June 5, 2024

Dear Board Members,

The undersigned residents are writing to support the installation of a Smart TV in the Tye Room.

We urge the Board to approve this initiative.

There are several points we hope you will consider as you discuss our proposal.

1. The purpose of the proposed SmartTV System is to enhance the current audiovisual capabilities for meetings and presentations, thereby significantly improving the overall experience for all residents. Recent examples where we could have benefited from this improved technology include: ECG Larry Tye book talk, Aging in Place Estate Planning presentation, ECG Charles River Conservancy presentation, Esplanade Board Meetings

2. These enhancements will improve accessibility to community events for all residents. They will accommodate individuals with physical disabilities who may need or prefer to attend remotely, as well as those who wish to participate in person but struggle with reduced hearing or vision.

3. Installation of a Smart TV and speaker is not complicated. We don’t anticipate the need to hire a consultant for this limited scope of work.

4. A committee of residents has already researched available solutions and presented their recommendation along with cost estimates to the Board.

5. This project can and should proceed independently from a larger redesign or renovation of the common areas and club room. This application will fully integrate with any future renovation.

6. Many residents have installed similar technology in their own units and are very familiar with it and its ease of use.

7. Committee members will develop and post operational instructions and provide operational tutorials to residents as needed.

8. Concerns about noise and excessive use can be managed through our existing BuildingLink amenity reservation system. Rules of use can be clearly defined and posted. These may include: number and frequency of reservations by unit, hours of operation, and financial penalties if rules are not observed.

Below is a picture of the device we think would be best. We appreciate your attention to this exciting initiative.

We are also attaching a letter of support below from William Crowley which provides further details.

Thanks to the working group for the nice summary and provision of cost details - a nice job of due diligence. Having installed this identical FRAME system into our condo, I can attest to both the accuracy of your cost estimates and the quality of the choices involved.

In terms of adding to a monthly cost/unit for Esplanade owners, most places have a capital budget that can accommodate such relatively small expenditures without making the assumption that the costs will need to be added to everyone’s monthly budget. This is especially true since our administration has been so meticulous in assuring that we have an annual surplus that should easily encompass such a major benefit that will benefit most of the Esplanade community.

I would also add a few important additional benefits to your VALUE section:

1) The building’s current AV system is really quite limited. Having attended several of the Esplanade excellent educational presentations like the retirement series, it was quite embarrassing to have everyone crowded around a small PC that was hard to see from where I sat. So if we are to continue to invite excellent speakers, a major benefit that accrues to the

Esplanade from our location, we really should have an updated AV system that will permit everyone to see and hear these presentations and not be a distraction from the quality of the experience.

2) The issue of improving the service to our handicapped owners not just with better sound and visible presentations but also allowing improved access for those who cannot attend due to our

current limit of 20-30 people in the Tye Room is a very important issue. A timely investment in such a system would dramatically expand the audiences who cannot benefit from these talks due to ambulatory problems, limited space, and potentially conflicting appointments or commitments. Zoom permits them to be seen and reviewed at one’s leisure - even if one is not geographically present in the Esplanade. Those people who are traveling, have medical appointments, or visiting family can benefit from these experiences much like our current Board meetings. The Tye Room’s current limits of a maximal audience of 20-30 just isn’t enough.

3) Finally, and perhaps most importantly, expanding the benefits of our various educational efforts and excellent speaker series to a larger Esplanade membership will really add a great deal to a sense of collegiality and community that can be much more widely shared. This addition in turn will engender a broader sense of community that should reap much broader benefits and provide an excellent return on a relatively small investment for the majority of us.

Bottom line: short dollars for big benefits for so many in our community!

William F. Crowley, Jr., M.D.

Daniel Podolsky Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School MGH Departments of Medicine, Endocrine Unit & Center for Genomic Medicine Medical Population Genetics Program, The Broad Institute

Cambridge,M.A. 02114

wcrowley@mgh.harvard.edu