Is Your Air Conditioning Unit OK?

It highly recommended that your air conditioning unit have:

1. Filters changed regularly. Maybe less than a three months period.
2. Full maintenance review including: cleaning of coils, completion of level of refrigerant, overall inspection addressing eventual leaks and other problems. This should be done once every year,

If you have a appliance maintenance contract this is, in general, included without any additional cost. This maintenance check up, as we said, must be done at least once every year.

Many Aquarius residents have contracts with TOTAL APPLIANCE. This firm will perform the must have annual A/C check once a year with no charge. Other firms probably have similar clauses.

But it is necessary to ask for the service. It’s not done automatically. Let’s do it?

This alert was suggested by Joel Cohen
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A rose to brighten your day:

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Covid 19 Alert – City of Hollywood August 6, 2021

Dear All ( 2877 HBCA Recipients )

A Message from the City of Hollywood

Stay safe, prevent spreading the virus

Mask on 100%. No Delta variant.

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Moment of peace

Monks of Santiago de Compostela perform ‘The Sounds of Silence’

The Sounds of Silence

In Search of Certainty Regarding the Aquarius Architectural Structure

Hollywood, June 30, 2021

I was very impressed with the note of June 28, 2021 from the Board. It shows concern for the adoption of immediate measures to make sure Aquarius is not subject to the tragedy of the Champlain South Tower in Surfside.

My enthusiasm suffered a rude awakening when I read the third paragraph. It mentioned that our “Engineer of Record” would participate in meetings for an evaluation of the structural integrity of Aquarius. From now on this company will be referred as “The Firm.”

The City of Hollywood has finalized the inspection of Aquarius and accepted the project of the 40-year recertification. This represents a closure of this project and the relief of the Firm in charge of technical aspects as well as project management responsibility. It is a natural conclusion that Aquarius and the technical engineering firm have ended their relationship. But it seems that this disastrous partnership continues.

When we review the assistance provided by this firm several points deserve to be taken into consideration:

1. The budgetary proposal/estimate for the 40-year recertification done by the Firm was 10 million dollars. This budgetary specification was prepared from May 2016 until the end of the year. Late October the Aquarius Association was surprised with the need to hire an Architectural firm to complement the budgetary document. The Board and the Management scrambled to search for such support. The firm assured the Board that the project would not exceed this term because it was very conservative and reflected their long experience with projects like this. The final cost was in excess of 15 million. To this we have to add their pro labore of 8% and the recent work done in the West Deck and Garage.

2. The project as proposed by the builder (Structural) was for the completion of the work on both towers in 80 weeks. Included here were 50 weeks for the East Deck. As we all know, even considering that there were no changes in the initial scope, 80 weeks became more like 150 weeks of dust, noise, and inconvenience for all Aquarius Residents. So, the lack of project management skills becomes evident, to say the least. Considering that the firm was in charge of project management it is evident the great amount of responsibility of the firm for this long delay.

3. The West Deck and Garage that had been the subject of recuperation in 2016 was given as certifiable by the firm. Several inquires from the Board to the firm were always answered that the West Deck and Garage were fully certifiable. The leaks, the spalling of some areas were considered minor issues deserving no attention and it would not delay the 40 year recertification. The result was an additional 24 weeks for repairs and the loss of some warranty privileges Aquarius had with the constructor of that area: CSI, because the 5 years were close to expiration. Again, the technical punctuality and conscientiousness of the firm may come under scrutiny.

4. Complaints about fissures in the brand-new balconies and mortar separation remain unanswered by the firm.

5. In addition, the water penetration in several units in both towers remains an enigma. Also, the question if the external walls of Aquarius have been properly waterproofed is not clear. It sure does not look like it.

For all these reasons, having the firm participate in any future endeavor at Aquarius seems to be NOT a good idea.

The Board should be congratulated by the prompt initiative to reassess the integrity of the Aquarius Condominium but to have the firm involved seems a great problem. We all know Albert Einstein’s words: “To do the same thing again and again and expect different results is…”

One item that should be part of the assessment of the structural integrity of Aquarius is its soil. All of us are familiar with the phenomenon of sink holes. They seem to be caused by subterraneous flows of water known as aquifers. Do we have any of these under ground rivers? A quick geological inspection could reassure us and eliminate one of the many variables that affect concrete structures.

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Can you identify all these musical genres?

Viewer discretion advisable.

Almost 50 million views. I love this comment of one of the viewers: ““I will find you … and i will marry you … the three of u!
Keep up the great work!””

A Letter to  Aquarius Management and Members of the Board,

I am the daughter of Nilufer Tarhan who resides in 2751 S Ocean Drive, PHS6 S 33019. I have a couple of concerns after what happened to the Surfside building:

1- Being on the top floor, my unit has suffered from roof damage in the last few years. I have notified the building and repair people have come and checked after I raised my concern. They replaced the drywall that was damaged but I’m afraid there were no repairs done to the structure that was inevitably damaged by salt and rain water.  I was staying with my mother when we experienced severe water damage. The leak filled the light fixture and was actively and rapidly dripping into the unit and we had to use a bucket to collect the water and empty it every couple hours. If we were not living in the unit full-time, I cannot imagine the damage it would have caused us and the unit below.

