Living with Legends

One of our fellow Chelsea Hotel residents received this bizarre and outrageous letter in her mailbox on Friday.  As you might infer from its wrinkled condition, this resident crumpled it in disgust and threw it into the trash, and that’s where we found it.  As, in addition to being an attempt to intimidate a particular family, the letter seems to articulate a general policy, we felt that it was important to share it with the rest of the Chelsea community.  Parents, in particular, may be concerned to learn of the management’s disturbing attitude toward their children. (Click on the image to enlarge)
            The impetus for this letter occurred on Friday, when the child in question was hanging out in the lobby unsupervised, as he or she has done off and on for perhaps a year (the child is nearing adolescence).  A maid whom the child had not seen before walked by, apparently dancing around a bit as she walked.  The child said something like, “Who the heck are you?” (the child’s version), or “Who the hell are you, you bitch?” (BD employee Glennon Travis’ version, repeated to the parent), and the maid apparently complained to Glennon that the child was being rude.  (We decided it was best not to ask the maid to confirm or deny her employer’s statement, as that might put her in an awkward position.)  Perhaps the child should be disciplined, but regardless of the form the statement took, it hardly seems justification for this sort of draconian measure.

The children of the Chelsea are residents too, and as such have certain rights, among them the right to enjoy the use of public areas such as the lobby and the halls.  Glennon, whose official title is Director of Operations has reportedly been telling people recently that he is the manager of the Chelsea (actually, that’s David Bernstein’s title), but in this instance he is acting more like the dictator of a Banana Republic.  No matter what his title, we don’t believe Glennon has the authority to tell parents what to do with their children; it’s up to the individual parents to decide when and under what conditions their children need supervision.
             There seems to be a disturbing new trend emerging here: with this letter and with the recent edict that residents clear their belongings from the hallways (we address this issue tomorrow in a post written prior to this one), we see an apparent attempt to exert control over the common areas of the hotel.  Does this mean children can’t play in the hallways?  What next, a ban on animals in the hallways?  A prohibition against loitering in the lobby? — Ed Hamilton