FaceBook / FourSquare / Litter / SMEG Fridges Leaking Problem

FaceBook – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=72219004987

It might be of interest to know that City Island has a FaceBook page, and it has been used with some success in helping people with various issues, such as inappropriate parking, and it is also how we have had some success with the litter problem (see below), as well as all the usual FaceBook friendliness, networking, requests for help, advertising events, etc., etc. Just click on the link below to get to the City Island FaceBook page, or alternatively, just search for “City Island Leeds” from within FaceBook, and join up.


FourSquare – http://foursquare.com/venue/860419
And while we are looking at the interweb, City Island is also a FourSquare location. So, next time you are here, check in, leave tips, and see who is about. Currently MsTallica is the Mayor and I can’t displace her no matter how many times I check in (Grrr) – see if you can.


Litter – Some Progress
Lots of people have emailed the council, Hilary Benn MP, and in some cases British Waterways as well to try and get the disgusting state of Gotts Road and the surrounding areas sorted out. We are having some success, and have even heard that Hilary Benn has “received several complaints and has escalated to the council”. So, if you haven’t already, then please email your complaint to both refusecollection@leeds.gov.uk and bennh@parliament.uk.

If you have already complained, and regardless of whether you have received a response or not, you can raise this to a stage II complaint, by writing to:

Jane Charlton,
Departmental Customer Relations Officer,
Knowsthorpe Gate,
Leeds, LS9 0NP

And telling her that you either have not received a response, or that you have received a response, and that it was unsatisfactory as Gotts Road and the surrounding areas remain litter-strewn.


SMEG Fridges – leaking water internally.
This might save a few people a few quid.

If your SMEG fridge develops a fault whereby it starts leaking, and accumulating water in the bottom, this is due to a drainage hole at the back of the fridge becoming blocked. The hole is in the middle of the “V” shaped recess on the back wall of the fridge, and it can be unblocked using the end of a cable tie or pipe cleaner or some other similar device.

If you can’t sort it out yourself, or you have another fault, you might want to give this guy a call, as he was excellent with us, and sorted this out and a couple of other minor annoyances:

Neil Howieson
Domestic Appliance Helpline
Phone: 0870 007 76543
Web: www.domesticappliance.co.uk
Email: service@domesticappliance.co.uk

Recommendation and Inappropriate Parking

Recommendation: Electrician
The standard, reliability and general worthiness of tradesmen we have used in recent years has been shoddy at best, we seldom get good service, a good price and a good job, never mind all three, so it was a pleasant surprise recently when our water heater started blowing the fuse that Wayne Arnett from Arnett Electrical, came out, figured out what was wrong, ordered the part, and came back and fixed it, all for less than the cost of the call out charge of the other electricians we had contacted. He kept us informed from start to finish, and would not accept payment until ringing back a few days later to ensure we were happy with the job. It just doesn’t happen often enough anymore, so if you need an electrician, or know anyone who does, Wayne’s website is: http://www.electricians-leeds.com/ and he can be contacted on 0794 9088 687.

Inappropriate Parking
There’s been a few emails lately (we don’t get a lot anymore) about inappropriate parking, and how there does not seem to be any enforcement anymore. The parking enforcement is run by http://www.citypermits.co.uk/ and they can be contacted on enquiries@citypermits.co.uk. If you are suffering from inappropriate parking, email them while it is happening, in the hope that they will come out and ticket the car – profit for them, and hopefully more appropriate parking will become the norm again as a result.

City Island - MP

All,

Please find below details for contacting Hilary Benn, who is our representative Member of Parliament (and also Secretary of State for the Environment). Mr Benn has been instrumental in assisting City Island Residents Group in various matters, and he has asked CIRG to distribute his contact details to the group in order to offer assistance to individuals as well as CIRG as the representative group.

Cheers,
Colin.



Dear Resident

I have been working with the City Island Residents Group in helping them to deal with some of the issues relating to your block and I just wanted to let you know that if I can be of any assistance to you individually on any matter - as your local Member of Parliament - then please feel free to get in touch with me on 0113 2441097 or bennh@parliament.uk.

Best wishes

Hilary Benn MP

Wellington Place

Recent email from MEPC regarding Wellington Place. MEPC continute to set the standard for how development companies should conduct themselves in Leeds. . .

Dear Neighbour...

Thank you very much for responding to the MEPC Greening & Community Involvement Questionnaire sent out in February 2009. There were 243 respondents to the online survey with just over three quarters of you having a view over Wellington Place from your office or apartment.

Developing MEPC Wellington Place into a landmark area to live and work will take several years to achieve. The current economic climate has meant that work on the project has slowed down: finding suitable customers is more difficult when corporate finances are under pressure.

Until development is brought fully back up to speed, we believe that it’s crucial that the land we manage looks the very best it can, and serves a valuable purpose as a community resource for those who live and work around it. The findings from the Greening Questionnaire will help us achieve this.

Summary of key findings across both residents and companies

• 97% think that there is not enough green space in central Leeds and a similar proportion of people say that greening at Wellington Place will increase their use of green space
• Everybody responded to say that they would like to see more open grassed areas, as a response to this we have:-
  

1. taken down fences around the site allowing access to more green space
2. seeded a large area of land adjacent to the river
3. planted 200 saplings


It will take a number of months for the grass to grow on the area of land adjacent to the river, and
whilst we would like this to be accessible to the public, there are a number of security and safety issues which we need to consider. We would however like to organise some managed sporting and corporate events when the grass is mature.

We have also taken on board concerns raised about security and anti-social behaviour and are determined that Wellington Place will be a safe community environment. The site already has 24/7 manned CCTV and regular security patrols which have already proved successful in keeping the area safe and secure. We will also ensure that Wellington Place remains well-lit at night.

Summary of suggested improvements

For our corporate customers:

Urban gardens - As a result of feedback from our existing and local occupiers, we have created a number of small urban gardens. The interest has been so high that all of the plots were reserved within hours of their release. The success of the initial gardens means that we hope to extend the project in the future to give more organisations the chance to get planting.

Sporting facilities – The feedback also identified sporting facilities as something companies would like to see. After researching further we are pleased to confirm that a corporate five-a-side football pitch will be built next to Wellington Central. This will be closely managed by MEPC, for the use of occupiers on the Wellington Place estate as well as by invitation only to the local community.

For our neighbours who live around Wellington Place:

We were very pleased to have received a huge number of suggestions and ideas about how we could improve Wellington Place in the short term. Below is a list of ideas that we have either taken on board or are looking into:

• Picnic benches & seating around the site
• Open green space
• Outdoor exercise
• Art/sculpture
• Shelters
• Historical information boards
• Recycling facilities
• Additional lighting
• Urban Gardens
• Location maps
• Additional security measures
• Catering facilities
• Landscaped walkways

Some of the comments received refer to the wider surrounding area or the west end of Leeds as a whole. Given MEPC are one of the partners of the West End Partnership, which is a partnership that comprises of a small group of committed individuals and organisations who will drive forward the strategic agenda for West End Leeds in line with the vision for the City. We will collate your comments and table them for discussion at the next meeting.

We will of course keep you updated on all projects and future events as they are developed. In the meantime if you have any additional suggestions or would like to find out more about the plans for Wellington Place please email us at dsimcox@mepc.com or visit http://www.wellingtonplace.co.uk/.

Best regards
Chris Davidson
Development Manager
MEPC Ltd

Gotts Road Parking / Resurfacing

Hi all,

You will have been aware that Gotts road has been in a right state for quite a while now in terms of it being unfinished, massive pot holes in the road, unfinished pavements, not to mention the inconsiderate, dangerous and illegal parking that lots of you have emailed about, that the traffic wardens have been largely powerless to do anything about

However, we have recently had confirmation from the council that resurfacing of the road will commence on the Monday 8th of June, and will take 3 days to complete. This has various implications and impacts for the residents of City Island.

1. There will be a FULL ROAD CLOSURE for the three days that the work takes place, through the hours of 09:30 to 15:30. If possible the contractors will retain some vehicular access through Gotts Road, but you should assume that you will not be able to access Gotts Road in a vehicle between 09:30 and 15:30 on the 8th, 9th, and 10th of June. The council have left public notices on lampposts, and will also be leafleting parked cars in the week leading up to the 8th to try and advise anyone who uses the road for parking to make alternative arrangements.

2. The leaflets will also warn that if any cars are left parked on Gotts Road during the indicated times, that would prevent the contractor form doing the required work, the cars will be towed away and incur a £150 recovery fee.

