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upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Posted by: henry david ()
Date: July 11, 2015 03:09PM

We have serious concerns about the upcoming election for the Board of Directors of the Thoreau Place condominium building. The election is scheduled for July 22. Thoreau Place is for senior citizens 55 and over who are able to live independently; it's not a nursing home or an assisted living facility.
The Board of Directors of the condominium association has always been independent from the management company. One of the Board's responsibilities is to hire and supervise the management company, and ensure that the management company and its employees always act in accordance with the best interests of all the residents of the building.
However, currently one of the senior citizens running for the Board of Directors lives with the building handyman, who is an employee of the management company. According to her Facebook page, she is engaged to the handyman. In our opinion, we think it would be a clear conflict of interest for someone on the Board of Directors to be in such a close relationship with an employee of the management company.
In the event of conflict between residents and management, the Board of Directors has the responsibility to act in the best interests of residents. This would be far more difficult if a board member and a management company employee are in a close personal relationship together; we think that board member would be more likely to take management's side against the best interests of the residents.
It's critically important for the Board of Directors to maintain the utmost professionalism and objectivity in carrying out their responsibilities to all residents. The management company works for all the residents; the residents don't work for the management company.
We wonder, too, whether it's even actually legal under Virginia condominium law for someone to be on the Board of Directors if that person is engaged or married to, or in a close personal relationship with, an employee of the company which manages the condominium building.

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Posted by: Chris from Lake Anne ()
Date: July 13, 2015 03:15PM

The current Board of Directors needs to check with the Association's attorney regarding the possible conflict of interest issue. It does look like a conflict of interest in this case, but only a qualified attorney can determine this for sure, in order to avoid possible future legal action from condominium residents.

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Posted by: avery ()
Date: July 13, 2015 04:48PM

Condo residents should NEVER let a management company just take over their building, by getting a spouse/significant other of a managment employee on the condo board of directors, or any other ploy. When the management company runs the building instead of the board of directors running it, that spells big trouble for the people who live in that building. Don't ever let it happen! The residents MUST remain in control at all times, and direct the actions of the management company.

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Posted by: Concerned Senior ()
Date: July 17, 2015 01:18PM

The sad news is the Thoreau Place Board Association does not have their own attorney.They use the management companies attorney.How stupid is that?

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Date: July 21, 2015 03:34PM

If the Thoreau Place Homeowners Association and its Board of Directors are using the management company's attorney, that's a clear conflict of interest, and probably illegal and against Virginia and Federal law.
The old people at Thoreau Place deserve better from their Board of Directors. The Board is elected to maintain the independence of the building and its residents, and protect their best interests, including their financial interests.
It sure sounds like there's a good local news story here, with national interest as well, regarding how some management companies try to take over homeowners associations. Hope someone with journalistic experience will do a good investigative report on this!

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Posted by: Biddie Thoreau ()
Date: August 09, 2015 08:59PM

I have to laugh in my "old age"! For all you people so concerned with Thoreau Place.

Everyone is so concerned with the legality of who the board members are. Do you know it is a volunteer position? And do you also know NO ONE wants the job.

The people who sit on that board sit there for the welfare of the residents not to get some type of kick back from management!

We know, care and protect our neighbors. Can the rest of you say the same? Or better still do you really care what the hell goes on in this over fifty five community?

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Posted by: lori lee ()
Date: August 17, 2015 01:06PM

Here in America, we are blessed to live in a wonderful country based on the rule of law. Every day on the news, we see what happens in countries where corruption is the order of the day instead of the rule of law.

Biddie's post seems dismissive of the importance of doing things legally. Whether serving on a condo board of directors is a volunteer job or a paid job, it's of paramount importance that everything is done in accordance with the law. The condo association could face liability issues if things aren't done legally.

My sisters and I are looking for a good place for our parents, who are healthy and in their early seventies. We wouldn't ever want them to live in a place where things aren't done in accordance with all applicable laws.

We aren't lawyers ourselves, so we don't know what the law is in this case, but there sure does seem like a conflict of interest in the situation in that building.

Could some of you hotshot lawyers out there weigh in with your opinions here?

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Posted by: Scott the real estate agent ()
Date: September 04, 2015 04:12PM

When I first ran across these posts, I thought, OMG, what will an online discussion like this do to property values of condo units in that building?

Then I realized property values could go either way, up or down, depending on the response of management and the board there, and whether or not they respect their residents.

