Rebuilding Stratford Village Apartments nothing but lies,deciet, losers and coruption and you the taxpayer payed for it all.

It was the summer of 1985 when I was working at the Investment Building as a maintenance man  for a management company  run by a JP when I was asked to go to work for the building managers  brother in laws construction company who was awarded the $4 million dollar contract to rebuild the run down  Stafford Village Apartments into the new upscale apartments under a new name  a 16 building apartment complex in Monroeville Pa.
I was hired as the electrical foreman and had a crew of 6 working under me which included my younger brother who helped during the summer with his friend to make college money. It was great having my brother  John and Spike that summer but we lost them in the fall to school as the project went on.
So me Ken , Danny and Tom did the bulk of the work after that.
We where involved in several different projects on site first was installing all new light fixtures and receptacles etc in all apartments and  halls and outside the buildings we also did some repair and upgrades to electrical services and hooked up  new appliances.
We also upgraded all the fire systems from old AC only powered type to modern battery backed up systems and we installed a 2 entry intercom system and boxes at each building .
It took almost 2 years to finish the project which I left  in disgust after re injuring my back when I got knocked off a ladder after getting shocked off a light fixture which was supposed to be off but was not after foreman of project told me he turned it off.

The project started off smooth enough but soon started into a nightmare where I would find my customer who recommended me for the project and her partners ripped off by JP  which no one wanted to believe he was capable of doing it but that's why they call them confidence men
JP was at it again in late 90' I was working for a realty company who also managed property owned by a Dr. Friend I warned  the realty company about JP. and they got ripped off and Dr. Friend as well who became extremely upset realty company never passed on what I had told them. JP would eventually find him self in  criminal trouble with authorities in Florida involving Mortgage scams  and br charged with crimes .

Before the project started JP bought himself a brand new Rolls Royce and new in-ground swimming pool  and Dan Aston Monroeville fire Official had to sign off The buildings had no major hazards which was not true .and Dan got a brand new SS Chevy he was riding around in.  which everyone questioned what was going on. Dan lost the car  in an explosion when he pissed off some builders dont know if anyone was ever charged

 
Well the construction company owned by JP wife's Brother  took over an apartment for the construction office and we started on the lower buildings as tenants moved out and where forced to put working  light bulbs in every light  fixture  as a way to humiliate and degrade them one of many ways  they used  as many where tenants where section 8 I was told and they no longer wanted  in the complex and they left. As tenants left we went in replaced all the light fixtures and outlets replaced hall way lights etc. and new kitchens where installed and  at a very large expense as they where not measured correctly and took a lot of work to correct. which eat up a lot of the budget I was able to save by an idea I came up to save money on the fire alarms .
First I figured out how to reuse all the fire alarm wiring which was a big savings and we saved a fortune not having to put in a master outside annunciation panel for the fire alarms in the complex  which would have meant trenching from every building to it. Instead working with the fire Official Dan Aston  I was able to convince him to allow ADT to install a McCullough loop in the complex tieing in the buildings together via existing phone lines .  However ADT was an EPIC Fail when it came time to do the work and it took them nearly 2 years to get it working then they made a mistake which blew all the fire panels up after job was finished. ADT also got into trouble with Bell Telephone for tapping into phone lines they where not authorized to use. I walked into Dan Astons  the Fire Marshals  office to have him yelling at me about it when I told him I had nothing to do with it and it was done with out my knowledge and well after I had any further dealings with the place .
But all in all the fire side went well.Except Dan wanted us to run the MC cable we ran thru fire walls in a half inch EMT pipe sleeve .But he said not to use fire caulking after we switched all the penetrations  in effect this would allow heat from a fire to quickly go from one room to another. 

This is just one of many badly thought out decisions by Dan Aston which eventually cost him his Job 

He was a brilliant Fire Scientist but when it came to practical application in the field he was out of his element .

The top 4 buildings in the complex where all electric. They had these  Carrier Electric Forced air 

heaters which would keep overheating. I told Dan they needed a Sail Switch to not allow elements on unless fan was sensed running and they needed the Overheat element rewired properly thru a relay to break contacts on the elements. He ignored me and Jim Bean the heating contractors suggestions and instead insisted they be contained around with dry wall which was against manufacturers instructions and one night there was a horrific fire in one of the buildings and Dan was found at fault after the investigators found letters from me and Jim warning not to do the drywall enclosures as well .