3. After the resurfacing work is completed the road will be marked immediately, with the new parking restrictions which will be come into effect. See attached documents for details.

i. The first document basically states that Gotts Road is and will remain a one way road, enforced by the police.

ii. The second document basically states that no parking will be allowed anywhere at any time, apart from where everyone currently parks where parking will be restricted to 1 hour. These parking restrictions will be enforced by Leeds City Councils Parking Wardens who will issue fixed penalty fines to cars that are in violation of the new rules.

Please take note and don’t unnecessarily fall foul of these restrictions. Hopefully, this work will result in a better, safer Gotts Road.

Cheers,
Colin

City Island Residents Group.

Wellington Place 5-a-Side Pitches

Just to let you know, that in response to the recent “Green Spaces” survey, MEPC have submitted a planning application for two temporary five-a-side football pitches to be located behind their marketing suite.

Chris Davidson of MEPC says “[the pitches] . . . will be professionally run to attract the likes of lawyers, accountants, etc to play. This helps us make Wellington Pace a real “Place” and attract, of course, the types of professionals that work for the business we want to locate down here. The proposal forms part of a scheme of site improvement works which we are well underway to make Wellington Place a very inviting, safe and dynamic place”.

Hi all,

MEPC are the developers of the massive Wellington Place, between City Island, Whitehall Road and Wellington Street, and they continue to set the standards of developers in the area in terms of seeking local residents and businesses opinions of their plans, rather than just forging ahead.

It would be great if as many of you as possible could complete the MEPC survey below, regarding green spaces in Leeds – please try and do this if you have a chance by the 24th February. It takes less than a couple of minutes and is quite interesting and I know your input will be gratefully received by MEPC, and more importantly, listened to and acted upon.

Cheers,
Colin.

From: MEPC Wellington Place [mailto:dsimcox@mepc.com] Sent: 10 February 2009 14:43To: Colin BrownSubject: More Green Space in Central Leeds?

More Green Space in Central Leeds?
We would really appreciate you taking a few minutes to complete this questionnaire. This is a study by MEPC, a Real Estate Company, Developers of Wellington Place, in collaboration with the School of Geography, University of Leeds.
Green Spaces are the 'green lungs' of our towns and cities, contributing to improving people’s physical and mental health by providing places for informal recreation – walking, cycling, sitting, socialising, and breathing spaces to take time out from the stresses of modern life. The MEPC business is based on creating and maintaining attractive and safe environments and green spaces are a part of this. So it’s no surprise that we take a long-term view in how we invest, develop and manage the Wellington Place Estate. The Wellington Place development will take a number of years to build and it is important that we start to build a strong community now, making the estate more than just a place to work. We want everyone to feel part of the community and benefit from the attractive environment which we all share.
To this end, MEPC has committed to and already commenced a six month plan of improvement works the Wellington Place Estate. Whilst work is already under way, we are keen to understand the views of our customers and neighbours about green space and other innovative ideas, and look to accommodate them where we can, to begin the 'Place Making' process that is so important to the success of Wellington Place.
Click here to fill in the questionnaire by 24th February 2009.
MEPC Wellington Place Wellington Central Leeds LS1 4AP
www.wellingtonplace.co.uk
MEPC Ltd Wellington Central Wellington Place Leeds LS1 4APTel: 0113 389 9830 Fax: 0113 389 9838 Email: wellington@mepc.comMEPC Limited Registered Office: 4th Floor, Lloyds Chambers, 1 Portsoken Street, London E1 8LW. Registered in England No 5514581. Click here to unsubscribe
Designed and Produced by HMA
© Copyright MEPC 2008

MEPC - Wellington Place Open Day

Hi,

One of CIRG’s members, Wendy, attended the MEPC open day on Friday, and has kindly captured what she found out in the report below. MEPC are an immediate neighbour of City Island and seem to be very fair and thoughtful, and always inform CIRG of such developments.

Wendy’s report:


I went to the meeting at Wellington Place yesterday and was very impressed. They had invited all the neighbours including Crowne Plaza, PWC, King Sturge, Allianz, Watson Wyatt, Irwin Mitchell and ourselves, to tell us what their plans were in the short and long term, and to ask what we would like to see. The meeting was also attended by Rachel Unsworth of University of Leeds (geography) who is undertaking a project for greening of places. She is being assisted by a 3rd year geography student who is using it for her dissertation.

MEPC can't start building works until they have pre-let enquiries on each block. In the long term, they are proposing a mixed use development of 2.6m sq ft. In the short term, they are looking to make the area smarter and put it on the map. There was a general view that the journey up Whitehall Road from the station is grim and they will make significant improvements. They don't want to just open it up for public car parking (although they could make a lot of money) but will have some increased parking areas for businesses on site. In the short term, they want to clean up the site and scope out the footprint of each building (using coloured gravel or grassed areas) so that the aerial view looks good.

They do have planning approval on a number of units but don't want us to alert the planning dept to their temporary ideas until these have been agreed. Ideas include:

• Five a side pitch
• Tennis courts
• Outdoor ice rink
• Would like outdoor concert facility but there is a conflict with the council on this (I think due to the new city venue)
  

Over the next few weeks, they will crush the gravel mountain and spread this over the area near the marketing suite. they propose to put up a screen on the side of the listed tower so they will have a small outdoor arena with tiered seating.

They will demolish the remaining MFI block in the next few weeks and clear the site before xmas.

A 10' grassed perimiter will be completed along North Street in the near future.

There will be a main square near the tower. As a temporary measure they will gravel this over in coloured gravel.

They will build a main path from this square to Whitehall Road, that will be well lit and tree-lined.

I said my (and therefore CIRG's) objectives are:

• Not too many residential units
• A feeling of security and personal safety achieved by good lighting, open spaces and avoiding places where undesirables can hang out
• A good restaurant
• Something to put the West End on the map, attracting business and financial institutions (as we have started to build given the companies represented)
• Good pedestrian access from City Island into the City

The pocket park will go ahead soon. Thereafter, MEPC will complete the footbridge (which is now their responsibility).

I came away feeling very positive about the plans and looking forward to watching developments. This can only have a positive impact of the price and desirability of City Island.

We will receive a questionnaire shortly asking us for more ideas.

Pedastrian Bridge Becomes a Reality

All,

Some great news that due to some very vigilant campaigning by City Island Residents Groups members, and in particular Sue Ridge, we have significant progress towards making the long awaited pedestrian bridge a reality. Basically, instead of waiting until the end of stage of Monks Bridge development (many years away) for the “Pocket Park”, before the bridge may materialise, this has been brought forward to the end of stage 1 in 2009 sometime.

See below email from Sue for further details. . .

_______________

Dear all

As you may be aware, HBG, the developers of the Monk Bridge site, have brought forward the provision of the Pocket Park from the end of their Phase 4 (the completion of their 8th and final block - many years away!) to the end of Phase 1 (2009).

Once complete, MEPC, the developers of the Wellington Place site, can then provide the much awaited pedestrian bridge across the river, which is presently planned to land onto the Pocket Park next to our perimeter fence.

Please find attached a scan of the location (504 kB) and plan (314 kB) of the Pocket Park. Further information is available from the reception at the Development Department, ref P/08/03199/RM/C.

Should you have any comments to make, please forward them direct to me at sue_cityisle@yahoo.co.uk by the end of Friday 7th November and I will collate and forward to the planning officer.

Many thanks

Sue

CIRG Meeting 23rd October 2008

All,

Below are the original agenda items in black text discussed at last week’s City Island Residents Group meeting with the management company Accent.

Accent
· Things have improved, however still areas for improvement
· Looking for proactive management - not CIRG managing Accent
· Accent refute that this is the case, and say that if you have concerns or issues, you need to raise them with Tony, and then only escalate as an issue if it’s not addressed in a reasonable timescale

· CIRG can to some extent sympathise with this viewpoint, as we are very often the first port of call for residents, and so would ask that if you do have issues you contact Tony the concierge in the first instance, making a note of the date you do so (email maybe best for this, and then only escalate through CIRG as an issue if there is no response

· Tony’s email address is antony.foy@accentgroup.org if you wish, you can copy in CIRG at: cityislandleeds@googlemail.com so that we can ratify dates and timescales should they ever need escalation. City Island management suite phone number is 01132 431380.

Security
· Why and when were the security company changed
· 9th September -- Network Securities were removed due to illegal hours and misuse of company PC.

