City Council,
I’d like to share a story with you, as I hope it helps us improve our City. Goodness knows there are more important issues in
front of our City, but it might help us understand what kind of City we don’t want.
I went to Launderland Wash & Dry this AM. What a mistake that was! Not only was the place filthy, the washing machine stole $10+
in quarters from me. Then when I tried a credit card it stole more from me. A stranger, Tina Alamar (cc’d), standing next to me
had a similar experience at her machine, which stole $8 from her. Neither machine was labelled as broken, and the machine lights
were on. Tina is part of the Stanford community and vocalized what a mistake it was coming to Launderland as "the laundromat on
Stanford Ave and El Camino in PA was much nicer." No sooner had I heard Tina’s story than I met another woman who told me that she
had also made a mistake coming here and only did it because she was going to Trader Joe’s which was close. She mentioned that the
laundromat on 5th Avenue is RWC was "clean and people were there to help and there were No Roaches." I scouted around and talked
to others and I was told that the only time anyone came in was to take the money out of the machines and quickly leave, and, there
was no telephone number to call when the machines stole your money, which is frequent and seemingly intentional as no machines are
ever labelled as not working. I was also told never to use your credit card as they have discovered there is a high frequency of
credit card fraud from folks that had used the machines. I made my way to RWC to see their laundromat, and they were indeed
correct. It was clean with staff and they are helpful.
By the way, I called the Police Department and asked them what could be done as it appeared that what had happened to me, Tina,
and we expect countless others, seems fraudulent. The police officer on the phone said I should contact the City offices next door
to them.
I won’t ever be stepping foot in there again and I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, and I am embarrassed for how we look
to our neighbors in PA and RWC. I think we can do better!
Best, Jeff
Jeff Kleckjeffkleck@mac.com [jeffkleck@mac.com]
