Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community.
Vol. 49 No. 5
© Copyright 2014 Co-op City Times
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Bus service and senior issues on the agenda at JASA’s public affairs meeting for Co-op City seniors
Many seniors who were at the meeting expressed skepticism over whether the restored service will be enough to overcome what was lost in the MTA’s 2010 budget cuts. One senior pointed to
Approximately 30 seniors participated in what is hoped to be the first in a series of discussion programs in Co-op City to give seniors a chance to bring their issues to the attention of elected and government agency officials. State Assemblyman Mike Benedetto was the guest speaker at this first meeting held on Thursday in Room 31 of the Bartow Community Center, and the Assemblyman, who was instrumental, along with several others, in petitioning the MTA over the last three years to restore some of the previously cut bus service, At a JASA-hosted public affairs forum, Assemblyman Mike Benedetto addresses the concerns of Co-op told the seniors that the MTA’s City’s seniors. recent announcement of Photo by Bill Stuttig restoring some service and the fact that many communities had stops in the community “is a major step in the right direction.” much of their cut services restored He added: “Be realistic— Were they before Co-op City and questioned how ever going to restore all the service that that could happen given the fact that was cut in 2010? Not very likely. But Co-op City has one of the largest senior we have to wait now and see how the populations in the city. restored service will help bus service Other seniors raised questions about here. We will continue to fight, but we (Continued on page 2) have to give this a chance.” BY BILL STUTTIG
Power outage prevented following burst pipe in Building 11A
Quick action by the Riverbay Maintenance and Power Plant Departments prevented what could have been a major power outage in several buildings Thursday night after a water pipe burst in Building 11A due to freezing. A two-inch pipe under the portico that constantly carries water into the building burst at approximately 6:30 p.m. on Thursday evening, according to Riverbay Ombudsman Joe Boiko. Water started flooding the basement of the building and Riverbay Maintenance and Power Plant personnel quickly responded to the site, Boiko said. The water flooded the elevator pit room and required that the elevators be shut down. Water also started rising rapidly and approached the top of the concrete platforms that hold the electrical transformers in the building, Boiko said. Thanks to the efforts of the Maintenance and Power Plant staff, that rising water was stopped just in time before it topped over the transBY JIM ROBERTS
formers and caused a major power outage that would have shut power off in nine buildings. “Under these circumstances, our crews did an excellent job quickly responding to the situation and getting it under control,” said Riverbay General Manager Vernon Cooper. “All of our operational department heads are reporting that we are getting water pipe breaks in areas that we’ve never had before and it’s a direct result of the extreme cold that we’re experiencing” Cooper said. Residents of the affected buildings were kept updated throughout the evening through the Riverbay Emergency Phone Tree system, Boiko said. One elevator was restored to service at 2:00 a.m. Friday morning and the second was scheduled to be back in operation by mid-day Friday. Public Safety officers helped residents during the elevator outages and accompanied them back and forth across the roofs between Buildings (Continued on page 4)
25¢
Mayor expresses willingness to consider relieving some of Co-op City’s costly asbestos abatement requirements While making no promises, new New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered a statement during a hearing before the New York State Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee on Monday in Albany which signals the possibility of major financial relief for Co-op City and its shareholders in the future. Responding to a question from Co-op City’s State Assemblyman Mike Benedetto specifically dealing with the costly asbestos abatement requirements exclusively imposed on Co-op City by the City of New York for several years now, the new Mayor said to Benedetto and the rest of the committee that he was familiar with the issue, sympathetic to the concerns of Co-op City, and would be open to asking his commissioners to look into BY BILL STUTTIG
ways to help Co-op City “get some relief” from its costly and stringent asbestos abatement requirements. De Blasio’s statement is consistent with a position he took while serving this city as its Public Advocate, a year before he won the Mayoral election this past November. In a letter written just a little over a year ago—dated January 18, 2013 – then Public Advocate de Blasio asked the city’s Department of Environmental Protection to provide information on why the department is selectively and unfairly requiring testing expenses in Co-op City even though more than 70,000 air samples already performed in the community have failed to disclose even one health hazard. (Continued on page 2)
Reminder to shareholders
No dogs, except service animals, are allowed on Co-op City premises. All dogs must be properly tagged and leashed. If you see a dog that is not properly tagged, please call Public Safety at (718) 671-3050.
MTA construction delays push back Co-op City station another four years Hope that a train station to Manhattan would come to Co-op City took one step forward on Jan. 8 when Gov. Cuomo vowed his support, but that dream of a rail connection to Penn Station took a four-year step backward this week. Officials from the Federal Transit Administration revealed on Monday that the MTA’s newest target to finish its East Side Access project won’t happen in 2019 as the MTA claimed. In reality, the railroad now concedes, the best guess of finishing the work to let Long Island Railroad trains enter Grand Central Station can’t be completed until 2023. The MTA originally said the LIRR project would be finished in 2009 and cost $4.3 billion. The newest forecast says the work will be completed in 2023 and cost $10 billion. This newest delay for Long Island commuters is also bad news for Co-op City because, before any construction work could even begin on a Co-op City train, the MTA has to complete the current massive expansion program that is building access for the LIRR into Grand Central, the largest infrastructure project now underway in the U.S. Once that project is done, tracks will BY JIM ROBERTS
be opened up at Penn Station to allow the Bronx expansion. Until then, there isn’t enough capacity to run new trains from the Bronx into Manhattan. So far, the LIRR-East Side Access construction work has completed seven miles of tunnel and a huge cavern below Grand Central Station. Tunnels were also built under the Harold Interlocking in Queens where several train lines intersect without disrupting Amtrak and LIRR traffic. In his Jan. 8 State of the State speech, Gov. Cuomo vowed to “ … seek to secure federal funds for this critical resiliency project …” that would expand Metro North service by building four new stops at Co-op City, Morris Park, Parkchester and Hunts Point. As is always the case, paying for the project is the most important obstacle. According to the Governor, the MTA’s 2010-2014 Capital Plan sets aside $40.6 million for planning and design of the Bronx expansion work, called the “Penn Station Access Project.” Environmental work is underway and the MTA is working to advance further planning and design, the Governor said. However, several press reports have (Continued on page 4)