Was the concrete restoration destruction?

In this post we have three opinions about the work done in the Valet Deck. Do you have something to say? If you are computer savvy register yourself in the WordPress.com system and you may paste your comment. If you prefer you may sent the material directly to ceciliob@gmail.com.  All material welcome. Vitriol, offensive or ilegal content will not be posted. All material is subject to approval. Submissions may take several days to show in the blog.

Bellow find the opinons of

• Joel Cohen
• Boris Goldberg
• Victor Rocha

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from Joel Cohen,    joelcohenlaw@gmail.com

Dear Unit Owners:

Our condominium has undergone and will continue to undergo concrete restoration to address the problems caused by 43 years of exposure to salt water on our ocean front buildings.

Understand, we are talking about concrete restoration (removal of bad concrete and replacement of new concrete with necessary waterproofing). This is not concrete destruction. That is a misnomer. We are not destroying; we are replacing and restoring.

When the 2015 Board took over on January 19, 2015, the lobby and the valet deck were closed and had been closed for months.

We were faced with a $570,000.00 deficit from the 2014 Board’s miscalculation of the actual cost of the West Pool Deck concrete restoration project.

The soffit on the valet deck had to be replaced. The south wall of the valet deck was too heavy and the weight had to be reduced. The western portion of the garage below was flooded by water when it rained and aluminum pans had been placed by prior Boards to catch the concrete that was falling from the ceiling below the valet deck.

We engaged a landscape architect and an engineer who developed a scope of work for the valet deck. We solicited bids and received 3 bids. We selected CSI, since they were the low bidder and were already on site and ready to commence work.

Only the intervention of a small group of misguided unit owners blocked commencement of the work for 3 1/2 weeks. The job was contracted for at $2.1M, but came in under budget at approx. $1.9M.

When John Y. and Joel C. were recalled on a technicality on July 21, responsibility for the Lobby project and the Air Conditioning project became the responsibility of the current Board. Over five months have passed and the Lobby and Air Conditioning projects remain incomplete.

And to add insult to injury, we do not have surveillance cameras, we have substantial leaking in the eastern part of the garage, the FOB system is not working in many places, we have a dearth of services for the unit owners and we have a Board that operates in secrecy.

You may ask why: Ask Ilya G. and Sophia F. why. I am at a loss to understand why they do not listen to the manager and the regional manager who are trying to guide the current Board and have been met only stiff resistance to progress.

Oh YES, when all the restoration is complete, Aquarius will be the pride and joy of Hollywood Beach again.

Oh YES, Boris Goldberg, Aquarius will survive and be better than it is now. Your written tirade is nothing more than the ramblings of an old man divorced from reality. You have manipulated the facts and written with an absolute disregard for the truth.

“There are three kinds of people…
People that make things happen. People who watch things happen. People who don’t know what’s happening!”     John Madden

Let’s join together to be part of the solution in harmony and not part of the problem.

Respectfully

Joel Cohen   Units 1401 S and 1208S    oelcohenlaw@gmail.com     954-922-7988

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Will Aquarius Survive?

By Boris Goldberg*

• Boris Goldberg also signs as Boris Fiasinov,     comfortravel@list.ru  PH5S    754 263 6003

1. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.

Imagine: The buildings stand like skeletons, stripped off balconies, windows absent. The buildings are surrounded by devastation. Access to the ocean is closed off. This is not a scene from a horror movie. It’s a very realistic glimpse of our future. Not in some symbolic way, but literally. Do you realize that the day after the election, the new president would be enabled to sign the more than 20^th amendment to the contract with CSI, which originally covered construction of the upper deck pool. And the company, with consent of our president, will bite into you like a vampire, and will proceed to suck out your blood money. This would have already taken place, were it not for the group of residents—primarily Sofia—had they not made a miracle happen. Working day and night, sending out letters, making phone calls, they gathered the number of votes required to recall John Youssef and Joel Cohen. Alas, today…

