First – thanks for inviting me to speak. I am honored to be here with you, celebrating the building’s golden anniversary. And I know a little something about being around for 50 years, because despite how amazing I look, I’m in the midst of my 50th year on this planet. Of those 50 years, I’ve been here at Park Tower for 16. Almost a third of my lifetime.

What does 50 years represent? It is important to reflect on history to put the reality of what half a century means into more profound perspective. There is a lot behind us, a lot we’ve navigated – a lot has happened we can examine. And not just here at Park Tower, but events around us too. History helps illustrate the gravity of time’s passage. I’ll start in the early 70s with the construction of Park Tower. It opened to renters in ‘73. You may already know Park Tower was meant to be 1 of 3 sister towers. The development included 5445 and 5455, which were meant to be 2 of 6 smaller towers. The architect told us the Vietnam War resulted in construction material prices skyrocketing, forcing them to scale back. It was just thereafter when I myself was born in Pullman, Washington. My parents were college students at the time, and that was a pretty scaled back beginning too.

In the news, the Watergate scandal, President Nixon’s resignation and subsequent pardon by successor Gerald Ford. The Vietnam War ended with the fall of Saigon. Jimmy Hoffa was reported missing. The USA celebrated the bicentennial of our independence from England, the ground breaking classic sci-fi epic Star Wars was released, and music started being recorded digitally on tape. The election of Jimmy Carter, the passing of Elvis Presley, the 3 mile island nuclear accident, the Iran hostage crisis, the creation of the Department of Education. And it was around this time a developer by the name of Robert Sheridan decided to convert Park Tower and its neighbors into condominiums, many renters here became the first owners, and the First meeting of the Condo Association was held on May 29, 1979, at the Sacred Heart Academy.

About a year later we had the eruption of Mt. St. Helens – and my family lived in eastern Washington at the time. I will never forget the day, when the sky turned black. As you can imagine for a kid my age, the sky was falling. We were stuck in doors for several days – and had to wear masks anytime we left the house. Kind of reminds you of recent events. Just more geological. Moving on… Philips developed the first Compact Disc, Ronald Reagan was elected, the Space Shuttle Columbia makes its inaugural trip into space, Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first female Supreme Court Justice, IBM debuts the MS DOS computer operating system, the breakup of AT&T, Madonna’s first album debuts, Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first woman nominated as a candidate for vice president, the AIDS virus is identified, APPLE introduces the Macintosh personal computer, the wreck of the Titanic is found, LIVE Aid in London and Philadelphia connects nearly 2 Billion people worldwide via live satellite feed for the first time, and the “mouse” is introduced by Microsoft with Windows 1.0. The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster – which my 6th grade class was watching live at the time – an obviously pretty tough day. We then had the Iran-Contra affair, George HW Bush succeeds Reagan and signs a law banning smoking on commercial airline flights, thank God.

Here at Park Tower, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is a resident, and it’s around this time the Breakers of Edgewater next door was constructed and opened. There had been debate at some point whether the Association should purchase that lot, but certainly the presence of a high rise next door ended that possibility. Back in the news, the Exxon Valdez dumps 11 million gallons of oil along pristine Alaska shoreline, Colin Powel becomes chairman of the joint chiefs, a major earthquake interrupts game 3 of the World Series in San Francisco. Incidentally, the Oakland Athletics swept the Giants 4 games to 0 that, despite things getting a bit shaky in game 3. Of course we had the fall of the Berlin Wall, Taylor Swift is born, and how better to end the decade than with the US invasion of Panama. Up to this point, the Association found the time to hold 11 Annual Meetings and held about 4 to 5 Board Meetings per year, and the annual assessment increase over the decade averaged about 6.15%.

I’m living in Michigan, having moved around the US quite a bit while my mom was finishing up a tour in the US Air Force. Ultimately, we settled in Michigan when I was in high school. I spent summers mowing lawns and doing landscaping, and winters shoveling snow to make cash to buy video games.

In the news, Noriega of Panama would surrender in 1990. The first CDs became commercially available. The Hubble Telescope was launched into space, the Americans with Disabilities Act becomes law, Operation Desert Shield begins in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, followed by Operation Desert Storm and the first Gulf War. At Park Tower, the Association was turning its attention to what was determined to be an exterior design flaw of the curtain wall, resulting in leaking. Ultimately, about $5 Million was spent to correct the matter.

The videotaped beating by police of Rodney King erupts in unprecedented riots in LA, Clarence Thomas is appointed to the Supreme Court, the Soviet Union dissolves into separate independent republics ending the Cold War, Johnny Carson departs the Tonight Show, succeeded by Jay Leno, the Mall of America opens, Bill Clinton is elected president, the Sears catalog stops printing, the first World Trade Center bombing, the ATF raids the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell military policy is put in place, NAFTA is signed by Clinton, Tanya Harding is behind an attack on fellow figure, skater Nancy Kerrigan, Ken Starr investigates the Whitewater Real Estate scandal involving the President and Hillary Clinton, Republicans control the House and Senate for the 1st time in 40 years, introducing their Contract with America legislation, Toy Story is the first movie animated completely by computer, Mississippi becomes the last state to ratify the 13 amendment, which abolished slavery.

