Published in the Weekly, June 22, 2025
The board read with interest the article entitled “The Weekly” in the most recent edition of The Weekly. We would like to respond to the paragraph that states “issues are often stonewalled, delayed or merely ignored.” It is unclear whether this statement is related to the office or the board, or both.
As mentioned, the co-op is a democracy, and the board is made up of volunteers who are members themselves. As evidenced through our board reports in The Weekly, the board has been keenly focused on the co-op’s finances and physical infrastructure, capital projects, our safety, accessibility training, and laundry, just to name a few.
The board welcomes all feedback and communications from the membership, but we’d like to set reasonable expectations.
The Board mailbox is checked every couple of days. At least twenty emails are received per week. The autoreply from the mailbox acknowledges receipt of the email by the board. Many of the issues raised require careful investigation, involvement of various committees, discussions within the board or with members and/or the involvement of the office staff. Some items need to wait for a more robust discussion/decision making at the monthly board meeting.
We appreciate it may seem that an issue is not being addressed with the appropriate velocity or seems to be not addressed at all. The issue may be in progress, or complex enough that it requires some time to resolve. It may be advisable in some cases to send a polite follow up email asking for a status if you are concerned that an issue isn’t being addressed.
The board would like to highlight the following:
- if you have witnessed what you believe to be a crime, are a victim of a crime, or have a health emergency, please call 911.
- If you have a noise complaint, please call 311.
- If you have after hours needs, call the on-call team.
- If you have issues of an administrative nature (e.g. waiting lists, pest control, priority moves, housing charge, RGI or maintenance) please contact the office. The board doesn’t need to be cc’d on these emails.
- If you’d like to report an incident, complete the incident form on the website
- If you have an escalation (regarding the property manager or another issue for which no resolution has been reached) contact the board and specify that it is an escalation requiring action.
- If you are having an issue with another member, contact the Conflict Mediation Committee for advice.
- If you have an idea – consider whether it could be addressed to a related committee. The list of committees is on our website. You can also send ideas to the board.
Co-operatively
The Board of Directors