To Live on the Second Floor You Must Be An Inconsiderate Ass

It's been quite awhile since I've written, I was actually just getting ready to go a "Back to the Past" post about one of the earlier things that had happened here before I started the Blog, but then this happened.

As you know based on my post from July 2, I had to call the cops on the people on the 2nd floor in my building. Last week at about 3 in the morning I was awoken to screaming and yelling and laughing and it was them again. I gave them about ten minutes to collect themselves and be quiet before I called the courtesy patrol officer, who has actually been on every time I've called the past two weeks. He came in about ten minutes and told them to be quiet and have some common sense, it was after all three in the morning.

 Goodbye Common Sense and Respect!

So last night, I take Koda on his last walk and I see that they have their deck lights on (They have these string lights on their balcony that they only turn on when they have company). So I take a mental note of "Great I'm going to be calling the courtesy patrol tonight". I head back upstairs, play some Gears of War with Kyle for a couple hours and decide at midnight to go to bed. I fall asleep and everything is fine. At about 2:30 I wake up to yelling and laughing. Kyle wakes up as well and seeing as I'm the one that always calls, I dial the number (which is now on my speed dial) and hand him the phone. I then go on the deck to look around and notice that the Deck Light people have lights turned out, so it's not them. I then look catty corner and see Shadow Man.

Shadow Man Belongs to This apartment with the booze bottles on the patio.

I call him Shadow Man because at night with the way the light shines I can only see his shadow. Now, this is not my first encounter with Shadow Man. Last summer he would throw what I referred to as his "Saturday Parties" because every Saturday I would have to call the cops/courtesy patrol on him for being loud. Most of the time I would get to watch him fight or argue with the cops/CP about how he waasn't being loud, even though he was yelling on his deck at three in the morning. This summer he's been very well behaved so I was surprised when I looked out my window and saw eight people on his balcony yelling. 

The CP showed up about ten minutes after and told them they needed to be quiet. They insisted on drunken rambling and that they were being quiet and wanted to know where he lived. He said if he had to come back the Parker PD would be coming back with him. They went inside for two minutes then came back out and continued their ruckus. We saw a police officer walking around and they would duck down on their balcony. Around 4 A.M. I was able to fall back asleep, then was awoken at 5 A.M. when they all left and decided to scream their way to their cars.

Might be easier to hear with Headphones.

So, I called the leasing office in my rampage at 3 A.M. to ask them when is enough enough? I've called twice in one month on Deck Lights, once this month on Shadow Man, and have called the courtesy patrol two other times for random events (screaming in the parking lot, people hoping a balcony on the first floor). Am I really the only person that gets sick of it and wants it to stop? I've contemplated going over to their apartments Sunday morning at 2 A.M. banging on their doors and walls, and running off just so they can be woken up in the middle of the night. I have parties, but my friends know my deck is strictly for smoking and you're quiet when you're other and then you come back and join the party. The best part? It's an unspoken rule! It's common sense!

We are almost exactly one month and counting away from getting out of this place. I don't know how much more I can take.

Pigeons are the Spawn of Satan!

Anybody that knows me knows I'm a huge animal lover. I can even tolerate cats *shudder*. The one animal I can not stand are birds. Particularly pigeons.

 

Smug winged bastard.

I don't know. There is something about these creatures that just scream evil to me. They terrify me. About three months ago Kyle and I were sitting in our living room when we heard scratching and flapping coming from the vent above our heads. The only thing that is above us is an empty dormer that is only there for decoration purposes, since we're on the third floor. We start noticing that pigeons are coming and sitting on the ledge just outside of our window so we put two and two together and figure they're building a nest. I call the leasing office and ask if they can come shut up the dormer so the pigeons can't get into it. I figure they've just started building, haven't laid eggs yet, they'll come back to a shut up home and have to birth their spawn elsewhere.

My living room is under the gate to hell.

