Unless you enjoy listening to scratching and screeching in your walls during the middle of the night, you may want to consider living elsewhere. It seems that SB has a problem (one of many, I assure you) of rodents taking up residence (for a lot less rent, I might add) in the walls and ceiling crawl spaces. After speaking with several of my neighbors, I can conclude that this is not an isolated incident, regardless of what the management staff will have you believe. Here is my story, which is indicative of the experiences by other residents in other complex buildings:



During the night, scratching and screeching could be heard behind the shower/bath wall, and one night something made a very large thud in the wall, and I could hear whimpering from whatever it was that fell. I have also had to listen to things scampering across the roof (I live on the second floor), and I have followed their little footsteps into the wall. Needless to say, I was put off by this, but I figured that as long as they stayed in the walls, I could deal with it. Then one day I had the fortune of seeing through a ceiling opening and spying sunlight coming through the outer roof above. It appears that there are plenty of openings around the exhaust pipes on the roof that allow the critters to get into the crawl spaces and walls. I informed the front office about this and they sent over Orkin the next Wednesday. The Orkin Man came out, I told him the problem of rodents in the walls, he told me there was nothing he could do about that, and he laid some traps in my upper cupboards (where I did not have a problem with rodents). After he left, I started to figure out why he would just make a whirlwind tour of the apartment and tell me that he could do nothing about the rodents in the walls and ceilings. I came to the conclusion that he could do nothing because in order for his work to be effective, SB would have to seal all of the access holes in the roof so that the rodents could not come and go as they pleased. Therefore, Orkin is ineffective, and SB will not take the necessary actions to alleviate the problem, even after I pointed out to the office staff why they had the problem in the first place. I was then told under another encounter with maintenance that they were fully aware of the problem and that just that week alone, the maint. man had caught and killed 4 other large rats, either trapped in a garage or stuck to the rodent sticky-traps. I mentioned the holes in the roof, and he just ignored my comment, and said that the problem was because of living so close to the slough (the swampy water). Needless to say, since SB refuses to address the problem, I have now called the County Health Dept. Perhaps this will light a fire under their butt.



As for ants, these tend to show up after a good rain, and since the construction around the windows is so poor, this is how they get in the apartment. Well, that?s not entirely true, since they have also found their way into my bathroom, and there are no windows there. Again, this is a major problem in all of the buildings within SB.



Now, the nosy neighbor who fashions herself after Mrs. Kravitz from "Bewitched." She has got her nose in everyone?s business, and she believes she is entitled to do so just because she has been here so damn long (over 15 years). She randomly leaves notes on your car or garage or front door for rule violations--she is not authorized to do so by SB, and she does not get everyone who breaks the same rule. For example, at SB residents are to keep their trashcans in their garages, and a great many of the residents do not, and she will single out a single offender and threaten to confiscate your trashcan if she finds you in violation of this rule. She does not leave the same note for every offender, just you. Well, the cans belong to SB, so she?s not really stealing from me, and secondly, I will just place my trash with someone else?s for disposal--it will save me from having to pay BFI the overpriced fees.



All in all, I would suggest moving when your lease is up; there are cheaper places to live in Foster City and who accept pets, and the rent is NOT at "market value," no matter what the SB staff seems to think.

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