number of people felt happy to have the situation settled, regardless of how little it turned out to be. On the other hand, a large number of people couldn't find enough information about the proposed court case. They worried: Were they going to have to pay a large sum to the lawyers? Or were they going to receive a large sum for the rest of their lives? Now that it has been settled, these same people are not sure whether or not settling the arbitration for such a small amount, after all that worry, was worth it. Are you pleased with the ending? Would you rather have it still going on? I don't know, I don't think that I am a worrywart, but who knows, perhaps if I worried more about it, we would have gotten more money. Or, of course, I might have spent more money seeing the doctor to help soothe my nerves. What's your take on the situation?
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Is It Over?
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23 comments:
By now you should comprehend that's it never over in this village. If it's not one thing , it's another "created" fiasco that we wind up paying for. Inform yourself of what is really going on and then take action.
Good luck.
It was absolutely the right decision, legally our case was very weak. It would have been even better if we had not waded into this 2 years ago. Add me to the list of foolish old people who fell for George’s promise that he would get our moneys back from Levy.
Maybe if there had been a blog back then !?!
I am saddened that good options that were available back then have gone due to insults and litigious George’s attacks on Levy. i.e. moving UCO to Clubhouse or Levy’s planned building on 2101 and giving UCO the lower floor.
Knowing all along that there was no 12 million dollars in dispute makes settling the dispute a relief. However, if the previous admin had been able to continue its positive relationship with WPRF, I really believe that we would have gotten more and the fountains would be spraying again. When you pay lawyers to stand up and urge you to send your money to an unsupported case and call the other person a thief, you do not set the stage for good settlements. Thank goodness it is over for now.
It would be really nice if the complainers got involved to change things that are perceived as unfair, instead of just adding to negative thinking. We live in a paradise, we should not spend time, money and energy following foolishness.
Our aging buildings are woefully under powered and almost all electric rooms should be redone. This will not be cheap. Sewer pipes are rotting in our walls, we should be warning everyone who is doing a renovation the open the wall and replace the pipes. I wish I had known five years ago when I did my place. Now I live in fear of having to take my kitchen down to replace a rotten pipe from upstairs.
Let's do positive things not negative rumor based activities. Before one gets on a bandwagon, they should make sure the case is real. Our last one was not.
Mollie, you are so right.
We should all pull together to make whatever offer of assistance could help this Village. We are a COMMUNITY and we need to pull the many detractors in each Association together rather than hold one or more people up to ridicule as UCO has established as a method to distract YOUR attention from UCO’s shortcomings.
A dream team could be established, provided the Administration recognized the extensive needs are FAR more important than EGO. Just imagine the extraordinary success we might have if rather than divide and conquer we actually brought in some of those advocating change, assigned the duties to them to develop their view for the Delegate Assembly to decide these issues.
Wow, isn’t that a novel idea? I guess you would call that governing.
That’s my view, what’s yours?
Ed Black
Mollie, I agree with you that it is time to put this entire matter behind us and move on. You are correct that the electrical systems in our building meter rooms are in need of extensive upgrading. Sooner or later the codes department or a major outage will mandate upgrading. However this will not help the individual unit owners to upgrade their own units unless new wires can be drawn from the meter room back to each unit-a very expensive process. You are correct about the building power shortage as some buildings want to install another washer or dryer only to find that cannot as there is no more available source of power.
Pipes in the wall present another problem as many of these are common pipes and the therefore a building problem. Opening up a wall before remodeling does not always show a problem. Most water leaks are from items INSIDE a unit not within walls. While it does occur the number of walls that have to be opened behind cabinets are rare based on the total number of units in the village. You are right as when this does occur it is a mess to repair.
As our buildings continue to grow older( like us) so will the necessity to upgrade almost everything.
Again I agree with you and many other writers, it is time to move on. Hashing and rehashing the Clubhouse renovation issue will not change anything.
To ED
How does one build a new house on a crumbling foundation ?
How to build a building on a crumbling foundation? First you shore up the existing foundation to stop further damage. You repair what ever portion of the old foundation you can and then rebuild any portion that cannot be repaired. After that you build and entirely new foundation within the old foundation or just outside the old foundation. Now you have the best new/old foundation to build on. You can build pretty much anything this foundation.