· Mobile phone contact number still not provided
· Because of the change of security company this was delayed.
· The 24 hour/365’s a year security mobile number is : 07982537985
· A number is also going to be put on management suite door to go through to the head office

· Had two compliments about Security sorting out noise issues – this is a good news story
· Need to get them in the front of people to keep this up
· Action on Accent/Tony to ensure that when called upon, they visit troublesome apartments

· Had another compliment about the patrols being better – the more visible the better
· This will be told to security to keep up as well
· Tony is doing a job list

· Car park gate - people beeping to get out, unacceptable in terms of noise and security
· Tony has told security to log down which vehicle’s are doing this, which will then be correlated to a bay, and then to an apartment for them to pursue
· If this continues to be a problem for residents let Tony/Accent and CIRG know

Misc
· Tony's email / computer - can we get it fixed - often the best way to contact him
· Computer was removed due to misuse, this is now back in place, Tony’s email as above.

· Serious leak above car-park bay 203 (from the water feature); was told they were waiting for special tape to fix it themselves - that was months ago - still not done and concrete pillar next to it is
permanently soaked
· This is the pump house for the pond, it is not a leak, but condensation building up on copper pipes, and there is no way to stop it other than to remove copper piping and replace with plastic
· Action: Accent will do this in the next couple of weeks

· Update on sewage situation
· Sewer pumps have been changed
· Yorkshire water are monitoring them
· Its only tripped out once 5 months, and so the situation is vastly improved, if not solved.

· Re-carpeting of flooded areas (Bonaire 12, and 13 - 5 tiles)
· This is down to insurance mandated a contractor.
· Action: accent to chase

· General recarpetting:
· 8 corridors have been ordered originally (3 months ago)
· 18 more corridors have since been ordered, of which all are almost all done now
All of Westray, 1,2 and 4 of Elba (another 9)
· However, most of the carpet tile damage is down to people taking refuse to the the lifts/bin stores and letting it drip – so please double bag your bin bags when you take them out. We can’t expect to replace tiles due to spills every time they happen, it costs too much.

· Bin Stores
Added extra 6 bins to increase refuse capacity, which are now in place.

Staff
· Tony and Ian - what are they doing? Visibility is important
· This was a line item that was raised by residents via email, and so we raised it in the meeting on your behalf, even though members of CIRG don’t doubt for a moment Tony’s contribution to running City Island, if he wasn’t here, the place would be much the worse for it. If you have particular concerns, please get in touch with CIRG and we will address them, as Tony is without any doubt, City Island’s biggest asset, and if you think otherwise, you don’t understand what he does for this place.

· Ian is continuing maintenance, of the grounds, the car park, and will be starting painting of the car park areas again soon, all under Tony’s guidance.

· What are you doing to retain Tony? He is key to City Island
· Accent assert that Tony is not unhappy. However, he is having to move out of City Island due to personal circumstances – there is an indirect consequence of this, in that Tony will not be able to avail himself to us all out of his work hours, as he has done for the previous 3 three years.
· Also, as above point, Tony prefers to hear about problems from you rather than as an escalation from us.

Gotts Road
· Inappropriate parking –
· Large truck parking by Phase 2 causes obstruction
§ There is some limited yellow line painting occurring in the next few weeks – Mayfair are doing this.

· Resurfacing, yellow lines, we are chasing this but it is not our job -- it is Accents job -- why are they not?
· Accent assert this is not their job - it’s a public road

· Pavement outside management suite – who will sort this out?
· MacLean’s responsibility, not Accents (Note: Accent stressed the point several times that they are not there to improve matters, they have only been hired to manage what is already there)
· Action: Accent to advise us on this

· Electric box at bottom of Bonaire -- half removed
· Action: Tony to address this.

Lifts
· Westray lift breakdown – why was alarm not working?
· Any lift breakdown need to be a priority
Action on Accent: To get a response to Kone -- we need a strong answer on this

· Faroe lift - 4 days out of service
· Accent say that this was due to it breaking down on a Friday night – and so being repaired Monday morning, as it was not an an emergency

Window Cleaning
Accent inform us it was done in August, and that they are done quarterly.
· All windows that Accent should do are now being done as part of this schedule
· Accent only clean the ones that are inaccessible, if you can reach your own windows you need to do them yourself, they are tilt and turn

Litter
· Spade in pond
· Shoes and socks and litter
· These are often one offs or they fall off balconies, generally the litter situation is improved, if it happens over a weekend (which a lot do) they won’t be done until Monday
· Report these to Tony
· Gotts road and surrounding areas -- the main ingress and egress to City Island is Gotts road and the canal -- can we make sure they are kept nice too?
· Accent say no – where would they draw the line


Phase II apartments
· Rented out?
· Sat dish / dodgy looking apartment
· What is going on?
· These are nothing to do with Accent, not managed by them
· The guy with the sat dish is a Mayfair employee
· They can’t sell them, people should not be living there
§ This is nothing to do with Accent, and little CIRG can do either, escalate to Mayfair / council if you feel strongly

Electricity
· Update?
· Are Accent managing the bills or just passing on the increasing costs to us?
· Are Accent managing all costs -- this is one of their core functions
§ Accent enters a new 2 year contract in August on the best price over five suppliers for electricity
§ This is only managed at renewal, every two years, then they get best price again, and so on.
§ Action on Tony: Can we investigate turning off stairwell lights during the day

Maintenance
· To reiterate an above point, Accent and Tony want you to report these to them directly, not via CIRG, and only escalate is not reponse.

· Lights in stairwell of Beringa not working
· Action on Tony to sort out
· Light timers seem to be too quick to go out
· This will be left as they are. However, if you feel strongly let Accent/Tony know, and they will address, however there is a cost involved in doing this, and so it won’t be done until January in order to wait for the new budget
· Tree next to riverside that is falling
· 2 trees by Elba need straightening up and 1 outside Bonaire needs re-nailing.
§ These trees are now strong enough to stand on their own now
§ Gardeners will remove support frames

· Westray foyer lights broken
· Action: Tony to confirm

· Courtyard lights out for a few days??
· New Security company teething problems – now sorted.

· Catalina lift lights
· Sorted

· Bin stores
· Getting jet washed monthly, but missed a month due to new bin company

Extra Agenda items:

· Next FY City Island is due a repaint of all communal areas
o Letter of intent will be issued December
o 5 months due diligence for the job
o Will be completed by May/June

· The carpets in foyers as you come in
o These were put in to stop winter weather being trailed through the building and further destroying carpets
o For all of them (7), they cost £265 a quarter, so about a £1060 a year, or about £2.50 a year per apartment.
o Do we want to keep them?
o Do they give benefit?
o Do they look good?
o Action: All CIRG Members – feedback on this so we can advise Accent of what we all think.

· Changing cleaners in January
o Cost benefit (£4,500 cheaper per annum)

· Changed Companies who move the bins out
o Saved £1000 per annum

· Insurance is going up
o Due to our poor record of claims, our insurance premiums are going up significantly, to the extent that there will be two overspends in budget
o Action: Wendy H (CIRG) to investigate

Gotts Road Resurfacing

Long time since we have emailed, but we just wanted to ask your help with petitioning out MP, Hillary Benn, to do something about the state of Gotts Road. The contractors have now left the site of Waterside apartments, yet they have not resurfaced the road, leaving large holes where their hoardings were erected and subsequently removed from.

The state of the road means it will deteriorate rapidly, and it will not be long before we are dealing with even larger potholes. If they are ever repaired, it will come from our council tax – which hardly seems fair given we know who caused the damage. If you or I were to go out to a road and start causing such damage, we would be arrested and punished.

Why should the builders get away with it?

You can email your MP on over the web, and it only takes a minute: http://www.upmystreet.com/commons/email/l/474.html

State the following as those responsible for the development:

Mayfair Developments
3 Elm Grove
Didsbury
Manchester
M20 6PL
0161 - 448 - 2299

We would really appreciate you taking the time to do this, the more people who contact him the more compelled he will be to take action.

Meeting Details for CIRG & Accent Meeting 24/01/2008

Notes to residents:

· Do not throw rubbish in to the empty bin storage areas when the bins are taken out for collection each week. This makes the areas smell, and encourages rodents. Cinderella also charge us for picking your rubbish up.
· Do not dump large items for ‘free’ removal in the basement – its not free and costs us all a lot of money.
· Failure to to comply with either of the previous points immediately makes you a scumbag chav, who will be doomed to a life of fake Burbery baseball hats, bad tattoo’s, and limited mating opportunities resulting in inbred children – and we wil all judge you as such.


Meeting Minutes (from previously email agenda):

· Cleaning/Litter
· Much improved, but need to keep on top of it
§ Caretaker – does a litter pick every morning at 08:30, for an hour
§ Gardeners -- every second Wednesday/Thursday, they also do litter picks

· Bin areas
§ Housekeeping
· Wednesday to Thursday bins are missing, and people just throw rubbish bags in the storage areas
· There is under capacity in some bin stores for the amount of rubbish produced.
· Action on Accent: 1. find out how many more bins will fit in storage spaces. 2. How much new ones cost?
· Action on Accent to lock one bin during the week, and then leave it in the in place and unlocked when the other bins are removed for 24 hours to combat this problem
· Action: Accent to investigate extending Faroe storage area in basement for more bin storage.
§ Jet washing
· Action on Accent :To purchase a jet washer, and jet wash all bin areas once a month and then as and when need by request of residents.