At Park Tower, the community was in the midst of designing and installing one of the best designed Roof Gardens, at least at the time, in the City. In fact, in the coming years, it won 3rd place in a City beautification contest sponsored by Mayor Daley. The Board was also debating whether to zone the HVAC in the building to address the seasonal war between heating and cooling. The nays had it, as we know; the cost was determined too great and there was uncertainty as to whether a positive result could be achieved. I was in my college years. I spent several summers at home, working at a local grocery store and working at my Mom’s Century 21 – designing her listings booklet and helping with open houses. While in school, I had a work study job as a volunteer coordinator and counselor at a Landlord/Tenant Resource Center in Lansing, Michigan. Essentially, we would assist tenants and landlords who had legal problems or complaints about each other. And, holy moley, did they have complaints.

While I did that, the Unabomber was captured and subsequently convicted, but Timothy McVeigh carried out the OK City bombing. OJ Simpson is found not guilty of murdering his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens, the Million Man March takes place, Internet Explorer debuts, James Cameron’s Titanic opens and is the highest grossing movie of all time, for the next 12 years, Princess Diana is killed chased by paparazzi, OJ Simpson loses his civil trial for wrongful death of his wife and Ron Goldman, Tiger Woods wins his first Masters, MP3 players debut for music downloads (and it was nice because you could get music downloads for free from a website called Napster), the FDA approves Viagra and Google is founded.

Around this time, I got my first job in property management as an office assistant for a rental firm in Lansing that actually frequently called the Landlord/Tenant Resource Center. To be honest, in hindsight, I realize they just wanted someone to handle all the complaints. Back in the news, the Senate acquits President Clinton in his impeachment trial connected to his alleged encounters with intern Monica Lewinsky – it all depended on what your definition of the word “is” is. The Columbine High School massacre ends with 15 people killed and 24 injured, and NATO gets involved in the crisis in Yugoslavia and Kosovo. In happier news, the first LEGOLAND opened in California. And, we were all bracing for the Y2K computer crisis that never happened, but it ushered us into the new millennium.

Up to this point, there’s been 9 distinctive property managers at Park Tower. Susan Hess was ending her tenure as manager after spending almost 8 years here. The average annual assessment increase is now 5.3%. Though in the 90s it was about 4.5%, and the Association has held 21 Annual Meetings – 4 of them were held on my birthday, and thankfully that 4th Tuesday of the month thing would change before my tenure.

So now we are up to the year 2000, and the Park Tower Board is holding meetings almost once a month. After several interim managers, Lisa Volpe would be taking over for a number of years. This is about when I said I’d had enough of Michigan, opened a Tribune, got myself some interviews, moved to Chicago, started managing condos, and who could forget those days. The Library of Congress turned 200 years old, Vermont recognized civil unions, Napster was told it was naughty for allowing free music downloads, Hillary Clinton was elected to the Senate, and Supreme Court case Bush v Gore results in George W Bush becoming the next president. Then, Montgomery Ward goes out of business, Tiger Woods becomes the youngest person to win all 4 grand slams, and the first inhabitants of the International Space Station take occupancy. Wikipedia is launched, the first draft of the Human Genome is published, the so called dot-com bubble bursts, President Bush snubs the Kyoto protocol, the terrorist attacks of September 11th
result in nearly 3000 deaths and the war on terror, the Euro is introduced, Halle Berry becomes the first African American female to win the Best Actress Oscar, the first case of SARS emerges in Hong Kong, the Iraq war begins, a heatwave in Europe kills over 30,000, Facebook is founded, and the management company I was working for at the time, Draper and Kramer, began managing Park Tower. Christina Epple, your 14th property manager, takes the helm.

Following that, the reelection of President Bush, a huge earthquake and subsequent tsunami in the Indian Ocean results in the deaths of more than 300,000 people in 11 nations, YouTube is launched, Lance Armstrong wins his 7th Tour de France, Hurricane Katrina strikes New Orleans resulting in nearly 2000 deaths, surgeons in France perform the first face transplant, former Vice President Al Gore wins the Best Documentary Feature Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth (but apparently nobody who needed to, watched it), Twitter is launched, Pluto is supposedly and suddenly no longer a planet, Saddam Hussein is executed, Britney Spears shaves her head, Apple releases the iPhone, Nancy Pelosi becomes Speaker of the House, Venus Williams wins her 4th Wimbledon title, and both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are campaigning their first time for President, affording me a very convenient opportunity to transition, because it was the fall of 2007 when I learned of a potential job opening at Park Tower. The Association has had 29 Annual Meetings and 14 property managers, assessment increases have averaged 4.8% up until now, and I joined your team in October that year. So hard stop on the history lesson. The rest we’ve experienced together. But hopefully this illustrates what I meant by the gravity of time’s passage.

