Privacy

It seems reasonable to me for strata owners to have a list of occupant names and contact information in order to deal with emergencies, organize nominating committees, phoning committees, neighbourhood socials, or just to communicate as quickly and easily as possible whenever necessary unless an owner asks to be unlisted for some reason.

All owners, not just members of council, should be able to call the owners surrounding them, in  each unit in their building at the very least, for the sake of safety, if nothing else.

In the past when I was alarmed by unusual crashing sounds made by visiting grandchildren rough housing above us, I just phoned upstairs to ask if everyone was okay. Without the phone number I would have to call the police.

When water came down into our unit from overflowing bathtubs and washing machines in the unit above I was able to phone upstairs to tell them to turn off the water. I also had to phone to warn them if we would be away because every holiday meal that they prepared flooded our kitchen when they used their garburator.

If we had a current list of owner phone numbers now, or if keys to the gates on Rambler Way had been provided, I would not have had to drive 2 kilometers just to tell my newest upstairs neighbour about the dog she left barking for a half hour at 7 o'clock in the morning, leaving my husband with only 3 hours of sleep.

About half the owner names, addresses, and phone numbers are still in the phone book and are instantly available to anyone on the internet who performs a reverse address search on Canada 411. Just click the link at the bottom of this post and type 1215 Lansdowne, Coquitlam, BC (with no unit number or street type) A similar list is available on the Telus website. As more people get cell phones, however, less are listed in the phone book, and the more important a current owner list becomes.

We should at the very least have the names, phone numbers, and unit numbers of each member of council. Without a phone list we have to call the strata manager for everything, and strata fees go up accordingly.

Strata management has imposed exorbitant clerical fees blocking out names on dozens of irrelevant standard form letters obviously produced just to waste owner time and money and divert attention while records specifically requested and material information that is obviously sought are entirely withheld.

In the past owner lists were distributed to everyone annually. Since Al Macleod got involved these lists have been withheld. Distributing owner lists aids in communication, empowers owners, and encourages open honest government and informed decision making. Secrecy spawns major problems.

Barriers to communication and disclosure are supported by power and control driven strata management who obstruct access to meetings, owner lists, correspondence and other strata records that owners are entitled to, perversely citing privacy legislation as justification, while at the same time issuing fines for failure to provide a key to an owner's unit.

The arguments are contrived.

Al Macleod repeatedly broadcast all the email addresses of owners to the other owners, while secrecy and barriers to communication between owners which seem unjustified, unreasonable, and driven by less than legitimate control are manufactured and zealously and persistently pursued.

Why is that? What's to hide? What is to be ashamed of?

When I attended the strata manager's office to review the strata records, the very first thing she provided to me was all of the names, addresses, and occupations of every single owner. This information is all in the public domain.

All of this information is readily available to anyone who visits the Land Title Office in New Westminster. In addition, from January 1 to March 31 each year everyone's address and property value is posted on the BC Assessment Authority website, and every property's address, assessed value, sales history, and owner's name is available to anyone who visits the assessment office in Burnaby. 

Nothing in the Privacy Act should ever contradict the access and disclosure provisions of the Strata Property Act or justify denying owners the strata records that they are entitled to. Am I the only owner whose access to strata records has been unreasonably denied? IT IS VERY HARD, IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE, TO KNOW when material correspondence is hidden!  Denying access to and destroying strata records blocks transparency and is a conflict of interest detrimental to the strata corporation. 

Joan MacDougall, a former strata manager, told me that she deleted strata records carried by email. I have been informed that those records contained defamatory and incriminating correspondence from herself to members of council, and others. 

What is going on here?


RELATED LINKS:
http://findaperson.canada-411.ca/reverse_address
http://www.whitepages.com/14542/reverse_address