· Dumping of furniture/large items
· Still happening. We cannot allow precedent to be set, as, as soon as one item appears, it encourages others.
Action on Accent to ensure large items are removed within 48 hours one way or another.
Action on CIRG to remind residents that this costs us a fortune

· Window Cleaning
· People still not happy
Basically, there are places where there are missing abseil points (in Santorini and Faroe), that means some windows below them cannot be cleaned.
Accent are now getting access pretty much everywhere else without needing access to apartments (excepting the above instances) and so there has been an improvement. They are also now cleaning balcony glass
Action on Accent: Keep this a priority
Action: on Accent to find out if there is any way to fit a bolt to the two missing places

· Piazza Water feature
· Grubby
Dead fish was due to wild fowl killing/eating them.
Action on Accent: In spring/summer
· Strip and varnish decking
· Housing for pumps is a currently a two man job, caretaker is going to rebuild housing so that as a one man job, a person can access it, and pumps can be restarted and maintained properly -- this will stop the pond going green.

· Floor tiles
· Some are dirty
Action on Accent: As a test for recycling replaced tiles and tiles that are low usage, replace Floor 7 Beringa, Floor 6 Faroe
Spring time, Action on Accent to do a large scale replacement/recycle of tiles to improve the situation. Plus the areas that are not walked on regularly -- recycle them.

· Maintenance
· Now we have a caretaker we expect proactive maintenance – there is every indication that this is now the case.

· Garage entrance broken for so long
§ Motor blew up again, and the electrics were not up to scratch.
§ Electrics are now up to scratch so should not happen again
§ Motor has 12 months warranty.
§ No room for a bigger motor, so to a point, this may happen again
§ Action: Accent to find out the Service Level Agreement for repair, and if there is not one, put one in place.

· Caretaker
· What are his duties, do you have a electronic copy
Action: Accent to provide electronic copy
Action: CIRG to advertise these duties, and also point out how much more besides he is doing (a good news story – just like Tony)

· Concierge
· Hard to get hold of, doesn’t return voicemails.
This is due to a new mobile phone, moving numbers to the new phone, people still using the old phone, and calling at inappropriate hours
· For minor issues residents should use your welcome pack first, and then talk to your managing agents
· Numbers:
· 01132431380
· 07982537985
· Out of hours
· Security first, who screen calls
Action on CIRG to advertise these facts.

· Confidential post left in public/communal areas
§ Action: on Individuals: when this happens you need to make a complaint to the postal company
§ Action: on Accent: Security/Concierge to pick them up if they see them

· Security
· Is it still 24/7/365
Yes.
They are on patrol, when they are not in the management suite-- they leave a note in the window with own mobile number.
Action on Accent to put procedure in place so that we are not reliant on security guards personal mobile phones outside of hours when they go on patrol.

· Bonaire update
· General update:
All sorted now.
· Entrance door permanently broken
Action on Accent: Investigate
· Faroe
§ Entrance door permanently broken
§ Action on Accent to investigate: Door does not close

· Recycling
· Do we have any apart from glass?
The issue is still confused. There seems to be recycling but it gets used for general waste. This is exacerbated by the under capacity of bin space in some blocks

· Accent
· Demands for payment for service charges and legal threats even after payment
Action: Accent to investigate and rectify.
· Management charges
Management charges – still including over £60k for electricity bills – the fund must be well in surplus.
· Action: Accent to confirm this
Can we see accounts rather than just budgets? Also include massive fees for security/concierge etc
· Action on Accent to provide not only published accounts but also detail i.e. How much we have saved from the passive infrared lights.

· AOB
Stairs at canal path.
Lamps are still broken.
Action: Accent to action.

Noise
No specific complaints.
Action: Accent to come up with an aggressive policy on how approach this going in to summer

New Agenda for Thursday 24th January 7pm Meeting

Ok, so in light of us having a first meeting with our new Accent representative, and the fact that peoples responses for requests for agenda items was light – we are starting the new year with a very light agenda with just the usual suspects and a few others.

If there is anything else that you think should urgently be on the agenda let me know and I will try and add it, or alternatively attend the meeting and raise it yourself. The meeting will be Thursday 24th January at 7pm in the management suite.

Agenda
Cleaning/Litter
o Much improved, but need to keep on top of it

Dumping of furniture/large items
o Still happening. Cannot allow precedent to be set

Window Cleaning

Maintenance
o Now we have a caretaker we expect proactive maintenance

Caretaker
o What are his duties, do you have a electronic copy

Concierge
o Hard to get hold of, doesn’t return voicemails.

Security
o Is it still 24/7/365

Bonaire update
o General update
o Entrance door permanently broken

Piazza Water feature

Floor tiles

Recycling
o Do we have any apart from glass?

Accent
o Demands for payment for service charges and legal threats even after payment

AOB

Bumper Festive Update...

Apologies
First off, apologies for the lack of progress, CIRG has been a little neglected recently due to personal and professional commitments of members. This has also made it difficult to respond to emails in a timely manner, so apologies if you have been neglected. If anyone has time on their hands and would like to volunteer please let us know.

Anyway, here’s a bumper update...


Recycling
I noticed that the glass recycling point at the front of City Island was full and overflowing when I drove past it today (I don’t use it – I use the one at Sainsbury’s). As a reminder, when the receptacles are full, you can call Midland Glass on 01623721006 to have them emptied. Could someone please do this tomorrow? It may be worth asking them to put a sign on the receptacles with the telephone number on as well?


Waterside Apartments – Litter and Debris
The good news is that due to CIRG petitioning the council, Leeds council are serving one notice on David McLean’s to control the litter coming from their site, and another notice to clean up the river banks that are strewn with their litter and debris. Failure to comply with these written, formal notices will result in a fine or prosecution. So, keep your eyes open in the coming weeks. If David McLean’s are still allowing litter and debris to fly – let CIRG know, so that we can take it up with the council, and help us get the arrogant contractors prosecuted (if you can take a photo of any offences that would be really useful too).

The bad news however, is, as you some of you know, many City Island apartments facing Waterside Apartments have been hit and damaged by large pieces of dangerous debris that has been negligently allowed to blow off site by David McLean. Unfortunately, the Leeds Health and Safety Executive have still not served a notice on David McLean’s regarding this disregard for peoples personal and property safety, preferring, instead to be fobbed off with David McLean’s excuses and lies. We are hopeful of progressing this with our MP early in the new year.


Waterside Apartments – Crane
Thankfully, the end is in sight for the completion of Waterside Apartments, Phase I are just about ready to be moved into, and Phase II should hopefully be finished by June. With this progress, comes the removal of the second crane next week (on the 20th of December I think). There will be traffic management in place, but expect a little disruption around Gotts Road.


New Onsite Caretaker
In an effort agreed with and supported by CIRG, Accent have recruited a full time caretaker to the City Island development. The caretakers name is Ian Carter, and he will be responsible for routine maintenance and cleaning, in an effort to get on top of the issues that so many of us were reporting as annoyances. We will ask for and report Ian’s full responsibilities after the next meeting with Accent early in the new year, but in the meantime, I have noticed an improvement in the car park to name just one. Welcome Ian! Continue to report maintenance issues to Tony who will pass on to Ian as required.


Accent Staff Change
Sarah Smith who was the main Accent City Island account manager is moving on. Good luck with wherever you are going Sarah, and I hope it wasn’t due to CIRG that you have decided to move on. The new lady in charge of City Island is Joanne Howe – welcome Joanne!


Update on CIRG Position on Accents Involvement in City Island
Several of the active members of CIRG have now taken legal advice from Schulman's Solicitors in Leeds (Thanks to Matt for organising this), on two main issues. Firstly, the outstanding work that we believe Mayfair should be responsible for completing at City Island, and the release of (our) monies by Accent in order to legally pursue this assertion. And secondly, we have asked Schulman's to investigate our suspicions that Accent may have a possible conflict of interests. Schulman’s have informed us of the following:

1. The company that represents all our interests, is City Island Management Company Limited (CIMCL)
2. CIMCL has only three directors, all of whom are residents of Kuwait.
3. CIMCL appointed Accent as management agents, and as such Accent are answerable to and only to CIMCL.
4. CIRG do not believe three Kuwaiti residents can possibly be best placed to have the best interests of City Island at heart.
5. Schulman's are therefore now investigating on our behalf, to find out how to release the shareholding of CIMCL to leaseholders of City Island, in order that we can appoint directors that do have City Islands best interests at heart.