If they're willing to listen carefully to issues brought up by their residents, and work with residents to bring about positive change that benefits everyone, word will get around about that, and property values will be more likely to increase.

But if the opposite happens, if they bristle at any dissent or criticism, and try to retaliate against their residents in any way, word will get around about that too, by word of mouth, social media, or whatever, and property values will deteriorate.

So management and the board have a decision to make. Which do they care more about, property values or power trips?

They can't have it both ways. They have to make a choice.

They could start by being straightforward with their residents about the issue the first poster henry david raised regarding the conflict of interest concerning a person running for the board. They could consult an independent attorney (not the management company's attorney) to get an objective look at the conflict of interest issue in their building, and report back to their residents at the next condo meeting.

Condo communities work best when they're run like democracies, not dictatorships, and that also works to increase property values.

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Posted by: Grandpa ()
Date: October 24, 2015 02:06PM

Democracy at Thoreau Place? Fat chance!

A couple of weeks ago at the condo association meeting, the board members and the management company representative seemed quite amused by the forty-seven emails a resident had sent them pleading to be informed as to where his car had been towed, so he could go get it back. He had to go to work and needed his car to get to his job.

Apparently he had worked late the night before, and when he came home, all the parking places were taken, so he had to park wherever he could, even if it wasn't a normal parking place. So of course building management called the tow truck, which then pounced on his car, and hauled it off to God only knows where.

This happened on a weekend, so the office wasn't open, and he couldn't reach anyone to find out where his car had been taken. The parking is really tough here, and anyone who has to work late is out of luck when they come home and have to find a place to park. Some of us do have assigned parking places that conveyed with our unit when we bought it, but a lot of people here don't have their own parking place.

So that's the reason for the forty-seven emails, which the board of directors and the management company rep apparently found so hilarious. He was trying to find out where his car had been taken, so he could get it and go to work.

Couldn't someone from the board or the management company have taken a couple of minutes to let him know where his car was, so he could pick it up and get to his job?

Some basic measure of mercy and common sense could have eased this situation a lot, but that's unlikely ever to happen here with the way things currently are.

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns and more problems there
Posted by: Concerned observer ()
Date: November 25, 2015 01:51PM

Is someone getting kickbacks from the towing company?

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neighborhood
Posted by: Biddie Thoreau ()
Date: March 23, 2016 09:34AM

Addressing many of your concerns regarding so many things that don't even exist in our community. Let me share the following.
In one year management only had towed 4 cars. We try to call people before the actual towe takes place. We DON'T make any money towing. Our board is made up of professional, caring well educated people from all walks of life. During our monthly meettings we urge all residents to come and speak any concerns, suggestions or complaints they may have. We ask if any cars that don't have a Thoreau parking sticker on the windshield to please just leave a note on their dash board with some explanation to why the car is in the lot. I may add we do have people who enjoy spending the night with friends, families, or significant others and these people simply leave a note on the windhiled. We are working on visitor parking placards. I will tell you that we WILL towe any car that is in a handicap parking spotunlawfully. If they do not have a handicap placard or license plate indicating they are handicapped they are taking the rights away from our handicap residents! THEY WILL BE TOWED NO questions asked!
St. Patrick's Day/Birthday Party rocked! Neighbors ate, drank danced till all hours.
We were fortunate to have new neighbors who are professionals and they taped the event from begining to end.Thank you B and L for your help with everything. I thank everyone including my husband, the "maintenance man"who tirelessly helped during the whole day with moving chairs decorating, set up and clean up.
We are a fun bunch of people who are not glued to the TV nor rocking chairs, Thoreau Place has so very many wonderfull people and for that we are thankful.
I laugh when I see comments on families concerned over letting their Mom or Dad live her. First this is NOt assisted living so if this is what you are in need of Thoreau Place is NOT the place to establish your loved ones. Let me tell you this. As a community of people the concern we have for our neighbors, oh and yes we actually know or neighbors,you couldn't find a better place to live if you are over 55 and are NOT ready to glue yourslef to the T.V. or be a couch potato.
In closing know your facts, don't listen to untrue rumors and come join one of the best communities in Reston VA. We will welcome you and make you fell right at home.
Thank you,
Biddie Thoreau age 61

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Posted by: Puzzled ()
Date: March 23, 2016 01:07PM

Mrs. Thoreau, is your husband's name Henry David Thoreau?

