Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2013 Co-op City Times
Vol. 48 No. 4
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Teenaged bank robber caught just moments after heist
Officers from the 45th Precinct and the Co-op City Department of Public Safety confer at the spot where a teenaged bank robbery literally had his ill-conceived heist blow up in his face. Photo by Bill Stuttig
BY BILL STUTTIG A 15-year-old boy was caught redhanded—literally—moments after he brazenly tried to rob the Amalgamated Bank branch in the Bartow Shopping Center shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday. According to a Public Safety report on the incident, the 15-year-old walked into the bank at approximately 2:30 p.m. and handed a note to the teller stating, “Empty your draw, there is a bomb in the building.” The teller reportedly handed the suspect a bag full on money, but not before slipping dye packs between the stacks of cash. When the suspect retreated from the bank, he only made it as far as the front of
the Rite Aid drug store, approximately 50 feet from the bank, when the dye packs exploded leaving him and the bag full of cash stained with visible red dye. The alarmed suspect then dropped the money and ran towards Asch Loop in an attempt to get away. At the same time, Public Safety Officer Valencia Boone, on patrol in the mall, noticed the bag of red cash lying on the ground and quickly acted to secure the bag of dyed money while other officers quickly responded and assisted in picking-up whatever dyed-cash was blowing in the immediate vicinity. (Continued on page 2)
Management responds to City News I thought I had seen it all in sensationalist YELLOW JOURNALISM, but last week’s City News takes the prize. My phone rang off the hook over the inaccurate and misleading headline “Power Plant Explosion.” When you read the article in this alleged newspaper under such a headline, you quickly realize it is not speaking of an explosion, merely what they falsely claim are unrealized savings. Our audited financial statements tell a different story. Utility costs consist of electricity, fuel oil and gas. 2009 - $48,200,000 2012 - $26,700,000 SAVE D - $21,500,000 That does not look like a failure to me. In fact, that’s an actual savings of almost 50% in utility costs which seems pretty good to us. Ok, let us discuss why we paid Con Edison $17,400,000 for the period January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2012 — t wo yea r s:
25¢
Riverbay receives final $600,000 of $2M NYSERDA grant for cogeneration plant BY ROZAAN BOONE Riverbay recently received the final $600,000 payment of the $2M grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) which was awarded to the community for the installation of new energy efficient equipment in the cogeneration plant. The last payment of $600,000 was received in late 2011, and this was preceded by a payment of $800,000 which occurred in 2010. Brian Reardon, Riverbay’s Director of the cogeneration plant, explained that two gas turbines, one steam turbine and a high pressure boiler were installed to replace older equipment in the power plant and to upgrade the facility during the conversion of the existing 40-plus year old plant several years ago to a co-generation facility. “The combination of the four main pieces of the cogeneration plant gives us an efficiency rating of above 60% which qualifies us for the NYSERDA grant,” said Reardon. In addition to saving energy, which also means lower fuel consumption, installa-
tion of the new cogeneration equipment has resulted in a more environmentally friendly power plant in that nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions into the air have been significantly reduced by about 103 tons per year, as well as other contaminants. The Riverbay cogeneration plant recovers up to 80% of the steam created when it operates the turbines to create electricity and converts that steam into excess electricity which can be exported/sold to Con Edison. In addition to providing energy savings, the plant can produce enough energy to handle the needs of the community, as well as excess energy and capacity, which can be exported and sold to ConEd and to the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) which operates the electric grid in New York. Riverbay’s energy management consultants estimated earlier on that capacity sales, which is the ability to make energy when required by the grid, would conservatively generate approximately $233,000 (Continued on page 2)
St. Mary’s School Closing (see pa ge 3 for a r ticle)
Electricity $1.3M Electricity standby charges $7.2M (is like insurance or back-up charge) Gas boilers - transportation* $3.2M Gas-Co-gen - transportation * $3.6M Gas - apartments - laundry $1.7M Gas - Shopping center $ .4M ————— $17.4M * Transportation refers to the use of Con Edison pipes to bring in gas. The $1.3 million for electricity purchase is for those rare occasions when repairs are required, and the $7.2 million is to makes sure electricity is available in a true emergency. I could go on to challenge the assertion of cost overruns which do not exist. The same can be said of allegations of waste. We are being bombarded by the BIG LIE. The City News has no shame, and everything—every lie—is used to say our Managers and Marion Scott Real (Continued on page 4)
Best porters and grounds keepers recognized…At a luncheon on Tuesday, January 15th, Riverbay honored its porters and groundskeepers were deemed by their respective supervisors to be the best at their jobs. The honorees are: Ramon Escano, Luis F. Nunez, Humberto Oliveras, Felix R. Solano, Jerome Christopher, Wing K. Tse, Ricardo Perez Morales, Sina Kim, Paul S. Grant, Petar Markic, Bonifacio P. Mulero, Angel Bravo, Emir Carlos Hernandez, Omnarine Ramlall, Berky Ortega, Filomena Velasquez, Nelson Miranda, Juan Reynoso, Franklin R. Robinson, Anibal Flores Lopez, Sheverlo Smith, Herman H. Higgs, and Delroy A. Young. Each was personally thanked for their dedication to the community by Riverbay General Manager Vernon Cooper and given an extra day off that they could take anytime during the next year. Photo by Bill Stuttig