-- May 14, 2009 - Late Night --
Just a preliminary report about what happened and didn't happen at the "Special Homeowner's Meeting"... the meeting that didn't happen.
After arriving at the meeting, Thomas Schmidt and myself, as Mortgagees took our seats and shortly afterwards, Ryan Lee, the illegally elected President of FCCA, announced the opening of the meeting and then turned everything over to Al Oglesby, of The Alcor Group. Al Oglesby then asked for a show of hands of "the owners in attendance" and there were approximately 30 owners present and about a dozen other attendees. Al Oglesby then asked Thomas Schmidt and me to stand up and introduce ourselves. We did. He never asked any of the other non-owners to stand up and introduce themselves. After we introduced ourselves, he then went on to say that since Thomas Schmidt was not only a mortgagee, but also the attorney for Suzanne Halprin and me, Al said that their attorney advised them that if we attended, the Board would be at a distinct disadvantage and that they should adjourn the meeting if anyone motioned to have the meeting adjourned. Immediately, an owner raised their hand and motioned for the meeting to be adjourned and a second owner seconded the motion. At that point the meeting was adjourned to be re-scheduled to another date.... or more than likely NOT!
Here is why.
Suzanne legally notified the Board that she had executed mortgages to me and Thomas Schmidt, and as mortgagees, we have the right to attend Owner's Meetings, examine the books, request and receive audited financial statements and all other rights of mortgagees as outlined in the Condo Documents which I also outlined earlier in the week.
Since there was no longer an official "Owner's Meeting", we were no longer entitled to be at the "Unofficial" meeting that took place afterwards with all of the folks that hung around.
According to phone and email reports that I've received so far, the meeting was "all about Lenny". Aren't I special! ;-)
Al Oglesby went on to do a slide show and presentation at this "Unofficial" meeting trying to lambast everything about me. Unfortunately, he only gave his slanted spin which did not resemble the truth very much. More to come on that later.
Al Oglesby also tried to say that they won this big Judgment against Suzanne and me but they didn't. We did do a simple settlement agreement the morning of Court for the first of many phases of the legal proceedings in which only two things were actually resolved. One thing was that I would caulk the rear windows of our unit, something I've been willing to do for two years
but they threatened us with legal action if I did this. They finally agreed to let me do it and it has been done. They didn't tell you that, did they! They had threatened us with legal action if I was to caulk the windows for the past two years, but once they got to Court, they realized how silly they were acting and knew the Judge would probably frown on their actions so they agreed to let me do what I've been wanting to do for two years. That caulking around the windows still does not resolve the FACT that the walls and the top of windows still leak whenever there is a hard or wind-blown rain blowing against that wall. The rain water is coming in through the brick walls, just like they do on many other downstairs units, like Unit 61, 62, 63 and others. The rain water would come through their walls so bad that water would puddle on the floors of the back rooms of those units. I even helped those owners fight the old Board and they finally conceded and paid to have the brick wall sealed to form a new vapor barrier since the vapor barrier inside the wall had rotted away in those units. The problem with our windows is that the wood and vapor barrier around the tops of our windows is rotting away so caulking around the frame of the window will not fix the problem and rain will continue to come in through the brick wall and continue to rot away the wood. See the last two paragraphs below for photos of other units that are also rotting away due to leaking walls and rotting/crumbling vapor barriers.
The next thing we agreed to do as part of this initial settlement was that I would make one my trucks "look prettier", which seems to be a big problem for some folks around here... WHILE THE WALLS COME TUMBLING DOWN. I already did the first phase of making my trucks look prettier and will be doing more in the coming days. Please note that the Board NEVER ONCE wrote to Suzanne or I and asked me to try and make my trucks prettier and there really isn't anything in the legal Condo Documents addressing the aesthetics of someone's vehicle. The first letter that we got from FCCA was a threat of a $100.00 fine if I did not move one of my trucks off of the property but then in our depositions, I pointed out that the rules say I can have two vehicles... which is all that I have. If some folks around FCCA are worried about all vehicles "looking pretty", maybe the Board needs to buy us all brand new vehicles so we'll all have pretty vehicles! I personally think there are a few other vehicles that are pretty darned ugly but I don't have a problem with them and they aren't violating any of the rules so I don't worry about it... I guess some others have nothing else to do but worry about other people's vehicles... but once again, FCCA has only been selectively harassing, threatening and attempting to enforce these "Pretty Vehicle" rules against only me... but I'm a big boy, I can handle it! I figure that as long as they are busy trying to bother me, they are leaving the rest of you alone so at least you all aren't being bothered by their pettiness.
Everything else that they claimed that they won were things from one or two years ago that were resolved as soon as they brought the matter to our attention.... even though they were selectively harassing and threatening only Suzanne with these so-called violations of the illegal rules made up by an illegal Board. If I had known back then, what I know now, I may not have
complied with every one of their requests since they are not a legally elected or appointed Board and Officers and the Rules and Regulations they purport to be enforcing are also illegal as I explained and clearly showed ALL of the owners in the daily emails the past four days.
More to come as I get a chance to read these email reports and review my notes from my phone in reports.
Now here is what I talked about a little earlier and further referenced with the "WHILE THE WALLS COME TUMBLING DOWN" comment...
Don't say I didn't warn you all (since I've reported on this many times) but you can see how the actual 2x4's are already completely rotted away at the base, in Unit 63, by looking at the photos here...
http://image53.webshots.com/153/5/71/5/512857105mYFikQ_fs.jpg - Puddling on
the floor when it rains hard
http://image75.webshots.com/75/6/21/19/2099621190081930608ynlQIS_fs.jpg -
Three Studs in Middle Rotting Away at the base and crumbling vapor barrier
http://image75.webshots.com/75/7/97/33/2956797330081930608POSzFG_fs.jpg -
Close up of the three studs and wet base stud and crumbling vapor barrier
Notice how these units all have tile flooring... not because they liked tile flooring but because their carpeting kept getting ruined, moldy, mildewed... and soaking wet, every time it rained hard against their back wall.
You can see more photos of other water damage in other units and more photos of the crumbling vapor barrier in unit 63... something that the FCCA Board needs to repair BEFORE this unit can ever be renovated. That's a BIG REASON why this unit remains gutted three years later.
http://news.webshots.com/photo/2956797330081930608POSzFG
Fortunately, after these three owners and this author reported and fought the old Board long enough, they eventually decided to seal the rear brick wall on that building, to turn the brick wall into a vapor barrier, but this will have to be done every 5-10 years or the walls will just start leaking again. FCCA still has done nothing to repair the rotting and crumbling rear wooden framing... the wood 2x4's actually hold up the building, not the bricks. Since this is a load bearing wall that is rotting away, it means that one day, that wall will probably collapse and the upstairs unit will then be a split-level unit. I hope and pray that nobody gets hurt... but if they do, they'll have one WHOPPER of a lawsuit against Fountain Court Condos for the current and past Boards failure to properly repair these rotting walls.... but at least our vehicles will "look pretty"... well, except for the ones that park next to that wall, when it comes tumbling down. ;-)
Until next time, let "The Fountain Of Information" flow!
Lenny Vasbinder, Editor
TheFountainOfInformation@gmail.com
http://www.TheFountainOfInformation.Blogspot.com
Cell-504-621-1870 eFax-413-318-0742
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Lenny Vasbinder NHSNOLA@gmail.com
Cell-504-621-1870 Fax-413-318-0742
http://www.NeighborhoodHomeServices.com
P.O.Box 74031, Metairie, LA 70033-4031
Handyman Services, Lawn & Garden Care, Residential Contractor, General Cleaning & Trash Hauling, Etc.
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