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Posted by: Nellie Bly ()
Date: March 24, 2016 09:45AM

In response to Biddy Thoreau's post, it would be good if the professional photographers/videographers who live in that building could tape all the condo meetings too, as well as finance committee meetings and other important meetings. That would ensure that all meetings are open and on the public record there.

Meeting minutes in a lot of condo and homeowners associations are frequently incomplete and leave out a lot of stuff that went on in the meetings, either inadvertently or on purpose.

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Boondoggle
Posted by: Good Counsel ()
Date: April 26, 2016 11:08AM

Around September, Thoreau Place Senior Community will have its own humongous alien creatures in the form of enormous construction cranes up on the roof tearing up both of the courtyards in the building atrium.
This is just the beginning of the proposed $5 million dollar boondoggle which we believe has the potential to bankrupt the condo association and individual residents.
Among other outrageous proposed projects there, residents' front doors, walls, and windows will be ripped out and replaced with much more expensive walls, windows, and doors later this summer.
Most residents there have no idea this is going to happen, because the management company and board of directors haven't sent the residents any information in writing. They have only talked about it in condo meetings, which most residents don't attend.
Clearly, they have a legal and moral responsibility to keep residents fully informed in writing about such huge disruption to their daily lives and bank accounts. However, we believe the management company and board of directors have totally disregarded their responsibility to keep residents fully informed about such drastic happenings which are planned for our community of older people.
We hope the local news media will do stories on this to help Thoreau Place residents put a stop to this travesty. We just want Thoreau Place to be the friendly building it's always been, without the dust, destruction, and enormous cost of these totally unnecessary and way too burdensome boondoggles.

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Boondoggle
Posted by: Caring neighbor ()
Date: April 29, 2016 11:11AM

Maybe the professional photographers/videographers who live at Thoreau Place could take photos and videos of the destruction of the interior courtyards (scheduled to begin in September), and submit it to local TV stations and YouTube.

This proposed multi-million-dollar boondoggle will wipe out the most appealing feature of this senior condo building, the vibrant and welcoming atrium, with trees, flowering shrubs, lots of flowers, walkways, and benches, where residents and families love to sit and enjoy a beautiful day.

It will also make it extremely difficult for residents to sell their units if they have to go into assisted living or a nursing home. They're depending on the proceeds from the sale of their units to pay for care in these facilities if they need it.

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Posted by: Watchdog ()
Date: April 29, 2016 11:56AM

Another reason it will be very difficult for Thoreau Place residents to sell their units is the enormous cost of all the proposed projects there. Management and the board have said cost totals could reach several million dollars by the time all the projects are done, which may take a couple of years or so.

A reserve study projects a cost per unit of $250 per month for 15 years. There are 135 units in the building. So the overall amount in that projection is $6,075,000.

Management and the board of directors have said they will try to get financing for the projects, but we all know loans have to be paid back, with interest.

Whatever way the financing is arranged, individual unit owners are screwed.

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Boondoggle
Posted by: Realist from a Reston church ()
Date: April 30, 2016 11:15AM

$6,075,000!

Who's getting all that money?

From the King James Bible...

"...the love of money is the root of all evil..."

(1 Timothy 6:10)

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Posted by: Blue Ridge ()
Date: May 31, 2016 03:02PM

$6,075,000 may just be the tip of the iceberg.

Picture this increasingly likely scenario:

Make living conditions at Thoreau Place unbearable by tearing up both interior courtyards, and tearing out residents' walls, doors, and windows, creating constant clouds of toxic particulate matter for residents to have to breathe for well over a year or more, causing irreparable damage to their health,
on top of that, charge unit owners there an enormous special assessment averaging about $45,000 per unit,
all of this will force unit owners to sell their units for whatever they can get, rather than the sales price they would be able to get if circumstances were normal there,
the only likely buyers will be investors looking for a sizeable profit a year or so down the road, because no one would want to live there while all the demolition, dust, and destruction are going on,
and so these investors will sell the units for way more than they paid for them, when all the work is done (the work which the prior unit owners will have paid for),
and the Thoreau Place community, once a friendly, cheerful, vibrant place full of active, positive, independent older people, will have been totally destroyed, all to line the pockets of the kinds of people who only care about money...
how's that for a model business plan? Machiavelli himself couldn't have thought up something better.