I am requesting you to send the building inspectors and engineers and/or city officials that will be sent out by the city to check the structure of the building. Our unit has substantial damage what seems like cracks and leaks. I am in no way trained to detect the damage, and I cannot assure if there is more damage –my expertise is not going further than an eye inspection. Yet, the fact that I can see the damage is frightening to anyone regardless of their engineering training.

2- The building has had long running issues with the pool deck, similar to the issues in Surfside Towers. I would like to know if the pool has ever damaged or leaked to the garage or anywhere else before. Did the pool structure ever leak? If so, where did it damage. If it did not damage anywhere else, then why?

3- Our parking garage is in a constant state of DISREPAIR with LARGE CRACKS and supports holding up the beams. I would like to know if any of those beams are actually supporting the building itself or if they are damaged by salt water since the steels have been exposed to air for such a long time.

4- I would like to know, if 2-3 years ago when they re-did the balconies, if there were any safety assessments done. For instance, how much damage would it cause to the structure of the building, did they ever assess that, do we know the current state of the building?

5- When was the last time our building got inspected?

Please share any documentation and a detailed and understandable answer to each question above.

Thank you,

Melisa Tarhan

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Short live abstinence

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Aquarius Condo’s Best Kept Secret:       The Library

The Aquarius Library is one of the best kept secrets of the Aquarius Condominium. It holds more than 2000 titles with a great variety of genres. The Fiction section is over half the collection. There one will find bestselling authors like:

• David Baldacci
• Michael Connolly
• Clive Cussler
• John Grisham
• Dean Koontz
• Robert Ludlow
• James Patterson
• Stuart Woods

And these are just a few of the books by good writers available.

The Non-Fiction section is also very rich. It will be object of another post in the future. It is important to mention that in addition there are special sections like Judaica (Hebrew and English books on Israel and many Jewish traditions), a robust variety of books in the Russian language, and other areas of interest that you must discover.

Also available are recent issued magazines. Magazines are kept from three months of publication date.

How can you enjoy this treasure? 
Just visit the Aquarius Library and take what you wish. The Aquarius Library does not have an assigned staff and is maintained by volunteers. The library is based in the honor system.

How you can help?

• Making donations of books and magazines you don’t need anymore.
• Returning books and magazines as soon as possible.
• Keeping the Library in its best shape. Leave it better than you found it.
• Make sure to return a book in the proper alphabetical order, by author’s last name. Also, please, be sure to observe if the book is Fiction or Non-Fiction. In doubt deposit in the table destined for returns and donations.

Where is the Aquarius Library? 
It is in the South Tower. Enter across the Mail Room and turn right.

Why not give Netflix a break and get a good read this Summer? The Aquarius Library is there for your enjoyment!

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This toddler knows every thing!

Vincent Paul Billington and son Patrick.

Our neighbor Roni Komie offers support services

Roni Komie

All of us have had a difficult time coping with the pandemic in one way or another. If you find yourself feeling lonely, anxious, depressed or just needing to talk to someone, I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who lives in the Aquarius. I am a Medicare provider who can make home visits. There would be no cost to you. Feel free to call me at either number for further information.

Home: 954 929 5797 or 

cell:      305 733 3610

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Engineer warned of ‘major structural damage’ years before Florida condo building collapsed

By  Jon Swaine, Joshua Partlow, Antonio Olivo, Aaron Gregg and Beth Reinhard
June 26, 2021 at 6:42 p.m. EDT    The Washington Post

An engineer warned in October 2018 that he had discovered “major structural damage” to a concrete slab below the pool deck in the section of the Champlain Towers South condominium building that collapsed Thursday, killing at least four and leaving scores trapped, according to records released by local authorities late Friday.

Tragedy in Surfside
July 24 2021 2:00am building collapse

Condo building partially collapses in Miami-Dade, killing at least one and prompting mass search-and-rescue operation

Aquarius Gym Gets New Mirrors

In October of 2020 Buck, the President of the Board of Directors, accepted the suggestion to hang additional mirrors on the walls of the Aquarius Exercise Room.

After a good number of email messages and phone calls besides visits to the Management Office of Aquarius the mirrors were installed last week.

The mirrors were installed in the elevator landing on all Aquarius’ floors. They were removed when the hallways got a facelift. As it is easy to imagine the mirrors would, eventually, end in a landfill. So now the Gym has a new more professional look more like the commercial gyms.

Visit our Gym and see for yourself how the studio looks now. And the cost? A few work minutes by our maintenance team. A very good price for good results indeed.

Comment:

The Mirrors in the Gym look awesome, hopefully a lot more people, will come to the gym we need to

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How many of these musicals can you remember?   

22 Musicals in 12 minutes!      21 million views and counting!