You all missed quite the clown show last night, and that’s being charitable. From Susan Lapetina stating she only learned from outside counsel “about a month ago” that our new GM will need a DC Property Manager’s license (implying that it was a new law; it’s not), despite me having been asking this question for many months now, to the admission that we will be paying two entities now for the foreseeable future (new GM Bodden’s salary plus Comsource’s ridiculous management fees and Chris’s salary continuing indefinitely), to the very entertaining comments made by all of these insecure people about me (it’s like watching some Fox News guest defending the most outlandish things the Administration does), to what Mary-Lynn Wrabel finds “creepy,” to Cindy Sulton’s equivalent of “Hey, forget that I was violating the muntins rule as regards my balcony doors while I was on the ACC; let me tell you about the new T-shirt I’m thinking of getting” – all detailed below – it deserved an Emmy for outlandishness. And on a side note, Ross Harrison got to speak early on but was not on camera; no double standard there, huh?
Let’s take them all in order.
- First up – the complete BS about the GM not having a DC Property Manager’s License. The below email to the DC Real Estate Commission (and attached video excerpt from last night) says it all:
From: kenneth@rinzler.com <kenneth@rinzler.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2026 8:39 PM
To: Leon Lewis; Stacey Price
Subject: SPCA Board President Seems to Misrepresent The Facts And The Law Is Still Being Violated
Dear Mr. Lewis and Ms. Price:
Tonight the SPCA Board held its Janaury meeting and Board President Lapetina addressed the new GM’s lack of a Property Manager’s License during same. Please see attached video.
She confirms that our outside counsel, Ruth Katz, advised the Board about a month ago that a license is required, although she makes it sound like the licensing requirement is recent. That’s typical for how our Board presents facts to the community, but that’s mostly a matter of public relations. (Ms. Lapetina’s former career field was PR).
The more serious issue is that she states that “with Comsource being with us full time and full management over the next several months we have covered all bases that are necessary.” As you know from my prior emails and complaints, Comsource has been our third party property management company for a few years now. Now here’s where I see a Catch-22 which our Board refuses to acknowledge.
If you look at the attached “Comsource Contract Extension” you will see that the first part (“Financial Services Agreement”) refers to the change to having Comsource handle only our financial management from now on, but the second part (“Agreement of Amendment to Financial Services Agreement’) is actually a back-door amendment to the existing Comsource contract where they will (“technically”) continue to manage our community in toto. So as of Monday we will be paying two on-site people to manage our property: William Bodden, an SPCA employee, paid by our condo Association, whose title will be General Manager, and Christopher Doheny, a Comsource employee, paid by them (but ultimately by us), whose title (I assume) will be Assistant Manager.
Obviously Mr. Bodden will be the actual GM, calling the shots, but he doesn’t have a license. On the other hand, if they’re claiming no, Comsource is actually managing the property, well Christopher Doheny doesn’t have a license either. Thus neither on-site “property manager” will have the required license. How can this meet the requirement of the law?
The GM Announcement stated that Mr. Doheny is only here to help with the transition, but this three-card monte legal game apparently was also based upon the realization that Mr. Bodden didn’t have a license and would probably needs months to acquire one, so our Association needed to cover its legal behind. As for “DC has already been alerted” please; what relevance does that have at all?
In summary, neither person on-site will have a DC Property Manager’s license. Unless I am missing something, and please tell me if I am, the statutory requirement is still not being meant and enforcement action is called for.
Thank you.
- The utility closet doors have finally been approved. Big whoop.
- Upper Terrace Renovation Update. According to Drucker, at the February Board meeting the contractor will present the draft drawings and then we’ll have big drawings on display in the office for comments, hoping to have final consensus in March, issue an RFP in April for the construction firms (of course the community will never see it), an expectation that DC permits will take 5-6 months, thus construction not expected to begin until Sept/Oct but possibly beyond that, contractor says cold weather won’t be an issue, we will be renovating the bathrooms but “we’re not doing a total gut job” in the bathrooms.
- Tree Survey. I basically fell asleep except for noting how both Chris and Drucker are absolutely clueless about how one determines what a “Heritage Tree” is. Chris stated a contractor told him that “any tree over 31.8 inches in diameter is a Heritage Tree.” To which Drucker responded “Oh, it’s the size? It’s not the life of the tree or anything?” Yes, Cindy, in this case I’m afraid size does matter! However, it’s not the diameter, but the circumference. See https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/8-651.02 § 8–651.02. Definitions. (3A) “Heritage Tree” means a tree with a circumference of 100 inches or more. Hard to believe that all of the Board members with their unmatched cumulative wisdom, including la Presidenta who I believe was on the Landscape Committee, didn’t step in to correct this misconception. I guess that would have been too woke? Oh, I forgot, facts don’t matter.
