My Letter to Roseland

Friday, November 14, 2008



Mr. Dan Mogolesko
Senior Director of Operations
24 Avenue at Port Imperial
West New York, NJ 07093

SUBJECT: In Response to Clubhouse Usage Update (10/30/08)

Dear Mr. Mogolesko,

We are residents of Riverbend Building 25. We have lived here for over two years paying timely rent, agreeing to annual increases, and renewing our leases without hesitation. We consider ourselves to be a part of the community. Since we moved here from Orlando we have made friends, been married, and had a baby. The Riverbend, Hudson Club, and Port Imperial neighborhood is our home. It serves our purposes because it is close to the city and offers a great social network for young professionals and new parents. Because of these reasons, we have ignored the fact that some of our issues have not been addressed to resolution. Because of these reasons, we overlook some of the poor managing mishaps that have occurred along the way.

For example, we didn’t pursue it any further (such as deducting money from our rent which our attorney advised us is legally justifiable for the following issues) when we went without hot water for days repeatedly because the water heater “over heated” as was explained to us when we contacted your offices numerous times. We didn’t call the Health Department when dead chickens were found in the dumpster downstairs (complete with heads and feathers) and nothing was done about it. We didn’t raise “heck” when we showered, bathed our baby, washed the dishes, cooked, and did the laundry with contaminated sewage water because you failed to notify the residents until a day later that a pipe had broken and our water was directly effected by it. We didn’t complain to you when your offices did nothing about the constant complaints by residents about the noise from the Thursday night River Road racing...rather we just called the police numerous times per night until something was done about it. However we have friends that were allowed to move because of the noise so we know you were well aware of the problem. We didn’t contact the news channels when our building lost power and you were ill-prepared so there was no back-up generator and our newborn baby had to spend the night in the car with us so he wouldn’t overheat this summer. Last (but not least because unfortunately I could go on...) we haven’t demanded you install a key-fob entrance for the Crayon Corner in Building 25 even though random strangers (non-residents) come in and out at will with children who do not live here causing those of us who pay for this amenity and actually reside here to feel unsafe to have our own children play there.

Maybe we should’ve been more vocal. Maybe calling and writing and putting in Building Link requests aren’t enough to get you to notice your residents. It seems as though you are too busy wooing prospectives that you have forgotten your valued residents are paying your salary.

Since we are so understanding about all of the mishaps and issues and failures of your past, it really concerns us when something that we have a right to is denied.

On Saturday, October 26, 2008, we met with a group of approximately twenty other families from the neighborhood in the Clubhouse. About one half of the attendees at this gathering were condo-owners and the remainder were rent-paying residents. The group was gathering because we had arranged for all of our friends that we’ve met along the Promenade, at A&P and Starbucks, and on our daily ferry and bus commute to get together so we could meet each other’s families and have an early Halloween celebration for the kids. This event came about because this is the first year since we’ve lived here that your offices did not throw a Halloween party for the children in the community. Since we have a young son we wanted him to have a fun first Halloween. That being said, the purpose was not a “children’s party” and there were about 40 adults and 10 children (under age one) there.

We dressed our baby in his costume, made a treat and non-alcoholic beverage to bring, and arrived with high hopes of a Family Friendly day together in an area specially designed for these types of gatherings. As a matter of fact, most of us in attendance later discussed how we distinctly remember the Clubhouse being touted as a fun gathering spot when we went on our initial walk-through with the Leasing Office.

Unfortunately, within minutes of our arrival, an ill-informed representative from your office came upstairs and asked us to leave. We advised her we were all residents and according to the policy in place we could all be there during clubhouse hours. She asked why we were there. We answered that we were a group of Moms and Babies attempting to get together on a Saturday afternoon. She said we weren’t allowed to be there because of problems in the past with parties and property destruction. We told her that we were responsible adults and would clean up better than the cleaning service you pay under the table for. We also offered to pay $50 per family to give a $1000 deposit in case there was any other concerns. She said it wasn’t about the money and that she was going to make a call to her Supervisor. When she returned, she explained that since we were an “organized group” (because we used the term Moms, I assume) that we were not allowed to have a “party” unless it was pre-approved. We explained that there is nothing in the lease that suggests we aren’t permitted to all gather at the Clubhouse -- especially since we were all residents and owners and that since the policy rejects reserving the clubhouse we can not have anything “approved” anyways. Her response was that it’s not in the lease but it’s in the “Calendar”.

