Scraped in the Regents-side elevator in 8520 is the line "DONT MOVE HERE," and on the other side of the door, the charming line "GET F---ED CENTRAL." Is there any credence to this foreboding vandalism'

First off, I don't think it's fair to blame UCSD students for all the woes of Costa Verde. My experience in 8520 has been pleasant, the other reviews of "garbage everywhere," thin walls and noise everywhere, messy grounds etc... simply aren't true. The (drab/sterile') hotel-like corridors and grounds are reasonably well kept, the complex is clean and feels modern and safe. I am a UCSD graduate and I live with students, and I know many friends who live here, and none of them are as inconsiderate as other reviews describe.

Costa Verde has some very nice amenities- free fitness classes, a great gym, pools and spas everywhere, and assigned parking. I've never had any problems with the maintenance, whose staff is friendly and which typically respond to requests within 24 hours. That said, it has some severe problems as well, which I shall detail below.

PARKING
If you live in an apartment with roommates and don't get a parking space, parking is impossible in the surrounding neighborhood. DO NOT park in the nearby shopping center, they tow cars EVERY NIGHT. Also, get a permit for the garage because the parking management company takes special delight in towing, booting, and fining you if you're parked without a permit. Furthermore, if you plan to have guests over, forget using the guest spaces after about 7 PM, they'll invariably be full. Apparently, the architects never anticipated residents having friends or significant others. Despite the vehement enforcement of profit-making fines, the parking company seems completely unable to actually provide any *security* to residents. Despite semi-frequent patrols by not-very-nice guards in gussied-up yellow Corollas with police lights, cars are stolen, vandalized and broken into on a near weekly basis. They barely have the broken glass cleaned up from one break-in when another happens right next to it. In the last three years, my car has had its radio stolen twice and its antenna broken off while parked in the same spot. I finally wised up and upped my insurance to cover it with no deductible. When the garage gate was broken recently, it took them almost a month to repair it, despite weekly complaints from me. Oh, and although the parking is gated and the stairwell doors to the garage are inconveniently locked, you can just wander into any elevator from the street, push a button, and be in luxury car and aftermarket-radio heaven. They claim they're installing cameras, but all I've seen in the months since this promise is some incomplete and poorly done wiring to what may someday be a security camera that they promptly ignore. Did I mention the leaks they refuse to fix'

STAFF
I had no problems with the staff for the first year I lived here- but I never had to deal with them other than to turn in rent. But try to talk to most of them, and I'll have to agree with all the other reviewers?? they're rude as hell. I am a very patient person, having worked in customer service myself, but these people really are incompetent. They have no idea who's living in their apartments, nor do they really care: it took them years to realize that my apartment had gone through two sets of tenants and no current residents were on the lease anymore. There's one guy who's not bad, but the rest of the staff act like they can't be bothered with your petty concerns such as "my carpet looks like a battlefield," "why are you charging me $200 extra rent," or "my car has been broken into three times."

POOLS
Do you like lukewarm spas and freezing pools' More importantly, do you like wandering around your complex looking for a pool that's actually maintained' Perhaps the designers shot themselves in the foot putting conveniently located pools and spas in nearly every building, because now they have to maintain them all and can't.

GENERAL SCREWAGE
Since I moved here, our rent has steadily gone up. Yes, perhaps this is due to market forces etc... but it's still not very nice. Also, they are converting the complex to condos, although they claim this won't change anything. However, that means they can now kick us out whenever they feel like, and sell our unit for some crazy inflated 300k amount.

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