Category Archives: Uncategorized

Avatar Account & Other Info

E-mails went out quite some time ago with links to set up a personal Avatar Properties account but it appears a lot of people didn’t receive them. E-mails will be going out again this coming week. Please watch for them! This means checking your spam/junk folder periodically in case they land there. Having an account will allow access to all sorts of useful documentation and information but the e-mail link is needed to set it up.

Also, the Board asks that everyone please pick up their packages in a timely fashion, especially large ones. Packages left in the mailroom for more than two weeks will be considered abandoned and be returned to sender via the original shipping service. This applies to all three buildings; signs to that effect should be appearing in the mailroom shortly. In these days of online shopping, the mailroom simply does not have the capacity to allow for long term storage of people’s packages.

The annual meeting is coming up on Wednesday, June 23, at 6:00 P.M., on the roof deck of the Leo Roy Garage (rain date is the 29th). In the run-up to this year’s meeting, volunteers will be manning an informational table in the Canal Place lobby during the following times:

  • Saturday, June 5th, 10:00am–noon
  • Thursday, June 10th, 4:30pm–6:30pm
  • Saturday, June 19th, noon–2:00pm

Board members and volunteers will be there to answer questions about the two amendments that are up for a vote at this year’s meeting, and to aid owners in filling out proxies and advance ballots. There are also two seats on the Board of Trustees up for election this year and this is a the perfect opportunity to ask questions about serving on the Board.

In the interests of making communication easier in the wide-open space of the roof deck, if anyone has a battery-powered sound system they’d like to loan for use at the annual meeting, please let me or a board member know. Thanks!

Board Meeting Tonight

Just a reminder that there’s an online board meeting tonight at 7:00. If you’re interested in attending and didn’t get the e-mail Cathy sent out on the 19th with the Zoom link, please check your spam folder or contact Cathy. I believe there’s a fairly broad range of topics on the agenda this evening, including two amendments to condo policies which will be up for a vote at next month’s annual meeting.

Pet Sitting Recommendations

A request for input from a neighbor:

I noticed some cards in the mail room advertising Lickity Split Pet Care and I am wondering if anyone in the building uses this service and what their experience has been. 
Alternatively, I am looking for a cat-sitter, so taking recommendations! Thanks!

Common Area Etiquette

Every so often someone discards their trash in one of the planters on the 2nd, 4th, and 6th floors. Assuming this is mostly guests who don’t want to appear at their hosts’ door and greet them with: “Can you toss my trash for me?”, perhaps we should all find an opportunity to mention to the people in our lives who might be visiting how annoying it is when folks use the planters as trash cans—bringing that straw wrapper or empty cup to our door for proper disposal is preferable.

And if it isn’t visitors doing it, please consider that dropping trash around the building is disrespectful to your neighbors and adds to everyone’s maintenance expenses.

One other reminder: The situation in the mailroom has improved enormously with the new fob system and the end of the holiday season. Nonetheless, it’s a good idea to keep track of your packages and pick them up in a timely fashion—it doesn’t take long for the numbers to build up and make a mess. I’m always surprised at how long some packages sit untouched after someone took the time and money to order something.

Local Vaccine Clinic

The following info just got forwarded to me. This location is an easy walk from our building.

The City of Lowell will be hosting its third mobile COVID-19 vaccine clinic on Monday, April 26 from 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center, located at 50 Warren Street. Moderna vaccine will be administered at this clinic.

Residents seeking a vaccination at the mobile site must make an appointment in advance. Appointments can be reserved online at: lowellma.gov/mobilevax, or by phone at: 978-228-3019. All Lowell residents age 18+ are eligible to make an appointment. This site is strictly limited to Lowell residents.

Suggestions Wanted for Condo Manual

It’s been suggested in the past that we put together a homeowners manual for the building full of tips and tricks and info gleaned from longtime residents (and a few professionals)—sort of a how-to guide for residents, particularly newcomers. We have an owner actively working on the project and looking for suggestions as to what should be included. Below are some of the topics he’s been considering covering.

  • Where is the trash chute?  How to get rid of bulky items such as mattresses, carpet, etc.
  • How to plan ahead for deliveries.
  • How to cut down on smoke odors entering your unit.
  • What to do when you discover buried electrical wires in your walls.
  • How to find a contractor who knows the building.
  • What to do when water enters your apartment.
  • Pest control
  • What kinds of water heaters have been used in the building?
  • How to maintain your heat pumps.
  • How to comfortably heat or cool your apartment.
  • How to contact management and how best to get your issue resolved.

Input is welcome in the comments section. He’d particularly like to chat with new residents to see what questions or obstacles they had to overcome when they first arrived. If you’d be interested in sharing your thoughts beyond just posting a comment, please shoot me an e-mail and I’ll forward it to him so he can get in touch.

Request for Remodeling Advice

From a resident: Hi neighbors,
I’m interested in expanding the interior balcony/loft area on the second floor of my unit to add a bit of extra floor space. Is this something any of you have done recently? I’m interested in contractor recommendations, and any tips folks have about embarking on this kind of renovation.
Thanks!

From the admin: People can also use the bulletin board search function to look for remodeling ideas, although any contractor recommendations may be out of date. Here’s one old post on the subject.

Quiet Hours & “This is NOT an official Website” Disclaimer

This has been a challenging year with so many people spending so much time at home, and it seems worth reminding people that our condo documents do specify “quiet hours.”

“Owners, guests and tenants are expected to reduce noise levels between the hours of 10:00 PM and 7:00 AM, so neighbors are not disturbed. At no time are musical instruments, radios or televisions to be so loud as to become a nuisance.”

Sound transfer in this building tends to be more of an up-down problem than a side-to-side one, and some activities can be an issue that one might not expect. Midnight is not the time to start vacuuming or to be pacing extra laps around the living room. Anything happening on the living room floor late in the evening is happening over the heads of people trying to sleep below.

A little consideration goes a long way. Please try to be responsive to any neighbor concerns, or even proactive if something special is going on. We had an upstairs neighbor offer us his contact info when he had construction going on, and a downstairs neighbor we’d never met once slipped an invite to a party under our door so that we could be part of the fun if things got noisy (pre-pandemic, of course).

The flip side is to have reasonable expectations. This is a large building in the middle of a city. My husband and I run a fan of some type year round in our bedroom—either a humidifier, a box fan, or an air purifier—which masks the ka-thunk of our heat pump cycling on and off as well as most street or building noise.

And a disclaimer/reminder: This website is run by a volunteer and is not an official website, although said volunteer is reimbursed for expenses. I mention this fact in a post periodically and it’s in the footer on every other page of the site. Posts here represent my own (reasonably informed) opinion; I do NOT speak for the Board or the Management.

Amazon Scam

There is a scam going around where you will receive an e-mail from the address of someone you know saying their Amazon account is having issues and would you please send a gift card on their behalf. DON’T DO IT. I was fooled because the e-mail address was correct (and from a neighbor in the building) and the story was believable but Amazon caught it and cancelled the order after speaking with me. So beware!

Board Meeting Wednesday

There will be a Board meeting Wednesday evening, March 24th, at 7:00 via Zoom. There should be an e-mail going out from the management with the link before then. [Update: an e-mail with the link went out late Monday. If you haven’t received it, please check your spam folder.]

One of the topics at the meeting will be a pair of amendments to the condo rules that are expected to be coming up for a vote at this year’s annual meeting. The more significant of the two, and one that’s been under discussion for years, is a proposed no smoking amendment which can be read here.

If you’d like to hear more about the amendments, and discuss their benefits and implementation, please consider attending Wednesday’s meeting.