GP
Gail Patten
May 29, 2025
My overall experience living at Harbor View has been an extremely positive one, for the most part, since I moved here from out of state a little over a year ago. I love my conveniently located apartment and the view I have; housekeeping does a great job keeping it clean, in addition to all the common areas on site; the maintenance crew is wonderful - friendly, personable, professional, always does a great job no matter what you need and is very quick with response time; the well-prepared food served in the dining room is extremely delicious and offers a good variety of meal choices; and the entire administrative staff is the best as they are all extremely personable, friendly and responsive and help make living here a real pleasure. I feel very safe here, love my apartment and all my neighbors, as well as I enjoy the varied activities and entertainment options that are offered and available to me if I should so choose to participate. Because of all of this, I would definitely recommend Harbor View to anyone who is in search of independent living housing.
I do, however, have some concerns that are very troublesome to me enough so that I am “keeping my mind open” to considering looking at other senior living opportunities here in Burlington. There has been a 10% rent increase annually for the past three years with nothing to show for it that any of us residents can see!! If they do that again this year, especially with my Social Security and pensions not increasing enough to keep up with that high of an increase, I’m not so sure I’ll be able to withstand the squeeze financially. This would sadden me greatly as I had reassured my adult children that I regarded Harbor View to be my “forever home” when I moved in here!
I know they just got approval to do some much needed face lifting here on the whole property (flooring, curtains and painting, etc.) which is great, but I was stunned to learn that it won’t include resurfacing all of our apartment balconies. Yes, they are perfectly safe to stand on, but the finish on all of them is deplorable and I’d bet that no one in upper management here would accept that for themselves if they lived here personally, especially when we were told before moving here that it was going to be addressed and resolved! Several residents have expended their own money and elbow grease by refinishing their own balcony or by laying Astro Turf down because it looks so unsightly and splintered. For what we pay for rent, it’s shameful.
Another area of concern is the snow removal situation which is truly a safety issue. We are told a new snow removal company has been hired for next year, so that’s in a “we’ll see” status right now. It was deplorable this year and we were very fortunate that no one fell or got badly hurt because of it.
A couple of “nice to have’s” are that I’d like to see are: more of the management staff (and corporate staff as well??) a bit more visible here in Harbor View. We sometimes feel like we’re the forgotten few over here. Also, it would be nice to see more offsite trip activities offered…such as day trips somewhere, or concert-type activities, or even overnight trips like to Niagara Falls. Just a thought! I’d also like to see the entire site door locks changed to key cards, but I know that’s asking a lot.
Thank you for listening!!