I lived at the Chelsea for a year. In that year, there were at least four different complex managers and countless new staff members. With every new wave of employees, maintenance of the complex became worse.

Sometime towards the seventh month of my tenure at the chelsea, crime went through the roof and continued after I left in July of 2004. My car was broken into, as were at least two others in that same month (May). Also in that month, some girl's apartment was broken into in broad daylight. The management told me that they had just hired a new security team who allegedly would take care of the trouble. I never once saw a security patrol, although the police did show up at the complex a couple of times.

The officer that took the report on my own break-in mentioned that the chelsea was very poorly lit and that the rampant shrubbery towards the north end of the complex made burglary very easy. When I told the complex about this conversation, in May, they told me security would give me a call to improve on their lapses. I never got the call and the shrubbery has not yet been trimmed nor has a new lighting system been installed. The security code for the front gate has not changed in at least five years by my former neighbor's report, and by my own experience the code hasn't changed in a year and change. The side gates are routinely unlocked and propped open.

My attempts at having the leaking refrigerator in my apartment fixed generated a flurry of ineffectual visits from the overworked maintenance staff. The same guy came out four times to fix the fridge and, when I left, it was still leaking (dramatically enough that the crispers would fill with water over the course of a weekend).

The most recent wave of managerial staff is highly incompetent. When I left the complex, the manager attempted to avoid a walk-through with me. When I insisted she said that she had already walked-through the apartment (without me) and would call me shortly to tell me what I owed the complex. She called me back with a $150.00 quote. When I pressed her on details she said that the oven was dirty and that the carpet would require cleaning. Since I had shampooed the carpet myself and cleaned the entire kitchen, I insisted on seeing the place with her. After we looked at the apartment she still insisted that the stove was dirty and that I owed them $50.00. It took me a single trip to my car and two swiped with a rag from my trunk to convince her that the stove was now clean also. Although I finally left with a zero balance, I feel that the manager attempted to rip me off.

As I left she told me I was lucky she was nice, otherwise she would have charged me for nail holes in the walls (that's explicitly placed under normal wear and tear in the lease).

It's now September and I'm still getting water bills from the chelsea, which I vacated in July.

In sum, don't move in there. It was affordable but trashy a year ago. It continues to be trashy and the rent has gone up substantially. We looked at the complex next door when we moved out and their rent was significantly cheaper while their staff was friendlier, premisses better kept, and lighting much better situated.

Avoid chelsea like the plague.

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