A Couple of Actions That Made Me A Good Resident at Hanover Square Apartments

There is a history of homeless people sneaking into and sleeping in common areas of the Hanover Square apartment building at 1 W. Conway St. in Baltimore. When I was a resident there, I came home one evening and before I entered the building I saw that down the hall in the elevator lobby there were two homeless men trying to sleep there. One was on a small wooden bench and the other on the floor. A female resident was walking past and getting on the elevator. I called 911 on the homeless guys.

A cop came, I unlocked the front door, we walked in and I walked against the wall so that the homeless could not see me. I was concerned about them seeing me on the street on a later day and causing me trouble, so I left the police officer's side and walked upstairs to the third floor, where there is a small outside patio over looking the area out in front of the building. The cop checked them for wants and warrants, then let them leave. The officer and homeless guys were calm and polite with each other, and the outcome was fair.

It is easy for anyone to slip in behind residents who unlock the front door and come in, due to many residents being very old and frail. I was not the first to see the homeless in our lobby, others had passed by and not called police, and if I had not called 911 there probably would have been other residents who saw but said nothing. That's the way it is there.

On another day, there was a young homeless man overdosed and dead on steps - to a public area that is sort of a little cement and brick city park attached to the Hanover Square property - on one evening as I walked up to the Hanover Square apartment building I lived in at 1 W. Conway St. in Baltimore. It is the main entrance and exit for pedestrians from Hanover Square and the neighborhood there. I called 911, then administered a shot of naloxone narcotic reversal agent that I carried just for such an event. It had no effect. I then attempted to get the OD'd guy into a position where I could begin chest compressions, but he was too heavy for my old & disabled body to move. 

EMS was there within a few minutes of the 911 call, and they took over. They pointed out to me that the OD'd man's skin was already turning blue, which is a bad sign. They tried hard to revive the OD's guy for ten to fifteen minutes, but could not.  

I had seen several residents pass by before and during the incident before EMS got there, but no one else helped.    

Water On The Apartment House Hallway Floor I Call In The Emergency The Maintenance Man Shows Only Hostility Towards Me

The first time I experienced hostility from Keith the maintenance man for the apartment building I lived in had to do with when I came in the front door late one evening and saw that the first floor hallway ladies room had water pouring out from under its door. This was at Hanover Square Apartments, 1 W. Conway St. in Baltimore, Md.. I had immediately been concerned that a woman had fallen onto a toilet flusher or something or maybe one had slipped on the water and was in there on the floor, so I knocked on the door then opened it and shouted in then looked in. No one was there. So I called the emergency maintenance number.

I suspect that I was not the first to see the water damages in action, because of the water being so far out in the hallways and because of the way many people who live there are.

The water was coming down from the ceiling, not from a toilet or sink as I had excepted to find. After notifying the emergency maintenance number, my immediate concern became whether the water was coming from the apartment above, where my good neighbor Donald lived. I was afraid he was stuck in his overflowing tub or something like that, so I went upstairs and checked for water in that hallway then listened at Donald's door for the sound of water moving. Nothing there indicated he was in trouble with water overflowing.

So I hustled on back downstairs to make sure none of our visually impaired residents walked onto the watery floor, and to let anyone else around know I had called the emergency in.

The live in maintenance man Keith came walking fast from his apartment past me to go to his first floor maintenance shop for tools. As he approached and passed I informed him that I had checked upstairs on Donald and found that the water was not likely coming from his place. Keith abruptly said, "I can't talk now, I've got to fix this."

I never expected him to stop and talk, as if no emergency was happening and I wanted to get his opinion on the latest ballgame or something. I just wanted to say I checked the second floor and it's OK.

He came back and I went upstairs - leaving him to deal with any visually impaired residents who may slip on the wet floor.

Keith never thanked me for calling it in and saving the building from further water damage and saving him from more difficult repair work.

Previously, I had had several brief, nice, verbal interactions with Keith, but this was the first of his later hostilities towards me. Later, he acted as if he had viewed video from the security cameras and saw that I had walked past and never called the emergency in.