I am informed they'll have to call an outside company and they'll need to get on the roof. Well, this being Colorado it snowed at the end of April/beginning of May. I never heard anything else and the pigeons were quiet so I figured it'd been taken care of. Fast forward two weeks they start rustling around again. I call the leasing office and they inform me they'll send someone to spray a chemical to get rid of them the next day. Two days later we hear them again so I call the leasing office. They're very irritated with me at this point but say they'll come spray again.

Again, fast forward  a couple weeks, we hear a little bit of noise here and there but nothing major. I come home today and hear this wonderful sound...

Pardon the Transformer music in the back.

FOR AN HOUR STRAIGHT! I've called the leasing office and left them a message. "Hello, this is Sierra ____ from apartment ____ the pigeons I've been asking you guys to take care of for three months have now had babies. They have been chirping non-stop for an hour now. I know you're having pest control out on Friday to take care of the wasps nest on my deck, I'm hoping they can also take care of this issue that maintenance hasn't been able to correct. Please contact me on the issue." I'm currently awaiting the honey to wake up from a nap so we can go eat dinner and I can get out of here before I start tearing down the vent to get in there and murder them all.

 

"We Never Discussed A Mountain View"

I have heard back from Corporate office. I told her my whole ordeal and she said she was very sorry I was spoken to in that way and that that is not the way they do business. She then asked if there was anything she could do to get us to stay. I told her I've had nothing but problems here and am pretty much fed up. If they really want my business I want the mountain view fee removed from my unit and I want a decrease in my rent rate for the new lease. She said she would call the business manager back and I would hear from her by the end of the day.

 

I'm not listening to a damn word you have to say.

I receive a call from the business manager and she goes "Hi there, here's what we can do for you. We can only increase your rent by $25 to get you to stay, instead of the original amount." I ask "Okay, well what about the mountain view fee?" "Well we didn't discuss a mountain view fee so that'll stay on there." That was the whole reason for my call! This has moved past just increasing my rent for the next year, this is about paying for a service I'm not receiving, and I want some reimbursement! I told her "Well, I'll talk to Kyle about it but chances are we will be moving. We're done paying for something we're not getting." "Okay have a great day!"

She didn't even apologize for the way she spoke to me and sounded like I was bothering her. Kyle wants to handle the "we're not going to resign" conversation which will take place tomorrow, so I'll be sure and update you. It's a kick in the pants how corporate asked what they could do for us to stay, I told them and I didn't get a deal even close to that! I'm currently in the works of writing a letter to the president of Corporate. We'll see what happens.

Orange and White Stripe = Classy

Heading down the stairs with Koda for his last walk we come upon this...

 The universal sign for Hookers-Abound!

Thank god I wasn't using the railing. Happy Fourth of July indeed!

Busy Night for the Parker PD

At this complex, we're used to about every week or so having the cops show up for one reason or another (explosions from the third floor, people trying to shoot themselves...whatever). Well last night we got two separate visits from the cops which made for a great entertaining evening!

Around 9:00 pm Kyle and I decided to go down to the pool for a late night swim. We got down there and there was a group of about four-seven people, half of which were leaving. We didn't think anything of it and swam around having our fun. After about twenty minutes one of the people starts talking about how they don't want to ride home with the person that was going to drive because they'd been drinking. She started making a pretty strong point and was getting louder so we decided to move to the hot tub.

This is separated from the pool by bushes that you can't see over. 

So, we're in the hot tub talking and having a great time, when about twenty minutes later this woman comes strolling in. She walks over to the pool and soon all this swearing and yelling erupts. Apparently the girl that was by the pool talking about not being driven home and been ditched by her dad and left there. The woman had been drinking and wanted to take her home but the girl refused. The woman started yelling at the girl, the man that was there chimed in, and the woman slapped him across the face. At this point he starts yelling "Slap me again you drunk ... and see what happens to you!" We listen to this for about a minute and realize neither of us have our phones and those people don't know we're here in the hot tub.

