Dear Jon Mastriana,…read more
I openly & forthrightly appreciate & accept your offer of recompense, & as I endeavor to find my footing in my new community, every little bit of assistance will provide a measure of relief & security. As I previously communicated with you -- living conditions at my rental address were egregiously substandard, bordering on disgraceful. While I believe the agreed upon rent stated in the lease was fair and appropriate given the quality of my living arrangements several years ago when I first moved in, I now feel that I am - if I may be frank - paying for the privilege of squatting in an abandoned brick building on a skid row of gentrifying fraternity houses.
Please allow me to explain - as I don't level this criticism lightly. Over the last year alone, living conditions at the Benny Street address have slipped from "Bad, but Tolerable" to "Uninhabitable." And this ought not come as any surprise, as I believe I have made every attempt at clear & open communication with the leasing management company, the answering service, yourself, and all the stakeholders involved during my tenure there. I have voiced my concerns as they have arisen, and for the first several years before the COVID pandemic, management & maintenance were relatively responsive to my & my neighbors service requests. However, for the last 2 or 3 years, I have endured rather precarious and inconsistent living conditions during the winter months as the building's old heating mechanisms, thermostats, & furnace have been annually stressed to their breaking points. Each year, while I am certainly grateful for the expedient service calls of the handymen who manage to MacGyver together quick stopgap fixes to keep the pipes from freezing and keep the warm ventilation flowing from the baseboard heaters, each solution has necessarily become more and more intolerable as these are mere band-aids on much more fundamental and urgent issues.
For the last calendar year - concerning my heating - I was at the mercy of my downstairs neighbors, as the most recent stopgap fix to my broken heating problem was to somehow or another jerry-rig our malfunctioning thermostat so that my heaters now responded only & expressly to the setting adjustments made to the thermostat downstairs. I suspect rodents have invaded the building, as well.
Thank you for your graciousness, empathy, professionalism, & generosity of spirit as we navigate this fraught situation. It means quite a lot to me that you are so open to speaking (& dialoguing!) with me concerning all of this. Your patience, tact, & consideration in this matter have not gone unnoticed, & are especially appreciated. I don't believe it is a particularly bold assertion to make that communication -- like diplomacy -- is more an art than a science; email & social distancing have rapidly transformed many of the power dynamics & modes of collegiality I fondly remember BC (BEFORE COVID).
I would like to try a different approach by explaining why I am, quite frankly, desperate for the security deposit to make myself whole. I fostered two house rabbits from the Southeastern PA-Delaware House Rabbit Society in Newport, Delaware after leaving the Benny St rental apartment. Dawn -- the harlequin rabbit -- is 7-years-old, and Satoshi -- the lionhead bunny -- is 3-years-old; they were a bonded pair of domesticated rabbits that had been rescued by the Newport shelter during the pandemic as their previous human suffered financial hardship & housing insecurity & was left with no other alternative than to part with their beloved pets & friends in the hope of providing them with a better life. My precarious housing situation at the Benny St. apartment nearly drove me to suicide, Jon. I respect that this is a taboo & stigmatized topic, however I believe it is important that people understand that major depression is often accompanied by suicidal ideations, & I was depressed. What saved my life, in the end, was the love of my family, as well as the adoption of the innocent, curious, unconditionally loving Dawn & Satoshi.
Over the last several months since adopting Dawn, because of her advanced age, she has experienced a few health complications & medical emergencies requiring anesthesia, inpatient surgery & overnight observation, & an intensive, lengthy regimen of antibiotics, gabapentin painkillers, glaucoma eye drops, colloidal silver & manuka honey for infection, et cetera. Dawn saved my life, & so I owe her a life debt. I've maxed out three credit cards to pay for my rabbits' medical treatment, & with rising interest rates, I am now under the gun to pay off this debt before the interest payments become unwieldy & out-of-control. I understand that this is not of your particular concern, Jon; I just really, really need a break. Thank you for your consideration of my request for your own money.
Sincerely, with profound humility,
Christopher Tharp