It's been a bit of time since I've
written – life often gets the best of you when you least expect it.
The enemy #1 seems to be the flu virus which has kept me pretty much
bed ridden for a bit but I wanted to sit and write about what
everyone is talking about.
Earlier this month, directly following
the 3 day holiday weekend, housing on base went from being owned by
the Air Force to being owned by a privatized company, Corvias
military living. We all knew that this was coming – granted the
process was kinda shoved on us last minute but still we have all been
hearing it was going to happen for some time now. People have been
bitching for a couple of years now about it not happening then when
it finally does happen people once again began to bitch because it
was happening. If people aren't bitching about something then they
just are not happy I guess.
One of the “perks” to privatized
housing is that Corvias will be taking care of the grass –
something that has been our responsibility here on base in the past.
With any business venture, kinks have to be worked out with a new
company, one of which is how to maintain 400+ yards plus park areas.
Working out these kinks means trying to figure out exactly how many
workers it will take to maintain these areas, what schedule will work
best with these workers, figuring out if more workers need to be
hired, ect, ect. In all honestly, it seems as if Corvias has been
doing their best to try to make the transition a positive one for us,
however you're not going to be able to make everyone happy – or
with the case in this base, people are going to bitch.
Sure enough, within 24 hours of Corvias
taking over the property, the bitching began. Because of the holiday,
some housing areas grass was not cut on the Monday that grass will
normally be taken care of once the schedule is running smoothly. Holy
shit – people went ape shit I tell you. I would have hated to have
been working in the Corvias office on Tuesday morning when the phone
calls started rolling in demanding to know why their grass was not
cut and the demands of having their grass cut immediately, regardless
of the holiday putting a one week delay on their area . Corvias
turned around and tried to accommodate these demands. Their workers
began working overtime to try to get at last everyone's front yards
mowed but then the bitches started up again – the back yards were
not done, the flower beds were not weeded, the grass was not cut to
their satisfaction.
Here's a reality check – if you are
accustomed to a perfectly manicured yard and it means that much to
you, bring your happy ass outside and continue to maintain your lawn
the way you feel it should be maintained. However, driving around
base prior to Corvias taking over, I can't say I have ever seen any
lawns that were about to be acknowledged in Home and Garden magazine
for being exceptional. I've driven by homes where people haven't touched their yards for months - the grass is knee high and the flower beds were so overgrown that it looked like a forest. I've seen backyards so poorly maintained that they have resorted back to the desert surroundings, completely without grass and with sage brush growing everywhere. To those who were bitching because their grass
was not cut immediately – how many of you actually cut your grass
weekly to begin with? I know that I have one of the nicer lawns in my
neighborhood and I know we sure the hell don't mow it every week.
Some of the comments I've been reading
have honestly kept me pretty entertained. My favorite was the woman
bitching because Corvias did in fact weed her flowerbeds – she
claimed she was “embarassed” because they missed a spot. If your
flowerbeds were so bad that one missed spot is such an embarrassment
then obviously they were in pretty pathetic shape to begin with.
That tells me that you neglected the upkeep on your flowerbeds and
are now expecting Corvias to get them into pristine condition. If
they weren't an embarrassment to you prior to Corvias weeding them,
then they sure the hell don't suddenly become an embarrassment just
because they missed a spot. If you're that damn worried about it,
take your ass off facebook, stop bitching and go out and pull a few
weeds so you are no longer “embarrassed”.
Point is, everyone needs to take a
chill pill and give this new company time to get things back on
track. But some people already bring to the table such a negative
attitude about the privatization crossover that they have allowed
that negativity to reflect in everything Corvias will do. Edwards is
not the first property that Corvias has acquired from the government
– this isn't their first rodeo. Give them time to get things on
track – they had to deal with housing yanking them around, leaving
them in a limbo and then try to pick up the pieces immediately
following a holiday weekend. If you're that damn unhappy with your
lawn, go mow it yourself. Corvias did not acquire Outdoor Recreation,
you can still rent lawn mowers from there.
Lawn care is a service Corvias is
offering us free of charge. If they lag behind, its on them, not on
you. You have two options, wait til they make their way to your
neighborhood or go outside and cut the grass yourself if it bothers
you so much. But bitching about a free service accomplishes nothing.
If we were paying for them to maintain the yards it would be a
completely different story but it's not costing you a single cent for
them to send a crew of workers out in the high temperatures of the
midday sun (sometimes in triple digits) to cut your grass. So far, we
have come off as some pretty ungrateful entitled bitches with all the
bitching going on.
Until Next Time