We sneak out of the pool quickly and run to the apartment to get on the phone. Our apartment complex offers a courtesy patrol officer that is on the clock at night so you don't have to wait for the police to show up. I call that number, only to find out this patrol officer doesn't come on until 3:00 A.M. It's 10 P.M. What is the point of having that kind of security if they only come on after you've gotten tired of dealing with whatever is happening and called the police anyway? Quality job!

I call the police and tell dispatch about what's going on. By now these people are running down the street in front of our apartment complex screaming at each other. There's a total of six of them just screaming. Dispatch says she can hear everything and that they're getting more calls. Three squad cars show up and these people take off running. The cops are chasing them down on foot and in their vehicles.

We take Koda out for his last walk and see three of the people sitting on the grass handcuffed while the police are talking to two other people. In our walk around the building we see one police Suburban and five squad cars. The whole ordeal lasts about an hour. Not sure what happened or who/if they took anyone away, but it was an interesting show for sure.

 

Neighborhood Watch.

Around Midnight Kyle decided he wanted to go to bed. He's in the back for about five minutes when I hear loud laughing and yelling. I go onto the deck and it's the apartment over and below us having a party on their deck.

I let them yell for about five minutes until there's a break in the conversation when I say "You guys are being really loud!" I get the response of "Blargh! Drunken Yelling Bwahahaha". Really? Me saying that is your warning to shut up before I call the police. This goes off and on until about 1:00 A.M. when I decide to call the police. They show up about fifteen minutes after and talk to the renters. After the officer left, the lights went out and not another peep. Was that really so hard? All the times that I've been drinking or in a drunken stupor I've always been able to uphold my ability to not be a loud asshole at all hours of the morning. Hopefully that visit will help them be able to do the same thing.

 

My Mountain View

Alright, we'll start off on what's really got me angry. As this blog goes on, or if things get a little quiet I'll delve into the past for an "oldie but a goodie" story, but right now this should fill you up ;)

I received my renewal letter last week. They wanted to raise my rent for the next year's lease. Now I understand that they need to raise rent every time around (for whatever reason), however I thought a raise of $55 was a bit much. Talking around the apartment complex I had heard some people say their rent wasn't raised, was only raised $10, and a few had been raised upwards of $80-$100.

I had also heard of the leasing office helping out a couple people with cutting the rate hike in half. On the other hand, I had talked to a lady that had been told "We could make more money with you gone, so feel free to move out". I wasn't sure what I was walking into.

Tuesday June 28th I called the leasing office to schedule an appointment with the business manager. I get put on the phone with her and she says "I can take $10 off." I ask if I can meet up with her in person and discuss this.

Now, ahead of time I had looked up what my apartment was going for and found ads on Craigslist for about $150 cheaper than what I would be paying if I decided to go with the rent hike. The first thing she mentioned was that they were raising everybody $50-$80. Well Hello Bold Faced Lie...I don't quite think we've met :D

When she mentioned that my new rent amount was the going rate for my apartment, my boyfriend showed her the previously mentioned fliers. She back peddled quick and told us that it's because of the certain amenities we pay for in our specific apartment. The fireplace ($15), The Third Floor ($25), The Mountain View ($25)...this is where I had to stop her.

First of all we were never informed that we were being charged monthly for the fireplace or the mountain view. Second of all we don't have a mountain view! We face South East! For those of you out of Colorado, the mountains are to the West and South West. We stop her and go "Well, we don't have a mountain view." "Well, that's what it says here on the computer." *Frantic mouse clicking* "Okay, great, but we don't have one. We have buildings in our way." "Well, I can't change it on the computer so you can either keep paying it, or you're more than welcome to leave."

At this point we get up and walk out. We go apartment hunting and find a great apartment for cheaper, fantastic! However, it's still eating at me that we've been paying $25 a month for something a) we were never told we were paying for and b) something we don't even get! We've lost $600 over the past two years! If that's not stealing I don't know what is!

I've put a call in to the corporate office so we'll see what they come back with. In the meantime here's a video of my wonderful mountain view...hope you guys enjoy it ;)