Scooters in the Hallway, A Growing Problem

I ran into one of the long-term tenants around noon, I'll call her Mrs. Dennis. She stopped me before I could even say hello. She told me she almost got clipped by a kid on a scooter near the elevator last week. Didn't fall, thankfully, but it shook her up. She's in her seventies and walks with a cane. A collision in that hallway could have been serious. I told her we're working on it. She gave me the look, the one that means I've heard that before, and said, "Some people only care about themselves. As long as it's not their mess to clean up, they don't think twice." She's not wrong. That's what makes it so frustrating. She's just not wrong.

Trying to Find a Solution

The ideas I keep kicking around: a designated scooter storage area near the building entrance, clearer signage at every elevator and stairwell door, and a proper clause in the lease renewal that spells out actual consequences, not vague language, but something with teeth. The city angle is probably a dead end for now. Getting approval for any kind of scooter route or designated outdoor zone takes months, and this problem needs a response this week, not next quarter. So I'm focusing on what I can actually control. What might move the needle is making it more convenient to store the scooter outside than to drag it through the building. If there's a decent, secure spot near the entrance, most people will use it. The ones who don't, those become individual conversations.

A Pain to Clean

My maintenance guy is not subtle about his frustration, and honestly, I don't blame him. He's the one on his hands and knees with a scrub brush while the people making the mess are upstairs watching TV. He said it best: "It's like they think the building cleans itself." The tire marks aren't just an eyesore, they make the hallways look neglected, and that affects how everyone feels about the building. Tenants who do care notice it. It chips away at the sense of community we're trying to maintain.

Where Things Stand

I don't have this solved. My maintenance guy is still scrubbing. Mrs. Dennis is still watching her back near the elevator. And I'm still figuring out how to get through to people who've tuned out every notice we've sent. But I'm done with vague warnings that go nowhere. The next concrete steps are a secure storage solution outside the building and updated lease language that makes expectations, and consequences, crystal clear. If those two things don't shift the behaviour, I'll escalate to formal notices. I'll post an update when something actually changes. In the meantime, if you manage a building and have dealt with this same issue, I'd genuinely love to know what worked for you. Drop a comment below.