Bits and Pieces

I have a lot of moisture in my apartment. I have Damp Rid in many of my closets and they fill up rapidly. I decided to hire a company that checks for mold. Integrity Mold Inspection came into my unit and did a complete survey. They did find mold on certain surfaces but they think it has been there for years …before me. I cleaned the surfaces with white vinegar and water and was able to put some of them in sun. They advised me to keep the air conditioning lower and get humidity meters to see if it goes over a certain level. I have someone checking my apt while I am away so she will keep and eye on the moisture spots. Interesting these areas affected were not near my bathrooms or kitchen.

A few nights ago I had a strong smell of someone smoking marijuana some where and it was coming through my vents. Where it was coming from I can’t say. I am surrounded by renters on three sides. The only apt that is owned and lived in is below me. I reported this situation but looking forward to marijuana becoming legal for recreation or medical reasons we really think we should discuss how we handle this. Of course, our building manager just tossed it aside. The two times it happened it was very strong and someone could be allergic to it. Better to address before it becomes a little more pervasive.

Power off in the building last Friday  March 31st at around 12:00 pm.

Last Friday the back south gate was open all day and when I came home at 6:00 pm it was still open. The doorman are able to close and lock it. There are lots of robberies of cars in our area this should not happen. We are also going to have lots of workman around the bridge and this should be a very secure portal.

 So all know & are aware — there will be soon coming an MD Now Urgent Care Center,  opening in  El Cid , it will at  Pershing & So.  Dixie Hwy. for  emergencies/needs you have, that are not hospital needed, they also have an office out on Palm Beach Lakes Blvd.

Had very good care at the one on Palm beach Lakes Blvd.

 

Manager’s Mtg. February 15

Manager’s meeting, Portofino South, February 15, 2017

In attendance: association’s building manager and residents

Paving Project: The project is currently at the stage of beginning permitting and hiring of a construction manager. It was noted that finding enough parking space during the project may be a challenge.

Decorating: Lights for the hallways to be proposed to the Board are on display on the fourth floor near the entryway to unit 403. The decorating committee will present updates on their projects next Tuesday at the board meeting.

Power Issues: Power outages and/or surges have been occurring 1-2 times/week and are causing issues with the association’s common property (mechanical/computers). Manager plans to schedule a meeting with representatives of FP&L to discuss.

Internet: A vendor of building-wide Internet services will present Tuesday at the board meeting.

FYI

The tall building to our south has just added 12 more cell towers to their roof. Can’t remember of they did have them before and these are new replacements. Some are pointing in our direction.

The power went out in the building once again for a minute or two. It was Saturday morning Jan 28th at 8:45 am. I am going to keep track as this is now a regular occurrence. This is not good for the building’s electrical system or ours. No notification from FPL  as one of our board members said always happens when we have a power outage.

Also if you need a handyman I just used one and he seems to be very helpful. His name is Sammy Johnson 561 351 2090. He was not recommended by anyone so you are on your own here.

 

Editorial by Vicki Ross

Parker Reid has not been at 2 board meetings. There was no announcements about his absence.  I happen to live on the same floor as he does and when I saw him I asked “how come you missed the meetings” he then replied that he resigned as he felt he could not accomplish anything on this particular board, it was a waste of his time. I was sorry to hear that as I think we should have people on the board that challenge other opinions that they might disagree with. Parker has managed other buildings and is an attorney but found himself alone against a solid clique that exists on the board. We only have two other people that I feel trust in will disagree if they feel the need.

Now for the rumor that is circulating in the building that he resigned as he is ill. This is far from the truth as I stated above the reason why he resigned. The latter rumor makes the board as a whole look better?

Another matter, we have a website that has never anything on it. When I was up north I would have loved to know if someone that lived in the building had passed away, the progress of the parking lot project, and what happened at the board meetings. I thought that was what the website was for. When the talk of the beginning of the website began I suggested a blog as it is free, easily managed and you could upload info very easily. Now we spent money mounting a website and paying someone a monthly fee to maintain it which in the budget is $1200 for the year. Why???

That’s my 2 cents!

Email Newsletter from Portofino South Management?

There are numerous ongoing projects (the elevator out for maintenance, hallway lights selection, sauna refurb, parking lot repaving, AT&T cell tower installation, TV in social room, new pedestrian gate to Flagler) and it would be wonderful if the management would send email project updates (maybe once a week?) to inform those who are interested on progress. It also could help keep the management accountable and encourage better communication within our community.