I Cooperated with The Window Replacement Crew But Management & Maintenance Saw It Differently

During the time I lived at 1 W. Conway St. Hanover Square Apartments for seniors in Baltimore, the windows were replaced. Four months prior to the project beginning, all residents were given flyers stating that the project was to begin, and on the day before each residents' windows were to be removed and replaced management will notify the residents for next day's prep of their apartments. The window replacement workers required the areas near the windows to be free of residents' furnishings and other possessions for designated areas. Management never gave any residents that one day warning, and some residents had their possessions moved away from their windows for months. That was very inconvenient for those residents. 

On the day prior to my windows being replaced, I knew it was about to happen so I asked the work crew boss if I needed to clear the areas for them. He said mine would be done the next day. I cleared the bedroom area that evening, because it was the most challenging with the heavy bed to be lifted up and out of the way. I have degenerative back disease and arthritis, and could not do the living room that evening, too. 

The following morning, at 9:30 am, Keith the maintenance man came down my hallway banging on doors and saying, "LET'S GO, LET'S GO, OPEN UP YOUR DOORS!!"He was acting like a drill sergeant waking up trainees. 

I was awake but still laying on my sofa, so I got up and opened up my door then sat down to let my old and worn body loosen up like every other morning. I was looking where I could place everything I had to move away from the window, when Keith came back by the open door. He said something about me getting the furnishings moved, and I replied that, "I AM! I have to figure out where to move the stuff. And I already have the bedroom done."

Like, in a flash, Maggie the apartment manager was at my open door, and angrily looking in at me. She said, "Mr. Crews, why you not have that done?  

I relied, "I've got the bedroom done! I just need to let my body loosen up while I figure out how to make the living room stuff fit over there (while pointing to the area clear of the designated work space)." 

Maggie brutally replied, "YOU HAD FOUR MONTHS TO DO IT IN!!"

It was wrong to expect us residents to have our homes disarranged for four months. It was also contrary to the flyers Maggie had created and distributed four months earlier saying that residents will be notified on the day before their windows would be replaced.

Maggie then comes out with, "You dumped a TV outside, we have you on video!"

I said,"No, I looked at the chair the TV was set on, to see if I could use it. That was all." 

The apartment has a large closet with double doors right inside from the apartment door. Maggie steps up to where I had some small items temporarily moved from the bedroom and bulging out of the closet's nearly closed doors. She took out her cellphone and photographed that, with an expression on her face of, "I got you on this one." It was very rude and ignorant of her to do so. 

We living at Hanover Square are all older and not as able as we used to be. And when my sciatica is flared up and painfully crippling, I cannot move my stuff out of the way for the workers. Maggie should have come up and first asked if I was alright, can I move the stuff. But she is too cold hearted to care.

The workers were not on my apartment's outside corridor yet, and I had the living room area cleared in time for them. 

The thing is, with Maggie and Keith, they would continue to treat me and probably talk about me among management like I had at first refused to move my stuff for the workers. They maintained a negative attitude about me. The same as with the other residents.

1 W. Conway St. Apartment Manager Refused To Provide Requested Tax Form

When I moved into the seniors apartment building Hanover Square, at 1 W. Conway St. in Baltimore, it was with the help of Alliance Inc's Veterans Housing Assistance Program. Although they never did, Alliance was supposed to pay my security deposit and first months rent. They could not, because the apartment manager - Maggie - refused to give Alliance or me a requested W-9 Tax Number form. That is Hanover Square's tax number, which is required for Alliance to prove the deposit & rent money was going to a legitimate landlord. The money originally came as a grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs to Alliance.

My excellent case worker from Alliance found the available apartment, took me there and handled the interview with Maggie and the application process with me. Maggie was fully aware that Alliance was to pay my security deposit and first months rent. My case worker requested the W-9 at that time. It did not come, and I had to get out of an unlivable situation, so I had to pay the security deposit and first months rent or loose the apartment. Hanover Square is a good base for me to do my ongoing years of photography of Baltimore from. I really needed that help from Alliance to get ahead financially enough to be able to pay rent on time for the remainder of my time at Hanover Square, which I expected to be 1 to 10 years - depending on how it was living there. At one year of paying rent on time, I could have gone for a VA Home Loan.

After moving in, I had hoped to get the W-9 so that Alliance could pay some rent money for me to Hanover Square. I waited some weeks, then requested the W-9 from Maggie. After more weeks of her not supplying that paper to me, I went on the Internet and found a phone number for the building's owner then called the number. The man who answered heard what I just wrote about, thanked me for my service as a veteran, then promised to send Maggie the W-9. 

