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CASA YBEL OWNER'S FORUM
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Re: theft

Carl,

Have you ever been in a lower unit? If you haven't, let me explain that there is NO, I repeat, NO lock on the outside of the sliding glass doors. There are 2 ways to lock from the INSIDE. This does no good from the lower level unit when going in and out to the beach and pool. Why even have access to the outside through the lanai if they expect you to lock the sliders from the inside, go out the front door, walk down and around the building to get to the beach or pool?

Also Carl, the front doors lock automatically when they close. They have at least for the last 15 years we've owned. Sometimes I wonder if you actually even owned any weeks at Casa Ybel or have ever been there.

In our case, there was no forced entry. They either came in through the lanai, or someone with a key came in the front door. Someone with a key is not out of the question because if they came through the lanai, they would have walked past my daughter's purse on the dining table that had nothing taken (there was cash in it).


Here is the letter the office handed out at check in: (one half a sheet of paper, black ink, white paper)

"Sanibel is known as a tranquil, safe and comfortable environment. We may feel comfortable slipping out our back door and walking the waters edge, or checking out the pool bar for lunch on the fly. Although this is a common habit, we should be mindful of the safety and security of our suites, personal items and overall property. Please remember to secure your belongings, place valuables in the safe, and lock your doors when you are not inside the unit"


Here is the letter given to the office by the Sanibel Police Dept. to be distributed to the guests: (Full page, City of Sanibel letterhead, bright blue paper, black ink)

COMMUNITY ALERT (in bold)

Burglaries of Beach Front condominiums (in bold)

Citizens and Visitors advised to take Precautionary Measures (in bold)

Between the dates of November 14 and November 24, 2012 the Sanibel Police Dept. is reporting that 7 beach front condominium burglaries have occurred. These burglaries have occurred from the 500 block of East Gulf Drive to the 3400 block of West Gulf Drive on Sanibel. The burglaries appear to have taken place during the late afternoon and early evening hours.

The Sanibel Police Dept. advises residents and visitors to take precautionary measures to safeguard their property and valuables by making sure to lock all doors and windows and to hide all valuables. (all in Bold)

Chief of Police William Tomlinson request that if any suspicious persons or activity is seen, that you call the Sanibel Police Dept. immediately at 239-472-3111 or dial 911 in case of a life threatening emergency.



This letter was given to all the resorts in that area shortly after November 24th of last year. I was told by a police officer that since that date, an additional "half dozen or so" more burglaries have been committed. After reading both letters, I'd like to think that you'd have to agree that the one handed to us at check in DOES NOT reflect the same level of urgency and importance as the one given to the resort by the police Dept. As I stated before, even had we been given the police letter, I'm not sure I would have done anything different. I would have at least liked to have been made aware that there were actual crimes in the area.

I hope that this was an isolated incident and won't happen to us again, but the sense of security we had is gone. All I'm saying is that we should check into the cost of getting some sort of after market lock that could be attached to the OUTSIDE of the sliders. I've looked on line and there ARE such locks. They are not huge or costly. Most use a simple push button combination. Owners or guests could choose to use them or not. We would only need to install them on the lower units.

One side note: Chris Cain did call me when he found out about the situation. I was less than pleased with his apparent level of concern.






Re: theft

I'm so sorry to hear about a second incident at Casa Ybel. There are at least two ways to avoid happening to you. One is to leave one guest in the unit while the other guest(s) go to the beach. This person could then lock the sliding doors from the inside and then use the front door to join the others. This would result in some inconvience, but not as much as losing money to a thief. The other would be the remedy suggested by another poster, bringing a chain and a padlock. If you chose that method, be sure to use a padded chain that will not damage the door handles.

These thefts are enabled by people (myself included) leaving their unit unprotected. We must change our habits or there will more thefts.

Lynn L Perkins, President FGH

Re: theft

Lynn,

What is wrong with my suggestion to have an inexpensive lock put on the doors to make it easy for everyone to use the rear exit? It would make the $1,000/yr. I spend on maintenance fees go down a little bit better.

I'm assuming you also have a lower unit and understand our situation?

Have you read all my posts regarding this problem? As president, please respond to why the resort office FAILED TO FULLY INFORM ME OF THEFTS AT CASA YBEL and handing us a watered down version of the police dept. letter. I believe they misrepresented the facts to keep from scaring away customers. Trust me, this could become a legal issue in the near future!!!!

P.S. If you bothered to take the time to read the whole thread, you would know that it was ME that suggested the chain and padlock, not "another poster". And by the way, if I do end up bringing a chain and padlock with me next year, the last thing I'll worry about is damaging the door handles!!!!!!

Re: theft

Tom, I am sorry that your feathers are so easily ruffled. I was entering my response and couldn't remember whose suggestion it was and after losing the text once, I didn't want to lose it again. Owners, it was TOM, my bad!!

I was not aware of what warnings, if any, were made until you raised the issue. I will check with management on Monday. But, if you had received the police warning, can you honestly say that you would have altered your conduct?

