Today was the first annual meeting of the tenants in our apartment building. Actually, it was the second such meeting, as there has already been a constituting session last summer. Both times, this took place in the sports arena of the nearby school, and fortunately it was not as hot today as it was last year.

The day-to-day operations of the building are run by a management company. A group of about ten (randomly chosen, I think) residents forms a supervisory board to control the management company, and the meeting consisted mostly of the board presenting its report concerning the past year. Apparently they have kept expenses well within the budget. In addition to that there have been a couple of issues to vote on, such as the reorganization of the parking garage, the purchase of a solar-powered clock for the playground, additional surveillance cameras, and new rules asking for newspapers to be delivered only to the downstairs mailboxes rather than straight to the apartment door.