In summary, CIRG therefore have two main concerns about Accents current involvement in City Island.

1. A belief that Accent may have a conflict of interests. If Accent are only answerable to three Kuwaiti residents, who are the same people who will also be awarding the contract for Waterside Apartments, we need to know that this is not the reason for blocking the release of (our) money in order to pursue Mayfair legally because of Accents fear of possibly not being awarded further business from the Kuwaiti trio if they do so.

2. Ultimately, Accent are not accountable to anyone who cares. This allows Accent to act with impunity providing poor service and poor value for money and not be held accountable. We need to ensure Accent can be held accountable, just as any other service provider would and should be.

These concerns have been articulated to Beverly Craig, Accents General Manager, on the 11th of November 2007, but we have heard nothing back from her to date.

In the new year CIRG will be progressing this matter aggressively. We have been led a merry dance for far too long.


Video Entry System
Apparently, those fancy camera’s on the video entry system are not just for show, you can hook up the video input from them to your TV in your apartment, in order to see who is buzzing your apartment for entry. This would be a good idea for lots of reasons, so if you want instructions or a helping hand on how to do so please contact our forever wonderful concierge, Tony, at Antony.Foy@Accentgroup.org and ask him how.


Next Residents Group Meeting
We are hopeful of the next residents group meeting with the Management company being help early to mid January, in order to acquaint ourselves with Joanne Howe, and her with us, and to recap on existing issues and table any new ones. We will send out an email with the date and time and asking for your agenda items early in January.


Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year
Finally, just to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year! Without you all being active, vocal, or simply registered to receive the emails, we would not be able to be as effective as we are. CIRG has been going almost 18 months now, and we are hopeful of 2008 being our most effective year so far! Have a great festive break, see you in 2008!

IMPORTANT: We need everyones help...

As you know, there are a dozen or so people that are actively involved in running CIRG, and we all put in many hours in doing so. However, this is a one off email, where we really need all of you to help...please do all you can to assist, so we can continue to try and make City Island a better place to live...

Solicitors
Are there any solicitors out there who could help CIRG out with some legal issues we are facing? Or do you know a solicitor who could offer some advice for free?

We are fighting some injustices at City Island, but we are inhibited by the fact that as a group of volunteers we cannot foot the bill of £180 per hour for a solicitor which is now the only way we can progress some of these matters, and so yet again we are blocked from getting the right thing done.

If there is anyone who can help please get in touch with us.


Electricity
One of our members has been conducting research into sourcing cheaper, and/or greener electricity, as it seems nPower (who we are all with by default, unless you have asked to change to another supplier), are the most expensive and least green. Anyway, we are looking for 10-15 volunteers to participate by providing us with your KW usage from the last three months. If we can collect this, we can perform some average calculations on how much electricity is being used and try and negotiate lower rates in a “if you don’t give us a better rate, then x hundred apartments are going to switch suppliers” kind of way....

1. If you would like to volunteer for this, please let us know your previous 3 months KW usage and with which company it was with.
2. Also, if you want to get cheaper electricity, and would like to be represented in the group bargaining for cheaper electricity, let us know your address and we will include you.
3. Also, what is most important to you? Price or Greenness?


Please try and do all you can to help with the above three matters, we really need everyone’s help....

Cheers,
CIRG

Window Cleaning / Wasps

Window Cleaning
Just a reminder that a full window clean of City Island is scheduled for the 17th of September. If you own a penthouse, please ensure you contact Tony (Antony.Foy@Accentgroup.org) to arrange access so that not only your own apartment windows are cleaned, but all of those people below you. Hopefully this will be the first of ongoing bi-monthly cleans.

Balcony glass is not included in the pricing for cleaning this year – this will be factored in to costs for next year. And remember that tilt and turn windows or any other windows that you can access yourself are not included – you need to do these yourself.

Finally, Cinderella are offering to clean all internal duplex/penthouse glass for £25 plus VAT per property. If you require this service you can email Tony to confirm next clean date and then give him a cheque payable to Cinderella for £29.37 with key or access arrangements.

Wasps
We have received an email about wasps and I have also noticed quite a few about. Has anyone else had problems? Do we have a problem, or is it just coincidence? Hopefully there is not a nest somewhere...

Waterside / Litter / Crime / Canal / Large Items

Waterside Apartments
The phone number for the new “showroom” (the bit underneath where the security guards are in the management suite), is 01132 453514, and the sales negotiators name is Jeanette Hollindrake. The “showroom” is now open to visitors, and there is apparently a show apartment completed ready for viewings by appointment. If you fancy having a look, call Jeanette on the above number.

Litter – Waterside Apartments
You may remember that in January, during the high winds, our apartment was clobbered with a large piece of wood that bent the metal stanchions around our apartment in two and took a large chunk of rendering out of our wall. On Friday, we got clobbered again, breaking a few items on our terrace, and leaving a 8 foot by 4 foot piece of insulated wall behind. I’ve complained, again, to the site manager, who has agreed to pay for the damage, and whom has said that all he can do “is apologise” but I don’t think that this is good enough. Apart from my personal circumstance, Waterside apartments allows endless litter to be blown off their site every day, ending up in and around City Island and the Rivers and trees making the place look unsightly.

I have complained to the site manager, who is now Dave Akitt (david.akitt@davidmclean.co.uk) and to the council, Elaine Saul (elaine.saul@leeds.gov.uk), and the health and safety executive (foi.leeds@hse.gsi.gov.uk) – if you are fed up with the endless litter we have to endure whilst they are building Waterside Apartments, I suggest you email them and tell them how bad it is too – the more people who do so, the more likely there is something will be done about it – CIRG complaining in isolation may not be enough, so please email these people. Let us know if you get any responses.

Burglary in Other Developments in Leeds
In the Yorkshire Evening Post a few days (weeks?) ago there was a report about a spate of burglaries in Leeds City Centre developments, such as Whitehall Waterfront, West Point, etc, whereby the burglar was entering the buildings by whatever means, knocking on doors, and when they received no reply, kicking the door in and taking valuables. Although this has not happened at City Island so far, we need to be extra vigilant as we will no doubt be a target too - don’t admit people you don’t know if you can help it.

There is even more need for vigilance when you consider the reports from our last email about apartment doors being tried from the corridors. Tony and the security team are working proactively to make sure crimes do not happen at City Island, so if you have had your door tried, or see anything suspicious let him know at Antony.Foy@Accentgroup.org or 24 hour security on 0113 243 1380.

Canal Entrance
Our local mischievous youths who frequent the canal and canal side entrance of City Island have been sliding the bolt across to prevent the gate from closing. If you are entering or leaving via the canal side entrance, please ensure it is closed behind you. Especially given the previous item in this email.

Large Items
Hi Chavs! Thanks for dumping yet more furniture in the car park! Now we all have to pay £300 for each large item you have dumped, when you could have simply (and still can), have contacted the council and had the items removed for free (as part of the council tax you have already paid), on 0845 1240113, or see details on the website here.

Or alternatively, leave the stuff there (and why not add some more as and when you feel like it?) and continue to waste the council tax you have already paid, incur more management charges for us all, make the place look like a dump and know that the rest of City Island think you are Chav scum – which you are.

False CCTV Camera on Canal Tow Path
Do you think it would be a good idea / deterrent? Let us know. It will not be progressed unless we get enough support for it.


Blog: www.cityislandleeds.blogspot.com
Email: cityislandleeds@googlemail.com

Meeting this evening / Waterside Apartments - Complaints, Prices, and retail

Meeting
Final reminder that the management meeting will go ahead this evening at 7pm in the management suite at City Island

Waterside Apartment Contractors Complaints
We have received a lot of complaints recently about the behaviour of the contractors working on the Waterside Apartments site on Gotts Road opposite City Island. The complaints are about:

Litter. Several complaints have been about the litter that is allowed to blow off site into and around City Island, but also that the contractors are eating their lunch and discarding packaging and food over the banks of the river or in to the road.
Sexist Shouting. It seems that the contractors are also trying to live up to the stereotypes of old fashioned builders in shouting sexist and offensive remarks at people walking along Gotts Road.

