The downside of shooting the messenger

No one likes to be the bearer of bad news. I’ve never met anyone who, as a matter of course, enjoyed getting up in the morning and telling anyone something that was going to make them feel bad or make them angry.

Such is definitely the case with JPI, the contract management company that manages the University Village property for the entity that owns the property, and all the apartments, and all the facilities related thereof-the University of Miami.

JPI doesn’t own the property, or any of the apartments, or the construction company that delayed everything, or the parking garages, or any of the facilities therein related. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s the University of Miami that owns everything related to University Village. As such, it is UM that determines the policies under which everything related to University Village operates.

Any of the actions taken to remedy the series of construction delays that affected move in to the apartments were initiated and paid for -with great expense and effort by a multitude of very good people-by the University of Miami. JPI and the University Village Staff worked very hard to make everything work as well as possible. This was often very difficult, if not near impossible, to accomplish. But the best effort was made. Was it anyone’s intention that people had to live at the Biltmore for a couple of months? Of course not. All things considered, I think living in a hotel with free transportation and dining dollars that accumulate at $20 a day is not a bad deal at all-and all for the price of about $350.

UV residents didn’t get any of that from JPI. They got it from the University of Miami. JPI manages the property-collects rent, responds to maintenance requests, and deals with other issues related to the property-on behalf of the University of Miami, the owner of the property.

Being concerned about the unavoidable problems associated with the University Village property is certainly understandable. Those concerns are taken very seriously by JPI, but most importantly by UM. To blame JPI for whatever is wrong with University Village is really nothing more than shooting the messenger. And the messenger doesn’t deserve to be shot just for delivering you a message you didn’t necessarily want to hear.

Scott Wacholtz is a graduate student concentrating in Middle Eastern history. He may be contacted at s.wacholtz@umiami.edu