- Sewer Damage In 3229-C. Again, we must be on different planets. First off, we were told (for the first time) that the Association already spent about $6,300 on the clean-up, so add that to the approximately $19,000 proposal for repair. (The ServPro repair proposal, all agreed after their eyes were opened, was a joke; too ambiguous, etc. Chris loved calling it a “black water incident.” It was sewage, feces, dung. Let’s be clear: how would you feel if your dinner waiter asked you if you’d like another “black water” with your meal? Not incidentally, other than John Knauss (who visited with me) not a single Board member could be bothered to come by and look at the damage; I guess they might have gotten the vapors. Drucker initially focused on the unit being vacant and so maybe it was the owner’s fault the mess sat there for so long but she was soon corrected. Of course had she or any Board member ever communicated with the owner none of these misconceptions would have arisen. She also pushed to have the owner file a claim with her insurance even after Chris had told her that the plumber the Association hired found that the blockage occurred in a common line. Oh those silly facts, always getting in the way! The owner, Joan, asked the Board to let her contractor repair the unit (it was a brand-new kitchen: I had seen it) with the money the Board wants to give to ServPro to do the work and after extensive discussion Lapetina offered to have Joan come to the office and talk about it. Yup, the cleanup occurred right after Thanksgiving, the Board put out an RFP to Serv Pro without ever consulting with the owner, let alone look at the place, and now Susan offers up a meeting. The magnanimity! “I think we need to sit down and dissect.” Yup, that’s a direct quote. And then Drucker and Lapetina said we should have a second proposal as per protocol, Joan responded she’d have her contractor provide one, then Chris said he’d get yet another proposal from a different restoration company as well, so I think Joan will have her kitchen back by the Fourth of July if she’s lucky. At that point Drucker brought up the “recent” sewer line inspection of all the lower units and asked whether any issues were found in the unit at that time, at which point Chris had to remind her that those inspections were only of the toilet lines, not the kitchens. For the endless time, no institutional memory displayed whatsoever. Drucker closes by proposing maybe we should have all the sinks checked out as well. Sure, would that be before or after the main sewer line inspections that we have been waiting for over a year?
- The Board’s Endless Love For Me and Admiration of My Efforts. Cindy Sulton, you remember, the member of the infamous ACC (Architectural Control Committee), the one who had balcony doors without the required muntins yet covered up the fact (see attachment) and when caught with her muntins down was forced to abstain from voting on the issue, started to talk about me. (See, also, second Sulton attachment which makes it clear she feels she thinks only she should control who gets to be on a committee.) As a reminder, shortly after I moved in here my neighbor advised me to be very wary (to put it mildly) of Sulton; that was the only negative comment this person made to me about anyone living here at the time. Boy was it prescient. To listen to this BS artist talk about people having a right to be treated fairly and not harassed, I would ask “has your owner’s file been “accidentally” released by the Board? Have you had outside counsel send a letter to the community which was full of lies? Do you not ever get your legitimate questions answered? Do you have a neighbor which goes crazy when your HVAC contractor comes and you have to plead with the office to take action and get confirmation that action was taken?” When any of those happen, please, let me know. You’re “mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore?” One piece of advice: don’t quit your day job for an acting career. She then went on about “schooling me” at an ACC meeting and of course her account (as shown by the attached contemporaneous email) was simply not true. Cindy must use a lot of cream cheese because she kept referring to “schmearing.” But apparently it’s OK for the Board to do it. Feel free, Cindy, to get whatever T-shirt you wish, but I’d seriously recommend you not mention my late mother again, for that was the second time. And I’m glad that Drucker and Wrabel found your comments so hysterical; it’s makes me more inclined to respect them even less than I already do.
Drucker followed up with the same comment as at the last Board meeting, which effectively was that the only acceptable method to question the Board or air a complaint was at a Board meeting. That’s not the case, that’s never been the case, and that will never be the case. My emails are open; I add anyone who wishes to be added plus I copy the Board and now even have a blog. So the idea that my comments are somehow secret are – geez, how many times to I need to say this? – complete bullshit. I don’t “give the opportunity to have a dialogue?” Get real, Drucker, you and your fellow travelers never respond to my questions; the GM license issue being but one of the latest fiascos. I didn’t see counsel’s letter asking for a dialogue. Speaking of which – how many times now have I written to the Board, copied to the community, and offered to sit down with you all and yet I have never, ever received a response? You are all so full of it, truly; you all must have quite the collection of boots. Susan states: “I think everyone on this Board is very willing and open to have a conversation. I think we do expect a modicum of respect and to be treated with that respect.” Except for you, Lapetina, Drucker, et al, it’s always only a one-way street. And the community knows it. I didn’t see the crowds joining your pitchfork and torchlights meeting last night, did you? Hey, Professor Harrison, is questioning whether the law is being obeyed as regards a DC Property Manager’s license “finding a little opening and trying to widen it and hobble the community?” How about making me come back from Asia for a heat pump issue which I had tried to work with the Board months earlier? Complaining about using contractors without DC licenses who blew up most of the lower units in my row with shit? Secret committees who picked Theoharis and then Comsource? Am I leaving anything out, Prof? If all of that is “making a career out of attacking the Board” then I take just pride in my industriousness and willingness and ability to help my fellow owners deal with successive Boards who treat us like insects.
Not to be left out, Wrabel complained that I went on a DC Government public website to get a handle on how many units are being rented in our community. She’s “outraged” by my research skills? Too bad. It’s not like the Board or office has a handle on it or shares that information with us. She finds it “creepy.” Again, too bad; it affects resale values, among other things. And, for the hundredth time, MLW, I don’t include everyone on my email list because not everyone asks me to be on it and, in fact, a few have asked to be taken off of it at times and I immediately comply, so stop with the conspiracy theories. In fact, I copy the Board just to show I’m not hiding anything. Why do you think the DC Government makes this information freely available?
So there you have it: same old, same old. Let’s see how the DC Real Estate Commission responds to my email.