First-of-all, the Calendar is not a legal document. There is no proof of acknowledgement, no signature required, and most of us don’t read it because it’s redundant every month. Secondly, when we reviewed the Calendar (after the fact) this is what it says:

We cannot reserve any of the common areas. Each resident is allowed two guests; please share the space since the amenities are for each and every resident’s use.

Please remember that the Club Room & Theater Room are designated areas for adult socializing and are for the sole purpose of its intended use.

Therefore, her argument about the Calendar is nonsense. She then said the Clubhouse was supposed to be open for everyone in the community. We pointed out that the two gentlemen in the back had come in on their own accord and we didn’t turn them away. She said “Yeah well it’s supposed to be a relaxing environment.” We answered that she was the only person preventing it from being relaxing. In response or retaliation, she said that if we did not leave the Clubhouse immediately she would call the Police. Really? I wonder what the Police would say to residents and condo owners who are not trespassing since they pay for the amenity and partially own the property who are gathering for a family day at 2pm on a Saturday? What do you think?

We told her we weren’t going anywhere so she took down all of our names and apartment numbers and made another call. When she returned, she acted as if she was doing us a favor by allowing us to stay there with the condition that the “party” had to be over by 5pm. At 4:50pm, she came with your receptionist to ensure we cleaned up properly and then bolted and chained the doors -- which we found interesting since you advertise the Clubhouse hours as being from 5am - 12am.

Here are our issues: We were treated like we were worthless non-residents with no rights. We were treated unfairly, like second-class citizens. There was no logical explanation provided as to why we weren’t allowed to all gather in the same place at the same time. We were threatened with arrest. Let me reiterate that last point: we were threatened with arrest.

To add insult to injury, days later we received a letter from you with a new set of rules. You mention again the term “unauthorized party” in your letter which is inconsistent with your other policy of not being able to reserve the common areas for parties. You also have defined what a “party” is, however if multiple families coincidentally wanted to watch a game at the Clubhouse and gathered there with food and drinks of their own would you still “reserve the right to deny use of the amenities”? Where do you draw the line? Your disclaimer of “our goal is to offer amenity use for all residents without restrictions” is laughable and transparent. Clearly, Mr. Mogolesko, that is not your goal. It seems as though your goal is to keep the Clubhouse empty and immaculate so you can march prospective residents through the “state-of-the-art” socialization area as a last-ditch effort to rope them into a too-expensive-for-the-economic-climate lease and then begin ignoring them as paying residents.

The final straw was your refusal to allow a resident to have a party that she actually was able to approve in advance (inconsistent, much?) prior to our gathering on October 26th. You had the audacity to call the afternoon before her scheduled event, not even 24 hours notice, to revoke permission. Why is that? How do you expect someone to be able to find a space for rent in this area at 3:30pm on a Friday afternoon the day before? May I ask you if you have a family? If your wife was planning something for your child and some inconsiderate, power-tripping “Director of Op” denied her request last-minute how would that make you feel?

From what we understand (and I may be misquoting here) Hudson Club pays $130K per year to maintain the Clubhouse amenity. The condo-owners also have the right to gather there since they are part-owners of that area and in order to change that they would need to vote and have the majority agree otherwise. So if your issue is with your residents (which would be a poor decision on your part) then we can be guests of our friends, the condo-owners and still gather in the common areas whenever we’d like, correct?

Perhaps we are going on the assumption that the rules here are reasonable and logical. We would like a written explanation of response in addition to an apology for how we were treated the day of our gathering. We have yet to pursue anything legally but have alerted our attorneys to this situation in case any other issues arise as a result of our speaking up since we’ve heard you are non-receptive to resident criticisms and concerns.

You have offended many of your residents here -- even those who didn’t attend the gathering but have heard of your methods of dealing with residents you deem unworthy of exercising their rights. Several residents have approached us, asking if we were writing a letter in response to the issue and requesting they sign it as a sign of partnership. For them, I am adding this below and will allow my neighbors to sign this freely:

We believe, as rent-paying residents, we have the right to gather in the Clubhouse for planned and unplanned events. We will continue to be respectful of other residents, maintain an open-door policy, and clean up behind us.

Thank you in advance for your response.

Signed,




The Residents of Building 25, #926
Travis R. & Azadeh L. Shelhorse


als
cc: file
personal website
Keith Carsten, P.A.
Trish A. Lisnow, P.A., Attorney’s Title