The  electrical part of the job  ended up a night mare .
They wanted light fixtures installed in the halls which where thin and narrow and where never designed to be installed in ceiling tiles so we had to build braces to hold them in place. But they decided against rivets and just left the lights to be held in place by the loose ceiling grid strips a bad move . Then they where suppose to replace every  outlet and switch including new plate covers. which they did at first  till one day I walked into  M.O.'s the foreman's apartment and found him washing old switch plate covers he wanted us to use instead because the project was running out of money.

The Electrical Engineer  on the plans wanted us to put bigger than was required breakers on the back up  generators and got overruled by the Electrical Inspector 

Just one of many conflicts we had with the engineer who the Electrical Inspector got into many disputes with.

I was glad to get out of their and ken stayed on and lived at the complex and continued to clean up problems as he found them till it was sold  to an investment group and after I clued in JP and his crooked dealings had ripped off all his investors in the project they where furious. 

Many who worked on the project have passed on  including JP.  the last time I saw him was at Home depot in Monroeville apparently after his divorce I had heard and he was looking for a part for a sink. I said to him I see your con game finally caught up to you and he just laughed. 

what a POS  he screwed 2 of my good customers who invested with him/.

BDA Bidirectional Amplifiers The New Fire Code Scam and expense some times being required when it is not even needed

 Once again the Fire Service is proving to be its own worst enemy .

In the latest addition of NFPA and ICC codes they call for the use of BDA Bidirectional Amplifiers 

instead of installing Fireman's Phones in high Rise structures to allow Firefighters to be able to use their 2 way radios they carry anywhere in the structure. vs the old Fireman's Telephone systems  where handsets where kept in a building lobby and carried up and plugged into a special outlet on each floor so firefighters could communicate with command center .

BDA are not new they have been around since the 90s to enhance cell phone service in buildings where their construction  prevents cell signals from penetrating them. Typically around $500.00 to cover 2500 Sq ft of building with Cell Signals and can go into the thousands depending how much coverage you need .

While Emergency Services  Radio BDA  just the base equipment can be $25,000 -$50,000.00  and that does not include installation  average Fire BDA is $40,000.00 to $install.

That's a lot to ask for an owner of a new building who is already paying an extra 20%  to cover ADA regulations. and now you asking to add 20 to 40 % more in costs

 

https://bccommunications.ca/blogs/resources/bi-directional-amplifiers

 

How a BDA works generally a yagi  antenna is placed on the roof  and sends a signal down to an amplifier which then feeds it out thru the building thru a series of coax cables and  small omni directional antennas  placed in ceilings generally in hallways. 

Yes they are a good ideal but they are very expensive and needless to say their are company's out there taking advantage of the situation.

I just recently Took a class and in the class 2 of the radios being used where not calibrated correctly and giving the wrong RSSI info which is used to determine if a BDA is needed .

I also had a building where they said they needed a BDA when they did not .

Plus now you also have another system needs yearly inspection and more back up batteries that need changed and every 5 years you have to pay for a resurvey of property to make sure nearby construction is not interfering with the BDA .

Now many of these BDA are not even needed the BDA can be utilized by the responding units .the radio on the fire truck can be set up similar to a BDA so every where they go Firefighters will have communication to outside trucks and command. 

These units have been around since 70s 

But as usual instead of looking at a better system and way to do this NFPA decided to screw  all the building owners with the cost burden.

Paranormal Investigation Sites you can rent for an over nights evenings fun . But are they Safe ? It depends

 Yes its that Spooky time of year for visiting Haunted Houses and Paranormal Attractions and while 

Halloween Haunted Houses are strictly regulated in many states because they're considered an Amusement Attraction .

Many Paranormal attraction places are not or are poorly regulated .

If officials even know they exist and are open to the public. 

Because many times they do not know about it . Its not like they put a sign outside.

One such place in Ohio   I visited was a very old wooden home up on a hill with difficult road access  and they allow overnight guests  and there was one smoke detector that did not appear to even be working. 

To make matters worse there is often  no overnight host Paranormal teams are on their own. 

If this house is truly possessed and has demons etc. with this type of activity Fires have been reported but not at this location so far. .

The house  I visited in the daytime also has no emergency lighting or lighted  exits or fire escapes 

I did not see a fire extinguisher as well or a CO detector .

I now most AHJ would have no problems shutting it down till at least minimum codes are followed 

but there are those AHJ just don't give a dam and looking around that town appears to be the case.  

I would not stay at this home in fact I would not stay overnight at many of the paranormal places i have toured during the day . 

If you have a paranormal attraction in your town be aware of it and do the right thing.