Because some of you people think I am making things up let me give you the timeline

[diabeticman]

My wife and I lived in an apartment up in New Castle for 8 years. The woman who was our landlady was very good to us until she got injuried at work. Long story short she got injuried on the job had a hard time fighting and getting workman's comp long she ended up getting hooked on pain killers and well She killed herself, mother and son.

http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_719837.html#axzz3Pzv2AJh1

Smokey--the cat had been outside the whole week. She wouldn't answer our knocks and the day after this happen the humane society came knocking on the door saying they wanted to take smokey because it was cold outside and put him down we would not let that happen. We also had snowy another of her cats she gave us about 18 months earlier we had Brody and Stormy which were ours.

The next month --Feb-- my wife went into the hospital with the Hernia (needed emergency surgery) and then got Fungal Pneumonia it took her about 3 months just to get home and basically a year to fully recover (at least to a level before the whole thing.) During that time she was away in the hospital Stormie developed diabetes and by the time we notice something was wrong with him we lost him ( put him down.) yes, we are terrible animal owners and shouldn't have animals but I will be honest my focus was on my wife.

It took a year for the house to sell in the mean time we the estate allowed us to stay. The slum lord that bought the house destroyed it in basically 8 months. the city condemn the house and gave us 10 days to find a new place. You try doing that during Christmas.

We stayed with the slumlord place as long as we could but the roof always leaked and then mold and mushrooms started to grow in the hallway. Got a hold of a good landlord let us move it without deposit or anything. Around this time we notice a tumor on Brody's neck got it remove--it was so big we didn't have enough money to get it biopsy but the vet said those tumors are generally cancerous and if the tumor comes back it is cancer. It took Brody a while to start gaining weight back ( before surgery he was 7.9 pounds)

My grandmother passed and by this time I was sick of new castle and talked my wife into moving down to Washington PA. We found an apartment to live in and my younger brother had kick my mom out and she came to live with us in a one bedroom apart. It took a few months for the money to be release during that time we had to put Brody down. Another tumor appeared and he was down to 6.5. Snowy who was a shy cat to begin with had a hard time with this move but he took a liking to my mother and became her cat. We got the money and started looking for this place. Yes, I fell in love with this Condo and I wasn't happy with any other place I found. my mom who thanks to snowy was coming out of her depression she was in offered to take the cats in she would stay at the apartment. We had to pay for food and vet bills --which we do. With the signs saying 48 hour pet visits It would not be so bad. We see my mom a couple times a week and with the visit. I didn't think it would be bad for my wife. She agreed only because she saw how much I like the place. We are 5 min away from the cats. This pass nov my mom called saying Snowy was acting weird. Vet said he was in congestive heart failure and put him down. ( he was 13 years old.) Wife started getting depressed. I went down asking one of the women how much notice do I need to give you to have a pet visit. mention it would be a cat. woman said 2 weeks notice. 2 weeks later they came up with the only dog clause which from EVERYTHING I can read in the bylaws never mention dogs only. Then in there letter stating dogs only they also stated it was a privilege given just certain people.

[KMOD]

1. how is your wife doing?

[diabeticman]

2. Some days she is depressed next minute she is angry as hell. Right now she is focus on this

petition letter thing. She has her second visit with the counselor next month. Thanks for asking.

[cwydro]

6. Stay strong diabeticman.

You are both fighters.

Hang in there.

[mackerel]

3. Wow you guys are going through a lot, one thing right after another.

I think this petition is a really positive thing for your wife to focus on. Btw feck the begrudgers!

[diabeticman]

4. thank you. Yes, it was all in a span of basically 4 1/2 years ... it just seems like it. My wife

also agree to let them stay with my mom because the move down here really seem to shake them it is one thing to go from one part of town to another it is another to take them from one city to another.

[cwydro]

5. I don't even know you or these horrid condo people,

but I feel for your wife and for you.

I love my critters. Is it possible to look for another place to live?

This kind of misery cannot be good for either of you.

[hopemountain]

7. you do not have to explain yourself nor justify your life and truths to anyone,

diabeticman. things are challenging enough in life than to have to justify why we live our lives the way we do. not one of us can throw stones. each one of us is doing the best we can - and if we want to do better, so be it and more power to us - but we do not (!) do it for the sake of satisfying cynics. keep a strong heart, diabeticman. it's challenging when we get older and our loved ones pass on - including the four footed, finned, and winged companions.

[cwydro]

8. Well said.

That is beautiful.

[DebJ]

9. My mind is still struggling to grasp the concept that a neighbor owning a cat in a condo

would somehow be a problem for someone.

I just don't get it at all.

Unless you are living in the middle of a bird sanctuary in a huge area where cats from other areas somehow can't get in, and I doubt that's the case.

What in the world can a little kitty cat do to cause trouble for other members? I met a woman one time who was paranoid about animals. She was an elderly neighbor who was very kind. We had lots of squirrels in the neighborhood, and they terrified her. She used to ask my son to walk her out from her apartment to the curb some 40 feet away to her daughter's car because she was so afraid. But she is the very rare exception, not the rule, and clearly must have had some traumatizing incident in her past. She herself knew her behaviors weren't normal.

