With the burgeoning success of condominium living in Ontario, you would think that the government would do something about how badly condominiums are run. Maybe the government looks on it as a survival of the fittest or law of the jungle approach. It is in hopes that if the problems become too serious, a better board will get elected.
Fat chance, bad boards beget badder boards. Last year this condo had a pro-active board. It was getting the job done. It had gotten rid of the old property management and brought in a new broom. It was cleaning up. It did responsible planning. It stood up for its owners. It was preparing to sue an engineer who had needlessly cost the board more than $350,000. It provided leadership.
All the detractors needed to do was to tell lies about what was going on and to slander the leadership and the pro-active board lost its leader in the annual elections. Without its leader and floundering, the replacement board wasted the previous efforts. Planning was ignored. Budgets were forgotten. Tens of thousands of dollars invested in condo business were wasted.
Just one example of what this board did (or more technically correct: did not do) was what happened at the west door of the building. The west door is the only door to the building that can possibly accommodate a person in a wheelchair or using a walker. This problem was becoming more serious as time went on as the asphalt at the west entrance was sinking and it was creating a serious step for people coming in the door. Residents were provided with a door opening transmitter (for $50) but handicapped visitors to the building had no way of negotiating that door without physical assistance from another and more agile person.
With a substantial budget set aside for the purpose by the previous board, design considerations already in the works, the new board had the task of completing the fix to provide proper access to the building. It was a high priority project. Yet this incompetent condo board could not get the job done.
To add insult to injury, someone decided to use a sheet of aluminum to cover the growing gap between the building and the asphalt at the door. This created an angled ramp that the strongest person in a wheelchair could not roll up while still trying to hold open a heavy door.
Welcome to the idiocy of condominium la-la land.
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