Re: My neighbor who has cancer, another flood and Serious Denial!

[Guest guest]

You know that saying, " a stitch in time saves nine " ?

Well, it REALLY applies to water leaks and mold.. If you prevent leaks

from happening, then you save a LOT of money.

The same thing applies to your absent-minded neighbor who is on chemo

and her sink.

Did you try to do anything to dry the building out after her leak? Its

important to dry buildings out ASAP.

Your building's problems sound very familiar to me.

I lived in a building that had had maintainance ignored for years and

it was making lots of people sick. But they were reluctant to complain

because they could not afford to move. But, as we know, they could not

afford not to move either.

Well, its obvious what needs to be done. It sounds like all the

sheetrock may need to be pulled out and the building gutted down to

the bare studs.. then all the moldy building materials replaced.. That

can take six months to a year. Or two. Or more, depending on the

contractors.

You, your neighbors, and your uncle could stay in hotels while this is

going on, right?

Where I live, Priceline is running ads advertising hotel rooms " in

California " for " as little as $50 a night "

So, you might have to commute back and forth from Barstow of

something.. but you could save money on the hotel..

Do you think this work would be an 'improvement'? Thats a crucial

question that may get run by you. You live in Los Angeles, right? Its

important to insist that it is simply the normal maintainance that has

not been done, that the normal state should be leak-free, that fixing

the toxic situation is simply LONG overdue (like 50 years?)

maintainance.. DONT LET THEM ADD ANYTHING THEY CAN CALL 'IMPROVEMENTS'

BECAUSE THEY WILL USE THAT TO PRICE YOU OUT OF YOUR HOME..

Because if you do, then the Rent Board in your city might allow your

landlord to raise your rent to cover the cost. They would amortize the

cost over ten years. To gut a two or three story building might cost

1/2 (or more, when all is said and done) of the cost of building a new

one.

[Guest guest]

Another thing. I don't know about the laws where you live, but if you depend

on rent control,

and affordable apartments in your town are in short supply, leasing ANY

other

apartment that is on a term longer than 30 days

while your original apartment is being fixed triggers an end to your rent

control.

So, unless you want to pay market rate, you HAVE to stay in a hotel, or

some

other short-term situation, and put all your stuff in storage, even if the

'repair' 'takes years' and

those short-term accommodations are beyond your means -

Any long term rental, even a $2000/month studio, becomes YOUR NEW HOME.

(Where I lived, hotel rooms averaged around $200/night, so basically,

the only choice people have is to either stay with relatives, or move.)

!!!

On Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 12:34 PM, LiveSimply <quackadillian@...>wrote:

> You know that saying, " a stitch in time saves nine " ?

>

> Well, it REALLY applies to water leaks and mold.. If you prevent leaks

> from happening, then you save a LOT of money.

> The same thing applies to your absent-minded neighbor who is on chemo

> and her sink.

>

> Did you try to do anything to dry the building out after her leak? Its

> important to dry buildings out ASAP.

>

> Your building's problems sound very familiar to me.

>

> I lived in a building that had had maintainance ignored for years and

> it was making lots of people sick. But they were reluctant to complain

> because they could not afford to move. But, as we know, they could not

> afford not to move either.

>

> Well, its obvious what needs to be done. It sounds like all the

> sheetrock may need to be pulled out and the building gutted down to

> the bare studs.. then all the moldy building materials replaced.. That

> can take six months to a year. Or two. Or more, depending on the

> contractors.

>

> You, your neighbors, and your uncle could stay in hotels while this is

> going on, right?

>

> Where I live, Priceline is running ads advertising hotel rooms " in

> California " for " as little as $50 a night "

>

> So, you might have to commute back and forth from Barstow of

> something.. but you could save money on the hotel..

>

> Do you think this work would be an 'improvement'? Thats a crucial

> question that may get run by you. You live in Los Angeles, right? Its

> important to insist that it is simply the normal maintainance that has

> not been done, that the normal state should be leak-free, that fixing

> the toxic situation is simply LONG overdue (like 50 years?)

> maintainance.. DONT LET THEM ADD ANYTHING THEY CAN CALL 'IMPROVEMENTS'

> BECAUSE THEY WILL USE THAT TO PRICE YOU OUT OF YOUR HOME..

>

> Because if you do, then the Rent Board in your city might allow your

> landlord to raise your rent to cover the cost. They would amortize the

> cost over ten years. To gut a two or three story building might cost

> 1/2 (or more, when all is said and done) of the cost of building a new

> one.

>

[Guest guest]

Are you still living in this toxic waste zone? if yes-please get out by

any means possible---

[Guest guest]

The problem is my " landlord " is my mother and my uncle (who lives in

the first unit). The main issue is even though my uncle has symptoms

and has lived here since he was 19 (he's 50ish now) he and my mother

do not want to believe that it's the apartment causing his

symptoms/illnesses.