Is this a condo association dominated by old lonely farts with nothing better to do than try to control the lives of other people?


I ask that because I used to live in a place like that...this was in the late 1980s When I was a single parent, my Mom gave me a down payment for a condo. One came up for sale across the street from my apartment, a first-floor unit with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and nicely large rooms, so I bought it. A short while later the annual meeting for all owners came up, and I went with my two children, then ages about 8 and 5. Before the meeting began, a group of the old bags standing near to me spoke loudly, so I could hear, and spoke of me as if I was some 'thing' on exhibit. They were angry that I had bought a condo in a place that was supposed to be for retired people only. Apparently that was how the condos were originally marketed (apartments refurbished and sold as condos). Well, heck, I had no idea. The woman who owned the unit I bought had been renting it for about 10 years and put it on the market without a word to me about the original marketing drive to seniors. Needless to say I was disturbed by the fact that these people, my new neighbors, were expressing clearly and loudly how they detested me because I wasn't retired. And it's not like my children were acting out or something, disrupting the meeting or anyone, because they were not. And I didn't know anyone there at all.

Things didn't get any better over time. We had plenty of parking at the condo; there were usually 10 or so empty spaces in the area immediately adjacent to the parking for my building. One time my old beat up car was out of commission for a week, and I parked it in that area while awaiting the next paycheck to get it fixed. Within 72 hours, I had an enormous, ugly, orange sticker firmly affixed to the windshield (and it did NOT want to come off) saying my car was going to be towed. I called the office, and was told that all cars must be moved once every 48 hours or they will be towed. WTF? Now, this certainly was BS, as many of the retirees there didn't go out every single day. They had no jobs, bad weather, or simply just nothing to go out and do. I said you know, I live here. I pay the condo fees. I have a right to a parking place. I am only using one space, whereas someone owning a 3 BR could quite rationally need two or even three spaces. They insisted I move the car every 48 hours or it would be towed. They suggested I move it from one space to another. The problem was, that for a week, the car wasn't movable. I couldn't pay to have it towed to a shop until I got paid again. I was really angry and told the woman in the office this was nuts, and was harassment. I peeled the sticker off the car, which was incredibly difficult to accomplish, and just held my breath. Fortunately it took them a few days to put a new sticker on it, and then, I got paid and got the car to a shop. But I was sick to my stomach about it the entire week. I couldn't afford to lose my car, nor could I afford to get it from a towing company. We all know how THEY work. A week in storage would have cost more than the car's value.

The crap these people pulled was just ridiculous. The roof in my building was replaced three times in three years, and leaked for three years... filling my unit with mold. Meanwhile, every year I was assessed some enormous fee to pay for this shoddy work, like $500 or more in addition to the condo fees, and was given like 60 days to somehow come up with the money. When they finished that fiasco, they decided to put some kind of recycled rubber pieces down on all of the steps and landings of the three story units, that had been nice clean simple concrete (the stairwells were covered with a roof, but no outside wall.) I was assessed another several hundred dollar fee one summer for that. I was never advised of any of this stuff; there was no means to vote on it; the board just did it and assessed us. The next year they said, oops, guess what, we have to pay several hundred dollars per year per unit to spray some chemical on the rubber to preserve it, we didn't know about that, fork up several hundred bucks in 60 days. Next project was that all the mail boxes were to be replaced with ones that were three or four times larger, and again, I was to fork up several hundred dollars. it was just ridiculous. Someone suggested that board members' family likely owned a towing company, a roofing company (I'm pretty sure that was true), etc., and their position on the boards was being used to benefit family businesses and/or to get kickbacks.

I hope I never live in a condo again. People are too crooked, selfish, and crazy, and just plain mean as hell.

[underahedgerow]

10. Sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Far too often, trying to do the right thing ends up biting you on the butt.

I hope it all turns out all right.

[femmocrat]

11. Hoping everything works out for you both.

You don't have to explain a thing, but I hope anyone who doubted you will now just STFU.

I don't understand why some people have to be so negative, especially on an anonymous message board full of strangers. They should have to "walk a mile in your moccasins" --as the old saying goes-- before jumping to conclusions.

You have a lot of guts to post here, diabeticman. I hope it helps you to vent and I saw that you got some help writing your letter. Not everyone is a skeptic and there really are some generous, good-hearted people here.

Don't know what else to say, except, best wishes.

[mackerel]

12. i think it is called keyboard courage, makes some feel empowered.

[cwydro]

13. There are some bullies on every board.

There used to be quite a group of them in the Lounge at one time, but I think either they all left or were booted.

[LiberalElite]

14. Wow - what a lousy

past couple of years for you. I also am a cat lover and have 5, a couple of them are sick. Regarding the condo assn. I've only heard bad things about condos and their picky rules & regs. I can't believe what they're doing to you is legal. it sounds like they're making it up as they go along.

[diabeticman]

15. Feels like it.

[cwydro]

16. Hang in there

and keep us posted!

[taterguy]

17. Welcome to the jungle

It gets worse here everyday.