Westsea has confirmed that it will not permit lessees to post notice of a summer picnic in the next-door park. This petty enforcement of the post-no-signs rule of the Orchard House lease is demeaning to lessees, who are treated like children, so I called a spade a spade in the following email exchange. Brian Slater was then Westsea’s property manager and Julie Trache is the company president.
Hi, Brian: The Orchard House site manager must have neglected to describe the small notes that I posted by each floor’s elevator buttons, as it would be preposterous to think that Ms. Trache could be so petty as to prohibit Orchard House residents announcing that they’ll gather for a potluck picnic in the next-door park on Sunday. ‘No commercial notices, ‘understandable, calls to revolution, of course not, even “kittens for sale”, nah, but a note with a smiley face to say “Picnic Sunday; everyone welcome”, no, no landlord would behave that way… it’s a laughable suggestion!
To overcome the misunderstanding, and with my apology for not having done so before, I ask formally that Westsea Construction allow the Association of Orchard House Lessees to post notes twice per year for a social function, namely a summer picnic and a December Christmas event, both of which take place off the property. These will be one half of an 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper, posted not more than a week in advance, and removed by us by the end of the day of such events. The Sunday picnic, by the way, starts at 5 p.m. in South Park; Ms. Trache could bring the chicken salad. -Gerald Rotering, Publicist, Association of Orchard House Lessees
To which Mr. Slater replied that the answer is ‘no signs or notices’ (even for a picnic), and told me not to be “rude, demeaning or derogatory” and write only in a “reasonable and appropriate manner”. He added that events may not be referred to as associated with Orchard House. To which I replied as follows:
Brian, Julie: So you believe that it is not rude, demeaning or derogatory to treat lessees like unruly children who may not be permitted to announce a picnic gathering. Yet the prohibition you confirm is the very definition of demeaning to lessees. My reply was entirely “reasonable and appropriate” sarcasm to the enforcement of a rule imposed to a petty extent that a court would almost certainly find is not reasonable. If you act in a laughable manner, you’re going to be laughed at. Oh, and let us know when you have “Orchard House” registered somehow for your exclusive use. -Gerald Rotering, lessee, Orchard House, Victoria
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