CIRG have emailed the site manager several times but have yet to receive a reply. Today, we have also emailed the council outlining the complaints we have received so far. If you have a complaint to make about the contractors, please email CIRG and Elaine Saul, who is our Environmental Health, Neighbourhoods and Services contact at the council at Elaine.Saul@leeds.gov.uk

Waterside Apartments
A bit of news about the Waterside apartments

Prices. The prices seem to be about the same as the price for apartments bought off plan in City Island. Which means none of us will have made a lot of money on our purchases, but at least the prices have not been set so that they are much cheaper than City Island apartments which would have certainly lost us money. Example prices:

· 1 Bed / 1 Bath / 500 sq ft £134,000
· 2 Bed / 2 Bath / 750 sq ft £190,000
· Duplex 2 Bed / 2 Bath / 800 sq ft £210,000
· Parking £17,500

Retail. There is a rumour that there may be a retail development as part of the completion of Waterside in the form of a Tesco Lite. We don’t know if this is a new development in Waterside, or a continuation of the rumour that the sales office part of the management suite will be made in to a shop.

Waterside Apartments / Electricity Over Consumption / Volunteer

Waterside Apartments
Are what we used to call City Island II. They have a website http://watersideleeds.com/ but as yet no pricing information. I have emailed over a week ago requesting pricing information, but they haven’t bothered replying to me. Funny that. Anyway, keep an eye on the website, as to a large extent how Mayfair decide to price these apartments will have a significant impact on the value of apartments in City Island.

Electricity Over Consumption
I know of at least three cases of apartments in City Island using ridiculous amounts of electricity. My own apartment is one of them. Currently my bill is approaching £2000, even though I have been paying £212 a month for over a year, the bill keeps on going up. If anyone else is having this issue, let us know and maybe we can all get together to try and petition the energy companies more effectively, as so far they have been useless. I have had to open a formal complaint, and make complaint to Energy Watch.

Volunteer -- Monks Bridge
Do we have any volunteers to take over the relationship with the site manager of Monks Bridge for and on behalf of City Island Residents Group? I just don’t have the time to deal with this one. There seems to be some discrepancies in start times of noisy work on the site at the moment.

Security Guards / Parking Available / Monks Bridge Noise

Firstly, apologies for the lack of activity lately. Everyone involved with CIRG has been maxed out with other commitments.

Security Guards
I queried what the security guards are expected to do, and Accent provided the information below. If you are being disturbed by noise, insist that security at least go around to the apartment. Any complaints about the security guards let us know, if they are not up to scratch Accent will replace the with another company.

In a nutshell the guards are responsible for ensuring that City Island is secure in terms of access, entry and a safe place for residents to be. In this they should be active and responsive but to some extent they are passive when it comes to other management issues. However, I would expect that if they have been advised of disturbance or anti social behaviour occurring during their contracted hours they should act by at least going to the property concerned and assessing the situation for themselves. I would consider noise/disturbance to be a security issue.

Parking Space Available
1 parking space available under City Island. £80 per month. Contact CIRG if interested.

Monks Bridge Noise
The site manager insists they are still working to the hours agreed with CIRG, as below. If this is not the case, can you please start recording when you are being disturbed and by what kind of noise/machines. We can then go back to him with firmer claims. Also, don’t forget that the Green Bank development has started, so ensure you know which site the noise is coming from.

· A start time for noisy activities of 08:00 and no earlier.
· An approximate finish time of 17:00
· No work on a Sunday or bank holidays

Update

Invoice Run – Flier Inclusion
Accent will be invoicing for the next quarter service charge in next few weeks for 1st July and have kindly offered to include a CIRG flier for us again. Hopefully it will be as successful as last time, and we will get a lot more people registered.

Window Cleaning
The latest from Accent is that window cleaners and the abseil testing people are working together to ensure outstanding access points are tested and signed off so a full clean can take place. A few discrepancies were thrown up so still in progress. This is dragging on and on, and will be high on the Agenda at the next meeting. Again.

Passive Infrared Lighting
Lighting alterations have been completed throughout the development in the corridors. Accent have taken on board our observations about the stairwells being constantly illuminated, and have requested outline specification and costs for stairwell alterations.

Full Building Inspection
Has been completed and Accent were hoping to receive the report this week.

City Island goes Smoke Free
Like the rest of the country, as of the 1st of July, it will be illegal to smoke in all enclosed areas of City Island, apart from individual apartments. There have been email complaints of people using the stairwells and common areas to smoke, but the truth is its hard to enforce stopping them. Maybe we will have a bit more leverage with the new laws to get them to stop.

No smoking signs for communal areas have been ordered and will be in situ in advance of 1st July ban.

Piazza Decking
Accent have arranged for the decking on the piazza to be re-stained as it was getting a little tired looking.

West Ray Smoke Vent Windows
Work is planned on Westray smoke vent windows - fuse packs have gone on many and need replacing to ensure the windows close. Accent have also arranged for the fuse in the foyer to be un-switched to avoid future tampering as recommended by fire alarm engineers. Accent will then consider things block by block.

Email Problems
When the last email was sent out, there seemed to be a lot of emails got bounced back to me. There were several @fsmail.net addresses, but there were some others as well. I didn’t get time to resend the messages so sorry if you missed out. Check out the blog at http://www.cityislandleeds.blogspot.com/ were most emails get posted straight after sending them. I’ll keep an eye on this email and try and troubleshoot if it happens again.

Wellington Place Progress and The Footbridge

Progress
I have just spoken to Chris Davidson of MEPG, who are developing Wellington Place, which is the huge area/development between Whitehall Road, Wellington Street, City Island and West point. Things are going well, and they envisage starting construction at the end of this year, although there will be some pre construction activities in preparing the site before then.

Initially work will start on two buildings, one residential and one offices, in the south west corner of the plot. This is the corner closest to the bridge over the river on Whitehall Road, by the iron steps up from the canal, and as such is quite close to City Island. The two buildings will be 10 storeys high at the Whitehall Road side, although they slant back to a lower elevation away from the road.

Construction is expected to take around two years for these two blocks. Further development will take place after this so long as there is market demand.

The Footbridge
MEPC have now taken the initiative on the footbridge issue and taken the obligation from the council to actually build the bridge. They have no planning consent as yet, but knowing the attitude of the town planning department within the council towards the footbridge as I do, this will not be an issue. The only other blocker could be that HBG, who are developing Latitude on the Monks Bridge site, provide the ‘pocket park’ as the landing site for the bridge. Chris does not see this being a problem.

This is all good news, however, the bad news is the timeframes, which are likely to be 2 years or more before it is in place.

Saving the planet (again)...

Recycling Bins
We have had a query, along the lines of “We seems to have recycling bins, but it’s not clear how they should be used”?

The green bins( which ordinarily would be for recycling) are just used for general waste at present. However, the councils plans last year for recycling within the development were put on hold and they are about to re-launch a new initiative. Apparently leaflets from the council will be issued within the next few weeks to all residents. After consultation it is then planned that each bin store will have a new recycle bin (not a standard wheelie type) that will take plastic, cans, tin, paper and light cardboard, i.e. not individual bins for each waste.

Thanks to Sarah at Accent for contacting the council and getting this information.

Saving the planet / Parking Available

Saving the Planet
By now, you should have seen that passive infrared lighting has gone in to most of the development that means that our corridor lights only come on when there is movement in the corridor. This will save thousands of pounds a year. However, I noticed the other day that although our corridors are serviced in this way, the stairwells, which are largely unused most of the time, are constantly lit.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Is it a health and safety issue that they need to remain lit? If not, should we be investigating in a year or so time, having passive infrared lighting installed in the stairwells also? Please let me know your thoughts. We will bring this up at the next meeting for discussion too.

Another Parking Space Available
£22.00 per week. Discount if paid 6 months in advance.

Send an email if you are interested, and I will put you in touch with the owner.

Car Park

The car park has today been cleared of rubbish, and cleaned thoroughly, and from what I can see, looks a whole lot better. In fact it looks how it should look all the time. Let’s hope Accent keep on top of this now on.

For your information, as a resident, there is no need to dump furniture in the basement. As part of your council tax that you pay, you have already paid for the entitlement to have large items of furniture picked up by the council by prior arrangement. You have already paid for this service through your council tax, by dumping stuff in the basement, culprits are, along with every other resident paying twice, as when Accent have the stuff removed it has to be via a third party and as such gets paid for out of our management fees, that could otherwise have been spent on something else.

If you want large items of rubbish picking up for free, contact the council here.

If you see anyone dumping large items in the basement, remember they are effectively stealing from you, and report them to the concierge at the management suite or via email at Anthony.Foy@Accentgourp.org

Bike Store Locks

The bike stores have had new locks fitted. Keys are available from the management suite. All the residents who currently have a bike stored in the bike stores can get a key without leaving a deposit. However, new residents or new users of the bike stores will have to pay a £10 deposit which is refundable on return of the key.

Concierge can now be contacted via email...

