Announcements & Residents’ comments and suggestions
These
pages include comments, complaints, ideas, etc. that were submitted by AM2
residents. It also publishes changes or new rules and regulations in our community.or just browse below:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------6/30/19
Kudos to our AM2
vice president
for coming up with the idea, organizing and then executing a fun day for residents and their kids.
Good idea and we hope to see many more in the future.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------6/25/19
You will not believe it!!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6/10/19
Valet service at night
Dear friends and owners, I would like to tell you a story that
happened when the valet services were reduced without considering its consequences
and ramifications. I’m talking about the elimination of valet service after midnight.
On Saturday night few friends came to visit us, they
followed regulations and used the valet services to park their cars. At around
11:15 PM, while people were enjoying dessert and conversation, suddenly, they
stood up and said that they must depart because they were asked to leave. I
asked the reason for the surprising departure; they showed me a telephone text
that they just received. A nasty unprofessional demeaning text from the valet
that said: This is AM2 valet, we are leaving at 11:30 come immediately to check
out your car. I was flabbergasted and ashamed; my party was ruined. I must say that
we are paying a lot of money every month for maintenance and what do we get? Lousy
services.
Those valet employees are missing decency and politeness and painting a dark picture of our services, this is unacceptable!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6/2/2019
Please publish;
I’m a resident and had conversations with other unit owners
regarding the shabby appearance of the AM2 building and decided to express our
dissatisfaction. We have some of the finest units in Aventura with unobstructed
views of Sunny Isle Beach. Why are our board members/management neglecting the
upkeep of our property thus allowing the value of our units to decline? Board
members have the fiduciary duty to maintain the building in order protect the
value of our property. AM2 has control of the AMO (paying 2/3 of all expenses) and could direct
the continuous maintenance of landscape, fence and lobby areas of the garage. Why
is our board continues to order inferior products causing the devaluation of
our units.
As you drive into our community, your first sight is a cheap
plastic fence similar
to what one sees at near by car washes. Next, after parking your car, you walk into cheap looking flooring that was applied in garage lobbies (notice all scratches and black marks). Is this how our money should be spent, for poor quality material and incompetent work? After passing through the garage one notices the second-rate landscape that obviously has been totally neglected; dead bushes and tiny replaced bushes next to similar grown bushes. Mod A third floor elevator frame has had multitude paint chips for months now. This is unacceptable; owners of units ranging from $500,000.00 to over $1,000,000 should not tolerate it. What is motivating this board to be so negligent?
to what one sees at near by car washes. Next, after parking your car, you walk into cheap looking flooring that was applied in garage lobbies (notice all scratches and black marks). Is this how our money should be spent, for poor quality material and incompetent work? After passing through the garage one notices the second-rate landscape that obviously has been totally neglected; dead bushes and tiny replaced bushes next to similar grown bushes. Mod A third floor elevator frame has had multitude paint chips for months now. This is unacceptable; owners of units ranging from $500,000.00 to over $1,000,000 should not tolerate it. What is motivating this board to be so negligent?
Owners in AM2 building should be seeing high quality workmanship not slum level like workmanship. It’s strange to see fancy Maserati, Mercedes and Porsche cars parked in garage while observing recycle bins, plastic fencing and neglected landscape.
Examples:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5/8/2019
Dear Editor
Please publish this article
I previously lived in several luxurious condominiums before finally
purchasing a unit in AM2. I started out
as a renter in AM2 and was so impressed I decided to buy a unit in AM2. At the time that I bought, the valet service
was top notch. The concierge staff
dressed in clean nicely pressed uniforms.
The lobbies were filled with stunning flowers.
I researched many comparable condominiums and AM2 beat them
all with the amenities and spectacular layouts and views.
Wow!!!! What a
shocker!!! AM2 went from beautiful luxurious
building to a low- end building, Amenities are failing. What a disappointment.
What is happening?
Sincerely,
Disappointed Real Estate Agent
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5/7/2019
Dear Blogger
I have a major concern that the board and management are not
enforcing AM2 rules and regulations. Many non-- resident people are allowed to walk
freely to elevators without being checked for identification and then are able to
hop on the elevator. Our security and
safety are at risk. The package room door is left unlocked most of the time and
anyone can walk into room to steal a package.
Also, the other day a bare chest man walked thru the main lobby pushing
a full grocery cart.
The rules state clearly that men must wear shirts; women have
a cover over bathing suits and no bare feet thru lobby etc. We live in an
upscale building not a slum community. The board/management must enforce all
rules and regulations.
Disgusted owner
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5/2/2019our valet at work: When the valet is at full capacity (on the left) the entrance to AM2 is blocked (on the right)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3/1/2019
Last year, the board eliminated valet service between the hours of 12 AM to 6 AM. This is yet another example of a reduction in service. As a result, we are no longer capable of claiming to offer 24/7 valet service like most high-class residences.
In addition to a visible increase in traffic congestion, there have also been numerous complaints of the implementation of the new service. Below is an example of such a complaint that an owner sent us, which will summarize the new state of affairs from an owner’s point of view:
Dear blog group;
I would like to write to you about my guests and the new “no valet after midnight implementation.” if it wasn’t happening to me, I would hardly be able to believe it, as it could easily be an episode from the TV series Seinfeld.
