Welcome to The ViEW, a shareholders’ publication about the people, place and programs of 1300 Lafayette East.

I am Victor Pytko, self-named editor of this newsletter.

My wife Barbara Porter and I moved into Unit 612 in July 2018. Like other new shareholders, we were interviewed and provided with a handbook that informed us about the rules and policies of living in the co-op. As comprehensive as it was, it did not give us insight about other shareholders and residents, people providing services, or much about what we might find in the community surrounding us. Some of that came through our official visit and package from the Welcome Committee.

Six months passed quickly. We love the building and have enjoyed meeting people. But we still want to know more. I began to think that a newsletter could help educate us about our new environment, and inform others as well. To that end, I joined the Web Committee, met chairperson Linda Swanson and broached the subject of a newsletter: how it might get written, how it might look, what rules might have to be considered, and how it could be distributed.

After experimenting with various platforms, we decided that a blog using Word Press would get us started, and that the newsletter might evolve naturally through reader input and our own design and content changes.

As for story content and frequency, here are some thoughts:

Everybody has a story about their life or some aspect of it that others would find interesting or maybe even be helped by it. Getting someone to tell that story is the challenge. I have written such stories over the years, for newspapers and other publications, and I have found that once a level of comfort and confidence is established, the stories flowed.

So, I would like to generate profiles or human interest stories about our shareholders and residents: those that are famous, not so famous, long timers or not so long timers. I’d also like to write stories about the parks, businesses, and other residents within or surrounding our Lafayette neighborhood, and post any information that impinges on or touches our lives here at 1300. This would include personal perspectives and commentaries, management announcements, and actions and decisions of the Board of Directors and committee meetings.

In fact, The ViEW could augment the transparency that candidate directors campaigned for earlier this year.

I hope that by starting this newsletter, others will see what is being written and volunteer as contributors, photographers, or other sources of information. Frequency of publication is expected to be monthly but because this is in electronic form via the Internet, stories and news do not have to be delayed. At times. immediacy may be the priority.

Here are some topics or stories you can expect in the next few issues:

— Announcements of events and meetings

— Feature on tap water quality. Are you curious about unwanted chemicals that might be coming through your faucet?

— A profile on one of our service providers

— A look at the ups and downs of elevator logic, specifically how the software that controls how and when cars arrive and depart.

— Pictorial studies of and around our building

Please send all comments, suggestions or ideas to me, Victor Pytko, by replying to this posting, at victorpytko@att.net, or by dropping a note under my door. Heck, you can call me as well: (313) 268-1053.

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