We may not have an attic at The Presidential — but we have storage rooms which save the things we don’t need any more but don’t want to throw away. Unfortunately, a lot of these spaces are now overflowing and have become a fire hazard. Some of the rooms have items in them belonging to people who no longer live here; some of the spaces include furniture that current residents just can’t seem to part with.

It’s time for some Spring cleaning for our storage rooms at 401 Ocean Drive. The empty boxes, old papers/bills, discarded exercise equipment, and out dated or unloved furniture, 1970’s electronics, 1990’s TVs need to be discarded or moved out of the storage rooms.

We are going to ask everyone with items stored to first identify your items, assess the need for the items to be stored (i.e. seasonal item, short term storage, etc).

• Unfortunately, we don’t have room for everyone’s old furniture in our storage rooms. Owners should find new homes for their pieces by either donating them, selling them, or throwing them out.
• Papers, Bills, etc: Did you know you only need to hold on to your bills and tax returns for seven years? If you’ve been your old checkbooks and bills longer than that, please take them out of the storage rooms to shred and trash.
• If you are saving an old TV, Hi-Hi, 8-track player, or Apple II computer waiting for it to come back in style…sadly…it never will. Please remove all old electronics from the store rooms.
• Exercise equipment probably doesn’t belong there either — if you were still using that 1990’s vintage bowflex, it wouldn’t be in the storage room. Please also remove any walkers, wheel chairs, etc that are no longer in use.
• Old mattresses are unsanitary and pose a health risk. Please wrap up and remove these items from the storage rooms.
• Seasonal clothes are ok to keep in the storage rooms, but please discard or donate clothes which are past their prime and no longer in use. In particular, if you are keeping those polyester threads from the Disco Era (error?), they are both a fashion and a fire hazard.
• Empty Boxes should be thrown away.
• Luggage is ok to keep as long as it’s something that you still use! If you haven’t used that valise or steamer trunk for ten years — you probably won’t ever be using it again.
• Old bikes: If they are rusty and have flat tires and haven’t been ridden in years, please toss them.
• There are boxes of books in the storage unit which need to be reviewed and removed. We realize that it’s easier to put something in storage than it is to make the decision to throw it away, but if you haven’t looked at it in years you probably never will read these texts again. Consider sharing some of these books in the card room library or donating them to a library or a charity. Recycling is always a good option, too.

The storage is appropriate to use as a place to put furniture while a unit is being remodeled if space is available. However, this is only for temporary storage — after remodeling is complete these items need to be removed from the storage rooms.

Over the next few months we will go floor by floor giving each floor two weeks to schedule time with the building to go through their items.

5th Floor – March 2nd thru 13th
8th Floor – March 16th thru 27th
4th Floor – March 30th thru April 10th
9th Floor – April 13th thru 24th
3rd Floor – April 27th thru May 8th
10th Floor – May 11th thru 22th

Any items that aren’t claimed will be donated to charity or thrown away.