PS Condo Meeting April 19,2016

PS Condo Meeting April 19 2016

Members Missing: MD,KG,ML

PK conducted the meeting
Our insurance agent came to give us another option to our present policy with Citizens
Which has to be renewed by this Tuesday. He apologized for the lateness but he said
He was waiting for quotes.
The other insurance policy would be with American Coastal. The yearly fee would be much less
But there would not be any guarantee that next year they would not raise it surpassing what
Citizen would charge us. We got a$10,000 raise from last year. At Citizen we are considered
A grand father client so we have some guarantees that we might not have with a new
company. The deductibles are different
The board has to decide whether to switch or stay with Citizen. Our building is valued at $29 million and the appraisal was done in2013
IL from the audience suggested that the agents should make a spread sheet of the two different
Policies. Good idea !
JM from the audience asked if he considered any other insurance companies- answer United
andHeritage declined.

Manager’s Report:
The forum on April 5th was successful and the next one is May 3rd

Cooling Tower: still on going investigation

Asphalt and Drainage the same as above

The manager is not pleased with the new elevator company. They are even more expensive. each month

Sauna – GD suggested a carpenter to do the installation. He will charge $ 1900. The board said ok except BG who abstained then changed to nay.

There was a core study of the roof and it might not have to be totally redone but only patched.

The Decorating Committee:
Has met and will be ready for the May meeting

Condo Docs are at the attorney and ready soon

A basket on the door – is my door – the discussion went on for a long time and will be reported on separately in this blog.

TV for the card room. H M proposed the buying of it by the social committee approximately $1000 for a 55 / 60 inch but the monthly cable fee is to be paid by the association-$900 per year

there was a vote and it would not have past if GD had not changed his vote from nay to yea

BG said there has to be a set of rules in place.

Just My Opinion

-Portofino South, West Palm Beach

I am sure the board and some owners will be very unhappy about my opinions below but we are not invited to speak at the meetings so as owners and the people that elected this board we have no outlet to question any of their decisions. The building has a new website and that was not even discussed at the meeting. Those meetings just make people mad and frustrated so very few people attend. Bravo to Betsy for questioning some things.

The Pool

Yes, it was only supposed to take 5 working days but as Frank explained last night at the board meeting they found multiple problems thus the longer time. Since the pool is part of the original structure of the hotel, of course, there would be multiple problems. Since a lot of said problems were in the over flow part when whatever company estimated the job did not they investigate this. Also this company seems like a band of loose people. Where is the supervisor, uniforms, company trucks? And why are we allowing them to park their personal vehicles in non-parking spots. They leave the pool each night like a garbage heap. There are of course overages in costs. Each project that the building tackles there is a complication. The roof and the repaying of the parking lots are next. What company fixed our pool? Does anyone know?

(yes someone knows and the company is Skyler Pools and it does not have a good report on www.ripoffreport.com. Same issue of taking forever to fix or build a pool.) Ever hear of google before you employ someone? Also checked www.Yelp.com  in Coconut Creek and there were two similar complaints about time and issues never resolved. These two users are thinking of suing this pool company.

Illegal rentals and boarders.

Apt 808 has just been redone and is not waiting the two-year rule to rent it. He has had two different ” guests” that have signed in for three days each. When I have guests they usually stay with their hosts? These owners started the same way with apt 903 and continued to get away with it …not obeying the rules. Do we still have an apt with a boarder? It has been discussed at board meetings but I do not think it has been dealt with.

Our entrance looks very bare

The white boxes have been taken away. I cannot believe that we cannot find a plant species that will grow in that spot, what about all these gorgeous lush PB gardens on the beach that populate the island. If all else fails there are some fabulous fake trees or plants that would give the area a little pizazz. Also the hedge at the northern front end of the parking lot has to be replaced, it has been dying for months.

There is a new decorating committee

Announced at the meeting. who is on it? Someone I know in the building was asked

Led to believe she was on it and then called and told the committee was full. Such community well feeling in this building… it always amazes me.

I do not know why the building refuses to have a fire drill

We had last week another stove fire which turned out to be no flames but a lot of smoke.