One Friday in February, I invited guests to my home. as usual, I received a call from the front gate to grant them entry. they were greeted by our valet service, and this is how they described their experience:
The valet service opened the car doors and after greeting us, the valet attendant asked if we will leave before or after midnight. We were surprised, as we never encountered this form of inquiry in a valet service before. We joked and asked the valet attendant if after midnight he turns into a pumpkin? He did not laugh.
I was very embarrassed and apologized to them that they are welcome in my home as long as they want and to just ignore the inappropriate questioning by the valets.
but wait, there’s more...
Close to midnight they sent a text to the valet to retrieve their car. a few minutes after midnight, our guests left, and i accompanied them to the lobby.
When looking for the valet, the concierge told them that there is no valet anymore, and he will get their car for them.
Normally, you just take the ticket (on the smart phone) and retrieve the car. but not here, it’s an embarrassing display of incompetence. first, he asked them the make and model of their car as well as the color. he went to the front door where the valet cart was standing. he browsed through all the keys, picking up different sets at random, turning around, and questioning if they recognized any of them.
That went on for a while. After a while, he returned to the front desk where there were another bunch of keys. As I picked my jaw up from off the floor, the game of “is this your car?” continued. finally, they were able to reduce the random key guessing game to the scope of two similar sets of keys.
The concierge went out to the parking lot with both sets, and tested the remotes to determine which if any was the right car. Finally, my friends got their car (or one of similar value), and on their way they went.
To say that they were curious about the experience that they went through, which I witnessed, would be putting it mildly.
before they left, I slightly diffused the situation by showing them the valet post and explaining that if you leave before midnight you pay $2 for the valet service, but if you leave after midnight (when there is no service), you pay double that, and if you can find your own car, you get to have it back.
There are persistent problems with the valet service that continue to linger without anyone implementing a solution.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------02/20/2019The neglect in our yacht club(Gym) & landscape continues:
The elevator is broken for months (no access for handicaps):
Bushes still missing around AMII generators fence
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------01/12/2019
Hinges Replacement
On December, 3 2018 property management sent a mass distribution email containing a schedule for front door hinges replacements. It
also indicated that if you can’t
be home, at that time, you should send an email permitting the maintenance people to enter your unit to replace the hinges. No other follow-up option was given.
As it appears, many
residents ignored this email resulting with many front door hinges not replaced.
You can still get your door hinges replaced, by
calling the office of the property manager to schedule a free replacement, especially if your door
hinges are rusty (look at the picture on the right)
Old rusty hinge
New replaced hinge
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------01/07/2019
Menorah Removed
Many residents complained and were surprised that our
beautiful menorah was removed from the lobby immediately after the last
day of Hanukkah (December, 10
2018).
In past years and at other condominiums and malls the menorah continues to shine for
weeks after the holiday is officially ended. Was the menorah an eyesore to our
board? Why was our tradition
broken? Interesting
observation.
The Christmas tree remained
standing in the lobby many days after
Christmas ended.
In our Yacht Club the menorah continued to shine weeks after Hanukkah ended. The Yacht Club is controlled by the easement board which has common sense.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11/12/2018
 |
| Picture I |
Mold in Yacht club (Gym)
In Dec 2017 mold was found in the yacht club and a remediation company AEML Inc. was hired to re-mediate it. No warning signs were posted nor emails sent to residents. As rumors spread, resident asked, during the February 2018 AM2 board meeting to update the mold situation. The vice president of AM2, who represents AM2 on the easement board, which manages the yacht club, said that the mold was re-mediated but that we didn't receive a clean bill of health because the leaks that caused the mold were not repaired. He also added that his doctor recommended that he should avoid going to the gym until the mold situation is fixed. Now at the end of 2018, we still have no clean bill of health and there is no published updated status report informing whether the leaks were fixed. However, it seems that the leak repair is still ongoing (see picture II). Also, we noticed dark spots on the gym ceiling that possibly indicate new mold (see picture I).
 |
| Picture II |
AM2 Landscape
After the restoration of AM2 ended few months
ago, the association spent around
$20,000 to redesign the landscaping around the building that was destroyed
while renovating,
restoring and painting our building.
We had a unique opportunity to hire a landscape architect to
design our surroundings to an excellent high class
standard. Instead the landscaper was the architect and we got very little for our money.
Here is one
example (out of many) that shows poor judgment of landscape design:
Metal edging around the plants,
picture 1 and picture 2 (that
what we got)
 |
| 1 |
 |
| 2 |
An example of a high-end landscape design used in a luxury buildings, picture 3 (that is what we didn’t get)
 |
| 3 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11/2/2018
New procedure of Valet service:
The new valet hours are now 5 AM to 12 am, from 12 AM to 5 AM there is no valet service.
While valet is present,
guess pays $2.- . When valet is not present
(guests must park their own car) the
price is $4.
This makes no sense; it is
so funny/stupid that it belongs in a Jack Mason satire. Who is the “genius” that came up with this idea?