As to the chain on the door, remember you have to pay for any damage through your fees, so maybe that shouldn't be the least of your worries.

Lynn L Perkins, President FGH

Re: theft

We were also at Casa Ybel the week Tom was. Since my wife, and I to a lesser extent, are fairly paranoid about home and car invasions, we have done each of the remedies suggested by Lynn for several years. The chain lock system was a bit cumbersome, and seemed least practical to us. It was an inconvenience, using the front door to go to the beach, and somewhat mitigated a major advantage of the lower units, but we survived. I think, Lynn, that you danced around, or dismissed Tom’s suggestion, which I believe merits consideration. For a resort of our stature, I believe we really should have a lockable (from outside) beachfront door.

It’s possible, and a number of posters will hiss at me for this, that this problem has some degree of correlation with the interloper problem, so security measures might help.

Lynn, what about my previous posting regarding the cleaning assessment for no cleaning?

Re: theft

Nice seeing your name George Earl! I noticed your photos every time I open the Forum! You must be a winter owner with that sunset! We had a nice debate around that subject on sunsets a couple of years ago.
And Tom: When I worked at the Manned Space Center in Houston, hired from Denmark, the beaches in Texas could not stand up to our Sanibel beaches in Florida!
My work at the Apollo launches in Cape Canaveral gave me a chance to discover Florida every time we fired, and I found Sanibel during one of our "time out" with lunch delays!
My wife and I wound up with owning one unit a month, almost, we made it to 11 units spaced out in the year! I wrote some about our first visit to Sanibel in 1969 with a quite different "Casa Ybel". an assembly of huts on stilts for shell collectors and fisher men, mostly from mid USA.
We are retired in Ft Myers, so we have sold many weeks now, and kept some specias!
I served almost 20 years on the board, and it was this www.casaybel.com that
I started due to the fact I had trouble renting our units when the lift-off's
did not match our unit week. It was a rare thing to receive rentals way past the rental week, and some excuses were:"The renters did not show up.

Did we agree all entrees were from Beach back door?
any reports on front door entrees, any false key cards or master key cards?

Well, if the board could come up with a double glass door lock application,
why not go for it,bill 52 owners for 1/52 of cost of lock! Only downstairs units. $10 for a lock pr unit costing a total of $500 would pay the bill.
No cheap chains.

Thanks Carl

Re: theft

Lynn,

Yes, I can honestly say that I would have altered my conduct had I been given a copy of the letter that the police handed out. Would I have locked the door from the inside and gone around? No, probably not. I would have however, done what I used to do when I travel and that is to stash the majority of my cash in another location in the condo.

Is it really too much to ask our association to check into getting locks put on the sliders? As president, I not only would hope, but EXPECT you to follow through with this matter. This is one of the reasons I voted for you. Also the fact that you monitor this website and see it as a viable means for communication amongst owners.

P.S. I was in a bit of an angry mood when I said I wouldn't care about damage to the doors if we used a chain and padlock. Other than vacuuming the floor, we leave our unit in as good shape as we found it.

Tom DeFouw, owner

Re: theft

I think they had a key/card and came in the front door otherwise they would have gone thru your daughter's purse on the dinning room table if they came thru the lanai Just a thought.

Re: theft

Sheila,

We thought that was a distinct possibility also. Unfortunately that would open up a whole new can of worms as to how they got one. we should all be more concerned if that was the case because then it would have nothing to do with how diligent we are at locking up the joint.

Re: theft

I have not had a chance to talk to Chris about locks outside locks on the sliding doors, but another poster had said it wasn't possible to do with the existing doors. I will call Chris tomorrow and get his take first hand. I use a locksmith for my rentals and I will call him also to see if he has any suggestions. I have several ideas for securing the doors, BUT I'm am not a locksmith. One of them is to get the old bicycle padlocks, the ones that were several inches long that went around the front fork and through the spokes.
These break ins are crimes of convenience and from now on we must be more aggressive in protecting our units. If and when they catch the thief there are likely to be others who have gotten the idea that there is easy money in the beachside condos.

As for the cleaning in week 52, I will check on that. You should have called the front desk at the time and that probably would have solved the problem.

I try my best to assure that our owners and guests have an extra special experience while they are on Sanibel, but I live in Kansas, (where it is now 16 degrees) about 1500 miles from Sanibel and I can't see that far.

Lynn L Perkins

Re: theft

Lynn, mea culpa. It seems we have a communication issue in our household; my wife instructed Housekeeping to just provide clean towels/linen and not clean our unit after the 1st week. Sorry for the alarm.

Re: theft

I talked to Chris on Monday, he confirmed your message. I have checked with a locksmith in Kansas about a possible external lock on the sliding beachside doors. He said there are a couple of locks that might work, but I should contact a locksmith in Ft. Myers.

Re: theft

Georgie Boy,

Still want your $143 for house keeping or are you going to send an apology letter?

