Residents of Laurelon have now formally banded together to form the Laurelon Action Coalition.
These determined folks refuse to see 136 units of moderately-priced housing demolished as part of the Hospital's "long-term play." Laurelon units actually qualify as "affordable housing" according the our Mayor's tax-credit criteria, but we'll stick to calling them "moderately-priced." Laurelon residents plan to defend their homes and community from the Hospital's buy-and-bulldoze plan. Check out the Hospital's Laurelon "Alternative" before you read the Laurelon Action Coalition's first letter to the CAC:
Dear Citizens Advisory Council:
The Laurelon Action Coalition is a group of Laurelon Terrace Condominium homeowners who do not want Children's Hospital to purchase units in our condominium complex. We do not want to see our wonderful garden neighborhood devoured by Children's Hospital. We first made this known to our ownership at large at its Oct 25th Homeowners' Meeting (See below). The lawyer subsequently hired by us will be reporting his findings at our next Homeowners' Meeting scheduled Nov. 28th.
Among many concerns, we take great umbrage at Ruth Benfield's comments at the Oct 30th CAC meeting in which she indicated Laurelon would become available for construction because our board had hired a lawyer to deal with that and that our complex is run down, burdened with debt, and has no funds to do needed work. Laurelon continues ongoing projects to maintain, repair and upgrade infrastructure systems and features including sewers, siding, porches, window replacements, plumbing, electrical. Homeowners take great pride in remodeling and meticulous maintenance of their units. We hope this will be obvious on your walking tour Nov. 18.
Sincerely,
The Laurelon Action Coalition
Excerpt from Presentation made at Laurelon Terrace Homeowners Meeting Oct 25, 2007
After reflection on what was presented by Buck Law Group at the homeowners' meeting in September, we wondered about the lack of other options presented to protect us from take over by Children's Hosp.
At the same time, a number of homeowners approached us about the possibility of protecting Laurelon Terrace by a change in our Declaration, Covenants, and By-laws.
We consulted 4 lawyers recommended to us who specialize in preparing covenants and by-laws for condominium associations.
All four agreed that tightening and/or adding covenants of the types we discussed are common, legal, and should be effective if written and executed properly.
We are going to retain a lawyer to investigate our current documents, propose changes, present the pros and cons, and at a homeowners' meeting recommend what would work best.
