Residents Speak Out At Monthly Resident Association Meeting

Last night 3/22/2010 was one night that gave me some hope there actually might be a tid bit of hope after all for our Lame Duck Paquin Tower Resident Association. The reason I use the term "Lame Duck" is due to if HUD did not require Columbia Housing Authority to have these Resident Associations then HUD Funding would be cut back. There have been efforts in the past to close/disband the PTRA over alot of various issues but some how CHA comes to the rescue every time. So as you see if it were not required it would not even be in place.

Last night many residents spoke up on alot of issues from voting in new Alternate Officers(alot of "Nay Voting" was heard and one vote had to be made by the show of hands with that Alternate not even in attendance),Animal Defecation Activity right in front of the building,Foul Language by all in the lobby,Smoking by the front doors,the recalling of elected officers/alternates and so much more. It would seem residents are sick and fed up with their governing board and things going on with in our Vertical Neighborhood.

The biggest victory of all was getting the Resident Association Meeting changed back to the same day as the Smoke Detector Inspections making the remembering of the day of the meeting a true "No Brainer" once again.

>>> There was one noticeable "NAY VOTE" by the raising of hands. It came as no surprise to many residents. <<<

There will also be notices stuffed into every mail box on every door on every floor before the meetings. Issue there is now who is going to pay for all of that paper that usually just gets thrown away anyway. My bet is CHA Resident Services Grant Money will cover those costs. Your tax payer dollars at work and no different than Big Brother Government in Washington.

This last meeting hopefully will begin to set the precedence for future meetings where residents speak up and let the facts of how they do not like how things are going on be known and vote accordingly.

If you have any complaints about your PTRA Elected Officers,Alternates and how the PTRA Board is handling business then show up at the next PTRA Meeting with your notes in hand and speak up. This is your PTRA and the Board and it's Alternates work for you and not the other way around.