[Lindengardens] Washing Machine Next to Door Will Be Fixed Next Week

Candy Malina candyjoy at earthlink.net
Wed Jun 23 00:50:03 EDT 2010 

Me again, to try to be briefer:  We are obligated under the contract 
until July 15, 2011.  This means we are obligated to allow Dan Silva 
to keep laundry machines installed here and for him to collect 2/3 of 
the profits.  This doesn't mean we are obligated to keep these 
particular machines -- he is obligated by contract to provide us with 
working machines.  I don't see any need for us to hold up our end of 
the bargain and not to ask him to hold up his.

Candy





At 12:17 AM 6/23/2010, you wrote:
>Actually, I believe the laundry contract goes until July, 2011, so 
>it is another year.  And about breaking the contract early -- I had 
>a couple of attorneys tell me early on that we could likely break 
>it, because it was actually a contract that Dan Silva, as Broadway 
>Management (owner of the machines) made with himself, Dan Silva as 
>Linden Ave. Associates, which was the name of the entity that 
>officially owned the building prior to it being condo-ized.  The 
>contract says that Linden Ave. Associates and successors (i.e, 
>Linden Gate Condo) are responsible for that contract until July, 
>2011.  I was told by one attorney that it is illegal to bind 
>successors on a service contract, which that attorney thought the 
>laundry contract would be considered, and also I was told that 
>"self-dealing" is illegal, especially if it is not in the best 
>interest of one of the two parties -- the attorney who told me that 
>was of the opinion that signing a 10 year contract was not in the 
>best interest of Linden Ave. Associates.  HOWEVER -- our current 
>attorney, who is one of the top condo attorneys in Massachusetts, 
>told met that the 10-year contract for laundry machines is standard, 
>and also told me that these contracts are very hard to break.  I 
>guess the bad outcome would be that he sues us for breach of 
>contract, and that we might then need to pay him for the remainder 
>of the contract, meaning all the income he would potentially have 
>generated from the machines -- plus court and attorney fees.  So we 
>had decided it wasn't worth the risk of that, as I recall.  We 
>talked about trying to have a conversation with him and seeing if we 
>could work out a compromise amicably, but my sense from Dick 
>William's initial conversation with him, in which he was reportedly 
>furious about our breaking the contract at all, was that he wouldn't 
>likely compromise.
>
>If he doesn't keep up the machines, then I would guess he is 
>breaching the contract, which I assume says that they are kept in 
>good working order (I am sure I have a copy of it somewhere: I 
>assume the current trustees do too; I know Paradigm does).  However, 
>if we don't inform him of the machines not working, then we can't 
>accuse him of breaching the contract by not fixing them.  (If he 
>breaches the contract, then we could theoretically get out of 
>it.)  I imagine that this would be his motivation for fixing them in 
>a timely manner.  Otherwise -- our current attorney had advised us 
>to send the letter breaking the contract as early as possible, 
>because you have to put your intention to break it in writing 180 
>days (6 MONTHS!) before it ends, or it rolls over automatically for 
>ANOTHER TEN YEARS!!  Seriously.  So she said that we were better off 
>making sure he got the letter way ahead of time.  Which I think made 
>sense -- however, I wonder what that does to his motivation for 
>maintaining the machines?
>
>All this being said (I'm sure way more information than you wanted!) 
>-- I agree with Chris.  The deal is that he gets to keep the 
>machines here AND collects 2/3 of the income from them, and that in 
>return, he keeps them in good working order.  I don't see why we 
>would want to limp along with machines that don't work well; I don't 
>believe there is anything in the contract that would require us to 
>do so.  In fact, I would look at the wording of the contract.  It 
>might be that he needs to replace the machines if they are not 
>working adequately.
>
>My way-more-than-2-cents!
>
>Candy
>
>At 11:47 PM 6/22/2010, you wrote:
>>I sympathize with Chris and others who get frustrated by the wall 
>>machine, but the fact is, it's still working. And Charlie's reboot 
>>procedure does work, when the machine gets stuck at the end of a 
>>cycle (after it's been opened before the "wait" sign flashes off).
>>
>>Trouble is, some of us have gotten used to these idiosyncracies, 
>>but new tenants won't know, and their landlords shouldn't have to 
>>give them a complicated explanation.  So I suggest we put up a 
>>brief sign above the machine explaining the way it works. It will 
>>only be for another six months or so, at most.
>>
>>Indeed, I wonder if we shouldn't tell Sylva that we are going to 
>>replace his machines in the last quarter of this year, rather than 
>>waiting until 2011. What could he really do about it? Anyway, if we 