Some days later, I asked Maggie for the W-9. She replied, "I sent it back. I did not want the responsibility." That is absolutely ridiculous.  

About 8 months after the first request for the W-9, Maggie gave me one. She asked if I still needed it, and I said no but I'll take it and that was so I could prove it was a reasonable request to ask for the W-9. Alliance is limited to 90 days helping a vet, so they could not use the W-9 to help me with the rent. I never got far enough ahead to pay all rent on time, and paid a lot in fees and eviction court costs. 

Maggie knew full well I had moved in expecting that help from Alliance. Her not providing the W-9 caused me a lot of stress worrying about eviction. Me not having anyplace to go, at my age I can't survive long homeless. 

Mail Carrier Claimed Mail Room Had Been Messed Up and Defecated In

The senior housing facility at 1 W. Conway St. - Hanover Square - in Baltimore has a mail room on the first floor, behind a wall of mailboxes for the residents. On one Monday, the regular mail delivery person came in and said he had found a nasty mess in the mail room. He said that the door to the room had been inadvertently left unlocked all weekend, and someone had entered it and pulled mail out from the backs of mailboxes, then had defecated on the floor and then smeared some of their fecal matter on the wall. He later told me personally that it had happened that way. 

Mail was not delivered to residents' mailboxes for the following week-and-a-half, but management did not notify residents of the situation until Friday afternoon. Management finally posted flyers about this on every apartment door the last thing on their Friday at work. It said something about "as you already know," but many residents did not know mail was not being delivered. Most rarely come out of their apartments, and many do not check their mailboxes for days or weeks at a time. 

No police investigation occurred. No flyers were posted asking residents if we know anything, or had we seen anything that could help solve the nasty crime. None of us residents were questioned about it. So we were concerned that the person who committed the crime is a mentally unbalanced, hostile individual who may do something else even worse. 

We residents often have medications come by mail. I had medications come in the mail that week, but they were held at the post office. Some medications are all there is keeping certain residents alive. Also, some men were angry because it was Fathers' Day weekend, and they expected cards and possible gifts by mail from their children for Fathers' Day. Then they expected to talk by phone or Internet and thank their children. 

That flyer on Friday had informed us residents that we had to go to the post office to get our mail, but that is not easy for many of us who are old and have no transportation to the post office. 

Mail delivery was not restored until the following Wednesday, after a bio hazard team came in and cleaned up a meager brown stain from the floor and possibly wall. It only took them a few minutes, but if it had been as the mail carrier said, it would have taken longer than that to be safely cleaned.

Many months later, I learned that it was an alleged hoax by the regular mailman. Allegedly, he had gotten angry when a mail delivery woman working the building on the regular carrier's day off had not done the job correctly. When she had finished her mail duties there on a previous day, she had not repositioned a cardboard box that is set under a mail slot in the door where residents can drop off outgoing mail and that mail was laying on the floor when the regular carrier came in on the following Monday. The brown stain on the floor was most likely from the cardboard box being slid over it every mail day for a long time. What was on the wall was not fecal matter and was a small stain.

At least one resident had to pay a late fee on a bill he had sent a check in on by mailing it through the mail room door slot.

 It was all a 'hissy fit' by the regular mail delivery man.

Info About TV Theft From Senior Apartments' Community Room Not Shared by Management with Residents

The senior housing facility at 1 W. Conway St. - Hanover Square - in Baltimore has a community room on the first floor, where a wall mounted, community TV was stolen from. To us residents, the TV just disappeared. Management never notified us in any way. But when they want to inform the residents about anything, management normally places flyers at every apartment door and sometimes in common areas. Residents have a right to know about such a theft on the premises, and should have been fully informed. Residents remain hurt, angered, confused, and belittled by that disrespect from management. The TV had been donated by a resident, and was not a loss to the management or building owners. Many months later, another TV appeared where the first one was stolen from.