Tony, our fantastic concierge, can now be contacted via email at Antony.Foy@accentgroup.org. Tony should be your first port of call for all maintenance, security and day to day issues.

Update

Passive Infrared Lighting
Is now in progress, Elba should be complete, and a large part of Beringa too (our floor is complete), as per the following schedule:

Elba 21 April – 22 April
Beringa 28 April – 5 May
Westray 6 May – 13 May
Catalina 13 May – 20 May
Bonaire 20 May – 27 May
Santorini 27 May – 10 June
Faroe 10 June – 24 June

Window Cleaning, Litter and state of the Car Park
I have just sent a robustly worded email to accent suggesting that the 2 years they have been managing this development should have been sufficient time to organise one successful window cleaning. Although many of the windows were cleaned recently, large swathes of inaccessible windows were missed. This combined with the ongoing litter problem, and the state of the car park at the moment has led us to suggest that Accent may need to be replaced by a more capable management company. Let us know what you think.

Replacement Mirror for Catalina Life
A price has been obtained but it seems very steep, £520 + VAT, so Accent are sourcing more quotes.

Full Building Inspection
As per notes from last meeting, this should now be complete and the report imminent. I have emailed accent to ask for the finding to be made available to us as soon as possible.

Lift Voices – Excessive Volume.
Kone quoted £330+VAT to turn down the volume in all the other six lifts. As there have been no other complaints, they decided not to go forward with it. If you life is really being impacted by the volume of the voices, let us know and if there are enough people affected, we will ask that the work take place.

Brief Update From Management Company

Communal Passive Infrared Lighting
Should now have commenced in Elba, and be progressing to Beringa, and will be completed block-by-block. Accent are to provide a full schedule shortly.

Full Building Inspection
Did not take place at the end of March, but should be happening this week.

Bin Store Repairs
Should now be complete.

Cracked Mirror in Catalina Lift
Accent say:

“Chased up Kone after last meeting re cracked mirror in Catalina - original order was placed in August last year! Still no word from them, will be chased again next week. Normally Kone quick off the mark but not on this one”!

Bike Stores
Existing integrated locks could not be used due to gap between door and frame, as the latch could be lifted. The management company will now look at welding a plate with a combi-lock. They have asked for a price ASAP.

Glass Recycling

If the glass recycling containers need emptying in future, although they are owned by the council, they are emptied by subcontractors. Call Midland Glass on 01623721006 to have them emptied.

City Island II Progress

The site manager for City Island II has contacted us to give us some updates on how the development is progressing.

· The construction is now up to full height.
· The dismantling of crane 1, the shorter of the two, will provisionally be dismantled on the 22nd of April. This will entail some disruption as the road will be closed, and we will have to drive in to the development the opposite way to normal. They are just waiting on the council to agree, but they don’t see this as a problem. The council will send out a letter to all residents.
· The second crane, the taller of the two, will be dismantled sometime in August.
· The external envelope is now getting closed in so the mast climbers will be dropped in sequence moving around the building (from the canal side).
· Construction, at the time of writing, is still on schedule to finish in January.

Monks Bridge Development -- Earlier Start times for Noise this Week

The site manager for Monks Bridge has emailed us to ask us to inform anyone affected by Monks Bridge noise, that starting time for some noisy activities from 30th March will start at 7:30am to allow for the loading of lorries and their exit from the City Centre before rush hour – this is expected to last about a week or so, so please be patient in this time.

Notes from Meeting Held on 20th March 2007

Notes from the meeting held last Tuesday. I can't be arsed formatting it nicely in the blog. If you are on the email distribution list, you will receive a nicely formatted version. If you are not on the email distribution list and want a nicely formatted version, email cityislandleeds@googlemail.com and ask for one.

· Cleaning/Litter
· Cigarette ends, littler, news papers, shoes, items of clothing, steps to the canal are a right state, etc
Response: In response to the spate of recent complaints, Tony has been on this of recent weeks, and the situation should now be a lot better. Additionally, a new grounds maintenance company has been commissioned to replace the old, expensive and not very good one. They are tending to the gardens on a fortnightly basis including a litter pick, so the situation should stay improved.

· Car park is still in a state
§ Response: The machines that Cinderella can use are restricted in the car park, and the one that they can use is not so good. Additionally, it costs £800 a go, and so it is a book balancing act of number of visits versus cost. Residents are contributing to the issue, but not using bins.

· Communal areas are still not great in terms of cleaning. Especially lifts.
§ Response: Accepted. Action: Accent to speak to Cinderella's.

· Bonaire
Lift entrance in Bonaire is in poor condition and needs resealing, the lift also smells.
Response: There is a strip of wood missing from the lift, this is due to the flooding issue, and allows easy testing of the lifts. As soon as testing of the lifts is finished, this will be replaced and resealed.
§ Damp smell from flood.
Response: Accent have had dehumidifiers in, but it has not made much difference. Accent are waiting on the insurance claim to come through to finance and finish this work. The insurance loss adjuster was not happy with the two quotes he received hence the delay. Also several other leaks since the main one have contributed to this.
· Bonaire carpet tiles dirty and smelly.
§ Response: They will be replaced when the insurance pays out.

· Dumping of furniture, erect signs warning of CCTV, and what the penalties/alternatives are.
§ Response: Letters and signs to be erected warning of consequences for dumping furniture, and to communicate the alternative which is to phone the council who will remove these items free of charge as part of your council tax.. Action: Accent to place signs and or send letters / CIRG to email and blog. At the moment, Cinderella removes thae items which has a cost, which means that everyone pays for it which is not fair. We will have Cinderella take everything that is there at the moment, but from then on we can start afresh.

· Smoking/littering in communal areas
§ Response: From July it will be illegal, as it will be in all public places across England, signs will be erected informing people of the law. Action: Accent. If you know who is responsible, inform CIRG or the concierge, Accent, or security, and then a letter can be sent warning them as to future conduct. Action: CIRG to email and blog

· Maintenance
· Missing bulbs inside and out
Response: There has been a delivery of bulbs, so should start getting better in the coming weeks. Bulb replacement is actually left to build up, as when there are so multiple outages, it costs less to buy in bulk and it takes tony less time in doing it all together.

· Knocked down wall outside management suite.
Response: The work order has been placed, bricks ordered, should have been done this week, but are waiting on black mortar. The person responsible for the is paying for the repair to the damage they caused. Probable timeline: within the month.

· Carpet tiles/ Mats for lift areas (as per previous meeting)
Response: Accent to chase mats for each entrance. Action: Accent.

· Window cleaning
Response: As per the blog entry, this will happen during the week beginning 26th March. If you have a high level apartment that has abseil points, the cleaning company will need access to your apartment or your windows and all of the peoples windows below you will not get cleaned, so if you have an apartment with abseil points please contact Tony the concierge on 0113-243-1380 to arrange access for them. Letter have been sent to each apartment informing people of this. The cleaning company will be on site all week with Tony is managing it all day to day. Tony is also endeavouring to contact all estate agents to see if they can help with facilitating access. This is all reliant on the cooperation of apartment residents. Action: Tony.

· Broken pipes in car park, leaking
Response: Some have already been replaced, but the company involved has been out again today (20th March), and they are going to replace them all, however, this is down to Gleeson’s.

· Piazza entrances don’t close properly
§ Response: They do now. All entrances have been replaced with Magnetic locks. However, I noticed today that ours is defective again. Action: Tony/Accent to resolve.

· Part/Full time caretaker?
§ Response: The new grounds maintenance company are cheaper, and visit more regularly, so matters should improve anyway. However, Accent do want a full time caretaker, but it’s not going to happen this year, as the salary provision is not in budget. Also, they need some stability in City Island, for a levelling off of service provision. Secondly, there are implication with having the concierge manage another member of staff in terms of contract and salary implications. Also the second phase of City Island will facilitate cost savings on this front. So after these factors, Accent are committed to a full time care taker.

· At the base of Bonaire, looking out onto the canal, there are two wooden cupboard-type structures that hold electrical works -they are very shoddy and rickety and would benefit from being boxed in properly.
§ Response: Being used for City Island II, and will not be permanent.

· is the central piazza water feature cleaned/filtered on a regular basis?
§ Response: It has been winter so gets like that. However, it is build in to the gardening contract for a full annual clean, other than that Tony keeps on top of it in the interim.

· Catalina lift mirror cracked for over a year
§ Response: Accent to chase. Action: Accent.

· Security
· Every bike shed broken in to and bikes stolen (reiterates need for swipe out, but what where security doing)?
Response: Every bike shed has not been broken in to it was Westray only. However, the are getting rid of padlocks and chains on some sheds, and are going to start using the integrated locks built in to the doors. People will then have two options, 1. Use the secure bike shed by going and signing out the key from security, or 2. Continue to use the not so secure bike sheds. They are waiting for further suggestions from the security company.