>>wrote the letter to him saying we intend to do so, it would be 
>>interesting to see how he responds!
>>
>>mmm
>>
>>Martin M. Marks
>>Senior Lecturer
>>MIT, Music and Theater Arts Section, 10-268
>>77 Massachusetts Ave.
>>Cambridge MA, 02139
>>
>>Office phone: 617-253-4967
>>Mobile phone: 617-851-8955
>>Email: <mailto:mmmarks at mit.edu>mmmarks at mit.edu
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>On Jun 22, 2010, at 11:28 PM, Charlie Denison wrote:
>>
>>>Sure I'll make sure he looks at this machine as well. If it's any 
>>>consolation, when I've called his company with washing machine 
>>>problems before (I called the number posted on the sign in the 
>>>laundry room), they have always been quick to respond. I 
>>>personally have never had issues with the machine by the wall, but 
>>>clearly there is a problem with it. The trustees will make sure 
>>>the machines are in working order until our contract is done in 2011.
>>>
>>>Charlie
>>>
>>>Chris De Angelis wrote:
>>>>Charlie, thanks for the experiment and feedback.  But I have to 
>>>>ask: are we just going to live with the unreliability of this 
>>>>machine until we can replace it?
>>>>
>>>>I am going to be renting my unit soon, and I would really prefer 
>>>>that Mr. Silva take the time and spend what he needs to fix both 
>>>>machines, since he has stuck us with them until 2011, rather than 
>>>>have to explain to my renter "to get that machine near the wall 
>>>>working, stand on your head, do the hokie pokey five times, and 
>>>>insert your money, and it may then start".  He is getting the 
>>>>majority of the money we spend on our laundry, and I feel he has 
>>>>given us a very unsatisfactory level of maintenance over the 
>>>>years after sticking the condominium association with this 
>>>>contract going back six or seven years that says we have to use 
>>>>his machines until 2011.
>>>>
>>>>Giving him the benefit of the doubt, if we make him understand 
>>>>that this machine sometimes says "WAIT" with no explanation of 
>>>>what's wrong or how to mend it, maybe he'll do what's necessary 
>>>>to fix it.  Could we please do that and avoid the potential for 
>>>>putting an extra couple of bucks in his pocket because his 
>>>>machines aren't reliable?
>>>>
>>>>Respectfully,
>>>>Chris
>>>>
>>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>>From: "Charlie Denison" <mailto:cdenison at comcast.net><cdenison at comcast.net>
>>>>To: <mailto:lindengardens at mit.edu>lindengardens at mit.edu
>>>>Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 9:16:56 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
>>>>Subject: Re: [Lindengardens] Washing Machine Next to Door Will Be 
>>>>Fixed Next Week
>>>>
>>>>OK it seems to be okay now. I put the lid down, but that didn't 
>>>>do anything. Then while he lid was still down, I unplugged the 
>>>>machine and plugged it back in. The computer made some noises for 
>>>>about 10 seconds, then said THANK YOU. It's ready for a new load 
>>>>now and says INSERT $2.00.
>>>>
>>>>Charlie
>>>>
>>>>Chris De Angelis wrote:
>>>>So tonight, the washing machine next to the wall is just reading 
>>>>"WAIT" on the display and is not doing anything.  I came down to 
>>>>the laundry room and found it like that; it's empty and the lid 
>>>>is open, but I'm not willing to risk having it eat another $2.
>>>>Can we get that machine looked at tomorrow also?  I'm afraid 
>>>>while some of the time it is true that it just takes a while to 
>>>>start, we are having bad luck with it in that it sometimes eats 
>>>>our credit, tells us to wait, and then never starts.
>>>>Thanks -
>>>>Chris
>>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>>From: "Aaron Federman" <mailto:aafedz at yahoo.com><aafedz at yahoo.com>
>>>>To: <mailto:lindencondos at yahoogroups.com>lindencondos at yahoogroups.com
>>>>Cc: <mailto:lindengardens at mit.edu>lindengardens at mit.edu
>>>>Sent: Saturday, June 19, 2010 12:57:14 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
>>>>Subject: [Lindengardens] Washing Machine Next to Door Will Be 
>>>>Fixed Next Week
>>>>Dan Silva stopped by the building to look at the laundry machine. 
>>>>The washing machine closest to the door is filling and draining 
>>>>correctly, but the water is not "agitating" properly. He will 
>>>>send a repair person on Wednesday to fix the washing machine 
>>>>closest to the door. I told him to wait until Wednesday since we 
>>>>have plumbing work being done on Tuesday in our boiler room that 
>>>>will require us to shut off the water pressure. The washing 
>>>>machine closest to the wall still works correctly. It just takes 
>>>>several minutes to start. Dan may try to replace the card reader 
>>>>in that machine, but he doesn't know if that will make it start 
>>>>any faster. Aaron
>>>>_______________________________________________ Lindengardens 
>>>>mailing list <mailto:Lindengardens at mit.edu>Lindengardens at mit.edu 
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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