Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Westmoreland gets new property manager

At last night's Westmoreland Condo Board meeting, the Board announced that Dennis Freeman has moved to new assignments at Zalco and will not longer be the Westmoreland property manager.  Mr. Freeman has served Westmoreland for 27 years.  Being a property manager surely has its stressful days.  Congratulations and thanks to Mr. Freeman for his long service to Westmoreland. 

Lenard Goldbaum has become Westmoreland's new property manager with Zalco.  Mr. Goldbaum's telephone number is 301 495-4165.

Other items from the Board meeting:
  • Westmoreland is getting nine trees under a Arlington program to provide free trees to property owners who will take care of them.  Look for these trees planted on the property soon.
  • On-site manager Phil Bogert is looking into getting a new key-entry buzzer/doorbell system for Westmoreland.  The Ode Street Tribune has for several years (in 2012, in 2011, in 2010) pointed to the absurdly high cost of Westmoreland's current entry buzzer system.
  • Westmoreland is looking into possibilities for allowing residents to get access to DirectTV.
Resident of 1301 made as strong showing at the meeting and voiced concerns:
  • The rope fence in front of 1301 is ugly.  They would like a better looking fence, such as a low green picket fence.
  • The landscaping for 1301 is sub-standard.  Lawn cutting is spraying cut grass on residents' cars.  A resident of 1301 has been weeding weekly, trimming trees, and planting flowers that she has bought herself.  The landscaping company, not a concerned resident, should be doing this work.  Residents suggested switching from Lancaster Landscaping Co. to Brickman Co.
  • Dead branches should be removed from trees on the property.  A resident objected to a pine tree in front of 1301, calling it ugly and saying that it stained parked cars.
  • Tubs covering laundry room windows are not attractively maintained.
  • The bench in front of 1301 is broken.
  • The key-entry system went down after a storm. The emergency service failed to respond to the first call, and was slow responding subsequently.
  • Heat pumps on the roof sometimes are creating noise and vibrations for top-floor residents.
A number of residents at the meeting expressed concern about the level and trend in Westmoreland Condo fees.  Residents discussed data on Westmoreland condo fees relative to other local condo fees.  Residents questioned the services that they are getting for their condo fees.  One resident suggested establishing a small, on-site workout center with an treadmill or eliptical trainer.  Another idea was installing a grill in front of 1301.   Implementing these ideas would of course generate additional costs for the condo association.

Residents are interested in getting Westmoreland condo news electronically and having electronic discussion.  Westmoreland resident Douglas G. volunteered to help provide such service through an email list serving Westmoreland residents and owners.  Westmoreland resident Eugenia G. has set up a facebook page for Westmoreland.  Join that facebook page for Westmoreland resident discussion on facebook.

Attending this month's condo board meeting were eight residents, condo board members José Calvo, Jennifer Feinleib, Joe Ruland, and Gretchen Sprehe, outgoing property manager Dennis Freeman, and new property manager Lenard Goldbaum.  The next regularly scheduled condo board meeting will be on July 31, at 7pm in the onsite condo office.

1 comment:

Stew said...

That rope fence in 1301 should have been replaced long time ago. If they don't and cannot sort that out, at least put something like a temporary fence there that will do its job being a fence. Not some rope that does nothing but hang low. It's just preposterous I think.