2. Cohen is Eager to Return to Power.

A large group of candidates has gathered beneath his banner. And they are supported by an army of vociferous supporters whose decibel level drowns out logic. It seems that only yesterday they were screaming: “Demolish the valet parking area!” Now, they are screaming: “Demolish the balconies!” Cohen’s last year’s project ended up costing us $4 million. Now, we are staring at a $16 million proposal for the new project. And that’s just for starters. But what is the basis for saying that we must urgently start to demolish the balconies? Could it be that it’s more important to fix the plumbing system and the elevators? As for the valet parking area, please note the existence of a letter from an engineer from our engineering company, who wrote that there is no such urgency, and that the cost of structural work should be in the order of $900,000, out of $2.1 million. The rest, he writes, would be classified as…

3. “Architectural Changes and Enhancements”

But the ruling triumvirate of the time—consisting of a chemist, a debt collector and a kindergarten teacher with a black belt in martial arts—determined that they know better. They gave an order to CSI: “Demolish!” They weren’t stopped by the Declaration of Condominium, which states  that “Improvements and alterations costing in excess of $10,000 shall not be made without the approval of 2/3 of the entire voting power of the membership of the Association.” Florida Statute 718.113 (2) (a) requires that “75 percent of the total voting interests. In the interpretation of the Florida Fourth district Court of Appeals, approval is required for any effort “to palpably or perceptively vary or change the form, shape, elements or specifications of a building from its original design or plan or existing condition in such a manner as to appreciatively affect or influence its function, use or appearance.” But Joel Cohen considers himself an absolute monarch, which puts him above the law. To paraphrase Louis XIV, his actions amount to stating:

4. “I am the Condominium.”

Whenever he felt like removing anyone from the meetings of the construction committee, he simply did so. Whenever he felt like lavishing gifts, he did just that. Thus, with a single signature, he released CSI, the general contractor, from responsibility from causing the flooding of our lobby. As you may have guessed, the $350,000 or more so generously shelled out by Cohen didn’t come from his own pocket, but instead came from all of us. In another act of largesse, Cohen signed a contract with the manager, which bound us to pay him $35,000 in the event he is fired for any reason. As any absolute ruler, Cohen is guided by the maxim:

5. “Divide and Conquer:”

He and his supporters perpetuate a propaganda campaign: “Those Russians want things done on the cheap: A patch here a patch there. We need to demolish everything, then build anew.” For starters, not everything needs to be demolished. And second, discrimination based on ethnicity or country of origin is unlawful. Joel Cohen’s supporters are trying to spark enmity between those born in the US and those who have immigrated here, in order to seize power and act counter to interests of both groups. Cohen et al. also divide Aquarius residents based on another principle: their wealth. Those who flaunt their wealth are encouraged—by Cohen—to shout: “You can’t afford to live here? Then get out!” It’s tempting to pose this question differently: “You have too much money? Move to Trump Tower.”

6. Do I need more than others?

Why am I running for a seat on the board? Why do I not lie around on the beach and say, like others, “Let it play out whichever way it does.” I put together a petition to the Governor of Florida, I collected 60 signatures, and what was the result? A bureaucratic  kiss-off. Together with others, I turned to DBPR to lodge a complaint about flagrantly unlawful actions. We were met politely, but were told that this matter lies outside their authority. Besides, what’s done is done; you can’t roll back the clock. If elected, I will stand in the way of future violations of the law. However, if I am alone, or if there are only two of us, we would be rendered powerless. We must form the majority of the board.

7. Ask Yourself: Why?

I am turning to all Aquarius residents, whatever their native language: English, Spanish, Russian, French, Hungarian. I turn to you without regard for your wealth. If you intend to cast a vote in support of Joel Cohen, Linda Satz et al., consider the picture that’s worth 1,000 words. And ask yourself: Why? Why would I vote for those who have partially demolished my building and who swear to complete its demolition? Why would I vote for those intent to push me into debt? Why would I vote for those who will, for many years, force me to live amid the rubble? Why would I vote for those who will devalue my apartment? Why would anyone want to buy any apartment in a nearly demolished building encumbered in massive debt? This is the moment of truth. Aquarius; Will it Survive? The future of Aquarius—and your future—are in your hands. It has been said that every nation gets the government it deserves. Indeed, every condominium deserves the board of directors it has.

• Boris Goldberg also signs as Boris Fiasinov,     comfortravel@list.ru      PH5S
  754 263 6003

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Victor Rocha,  Apt. 1404 N and 502 S   virocha@comcast.net