They just think I want to cause trouble. And the neighbor upstairs

doesn't like to complain because my mom only charges her $800 or $900

for rent but now she's sick, too. And like I said my sister and her

family that lived her before also had/have symptoms, too. My sister

suffered a miscarriage while living here (so have I). My sister

believes that my nephew may have mild autism and had behavioral

problems, and concentration/memory problems (similar to my daughter

and I) but she doesn't want to believe that it's the mold that may

have caused these symptoms/issues.

My uncle complains about headaches and feeling sick all the time,

plus he has sleep problems, etc. (similar to me) yet my mom and uncle

refuse to make the connection!

I'm so frustrated!!!!!

All my mother does is call a plumber to snake out the pipes once they

get backed up (which is about once every 8 months). The building has

never been dried out properly.

They are cheap and don't want to pay to fix anything or to get all

the units tested for mold even if it were to just rule it out.

Now that the neighbor is sick with cancer, I'm even more convinced

that this is a very sick building and I'm not crazy and it's not all

in my head!!!!!

I need some professional, high up, to step in and help. It would also

help if the medical community could agree about the toxic effects of

mold/mycotoxins and all doctors educated about it. Too many people

are suffering and dying for no need!!!

--- In , LiveSimply <quackadillian@...>

wrote:

>

> You know that saying, " a stitch in time saves nine " ?

>

[Guest guest]

I've been trying to get out for five years! Nowhere for me to go with

no money. If I could get the city to condemn the building then I

could get county and public assistance for housing but my city want

condom it because there was no visible mold at the time they came to

inspect it.

The city won't test for mold unless there is visible mold growing.

They also won't test for lead unless you have a child who tests with

high levels of lead in there system.

So my " landlord " mother bleached the mold on the walls so it went

away but did nothing for what I know is on the inside of the walls

(that I also know are wet- there are also chronic leaks inside some

of the walls) but because she can't see the leak she thinks there not

there.

--- In , " " <kdeanstudios@...>

wrote:

>

> Are you still living in this toxic waste zone? if yes-please get

out by

> any means possible---

>

>

[Guest guest]

I can see you are in a MAJOR dilemma. As so many are..

I see several options here.. the expert could (should?) come in and

rightfully show your mother that the mold is dangerous, terrify her,

even, and then she would have to act, so she would probably consult a

lawyer who would instruct her to hire a pro remediation firm.

If you are protected by rent stabilization laws that would probably

mean that you would have a right to move back in after the repair..

It might be a one or two week job but if its as bad as you say the

company would probably say it required complete exploration of the

problem and this might possibly lead to repairs so extensive that your

parents would temporarily evict you and your neighbor and take out

huge loans to finance gutting it and making it healthy and safe (and

probably, then, expensive)?

Or, if they are not fairly rich, they might be so terrified that the

cost estimates might convince your mother, force your mother to sell

the building..

But, lets assume they simply decide to fix it, they would temporarily

evict you and your sick neighbor and you would have to stay in a hotel

while the work went on. They might discover things, perhaps structural

issues, so its QUITE possible the repair would take a long time..

During that time, none of you might be able to afford to stay in

hotels so you mght end up elsewhere or possibly, in a bad situation

because of your inability to afford the going rate for housing in your

area.

That isn't what you or anybody, except for (bad landlords) want.. What

you, and we all need is a BRIDGE TO HEALTH..some in between path that

makes the housing healthy and does not make it too expensive for you

to be able to afford to live there anymore....

How is the HRV working, have you gotten one? And HEPA filtration?

On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 5:46 PM, gsgrl2000 <gsgrl2000@...> wrote:

> The problem is my " landlord " is my mother and my uncle (who lives in

> the first unit). The main issue is even though my uncle has symptoms

> and has lived here since he was 19 (he's 50ish now) he and my mother

> do not want to believe that it's the apartment causing his

> symptoms/illnesses.

>

> They just think I want to cause trouble. And the neighbor upstairs

> doesn't like to complain because my mom only charges her $800 or $900

> for rent but now she's sick, too. And like I said my sister and her

> family that lived her before also had/have symptoms, too. My sister

> suffered a miscarriage while living here (so have I). My sister

> believes that my nephew may have mild autism and had behavioral

> problems, and concentration/memory problems (similar to my daughter

> and I) but she doesn't want to believe that it's the mold that may

> have caused these symptoms/issues.

>

> My uncle complains about headaches and feeling sick all the time,

> plus he has sleep problems, etc. (similar to me) yet my mom and uncle

> refuse to make the connection!

>

> I'm so frustrated!!!!!

>

> All my mother does is call a plumber to snake out the pipes once they

> get backed up (which is about once every 8 months). The building has

> never been dried out properly.

>

> They are cheap and don't want to pay to fix anything or to get all

> the units tested for mold even if it were to just rule it out.

>

> Now that the neighbor is sick with cancer, I'm even more convinced

> that this is a very sick building and I'm not crazy and it's not all

> in my head!!!!!

>

> I need some professional, high up, to step in and help. It would also

> help if the medical community could agree about the toxic effects of

> mold/mycotoxins and all doctors educated about it. Too many people

> are suffering and dying for no need!!!

>

>

>

>>

>> You know that saying, " a stitch in time saves nine " ?

>>

>