03 September 2008
 
Pay Me Now

 
The flyer I have been waiting for showed up in the box yesterday. I knew what was in it, though not the details. I let it sit on the counter and went out on the balcony, marveling at the smooth working of the back door. It had been an excellent investment, having John the itinerant ships chandler re-hang the thing.
 
I looked down at the pool, which enticed behind the locked gate. Jakob the Czech is off for the rest of the week to see New York City. He will work two more weekends and that is it for the season, him back to middle Europe and the rest of us shuffling off into darkness and winter.
 
I know you could care less. We all have our little challenges, and I don’t know why you would care about Big Pink’s crumbling infrastructure. The contents of the note contained details about the Special Assessment that is going20to be imposed on those of us on this Island of Misfit Toys, starting November 1st.
 
I won’t bother you with how we got here- it was plumbing and elevator maintenance and re-paving the parking lot- and I agreed with the package, as unpleasant as it was. Failure of the pipes results in catastrophic water damage and the latter is a clear safety hazard- but the new asphalt is a mystery, when you consider that the heat that floods from windows is going to result in an astonishing heating bill. Even with the recent decline in oil prices, we are significantly above where we were last year, and that was a crusher.
 
But that is another distracter- after all, the County's decision to turn the demographic composition of our little neighborhood on its head with the two massive projects rising next to Culpepper Gardens might have been an issue that could occupy the residents of Big Pink who are enamored of conspiracy theories, and love their little democratic forum in the community meetings. We are inwardly focused here on our little campus. There is a curious gap between our emotional investment in our homes and what is on the national news from the conventions, and that gap is what is going on just feet outside the Big Pink property lines, don't you think? 
 
I mean, the fact that the Republican Ticket carries an unwed pregnant daughter is a bigger deal than the County moving in another thousand subsidized residents to the neighborhood, right?
 
Call me a NIMBY if you want, but the relocation is a matter of public policy, and that policy was set by community activists who go to meetings and speak loudly.
 
Anyway, I talked to one of us yesterday who is not subsidized. The resident is on a fixed income, which is the root of the current Big Pink crisis. The income of this owner- Social Security and a small pension- is about $21,000 a year. The Department of Health and Human Services set the poverty line at $10,400 for single citizens in the contiguous 48 states, so if this resident is not officially poor, it is possible to see the line from that unit.
 
I heard a complaint about the pool being open the next two weekends, which in that resident's view is a clear waste of money.
 
I was shocked, briefly, since the concept of "fixed income" is still theoretical for me. I do think about it, in concept, and wonder how I could stay here in something like retirement, even if I could pay off the mortgage. The condo fee alone is more than rent on a decent place away from the Imperial City. The special assessment is obviously going to be crushing  to those here in Big Pink who have to parse out social security checks as the sole means of income. But therein is the whole problem. We have failed to invest at key "windows" of opportunity because so many of us were reluctant to dig deep and do the right thing to keep our infrastructure sound.
 
I have lived in States that have done the same thing. One year Michigan woke up and realized the two major interstate highways hundreds of miles in length had to be replaced- replaced-  from lack of investment. Other jurisdictions are having highway bridges fall into rivers.
 
It is the old "pay me now, pay me later" thing. But the wrinkle in this one was that at those key moments, the equity in the rising market actually meant that residents could get cash out of their units based on the record prices. Some of us took the profits and left, others applied the found money to other things.
 
Now that the bubble has burst, recent buyers like me, and those who frittered away their equity on food and medical bills are stuck. We are here for the long haul, since I am about a hundred grand down on the bubble. And now the piper must be paid, just at the time when many of us are stressed out.
 
I'm still working, though I don't know where all the money goes. Actually, I do, of course, but am too lazy to change. That meant that when the notice of the assessment- somewhere around $10K, I shrugged and put it on top of the mortgage bills that anchor me to the building. The only way off the island is going to be feet-first, I suspect.
 
I just looked down on the blue water of the pool behind the locked gate and wonder how far I have to walk to get the same benefit of swimming forty-five minutes each day. 
 
How long is it until Memorial Day?
 
Copyright 2008 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com