Indifference
From the “tell us what you really think” department: looks like Surovell isn’t the only Ann Arbor property management company with candid opinions to share on the students who live in their properties. Jim Fuller of Michigan Commercial Realty, unhappy with some tenants’ alleged propensity for flouting recycling regulations, tells the News, “There’s just a general attitude of indifference on the part of these University of Michigan students…A lot of kids come here, poop all over Ann Arbor for four years, and then they leave.”
At least students aren’t farting out strip malls and office parks.
posted by Anna on October 13th, 2005 at 12:27 pmThat’s a little odd, since the MCR building I lived in didn’t even have a recycling thingamadoozer. However, I will stand by my assessment they were pretty good landlords.
posted by Dave on October 13th, 2005 at 12:37 pmJerks. I’m a fucking recycling nazi, and we still don’t have a recycling thingamagig for the 9 people in my apartment complex. When I was in the dorms (for comparitive’s sake), we didn’t get our trash picked up more than once every two weeks. At that point, the recycling and trash cans just blurred together and the garbage-closet was just one big mess. But I’m sure it was our fault that we didn’t want to take out our own trash since we lived on the top floor.
And if anyone from Three Oaks is reading this, the good people of 423 N. Fourth Avenue would really appreciate some large recycling containers, since all the apartments tend to recycle as much as they throw out, and one of the residents is tired of dragging all the recycling to the curb herself in makeshift boxes for pickup, which she doesn’t think is within regulations, but appeciates the recycling-people picking up the stuff anyhow. Thanks.
posted by Jen on October 13th, 2005 at 3:37 pmFuller is right: I can’t believe the number of students I’ve seen crapping on the streets of my beautiful city. They think they can just poop at will, wherever they so desire.
My poor, sweet Ann is overwhelmed with the shit of soul-less bohemians.
posted by Michigan Fatass on October 13th, 2005 at 4:10 pmHey, as long as they don’t poop on Asian students…
posted by Dave on October 13th, 2005 at 4:17 pmJen,
If you don’t have a recycling box, call the city. Some asshole probably used them to move. The number is 662-6288.
(duh)
posted by OFWinsurgent on October 13th, 2005 at 5:55 pmHey, as long as they don’t poop on idiots named Dave…
posted by Dave on October 13th, 2005 at 10:06 pmThat’s Asian idiots named Dave, thank you.
(And yes, you guessed I’m not politically correct, a major disadvantage in this town.)
posted by Dave on October 14th, 2005 at 2:01 amOFWinsurgent:
We need more than a box - we have 9 people, we need the big sized thing. And I tried calling the city - I need to be a property owner to buy one of those. I really should’ve just lied and said I was the landlord. Anyhow, we have two small boxes, and those overflow pretty quickly. Especially since whoever takes out the trash doesn’t bother with recycling, and I have to remember to do it every Sunday night.
I suffer for my art, and my art is reducing reusing and recycling. I was a good Girl Scout.
posted by Jen on October 14th, 2005 at 3:02 amJen is right — the city won’t give the larger recycling bins to tenants — I tried once to get one, too. When I called, they didn’t even tell me that my landlord could get one for me, they just told me that they didn’t give recycling bins to apartment-dwellers. They also wouldn’t give me one of the smaller recycling bins. I lived on E. Ann, in a house that was split into three apartments — not a big apartment complex. I finally bought a large tupperware bin thing at kmart and used that, but it was pretty annoying that I couldn’t get one from the city.
posted by Anna on October 14th, 2005 at 8:56 amI think it funny that this is published as though it is fresh news…. as if Ann Arbor is the only town with selfish college students, and this is a new phenomenon just beginning with our generation.
Dave, that made me laugh out loud.
posted by Andrew on October 14th, 2005 at 8:56 amForgive me folks, but I love this guy for saying “poop”. Poop. Poop. Poop. Just cracks me up.
posted by Parking Structure Dude! on October 14th, 2005 at 11:07 amI suppose I should update that Three Oaks did indeed order a recycling bin, and the city is now backed up.
The power of the internet, I ‘pose.
posted by Jen on October 14th, 2005 at 11:33 amAlso, I think I’m posting anonymously on Ann Arbor sites from here on out. This is getting ridiculous.
posted by Jen on October 14th, 2005 at 11:38 amJust a plug for Fuller – I once sublet a MichCom property, and they were *much* better about requested maintenance than my previous landlord (Go to hell, Neil Snook). MichCom did nothing on their own initiative (including shovel the sidewalks) but if you asked for something you got it, and quickly.
posted by RD on October 14th, 2005 at 1:48 pmMore to the point, I’d rather a landlord complain about lack of recycling than, say, reluctance to pay $1200/month for a drafty warren with no locking doors.
Michcom is not a bad property company. Jim is a good guy, I know him and agree with the attitude of some of the transitory students. Unless you’ve been here 10 years or more I wouldn’t suspect you to have a valid opinion.
posted by LT on October 14th, 2005 at 3:31 pmRD, I second that. Jim is pretty cool. I called about ants in my place and he had an exterminator out there the next day.
posted by Dave on October 14th, 2005 at 3:33 pmSo students should wait until they’ve been here 10 years, then consider renting from him? Works for me.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on October 14th, 2005 at 3:55 pmNope, my point being you’re transitory yourself. Spend more than your grad school years here and you might understand what Jim was saying. But I suspect you can’t wait to be done and get out. I’m pretty sure he was referring to undergrads anyways.
posted by LT on October 14th, 2005 at 4:54 pmAnd my point is that if Jim shares your opinion (and it’s not clear that he does), he might include whether hot water is a luxury and whether the hole in the porch needs to be fixed as things on which a “transitory” person such as myself doesn’t have valid opinions. Based on the experiences of people here, it sounds like that might not be the case, so it’s too bad he had to make a comment like that to the News.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on October 14th, 2005 at 5:04 pmMy first apartment was with MichCom, and thus far they are the only realty company in Ann Arbor I’d recommend wholeheartedly. If we called in a repair, we got a call back from Jim the next day at the latest, and things were actually fixed, not patched up just barely enough to make do. This has not been the case with any landord I’ve had since, and it is almost 10 years that I have been here.
There really are some students who trash their apartments, it must be exhasperating at times.
posted by ox on October 14th, 2005 at 9:19 pmAs another former Michigan realty renter I’ll agree, Jim was great to respond. Maybe the snooze or readers took his comments out of context, maybe not, he’s got more experience in the matter than any of us.
posted by Andrew on October 14th, 2005 at 11:24 pmHey, as long as they don’t poop on white bigots named Dave…
posted by Dave on October 20th, 2005 at 6:32 pmAnonymous name-callers are so hip…. for me to poop on!
posted by Dave on October 20th, 2005 at 9:02 pmI’m a current michcom realty rentor, and i do happen to recycle as much as possible, but I think Jim is probably pretty right as far as most students go. Plus, he’s a damn cool guy, and he’s always here to help when our toilet breaks.
posted by Aaron Kahn on October 31st, 2005 at 6:25 pm