Apartments on the road to closure?

Denial is not a river in Egypt...

But to the folks at CCC&R Holdings, who own Charleston Pines Apartments, they can't escape their own form of denial.

Two weeks ago in this space we told you about the ongoing problems at the complex on East Charleston near Nellis, not only from the media's perspective, but from those who live there. I only scratched the surface and was going to leave it at that...until a letter to the tenants came out last week following our article's publication.

Dear Tenant:

I am writing to let you know that we are planning to begin extensive renovations at Charleston Pines by the end of this month. These renovations will include an upgrade of the exterior of all buildings at the property.

Translation: they're painting the dump.

Many of you have expressed concern about rumors that the property will be shut down. These rumors are false.

Rumors? The complex has a deadline (believed to be September 1) to effect repairs to the sewer system on property. Once a month or more we wake up to the aroma of raw sewage and the sight of same strewn across the parking lot. The city's also not too happy that a burned out apartment still hasn't been rehabbed months after the fire, and that it took the sight of a videographer shooting on property to get the windows of that apartment boarded up and covers installed on the cable and telephone wiring outlets.

The owner will exercise any and all legal rights necessary to ensure that the residents of Charleston Pines do not lose their homes.

...if they would exercise the same energy on fixing the place....

Oh, and if the city shuts the complex down, the residents won't lose their homes, just where they're living currently. CCC&R Holdings would be obligated to relocate these people whose leases they have to honor.

In the meantime, the owner is working closely with the city to address any maintenance problems. If you would like to report a maintenance problem, then please stop by the management office to fill out a work order.

We did. It still took ten days to get water leaks addressed. They brought out a plumber once to address the issue, then when the problem reoccurred, the complex's own maintenance replaced a huge section of pipe. Oh, after they opened the wall, they took three weeks to repair one section of the wall -- and did a horrible job -- and still haven't repaired a section under the kitchen sink!

I appreciate your patience as my maintenance staff and I continue our efforts to improve Charleston Pines. Improving this property is important to me. Charleston Pines is not only my job, but also my home.

Sincerely,

Ricardo Morales

Property Manager.

I hope the folks at CCC&R Holdings have checked out the Strip Hotel. Similar problems occurred at this weekly rental property just north of Wyoming and the city shut it down!

Oh, the pools have finally been drained! I guess the inch of green slime on top of the water and the stench convinced the management to finally give up. I felt bad for the maintenance people who spent a day engaged in scraping, shoveling, and spraying to get the remnants out of the pool. I assume it was as pleasant for them to do as it was for us to watch.

In a way I'm thrilled to be out of this complex at the end of the month. And I'll hate to see the poorer working class folks who'll be out of a home. On the other hand, there are a number of people who've chosen to make my family's discomfort their pleasure. I'll miss them getting their walking papers. Living well indeed IS the best revenge.

Sleep. Love it.

Bubba Brown is finally out of school and enjoying his summer vacation.

All two weeks of it.

Moving from a year round school to a nine-month school will no doubt be a culture shock for the little man. But he sure does feel like school never ends, with two weeks off here and two weeks off there. Come to think of it, it's almost the same here.

I know there are kids everywhere who will make fun of a kid who's different. He was roundly chastised here because we raised him to be polite and friendly. The girls love him for that, but the boys hate him, particularly since the teachers keep making an example out of him as a good kid. He has been accosted once in school and twice on the apartment grounds. To their credit, the school principal did her part to put the kids on notice, but the apartment complex, well....

If you had told me six months ago that the newest world flashpoint would be the republic of Georgia, I would have said you were crazy. Color me wrong.

The president made the right move on Monday putting Russia on notice that it's actions were totally out of line in the 21st century. (I am concerned, though, how many people are going to come back to us and say, hey, what about Iraq?) Is it just me, or have we once again gone back to the future and the old Soviet Union is reincarnated in Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Watch for the shoe....

Wyatt Cox only wants the world to live in perfect harmony. But no Coke, only sweet tea. Indulge at rant.wyattcox.net