The Latest On My Situation

Just thought I'd keep you all posted on my moving situation and my 504 request.

As many of you may (or may not) know, I am being relocated to a new apartment building by the local housing authority here in Denver as they will soon be remodeling the one I'm in now. This is expected to happen with the signing of the new lease possibly being on Monday and my moving out of this apartment after the election

I say after the election because I've been appointed to work as an Election Judge for the upcoming election and the vote center I'm assigned to work at is just a block from here. if I were to move BEFORE the election, I would have to commute BY SCOOTER (It's too big to fit on the bus) in cold and (potentially) snowy weather to and from the vote center and my new apartment (And getting a new assignment at this juncture is NOT an option).

I'd also run the risk of getting a flat tire on some of the streets & sidewalks (Namely the stretch of sidewalk from Cherokee St. to Pecos St. for those in the know) I'd have to travel on to get there as they are not well kept by the city. :(

I've had to replace BOTH of my front wheels due to flats incurred as a result of past visits to my mom's apartment (she already lives in the building I'll be moving to) and don't want to take that chance again at THE WORST possible time for me personally just to work an election.

Ordinarily, I'd just walk away from the Judge's position altogether in lieu of moving, but it pays me an extra $100 which I can always use. This is ON TOP OF the $550 I'll get as a relocation allowance from the local housing authority just for the trouble of moving as well as my usual Social Security checks that I normally get. And, like i said earlier, the assignment is only a block away from where I currently live, so unless it's an utter complete blizzard outside, I should have NO problem at all getting to my assigned post for work on November 7. :)

As for my 504 Request with a roll-in shower (That BTW is a Reasonable Accomondation Request), there's no real significant progress there. But when I went to see the apartment I'd be moving into, I was told by the manager that there are NO 504s in the highrise itself, but there are some in the cottages, which are ground level units that are seperate of the building itself. Having seen them from the outside, I might as well move into a unit in the projects as both would be just as unsafe (Especially at this time of year when the flakes are flying).

The reason I was told there are no roll-in showers and that it would be nearly impossible in the highrise itself is because of the age of the building and that removing the tub would negatively impact my neighbors above and below me (Which I thought was nothing but baloney).

If my 504 is rejected, I may have to resort to the appeals and (potentially) legal process to get it. Hopefully it won't go that far, but I'm not holding my breath on that.

Unfortunately, due to the timing of things, I'm now faced with having to move out first and settle the issue of the 504 later. I say this because things are now at a point where the local housing authority will start moving people into the projects (which are as rogue as any urban housing projects in America are) just to get us out of this building (There's asbestos in the building which be must be removed).

So there you have it folks. The latest on my situation. I'm just hoping for the best.

Get A Load Of This (The Latest On The Relocation Process)

First off, please forgive my erroneous typing as I slightly cut one of the fingers I use to type with and has a band aid on it (Though I'll try to catch and correct all the errors possible).

That out of the way....You won't believe the surprise I got last week.

I had put in for a 504 (That's government lingo for a reasonable accomondation BTW) for the new apartment that I'll be moving into (The building I'm living in now will soon be renovated and everyone has to be relocated). Well, I was under the impression that the local housing authority here granted my 504 *WITH* a roll-in shower as it was supposedly (??) REQUIRED BY LAW (The relocation counselor inasmuch told me so herself).

Well suffice to say, when a friend of mine (who's also my power of attorney outside of my mom, who also advocates for me) called the Legal Department, he found out that not only was there MORE than one type of 504, he also said I WASN'T EVEN APPROVED for a 504 with a roll-in shower (They approved a 504 *WITHOUT* a roll-in shower instead).

Furthermore, I was also under the impression that they were also working on converting a regular unit into a 504 (The manager even told me so when I met her while visiting my mom, who has to be AT LEAST within the same complex as we look after each other and are there for each other as needed). That too proved to be a bold-faced lie as my friend/PoA was told that "It wasn't in the budget" and that they "were out of money"

He said it was a reason. I told him it was EXACTLY what it was - AN EXCUSE - One that allows them to take the slick, cheesy way out.

As for my mom living in the same complex with me (But not the same apartment). Guess what, that also needs to be a part of the 504 request It wasn't originally as we thought that all we needed were doctor's statements in our file.

WRONG!

Apparently, statements made by doctors on plain ordinary paper or office stationery somehow isn't good enough for the local HA. They need the request on the official form (Apparently so their pretty logo is stamped all over it and is prominently displayed).

F*CKIN' BUREAUCRATS!! :(

All this just as my name was (And hopefully still is) at the top of the list of people in need of a new place to live for at least the next couple of years or so. If it *isn't* at or near the top, I'm gonna have some MAJOR issues (On top of the ones I already have)
As a result of all this, I've not only gotta RESUBMIT A WHOLE NEW 504 REQUEST, but I've also gotta take the form down to my doctor's office to fill out AGAIN and hope he doesn't decide to shoot the messenger *CRINGE!* (He HATED having to fill it out the first time given all the questions, most of them REDUNDANT, that are on there and even contemplated BILLING the local HA for the time which he could've, if not SHOULD HAVE been able to devote to other patients). In fact, when they saw it the first time, one of his secretaries even quipped that HER FIVE YEAR OLD DAUGHTER could've written a better form. My mom and I laughed at THAT one :) *LOL!*

And to top it all off.....The 90 Day notice has already been issued.

So here I sit. Instead of sitting in new place doing something else on my computer, I am still stuck in my old apartment and NO LONGER knowing just where I'll be moved to because of some @!%^&( )(^&%$ BUREACRATIC RED TAPE that someone decided to throw at me simply because A). THEY ARE A BUREAUCRATIC ASSHOLE and B). I didn't add the part of my mom living in the same complex as me in the original 504.

Ohh yeah...Did I fail to mention that if they don't eventually move me into the same building that my mom lives in now and move me elsewhere, they will have to move my mom AGAIN (Or pay her for the trouble of moving - AGAIN)?? Gee...I must've missed that part...

Well....That's all the news for now. More to follow on this as developments warrant. :D