Someone in the Forward Management Pittsburgh building not disposing of their trash properly

"Attention Residents of 5855 Alderson Street

It has been reported several times that someone in this building is leaving full bgs of trash in the main hallway and common areas. This is a direct violation of your lease agreement. Anyone seen leaving trash or belongings in the main hallway or common areas (basement/laundry room) can be fined up to $35 per bag of trash.

Keep in mind that improper trash disposal can cause pest and rodent issues within the building. We ask that you please utilize the dumpsters on Maeburn Road for all trash disposal. Recycle bins are also located on Maeburn Road for your use.

Should you have any questions, please contact our Management Office. Thank you for your prompt attention on this matter.

Sincerely,

Forward Management
5440 5th Avenue Management Office 63
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
412-254-2424"

Forward Management Pittsburgh's [False] Final Notice of Bicycle in Hallway Removal

'Received this letter taped to all doors of the apartment building today, from Forward Management Pittsburgh warning residents to remove their bikes from the hallways by May 13. There is a mention of a "final notice", however I don't think we've seen an initial notice, not for over a year. This yields this "final notice" as more of a first notice.

Additionally, the letter makes no acknowledgement of the two bicycles that were stolen from the building's basement (see the post on the theft crimes in Forward Management Properties Pittsburgh, here). Residents should be warned against moving their bikes to the basement where bicycles have been stolen before.

"Dear Residents,

This will be our final notice to all residents at 5835 and 5855 Alderson Street in regards to bicycles being stored in the main hallway areas.

All residents who are still storing personal items and bicycles in the main hallways must remove them immediately.

These items pose tripping hazards in the event of any emergencies within the buildings and cannot be stored there any longer.

If bicycles are not removed by Wednesday, May 13, 2015 at 5pm, we will begin cutting locks/chains and removing the bicycles ourselves.

Should you have any questions, please contact our Management Office.

Thank you for your prompt attention on this matter.

Sincerely, Forward Management"

Forward Management Pittsburgh 72 Hour Electric Shut Off Notice

The usual: Forward Management Pittsburgh is delinquent on its electric bill (of $2,141.95) and so Duquesne Light is threatening to shut off the building's electricity.

"Name: Alderson-Forward Properties LLC
Service Address: 5855 Alderson St.
City, State, Zip Code: Pgh, PA 15217

Date: 5/4/15

72-hour shut-off notice

Your electric service may be shut off!

We may shut off your electricity because:
X You did not pay your past due bill.

We will shut off electric service to 5855 Alderson St. on or after 8:00 am on 5/11/15 without further notice.

We will NOT shut off your electric service if you do ONE of the following:
Pay $2141.95 in full before 5/11/15.

If we shut off your electric service, you may have to pay all of the following before we can turn your service on:
Overdue Account Balance: $2141.95
Estimated Security Deposit: $4183.00
Reconnection Charge Up To: $250.00
Estimated Total: $6574.95

* If your electric service is shut off, you may be required to pay any additional bills that have become past due to restore your service and/or correct the condition noted above. Duquesne Light will have up to 3 days to restore electric service.

..."

Loss of Power in Forward Management Pittsburgh Apartments

From 6:00pm to 6:45pm power for our entire building went out. Photos below are of the emergency light in the hallway, and an otherwise dark building hallway.

Bikes Stolen from Forward Management Building Basements

It turns out that bicycles get stolen from right off of Forward Management's property. Or rather, right inside Forward Management Pittsburgh's buildings.

The letter posted to the door reads:

"Dear Residents of [xxxx]

This evening, while doing my laundry, I noticed that my bike that I had locked up to one of the pillars in the basement had been stolen. Someone had cut through the cable lock that I had secured my bike to. While down there, I noticed another bike lock cable that was cut and lying on the floor. I can only assume that someone else's property was stolen as well. I urge all of you to make sure your property is still there, if you do keep a bike downstairs. I have filed a police report. If your property was stolen, you can reference 13209989 when you call 911. The police will take a report for your stolen property. Hopefully this has not happened to anyone else. Signed, Your Neighbor."

