Fire Alarm Again

If you have been living at the Marina Center for a while you are sure used to the fire alarm going off every now and then. Tonight it went off twice within an hour. And if you leave your appartment and head down the stairs to the lobby you will probably notice that you are almost alone. In fact this happens so often that almost nobody bothers to even leave their appartment. I counted about 20 people in the lobby for about 240 appartments! If a fire did ever happen, the fire department would have a hell of alot of work getting people out and the negligent administration would have alot to answer for.

After speaking to fire fighters, it was discovered that the person or people responsable for the Marina Center did not even call the fire department when the bells rang! But the trucks came twice anyway. That brings up alot of questions and the most serious, being a matter of criminal negligence.

When the fire alarm is pulled, it is essential that the people responsable for the building call the fire department.

According to the fire department the building has and is recieving fines for excessive false alarms. So the question arises, do the employees have instructions to not call the fire department when the fire alarm is pulled to save money on fines? In anycase, it seems some of the tenants are calling 9-1-1 when the bells are sounded, so they'll end up getting fined anyway.

It would be much smarter for the building managers to call 9-1-1 themselves, because if there ever was a fire and it was discovered that they did not call, not only would they be liable but I'll bet my hat that the insurance company would refuse to pay.

The solution would be to install inexpensive hidden security cameras, so that the culprits can be caught and dealth with. Considering the revenues this building is generating, it should not be a problem... unless you have the mentality of a slum-lord.

Do the math, 16 appartments times 15 floors makes 240. Take an average of 700$ per month rent and it means 168,000$ per month, or 2,016,000 per year. Take about 10 employees at say, 35,000 each making 350,000 annually in salaries, plus the "Queen's" 100k (LOL) and your at 450,000. So 2,016,000 - 450,000 leaves 1,566,000. And let's just take off 566,000 for utilities, taxes and a nice margin of error. We are still left will a million dollars in revenues.

Investing a little in maintenance and security would not be a stretch and would in fact add value to the building. UNLESS off course your business model is to minimize all maintenance so as to frustrate tenants enough to move so that new tenants come in with a slightly higher rent. The new tenants would stay a year or two and also move, thus allowing you to legally increase the rent by 50$ every time.

OR, maybe the business model is to make life as unbearable as possible for as many people as possible so as to be sure to be able to get rid of as many tenants as possible, as fast as possible, in the event the building was to "go condo". With the wave of condo buildings sprouting up all around the Marina Center, it would not surprise me.

High turnover means less demanding tenants and greater short term revenues. That's a short term and short sighted view. Better tenants, better upkeep, reasonable rent increases, means a more stable revenue stream... a smarter, long term view, ensuring a better return on investment, and a alot less fire alarms.