It's amazing what a fair amount of terrible management will do, and how what seem to be a variety of conflicts of interest, all playing out behind the scenes, have marred what might have otherwise been a reasonably cool building in an amazing neighborhood.
I'd like to highlight some of the more recent trends and also explain what I understand to be their cause. It's hard to really know about cause given that almost none of what's actually going on is ever conveyed to the residents. Like so many things with 34 Berry, it's hard to discern the extent to which that's the result of deliberate obfuscation or simply an incapacity to articulate anything but the most simple of ideas.
NONEXISTENT MAINTENANCE
As alluded to in another Yelp review, the maintenance supervisor seems to be primarily interested in maintaining his interests, rather than those relating to the building and its residents. These include such things as failing to fix a light in the hallway for a long period. Ignoring endless scuff marks and scratches throughout nearly every surface of the building. Allowing the building wifi to be down for long periods. Never fixing a rickety cart. Rarely ever vacuuming the hallways and seemingly never repainting them. Removing carpeting from the elevators, supposedly so that staff have one less thing to clean. Allowing the wipes in the gym to run out and soap from bathroom soap dispensers to go unfilled, even after residents ask for them to be refilled. But then allowing his son to park cars in empty parking spots in the garage. Ensuring that staff have fancy new radios, which they seem to rarely ever use.
The general principle that seems to be applied is reminiscent of the MTA, repair nothing until it's broken, then if repairs are necessary do what is absolutely minimum to restore working status. The general image is of Boss Tweed, another great New Yorker.
STAFF TURNOVER AND CONFLICTS
The door staff have today started a petition of some kind to inform someone else in management about something that they are displeased about but which will affect residents. Whether this petition, if it really even is one, has any chance of impacting anything is unclear. What is clear, is that endless conflicts between building staff degrades the moral of the whole place and seems to create a general feeling of disharmony.
Instead of being greeted by staff who seem happy to be doing their job, the residents are greeted by staff who have a never ending, and ever changing, litany of grievances against their own management. The conflict is also now at a point where the hours of door staff are being minimized to the point that ever fewer services will be provided and provided to a lower quality. The regular staff are also being, perhaps temporarily, replaced by staff from other buildings. This outside staff is entirely unfamiliar with the building and its residents.
Within the last few years, there have been a variety of managers, each with their own good and bad qualities. Their turnover may or may not be a reflection of behind the scenes conflicts, the general theme. Whatever the case, there has been a near total lack of continuity. One manager supposedly didn't like people lounging in the first floor lounge and therefore deliberately allowed the television to go unrepaired for a long period. Another manager made everyone happy with social activities, but then left.
The current manager writes emails on occasion without signing his name. He usually seems to write them more or less as a reaction to something. One resident is upset about ash falling on to their terrace and everyone is then emailed about this. The emails then are long on patchy prescriptions and inane requests, or relevant chunks of legalese, but short on actual informed and balanced policy, such as what someone with a wealth of experience might generate. For what it's worth, his emails seemingly never miss an opportunity to apply a little marketing spin. Our apartments are not just apartments, but "apartment homes".
Door staff past and present have included some fantastic people who take great pride in their jobs. They have also included at least one who was often seen sleeping on the job, who some residents claimed was drunk on the job and who residents also claimed removed a Zipcar from the premises for his personal use. It was never made clear, at least to my knowledge, why he eventually left.
LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND/OR TOO MUCH ACCOUNTABILITY
Trivial requests are unnecessarily prolonged and made more difficult, as only certain staff can do certain things, and not all staff are aware of who can do what. This means those who can do things also take long, as they are already loaded up with many such requests, whereas staff who can't do things become increasingly apathetic, to the point of being unwilling to do much more than say that you will have to ask someone else. read more