It was started by a guest but the doorman had no telephone number for her as she never registered as a guest. The guest did the wrong thing by opening the front door so the smoke went into the hall. Some apts on the 9^th floor were alerted that there was a fire and we should leave our apts and walk down the stairs. One couple on the floor did not know where the stairs were. People came up from the lobby via the elevator to help and see what was going on. I thought you were not supposed to use the elevators during a fire? At least 10 people called the doorman to ask if they should evacuate. The door man was very calm and tried to do his best but did not know that he could get on the intercom and tell all the apts that the fire was not serious and they did not have to walk down the stairs. I walked down 9 floors!

Don’t you think it would be a good thing to educate us condo owners how to conduct ourselves during a fire? It was chaos on the floor.

Notices near the mailboxes

For notices such as meeting announcements and board meeting agenda: The font is too small and too high up for people to read.

I also feel having a locked bulletin board isn’t very democratic. I wanted to post something and it was rejected by the office as it was advertising a service.

Lets start to think Smart and Green and Forward.

How about solar lights in the parking lot and the perimeter?

How about a green roof? There are builders in WPB that are installing these and since we have to redo our roof why not look into it?

When doing the parking area over how about a few outlets for electric cars?

Construction During Season:

Since there are new rules but they have not been given out construction goes on during PB high season. The window replacements in # 1102 started at 8:30am one morning last week. I went to the office and Frank spoke to them too late I was up, I went up as my terrace was full of pieces of cement and of course rudely spoken to by the installers. I also noticed that they were using the electricity from a hallway outlet, we are paying for that, down to Frank and he allowed them to continue. I believe that we should not have any noisy construction during season and someone has to monitor it closely. Glass fell on my downstairs neighbor’s terrace. I suggested to Frank that the contractor should be billed for clean-up and if there is no electricity bring a generator. Even though the windows are done all the sawing for the interior of the apt is done on the terrace and it continues. I think we are in the 4^th or 5^th week of construction noise.

Yesterday on the ninth floor there were white footsteps on the carpet coming from construction in #904. Also the workmen used our laundry sink to wash out their tools or brushes. Do I want to put my clothes in this sink to perhaps prewash?

Wouldn’t it be a good idea for Frank before he ­leaves to check if all this construction isn’t migrating to other areas.

Suggestion:

Notices for meetings could be printed in a larger font and placed lower so we might be able to read them. Also, if someone volunteers to chair a meeting there should be some respect from the board during said meeting. I have been on three committees: one I was fired from, second one I worked with a partner to gather a lot of info and it was ignored and the last one I was told it was asked to leave as it was just for board members despite non board members were present.

I get the hint no more meetings for me !!

Your old Toilet

The state of Florida will give you a $120 rebate if you want to replace your old one for a newer model. The newer toilets use a lot less water and they are trying to save water. The rebate is part of the Water Smart Program.

The above is just my opinion and written to start a dialogue. Please leave comments and give at least a partial name to identify yourself.

 

Condo Monthly Meeting January 19,2016

Condo Meeting January 19,2016

All members in attendance or on the phone except Keith.

Credential Committee: a guest staying longer than a month in #301 was interviewed

A guest will be on the 9^th floor that has a dog

 

Building Manager:

Cooling Tower Repair– since it will be a new system installed and there are new city codes there might be complications to complete the job in a timely manner. Two contractors are being considered

Asphalt – maintenance and filling holes is better to do when there are less people in residence but if done in the near future they will do one side at a time. Question: Loud noise?

Security in Parking Lot– will mount more cameras and change older ones for newer ones. They will have a beam that will alarm the doorman if someone is trespassing. He will add more lights. There will be 18 lamps with 50amp bulbs. (I should have asked about solar lights?

The board questioned if they wanted more security with lights going on when the alarm went off. Paint the poles black to make them less Publix parking lot look. New led bulbs also. People asked if there could be an audible alarm to scare off intruders.

Elevator– the part that is missing has to be manufactured and causing the delay. Greg questioned why the elevator has been out for so long, almost a month. Are we speaking to the top people at the company?

Service Elevator– problems with the door shutting is people holding the doors for extra-long times causing the elevator need to be reset it is called “lockout”. Instead of holding the actual doors people should hold the hold button on the panel. Frank will try to have the timer turned to the max.

Trees on Flagler- there are seven trees on north side of Flagler that need to be replanted. Some problems with the city. Greg suggested he would speak to a city official that he knew to see what he could do. They talked about proper time to do the pruning of some very tall trees. Greg would also call in a favor of a landscaper to look over the property. VR from the audience wanted to know what they were doing with the front hedge that was bare. Frank said it was the wind in the corridor next to neighboring apartment building.