Forward Management and Old, Loud, Shaky Pipes

The above "video" (just sound) tells a short story about the noises are water pipes make in the walls on a semi-regular basis. The first 10 seconds exemplifies what the awful racket sounds like, followed by 10 seconds of me turning the shower on, followed by 10 seconds of what it should sound like (i.e., silence). This has happened intermittently but I just grabbed the audio today.

We called the landlord today, too, about this very noisy issue.

[Edit 9/25/13: It happened again today, and several other times since this post originally went up. Still no response from Forward Management Pittsburgh.]

[Edit 9/26/13: Sometime around 2pm it seems there were some maintenance guys checking out the problem in our bathroom and the upstairs apartment's bathroom as well.]

Forward Management Pittsburgh Delinquent on Duquesne Light Bill

Another month, another notice from Duquesne Light telling Forward Management Pittsburgh that it is delinquent on its electric bill for over $1,000.

Forward Management Pittsburgh Delinquent on Electric Bill

'Nothing quite like having a landlord, Forward Management Pittsburgh, that is delinquent on its electric bill for $1,024.00 to the point that the residents get shut-off warnings taped to the wall.

Forward Management Pittsburgh Late on Paying Water Bill, Again

Pretty standard delinquent utility notice to tenants of the delinquent landlord. Although, if you check out the 'Utilities' tag, you'll see that Forward Management Pittsburgh more frequently forgets to pay its gas bill, not the water bill.

If you'd like to review all the times Forward Management fails to pay their utilities bills (or, at least, every time I've caught the letter), check out the 'utilities' label.

Forward Management Building Broken Washing Machines

As I went to do my laundry this afternoon, I realized that one of our building washing machines was missing. Not a major tragedy (well, aside from the stagnant water where the machine used to be, that has since bread a mosquito that has bitten me. Delightful). So, I loaded my laundry into the remaining machine, put in detergent, and then placed the four quarters in their slots. After pushing the quarters into the machine, nothing happened. It appears that this Forward Management Apartment Building Property does not have any functioning washing machines.

At around 4pm (when this happened), I called Forward Management and was directed to the answering machine, as usual. So, it appears the residents of this building will not be able to do any laundry this weekend. And I am out 4 quarters, and have no clean towels. It is very irresponsible of Forward Management to do this, without warning anyone. I guess this is not surprising for a landlord with abysmal ratings on LandOrSlum.

Stagnant water where old washing machine used to be, now a vibrant mosquito breeding ground.

Power Outage

There was a building-wide power outage today, at ~8:00pm. The power company showed up and worked on the power lines down the street. After approximately 50 minutes in the dark, the power returned around 8:50pm.

Forward Management's Broken Stairwell Railing

Found this rail fallen from its attachment to the wall in the basement/1st floor public stairwell of the building. I tried calling Forward Management Pittsburgh, but had to leave a message on the answering machine. However, the answering machine was full for both extensions '2' and '3'. I will have to call earlier on Monday, 6/6/11.

[Edit 8/5/11: The railing is still broken.]
[Edit 12/4/11: The railing was fixed a couple months ago.]

Forward Management Pittsburgh's Ever-broken Hallway Fixture

The dimly lit photo below accurately depicts what the hallway looks like at 10:30am (notice how the light may be on, but it's not actually producing any light that hits the floor).

The light fixture was "fixed" a week or so ago, but after the power outage a few nights ago, it's gone back to being broken. even better, the plastic fixture has a large crack. Classy.

[Update at 5:45pm: Aaaaaaand the half-broken light has been fixed, with the plastic cover removed.

]

Update 8/5/11: The main broken light is broken/out again. The only light on this floor is a smaller one that's in one of the two-apartment "nooks."
Update 12/4/11: The hallway light was completely replaced last week, with a typical apartment interior light fixture. No more neon.

Forward Management Pittsburgh's Giant Pothole

I woke up to the sound of a snow plow stuck in the below pothole, taking the driveway towards the parking lot behind the building. This driveway is on Forward Management Pittsburgh's property, as it leads to its private parking lot. Nearly every car scrapes their undercarriage on this pothole, but I was surprised to hear a truck do the same.

The pothole has been a growing problem, but has only gotten worse with the freeze-thaw cycles here in Pittsburgh.

[Edit 12/3/11: The driveway pothole was fixed today.]