Re: theft

Annie girl,

What would you have me do? Whom should I send the letter to? I did send a note to Lynn, who was the only “official” that I mentioned the issue to. Should I apologize to you for getting you exercised?

Read the posting again, Annie. I was not requesting a $143 refund; just a reduction because cleaning was not done but new towels/linen were provided.

Let me know.

Re: theft

This was forwarded to me today. At what point do we stop ignoring the fact we should have locks on the outside of the sliding glass doors on the lower units?

City of Sanibel News Release

Sanibel, Florida - January 14, 2013
Contact: Sanibel Police Department
Chief William Tomlinson (239) 472-3111



SANIBEL POLICE OFFER $25,000 CASH REWARD FOR HELP SOLVING STRING OF BURGLARIES

15 Burglaries of Beach Front Properties over Past 8 Weeks

The Sanibel Police Department offers $25,000 cash reward for help in solving a string of burglaries having occurred along beachfront properties between the dates of November 14, 2012 and January 11, 2013. These burglaries have occurred from the 500 block of East Gulf Drive to the 3400 block of West Gulf Drive on Sanibel.

The burglaries appear to have taken place during late afternoon and early evening hours. In each incident, the suspect has gained entry to the units through unlocked doors and sliders stealing mostly cash and jewelry from the units. "We are serious about stopping and solving these crimes. If you know something; say something. If your tip leads to an arrest, you will be eligible for the $25,000 cash reward," stated Chief of Police William Tomlinson.

Chief of Police William Tomlinson is requesting anyone with information on any of these burglaries, to please call Crime Stoppers at any of numbers listed below:

Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-8477
Text tip to Crime Stoppers at: CRIMES (274637) Keyword: REWARD
Online tip to Crime Stoppers at: www.swflcrimestoppers.org

Anyone with information which leads to an arrest can be eligible for a cash reward of $25,000. All callers will remain anonymous. Tips may also be made by contacting the Sanibel Police at (239) 472-3111.



Click here to view Reward flyer.




-END-

Re: theft

George,

Your initial complaint and subsequent follow-up to my question is exactly what is irritating, but at the same time entertaining about this website.

Rather than investigate why your unit was not cleaned, you immediately complain and demand some form of compensation - $$. And, you are too cheap to support Coconuts. And, you complain about an occasional wedding reception. I beginning to agree with an early post – are you the biggest pain-in-the-ass in your neighborhood?

Re: theft

Ann,

I do agree with you that some postings are irritating but also entertaining. However, I don’t think sniping, such as you have engaged in, are fun, and certainly are not productive. The problem, as I see it, is that some people (e.g. you) seem to lack basic reading and communication skills, and are quick to draw unsubstantiated conclusions about issues they have no understanding of.

Your comment concerning the cleaning was a good example of a reaction blown way out of proportion. While you took my question as a complaint, it was meant to understand whether a policy change had been in place. I was investigating with Casa Ybel, but took the opportunity to ask Lynn, since he had made an earlier post. Nothing was demanded; a question was posed. But, you took it upon yourself to open an attack.

The complaint about weddings was not made by me. The original poster asked for feedback, and I offered some, as did some others. Reread them, Ann. I asked whether there should be a board discussion. Maybe you are overreacting.

Too cheap to support Coconuts? Why do you think I should? There are a number of institutions nationally and locally that I do not support, and neither do you. Why single Coconuts out. They have little to do with our resort except for real estate. We are primarily beach people, not poolies. And don’t you think “too cheap” is an unwarranted extrapolation, given that you know squat about me or my situation? For all you know I spend more money in a week than you make in a year. Conversely, I could be in a situation where I am on a very tight budget. You don’t know. The cheap charge was personal, ignorant and ill advised.

I do wish that these postings would take a less personal approach and stick to the issues presented or introduce new ones. It is unnecessary to call people pains in the ass, cheap, complainers, etc. Keep the comments related to the issue at hand and refrain from insults. This forum can be civil and still provide information and entertainment.

Re: theft

Well said, George!! I'd be happy to have you for a neighbor.

Re: theft

Birds of a.feather flock together!

Re: theft

Somewhere in this thread of conversation and above conversations regarding thefts and what type of locks may and may not work - wouldn't it just be simpler to go to the front door and use your key rather than trying to fiddle with some bike lock or whatever? We too have enjoyed the convenience of leaving our lower level unit unlocked and have always known the possibility of a walk in theft could occur. I guess we've been fortunate all of these years. It's a terrible experience for those of you that endured this and I'm sorry it has come to this.

Regarding supporting Coconuts or not - we have enjoyed the convenience and appeal of sitting down to a nice lunch by the pool and listening to Danny Morgan. I felt the prices were reasonsable considering what you got. The portions and quality of food were good. However, I would say the past almost two years the menu has changed and you don't get an adequate amount of food for the cost you are paying. I don't blame people for not wanting to support the greediness of this establishment just because the economy is getting better or whatever their reasons for the disappointing portions, quality, and pricing.