Swimming Pool– They will start the resurfacing and the leaks on Feb 1^st and will take 5 to 7 days. The pool would be closed during that time. Surface and color would be similar to what is there,

Back to Cooling tower-an engineer has to be picked and when they start the repair the building will not have air conditioning for 2 weeks. It would have been great to do it now but not ready with choice or permits. Maybe it should be done in Oct/Nov of 2016. April was mentioned.

 

 

Our Only Amenity Besides the Pool: The Sauna

 

By an Owner:

Portofino South sauna, West Palm Beach

In August of this year, the sauna was renovated to include painting all the interior wood with a varnish. This, according to management, was done to remove unpleasant body odor smells from the sauna. After the varnish, the sauna wood went from being soft, light gray-colored, and unsealed to being hard, dark-colored, and smelly.
Many varnishes are not made to withstand the unnaturally high heat of a sauna’s interior, and will release fumes in to the air. Indeed, Superior Saunas notes on its website, “Do not paint, varnish or stain the interior portions of your sauna. The wood needs to breathe (absorb and slowly release heat and humidity). Also, artificial finishes make the wood surface much hotter, create the possibility of harmful fumes from the wood sealer, and take away some of the “softness” of heat and steam penetrating the wood.” The websites of Helo Saunas and Finnleo Saunas give similar warnings.
When I explained this, in my view, improper treatment of the sauna to the management, they agreed to have the varnish stripped. However, the wood absorbed much varnish, and it is clear from the wood shininess (see pictures, taken December 2015), change in color, and lingering odor that the varnish still remains on some of the wood. The smell given off by the sauna room has noticeably become less “woodsy” and more artificial since the varnish was applied and stripped. I no longer enjoy using the sauna because of the altered smell and the thought that I could be breathing toxic varnish fumes released by the high heat.
A simple Internet search yields some safe options for cleaning the sauna interior, including scrubbing with a baking soda solution, sanding, and low-pressure rinsing, according to Almost Heaven Saunas.
I would love to have our old sauna back; barring this possibility, I call on the building’s management to responsibly research best practices for the safe management of our facilities, before acting on a drastic, and possibly irreversible, solution such as varnishing the inside of a sauna room.

References:

http://almostheaven.com/almost-heaven-saunas/care-and-maintenance/

http://superiorsaunas.com/storeimages/docs/sauna_care.pdfhttp://www.helosaunas.com/helo/maintenance-of-sauna-rooms/http://www.finnleo.com/pages/maintenance–construction.aspx

July 4th 2015 Blog is back online

It has been a very long time since I posted anything about the building. One reason was that the comments got very ugly and mean. This time around I will not post any comments or blogs without a known name with their email address attached. That might take care of the “nasties”. Second reason was that the building was supposed to build a website but like all things in the building it did not get done in a timely manner. Maybe it is coming? And lastly why I want to reopen this blog is that owners have no where to go with problems, questions, or to get anything done. The board has internal problems and the office is very hard to motivate.

I am a snow bird and not there for 6 months a year. When people such as myself are gone we never hear anything of the building. We are never called, emailed or sent any mail of meetings, changes or problems going on. My maintenance is 12 months but my service is 6 months and only when I am there.

About a month ago a neighbor told me that the power went off in the building. In the past, my air conditioning , that I leave on , does not go back on by itself. So she is kind enough to go to my apartment and put the air conditioning on again.  My neighbor does this for two other owners that have the same problem. I called the office to see if they knew of the outage and did someone go up to the apartments that the building has a list of that has this problem. I was very unhappy with the answer that they were not responsible. I then wrote a letter hoping that the board or the office would address this problem for some of us but a letter was received back with the same ” we are not responsible”. I then called the office and asked if they could research if there is a solution to this situation by putting in a device to the system. I was told they would get back to me. No one ever called or helped.

This is real hard to fathom when you write out your maintenance check each month and this was the first thing I asked the office to do since I left in the end of April.

Well I researched the issue and there is something that could be installed that would help with this situation. With 50 percent of the building gone during the summer you would think they would have time or interest to help the owners. If anyone wants to know what the solution is please email through the blog and I will tell you.

So this is what this blog is all about. If you have a problem and it is not addressed please lets share and see if we can help eachother.