On Feb. 20th, I got a message that the remediation had been approved, and work starts on Friday.
I don’t know what lit the fire under EGL. Was it just waiting for the OK? Was it a letter from HCIDLA, which performed an inspection the past week? Was it a social worker making a serious phone call to EGL?
I don’t know.
We pursued action via the “official channels” that the city has for problems like ours. We felt like we had waited long enough.
Bought at a local estate sale, this yearbook is a look into history, into the East Los Angeles community. East Los Angeles was an unincorporated area east of the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. Many of the residents there came from Boyle Heights, which was a “melting pot” of different cultures.
According to the Home Ownership Loan Corporation maps, these two communities were unique in that they had a large diversity of ethnicities. For the same reason, they were also seen as a threat to the country and others — and this community was “redlined” by the real estate business, by the government, and society at large.
Despite this oppression, the community persevered and celebrated their diversity, and asserted their inclusion into America.
We paid out of pocket to get some furniture moved out. It was only $72, which I find amazing. It was only a few bulky pieces because everything else had been boxed up and jammed into closets. I also sold off a few items and left a few items out to give away. I got rid of a hundred dollars of stuff. I figured it was probably better to get a little cash than to pay out cash.
I want to get this cost added to the insurance claim, but getting someone from Homesite via email or phone is like a trip into the infinite voicemail jail. Sometimes you get a call back, and sometimes you don’t.
The remediation company is supposed to come out as well, but I’m not certain it will happen, because, while she took the initiative to communicate with them, Claudia has no authority to make anything happen. That falls to the management company, EGL, and the owner of the building.
Contacting EGL can also be a slog. I want them to talk to Claudia because I’m often driving someone to something or other, like a sub minimum wage Lyftuber for friends and family.
It’s now 1/31/2018, and the remediation of the apartment hasn’t really started, yet. Rosa said the carpet is smelling skunky. I hope that’s not mold, but it might be mold.
The apartment upstairs flooded on the 18th, so it’s now been 13 days since we haven’t been able to sleep in the bedrooms. The management and remediation people just aren’t moving fast on this.
The manager also told us that we’re not going to get a refund on the uninhabitable parts of the apartment until the remediation is done. So I asked that the last month’s refund be paid now. After all, we pay rent on the 1st; during the month, the apartment wasn’t completely available to use. We should get a refund at the end of the month.
Pushing it off into the future is asking us to issue them credit until the project is done. It’s not fair. (It also may not be legal.)
Another problem has been the insurance company. I have rental insurance, and the policy covers the damage to the beds, but I think it also covers moving furniture out to do the remediation. The insurance company disagrees.
All I know is, that burden of moving the furniture cannot fall on us. Liability falls on the owner, because their water damage necessitates moving these heavy things around.
I know they have the money, because we pay our rent every month.
This doesn’t really deserve a new post, so I’m appending the update. I haven’t yet filed a complaint with the DI because the website showed that the claim was re-opened. The claims adjuster called on the 5th, and said I’d get a call from his manager on the 6th.
On the 6th, there was no call. I’ll need to call on the 7th.
The situation is that I told them the remediation company said their moving and storage service would be around $2,400. Claudia found a different company and got a quote that was far less. I would like the insurance to pay for it.
As it is, we already moved our own stuff out, or boxed things up and jammed it into a closet. All this labor we’re doing is going to save everyone money, and costs us a lot of “money” as donated labor and also lost work opportunities. We’re missing out on hundreds of dollars of work. I hope these a—realize this is going on, and saving them a lot of money. They are criminally tight with the money.
I mean, literally, they are stalling on the refund. That might be a civil infraction.
The manager sent us a signal that a she’s looking into a refund. So I didn’t proceed with filing the HCID complaint – it slipped my mind: I was exhausted from moving and driving my friend to dialysis and dealing with his ill mother.