I Am A Victim of A Serious Civil Rights Violation and An Apartment Lease Violation

Some months ago, at approximately 9:50 PM, I went to the front entrance of my apartment building - Hanover Square at 1 W. Conway St. in Baltimore - to accept a food delivery. That entrance is supposed to be locked 24/7. I was seriously dismayed to see that the door's push bar lock release was held open by plastic ties. Another resident of the building came home, and he also was shocked to see our front door unlocked. The other resident and I didn't know if we should cut the ties and lock the door or not. Other residents came in and out, and they too were upset to see our building being accessible to anyone. I called the emergency maintenance phone number and left a message saying I did not know if I should remove the ties or not.

After waiting awhile and having intense discussion about it with the other resident, I cut the ties. That one other resident and I pushed the bar open and stepped outside of the door. We wanted to check it to make sure our electronic sensor key fobs would let us in. The sensor responded correctly to the key fobs, then a large button on the wall is depressed to electronically unlock the door. The lock responded to the push button opener by making a clicking try, but the door lock was jammed. It was out of alignment somehow, and that requires the door vendor's workers to make the adjustments.

I called the emergency maintenance phone number and told them the door can't be unlocked from the outside.

We waited for maintenance or for someone to come out of the building and let us in. Someone did, then I had that other resident stay at the door while I went to my apartment and got some tape then used it to replace the plastic ties. That other resident went to his place, and I stayed to wait for maintenance to come and to let residents coming by know that maintenance is on the way. I worked several security jobs in my past, and I wasn't accepting the anxiety of leaving that door unsecured.

There should be video of this, because at least one video surveillance security camera was pointed at the inside door area where all this occurred.

Keith, the maintenance man who lives on the first floor, comes stomping down the hall past me and then he stopped at the taped door. He was huffin' his chest all up tight and psychologically steaming and glaring at me with raging anger and calls me a "MOTHER FUCKER." Then he says, "no, you know what your are? YOU'RE A MONKEY BUTT MOTHER FUCKER."

I told him to,"Never speak to me that way again."

He, self righteously, replied back at me with, "Don't you ever speak to me like that again."

Next insult came when he viciously told me to, "Get on back upstairs where you belong."

I had instantly realized that Keith was pissed off & scared because my phone calls to emergency maintenance had accidentally notified his superiors that he - and possibly some management persons - that 1 W Conway employees had left the entrance door unsecured. I say that Keith should have stayed up all night guarding the door entrance or a temporary security guard service hired.

I use a cane to walk. Keith has seen me walking in the building and outside walking by many times and is fully aware that I have painful, life limiting, physical disabilities. I suffer arthritic knees, but more often crippling to me is my degenerative back disease. I normally walk with my back straight up, but, on one occasion, when my back was painfully-involuntarily bent over, he and I spoke about it being worse than most days, because the day before I had stood too long & walked too much at the Baltimore Book Festival. He is fully aware that the only way I'd be able to fend off a physical attack by him - or to attack him and prevail - is to use a weapon.

The next month after that, verbally abusive, civil rights violation incident, I had to pay management a $25 Lock Out Fee. Management had to hide their violation of building security by handling the situation as me having called because I had lost my keys and was locked out by a door lock that works.

If I had gone into building manager Maggie's office and protested that illegal $25 fine, she would have made it into a huge argument. She doesn't care - at all - about the building's residents, doesn't like anyone here, is not known to speak pleasantly to people, usually ignores any resident she passes in the building corridors and elevators, is rarely seen in the common areas and spends most of her time sitting behind the large desk in her office. She radiates negativity at 1 W. Conway St., Baltimore, Md..

Had I engaged in serious discussion about the bogus, cover up, illegal $25 fine, Keith might have come in and backed her up extremely angrily & desperately to save his current lifestyle of a job with an apartment as a benefit. He may not have been close by, in case of which, he probably would then have come looking to start some serious trouble with me. His job and home were in jeopardy because he screwed up, and he knows he is guilty of leaving the door unsecured. Some of management know they are also guilty of that. Along with Lock Out Fees only being legal when the door lock works.

Management and maintenance have round-the-clock access to the apartment I lived in. Leaving a resident with little-to-no protection from them - should they chose to do something illegal in retaliation to anything.

Eventually, after months of deep, debilitating depression, I had to move from the residence, or continue my daily concerns of the possibilities of me being further mistreated by maintenance and management and loosing my temper then engaging in a heated argument with management and/or maintenance or even a physical altercation with Keith.

Plus, leaving the apartment building's front door unlocked is a violation of the leases with every resident. Therefore, every resident deserves something in return.