Guests who arrive after 5 PM
must tell the attendant (if they are honest) whether they will leave after midnight (so that they
can be charged $4 instead of$2), also they must pay immediately the valet fees.
This new procedure causes
the following new problems:
1. If you pay the $2 for your guests there is no
way to do that after 5 PM unless you wait for your guests in the lobby
2. When the fee is paid, the car is marked as
checked out, so when your guests are leaving there is no way to use the smart
phone (like before) to request the car
3. People that bought in bulk 30 parking credits
for $3 each were not told how they would be reimbursed.
4. The gusts have to estimate when they will leave,
very intimidating. What if someone arrives before 5 PM but stays later than
midnight? Obviously the ramifications of these changes were not properly thought (as always, an incomplete plan with
loose ends).
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> resident comment
Reducing the maintenance charges by $50 will not change
anyone’s life. However, taking away services (such as limited valet operation)
does affect residents. I rather pay the $50 dollars and hire more people to
take care of residents’ needs. Fifty dollars times 252 units adds up to $12,600
per month that can be used to take care of residents needs and make their
experience at AM Two better.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11/1/2018
The new procedure is: The owner
of the rental unit pays $1,500 refundable deposit to the
association (why?) and the renter doesn’t need to make any deposit.
This gives the renter and the real estate brokers a benefit as the renter needs
to shell out only 2 months of rent and the
brokers will have a larger population that can afford to
rent in our building.
We just received an email from our property
management that the board is lowering the monthly maintenance fees by 3%. On the surface it
looks great, but again it could have unpredictable results, similar to
what we said above, people that couldn’t afford to live here before, will now be able to, resulting in
deteriorating values of our building/units.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11/1/2018
New procedure when Renting a unit
The previous procedure used
to be that when a renter was approved to live in our building he/she had to deposit a refundable amount of one-month
rent, which was kept by the association.
So, a renter needed 3
months of rent to move into an apartment (1 month deposit to the associations, one month security deposit and
the 1st month rent). This procedure
is used by many luxury high-rise buildings in order to purge people that can’t afford
to live in such buildings.
The new procedure is: The owner
of the rental unit pays $1,500 refundable deposit to the
association (why?) and the renter doesn’t need to make any deposit.
This gives the renter and the real estate brokers a benefit as the renter needs
to shell out only 2 months of rent and the
brokers will have a larger population that can afford to
rent in our building.
In addition, since the renters don’t have anything to lose because they are not placing a deposit with the association themselves there is no way to control them with fines.
This rule will be detriment to owners that live in the building and eventually will lower our property values. In addition, the tool to weed out unwanted renters is lost
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
New fence
The AMO board approved the construction of a white plastic fence to hide AM2 electrical transformers. Good idea but bad implementation. The fence is too short and the ugly tops of the transformers are sticking out. Bad, Bad, Bad!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6/26/2018
Resident complaint
Many residents have expressed dissatisfaction with
the way the management office treats owners. They cater to their company and
the board members. They treat owners like they are to be disciplined and kept
under control. Not as the people that pay for EVERYTHING including the company
they work for, supposedly to serve condominium owners/shareholders. Owners are
treated like in a rental community and not as rightful owners. This affects the
value of the community. If the owners do not have a pleasant experience when
they deal with the management office, who would recommend living in our
community? The word out there is AM is a nice community but the association
treats owners like second class citizens. The way they run things is
detrimental for our community. The rules need to be there and they need to be
enforced but the association needs to cater to owners’ needs. Owners are shareholders
in the community and together own the actual building. Catering to
owners/shareholders needs to be a priority during any dealings with the
management office. THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE STAT OR NOBODY WILL RECOMMEND LIVING IN
AM AND OUR PROPERTY VALUATION WILL BE AFFECTED.
Another issue is
the red tape contractors and owners have to go through to get any type of work
done in their units. I had 3 different contractors back out after dealing with
the association and seeing their silly rules …..rules that they don’t follow.
We should have NO work done on weekends but the painters are working on
balconies and doing work on the weekend. How come that contactor can and unit
owners can not? There was even drilling on a Saturday before 9 in the morning!
Back to remodeling units, I had to pay 30% more to get my work done
because of the amount of requirements and regulations. It took me months to get
everything lined up. When the contractor was ready to start the association was
not finished reviewing the registration and that again delayed the project. This kind of practice devaluates the building. The
easier they make the process for an owner to fix and remodel a unit the better
sale prices we can get. Why? Because people will remodel, paint, fix things and
update their units.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5/2018
On May 5, 2018 teenagers were seen playing on the roof of our 32-story building. Concerned Hidden Bay residents took the following pictures. The pictures where sent to AM2 management. It was later discovered that an open gate to the roof was left open. That gate should have been closed and secured by the AM2 maintenance people. No investigation was done and no one was held accountable for that negligence.
Teenagers on roof
On May 5, 2018 teenagers were seen playing on the roof of our 32-story building. Concerned Hidden Bay residents took the following pictures. The pictures where sent to AM2 management. It was later discovered that an open gate to the roof was left open. That gate should have been closed and secured by the AM2 maintenance people. No investigation was done and no one was held accountable for that negligence.
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