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Re: upcoming Thoreau Place board election concerns
Posted by: The Donald ()
Date: July 06, 2016 03:35PM

Blue Ridge is right on! Flipping condo buildings and apartment buildings is a GREAT way to make money in real estate! It's absolutely HUUUUUGE!

Who cares about the people who actually live there now when there's lots of money to be made by dumping them out on the street? They're not important anyway, just a bunch of LOSERS. New people will pay way more money! That's the most important thing in life! It's sure the most important thing in MY life!

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Thoreau Place board election games
Posted by: we've got their # ()
Date: July 22, 2016 11:32PM

it seems that at the recent july election meeting, the outgoing president (richard) had a fellow board member (bob) "resign" so that he (richard) could remain on the board and remain president and the board member who resigned (bob) still remains an active member of the board as far as anyone can tell. do they really think we are all stupid?

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Boondoggle
Posted by: Lisbeth ()
Date: August 20, 2016 01:06PM

Recently a board member told the residents in a monthly meeting that if residents didn't like the way management and the board were running the building, they should just "move out and leave Thoreau Place".
So, with appreciation to Shakespeare and the late country singer Merle Haggard, here is a lampoon to light our way:

Thoreau Place--Love It or Leave It!

To Yelp or not to Yelp
that is the question
whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of
outrageous boondoggles
or to take to Twitter against a sea of possible corruption
and, by opposing, end it

We moved here to be near our kids and grandkids, so we're going to stay right here at Thoreau Place, because it's our building too, it doesn't belong the management company and the board of directors. We're going to keep on working hard for positive change here, and building continuing and sustained support among the residents here, and in the wider community, to make Thoreau Place the friendly and courteous senior building it always used to be, before the current management company and board took over.

We all, as unit owners here, have the right to vote against the millions of dollars management and the board are proposing to spend on their so-called "renovations", which will effectively displace and maybe even bankrupt the residents here. "Follow the money" is the proven strategy that will uncover the truth of what is really going on here.

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Boondoggle
Posted by: Philip Marlowe ()
Date: September 17, 2016 12:45PM

How will the current market value of the condo units there be affected by all the proposed destruction/reconstruction?

Once it starts, the market value is likely to be negatively affected, because the living conditions will be extremely difficult, especially for older folks. Adverse health effects are quite likely too, and also a sizable special assessment may be put on each unit, which will make the units there a lot harder to sell.

Many of the retired old folks there may not survive financially, and some may not survive physically because of constantly breathing all the construction dust, on top of whatever medical issues they may already have. Has anyone on the board or management there even thought about that, or do they just not care?

When all the work is done, a couple of years from now, the market value of the units would be likely to improve substantially, especially because of all the population growth projected for Reston. But the old folks there now will be unlikely to get any of the profits, because they will probably have to sell their units to investors really soon, at a substantial loss, in order to survive physically and financially.

Who are the people who will profit from the planned and programmed misfortune of all those old folks at Thoreau Place? Stay tuned! Time will tell, and truth will no longer be hidden.

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Boondoggle
Posted by: Raymond Chandler ()
Date: November 19, 2016 11:38AM

Well said, friend Philip! They can't hide the truth forever, especially now that law enforcement is looking into all the financial dealings there.

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Boondoggle
Posted by: Texas Ranger ()
Date: December 15, 2016 04:46PM

Has anyone there done a background investigation of the board of directors and management company staff? What is their track record regarding the handling of other people's money, for instance the monthly condo fees and special assessments paid by building residents? Such information is critically important to determine whether or not things are being done honestly or not.

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Re: Cracked Foundation
Posted by: Helping a Friend ()
Date: March 01, 2017 10:04AM

I have a friend who is a long time resident of Thoreau Place, who has asked me to help during the March 8th 2017 Board Meeting re: Renovation 2020, and the cracked foundation.

Is there anyone who could offer additional information on this subject?

He has asked me to come up with a brief 2-3 minute message to deliver to the Board of directors as his writing abilities are not the greatest, so I'm hoping to get as much information as possible to get his message across as efficiently as possible.

Many thanks, in advance.

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Boondoggle
Posted by: Larry ()
Date: May 29, 2017 07:56PM

Reston is being rezoned for much higher-density redevelopment, especially around village centers such as South Lakes. What are the plans for Thoreau Place, now 32 years old and about to undergo several million dollars' worth of renovation and reconstruction? Will it be torn down anyway and replaced by high-rise luxury condos? People living there need to know, and have a right to know!

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