· People entering,
Challenged by security but let in anyway, knocking on doors pretending to be police
i. Response: Action: CIRG to contact the Police
Fliers through doors every day. Even a threat of stabbing to Tony from these companies.
ii. Response: Action: CIRG to contact the police and see if we can prevent them via littering laws. Other suggestions were that residents could return the fliers to the companies in question in an unstamped envelope, so that they incur the postage. It was also noted that although we can do all we can to prevent them from entering illegitimately, there is nothing to stop them flyering when they have been invoted in legitimately to deliver a pizza.

· in Elba a resident has been switching off the power to the fire windows at the end of the corridor which enables this window to be left propped open and allows their friends to enter the building this way when they are having parties
§ Response: Accent, know who they are, and have been in touch with the owner, and the issue is now being escalated. Action: Accent.

· Video entrance system, has it ever worked?
Response: We believe so, Tony to provide instructions, then people can feed back if it works or not. Action: Tony.

· Police
Response: There has been no notable crime apart from bikes, and has been much quieter of late. Hopefully security measures at City Island have contributed to this. The police helicopter was for people breaking in to the Monks Bridge development stealing equipment – people have been convicted for this.

· Fire safety
Notices. Response: Notices are now placed on the communal boards confirming test procedures and confirming exit routes - that is some progress.
Voids in the riser cupboards. Response: It’s not a breach of rules – the gaps are not relevant, the fire box runs the height of the building rather than the width.
The fire doors in basements needs shaving to ensure it doesn't stick open. Response: All basement doors are being looked at, being repaired and also painted. Action: Accent.
Door to the stairwell on 6th floor of Faroe needs adjusting to make it fully close. Response: Accepted. Action: Tony.

· Faroe bin doors always open
Response: The bin doors will be fitted with combination locks. Action: Accent.

· Miscellaneous
· Fire windows being left open
Response: Security are tasked with closing these. If they are not closed, call security and tell them. They open due to the fire testing. Tony is meant to do it once a week, but as it is so time consuming (Tony has to close them all manually), it only gets tested once a month, Tony has logged the windows that are damaged. Mayfair to action defective ones. Action: Accent.

· Inappropriate use of balconies
Response: Notices on notice boards, state no washing. For Rent/sale signs are not allowed, and Accent ring the estate agents to have them removed. Also, Other Estate Agents complain to Accent about this, as its give unfair advantage.
Washing. Response: It’s not meant to be there, it blows off, and litters the development. Accent will write and warn repeat offenders. Let SIRG or Accent know about repeat offenders. Action: CIRG to email and blog.

· Motorbikes in car park – are they allowed, are they regulated?
Response: Motorbikes are allowed so long as they do not park in an allocated parking space, if they do they will get a parking ticket. Accent and City Permits agreed this some time ago, which is in fitting with other developments.

· Car park one way system/convex mirrors
Response: Mirrors fitted. One way system will not be progressed as it has been decided that this would make it more dangerous, as people who park close to the exit who are forced to travel around a full one way loop to get to it would not adhere to the one way system.

· Full building inspection of communal areas
Response: Pricing in today, to provide detailed inspection and top identify other defects, prioritise, define other areas of concern, to review defects already reported, and to advise on the future inspection regime: £3822.60. This is a lot cheaper than originally quoted. Action: Accent to progress, this may happen as early as the 30th of March. Action: CIRG to advertise the report and its use, and to ask for a communal list of communal area defects. The report will be presented in full at a future meeting, and CIRG will summarise to the group.

· Electric heaters on stairwells do we need them turned on all the time?
Response: It’s not all the stairwells, it’s just the foyers. Agreed that they are not needed. Someone is switching them on, as Tony has been switching them off. Action: Accent to take the fuses out of the heaters.

· Excessive volume of lift voices
Response: Next time Kone attend to lifts, Tony will ask if they can turn down all of the lifts down. More formally, Accent to raise an order. Action: Accent.


Off Agenda:
· Passive infrared Lighting.
o At the last meeting it was out to tender, however, it was double the price we expected, @ £63,000+VAT, instead of £30,000. Accent went back to another company, Forster Downes, and they can do it for £27,383 NET. Foster Downes will PM it instead of Accent, at the same 12% that Accent would have charged.. Total is £30.669 + VAT.

· Car Park Exit
o Car park exit is now swipe only. The loop has been closed meaning that the shutter does not automatically raise when you (or a criminal) drives your car towards it, you have to swipe out instead.

· Extra Agenda
o Unconfirmed reports, buton very good information suggest that the Green Bank development is not going to happen, anytime soon, and probably not in the next 12 months.
o Monks Bridge is in a similar state of flux,

· Gleesons Builders
o Contractors are squeezing vans between bollards. Action: Tony to sort out.

· Banging Front doors
o The dampers close the apartment doors too hard. This is easily resolvable, via a small adjustment. If this is happening to you, ask your neighbour, or ask Tony to ask your neighbour if they would mind letting Tony make a slight adjustment so the door closes more gently.

Monks Bridge Early Morning Noise

Some weeks ago, some several people raised concerns that even though the Monks Bridge development site had agreed to start noisy work only during at certain times, as per below, this was not happening.

A start time for noisy activities of 08:00 and no earlier.
An approximate finish time of 17:00
No work on a Sunday or bank holidays

I have emailed the site manager and his response is copied in below. Let us know if matters improve.


Colin,

Sorry it’s taken a little time to get back to you but there have been a few related issues to resolve recently.

As always the problem lies in differing individuals perception of ‘noisy’ work.

In order to resolve matters temporarily, I have requested that all heavy plant remain silent (diggers with engines not started) until after 8am.

There is however 1 exception to this that I would ask you to convey to the residents, that is, that when we are removing spoil from site on wagons, that this operation commences at 7.30am in order to get the first wagons out of town before rush hour.

I await your comments.

Regards,
Chris

Final Draft Agenda

All,

Below is the final draft agenda, if you don’t email anything that is not on it, in the next 6 or 7 hours or so, it will not be raised at the meeting. If you are intending on coming to the meeting, please note that anything not on the agenda can be brought up at the end of the meeting in AOB, but by this time, most people are more interested in leaving than having further discussion, so ensure any items are on the agenda, even if you are attending.

If you are attending, be in the Management Suite for a 7pm start.

· Cleaning/Litter
o Cigarette ends, littler, news papers, shoes, items of clothing, steps to the canal are a right state, etc
o Car park is still in a state
o Communal areas are still not great in terms of cleaning. Especially lifts
o Lift entrance in Bonaire is in poor condition and needs resealing, the lift also smells.
o Bonaire carpet tiles dirty and smelly.
o Dumping of furniture, erect signs warning of CCTV, and what the penalties/alternatives are.
o Smoking/litter in communal areas
· Maintenance
o Missing bulbs inside and out
o Knocked down wall
o Carpet tiles/ Mats for lift areas
o Window cleaning
o Broken pipes in car park, leaking
o Piazza entrances don’t close properly
o Bonaire progress
o Part/Full time caretaker?
· Security
o Every bike shed broken in to and bikes stolen (reiterates need for swipe out, but what where security doing)?
o People entering,
1. Challenged by security but let in anyway, knocking on doors pretending to be police
2. Fliers through doors every day
o in Elba and another occupier has been switching off the power to the fire windows at the end of the corridor which enables this window to be left propped open and allows their friends to enter the building this way when they are having parties
o Video entrance system, has it ever worked?
o Police
o Fire safety
1. Notices now placed on the communal boards confirming test procedures and confirming exit routes - that is some progress.
2. Voids in the riser cupboards
3. The fire doors in basements needs shaving to ensure it doesn't stick open
4. Door to the stairwell on 6th floor of Faroe needs adjusting to make it fully close.
5. Bound to be others issues.
· Miscellaneous
o Fire windows being left open
o Inappropriate use of balconies
o Motorbikes in car park – are they allowed, are they regulated?
o Car park one way system
o Full building inspection of communal areas
o Car park mirrors/one way system
o Electric heaters on stairwells do we need them turned on?
o Bin room doors not closed.
o Volume of lift voices

Window Cleaning

Finally, window cleaning is scheduled to take place the week commencing the 26th March. However, access to abseil points is essential for this to be completed. So, if you have an abseil point, please arrange with Tony in the management suite for access to your apartment, either by arranging a time to be there to allow access or by leaving a key with Tony to allow him to give access.

If you don’t facilitate this access, the your window cleaning, or the window cleaning of those below you will not get done. Please, please, please arrange this with Tony on 0113-243-1380, or call in and see him.