I thought I was a bit daft to apply but I did. From my first walkthrough of the building to the interview with the Board at the time, I felt in my gut it was an excellent fit. It also gave me a good excuse to move to Edgewater. I’d always admired the building and neighborhood and thought it would be a real achievement as a property manager to work in such a prominent building and community. And over these 16 years, those impressions have only grown stronger. Not only leading the staff, but advising your Boards and representing the community.

We’ve accomplished a great deal working together. At the time I started, your reserve hovered around $1 Million. Today you hold over $4 Million. However, that’s no slush fund. That’s what you need to hold and grow to address current and future needs. We got here by working with your Finance Commission early in my tenure, to take Reserve Studies seriously, and not just look at 1 year when we budget. We look at the next 10 now. We continue to evade Special Assessments, something other communities, such as where I live, struggle with. It is arguably your greatest accomplishment – besides just keeping the building from falling into the lake. I mean, if we go back to 1973, the National debt was $458 Billion. Now it is about $33 Trillion. So, I suppose one way you could look at it, is we’ve managed to remain $33 Trillion more solvent than the US Government over the same period of time. Too bad they aren’t required to have a reserve fund, eh?

With ours, we’ve completed 24 Riser Projects, replacement of the main residential and commercial cooling towers – including the infamous helicopter drop – million dollar driveway, garage and plaza resurfacing projects, water heater, pump and valve replacements, heat exchanger replacements, boiler and chiller over hauls, all the roofs have been replaced at least once, and we’ve installed two new fire panels and the one way two way voice communication system. About $20 Million worth of capital maintenance and improvements in 16 years, and more is underway.

And someone recently complained to me, “we are always doing something – can’t we ever give the building a break?” No! At 50, trust me, you got work to do and you shouldn’t be surprised if it gets busier. I mean, just ask my cardiologist! You have to put in the work to maintain your health.

So… we’ve been at this for 16 years together – this big, beloved black triangle. For me, the process has been rewarding. Presenting facts & figures, statistics, and recommendations, and working as a team to achieve all this. Even when we disagree. Together with the Board, Commissions, staff, management, contractors, builders, architects, engineers – and even the accountants and attorneys that provide oversight and guidance. The focus, synergy, and balance of all these individuals – from the inception of a need or an idea, through the process of gathering facts and information about it, to the debate on how to proceed, to the resolution. That’s what gets a community and structure like Park Tower through 50 years to now, and it’s the only way to expect 50 more. And in an industry where managers average 1 to 3 years at a condo, I’m proud to say I’ve far exceeded that and plan to continue to for as long as I can.

To close, I’d like to share 5 philosophies I have for communities to succeed, which Park Tower follows. One tidbit for each decade we’ve been around. I’d give you more but, hey, “trade secrets:”

1. Sometimes the cheapest solution is the most expensive in the long run. And I’ll make a confession, I’ve learned that many times the hard way. It’s a good reason to keep more money in the bank than what you think is needed so you have flexibility when considering how to resolve problems.

2. Don’t debate facts – just debate the means and methods the facts point to. If we can’t agree that 2 + 2 = 4, then there is someone at the table that doesn’t really want a solution. They usually just want to put on a show.

3. If you surround yourself with yes people, you’ll end up with mediocrity. We have to be able to say NO. I have to be able to deliver bad news. I have to be able to tell you what you don’t want to hear. Otherwise, I’m just making you weaker in the long run.

4. The goal is not just to fix or maintain, but to improve when reasonable and meaningful. Without improvement there is no future to look forward to. Yet another reason for a community to have financial strength. And, lastly…

5. Respect every space you enter, every home, every square foot, every person how you would want yourself and your own home to be respected. And that’s perhaps my favorite. I repeat it to our staff over and over and over. In our day to day interactions, as we are addressing any question or problems. We want to consider how we would want to be responded to, how we would want to be treated, and how we would want our own condo community to be managed.

And that is a notion in history that goes back further than the last 50 years – treat others the way you want to be treated. A lot of our own missteps along the way, and missteps by people around us, our family, workers, employees, business leaders, missteps by world leaders and politicians. Very often is a result of forgetting what a positive difference mutual respect can make.

Despite being 50 years of age, I believe Park Tower has a strengthening foundation – you don’t always opt for the cheapest solution. You, by and large, agree on the basic facts. Your team of workers and advisors are NOT yes people. We don’t just fix – we improve. And with particular regard to your staff, your management, your Board and Commissions – particularly the Social Commission – you’ve evolved into a community who truly demonstrates the added value of mutual respect. So, as long as the world around us can hang on, I know Park Tower will for at least another 50 years and possibly more.

With that, I want to thank the Social Commission for inviting me to speak and for this incredible event celebrating such an enviable milestone. I appreciate the opportunity to be here, and let’s enjoy the rest of the afternoon!

Sunday October 8, 2023