I knew a man that bought a three story barn in terrible condition. All his friends suggested that he tear the old barn down and start over, but not him,he took the battered barn and foundation and built a fantastic three story home overlooking the river. He started with the old foundation and built from there.
Dear crumbling,
....and that is how ghettos are created.
I perceive "anonymous" used the metaphor of rebuilding a rundown shack to a three-story mansion overlooking the river as an example. We should take this same metaphor and apply it to ourselves. Let's become constructive in our thoughts and actions and improve the "home in our hearts." With this blog, we can achieve anything. Let's make it be constructive.
PS: Thank you for your comments. They are appreciated.
One person looks at a crumbling foundation and sees"getto". A second person looks at this same foundation and sees "mansion".
One person sees defeat and the second person sees opportunity.
What are we looking for in Century Village? Defeat or opportunity?
We do have the grants for new lifts to look forward to, a good thing from UCO.
Merilee, the grant for the lifts in the Village has been recanted
Hi Merilee
At the Delegate Assembly Friday April 4, 2008, VP Richland announced the GRANT money had been withdrawn.
The County "does not make grant mony available to not-for-profit" entities.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Ed Black
That is just awful, how am I going to tell my elderly neighbors. I missed a little bit of the mtg, when did they say that, augh! One person is advertising a unit with approved lift.
Is UCO sending a letter fo explanation to the affected associations - they should.
To marilee, to my knowledge there was never a list of APPROVED lifts only a list of POSSIBLE building lifts providing Palm Beach County approved and APPLIED for a federal grant of up to $300,000. The grant would then have to be allocated in the year 2009 Federal Budget.Phyllis Richland mentioned the various steps many times but evidently people did not hear or remember all that was said.
There was always the possibility of problems along the way. In the end Palm Beach County stopped the process because we here in Century Village West Palm are Not For Profit. This is different from NON PROFIT.
There was never any guarantee that the application would be funded.
However, there may be other Federal Grants that could be applied for but it is a long shot at best. Most Federal Grants are "NEEDS" based and normally have difficult income levels to meet. There would be some question in my mind if a Condo Association would qualify under the NEEDS criteria.
Lets assume for a moment that the original grant was sent on to Washington and only $200,000 was funded.Then the County would have to write specifications for the lift that meets Palm Beach County Codes. Then the matter goes out for bid and the winning bidder establishes the price per lift. How many lifts would have been fully funded? Unknown.
Unfortunately your building and the others will now have to do what the other buildings did. Fund your own lift in some manner.
Phyllis Richland is to be commended for her efforts and the time she put into this matter. Unfortunately she was led astray by the County as they knew all along that we were NOT FOR PROFIT as it was on the letter head of communications given to Palm Beach County.
Does anyone know who owns the land behind Bedford. I see Seacrest has trucks parked in a fenced in area there. Is that Seacreast Property or is it CV prperty. If it's CV property, is Seacrest paying UCO rent for the use of the property? Mike
The land behind Bedford was the old bus compound that is no longer used for that purpose and belongs to UCO.
Seacrest does rent the lot from UCO and does pay. There have been several
break ins in the place and Seacrest has lost some of their property. It is not a very secure area for their equipment.
Mike honey please start another post when you change topics. Remember I'm at the Hard Rock June 7.
Stevie Darlin , I have a one track mind , until I get an answer that satisfies me to why the Medical Bldg.is not paying to do business in CV. I will continue to ask until somre one gives me a good reason or better yet wait until the medical Bldg. is fully leased and then sue UCO. It is very easy to file law suits. A good friend of mine is a well respected lawyer and he will help me for gratis to sue, if I do all the leg work. Mike
Larry , Since you know Seacrest pays for that unsafe property , how much do they pay? Mike
Stevie Darlin , You are right, I should have started a new post before I went off on a rant . Sorry, Mike
Mike,
I do not know how much Seacrest pays in rent. I suggest that you write a letter to UCO and ask.
To Mike, Stop waisting all your energy on the Medical Building. Get your friend going-start a "class action" matter in the village. We have not had one for several days and things are getting quite around here.
Picket the Medical Center. Get your friends to help.
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