Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2014 Co-op City Times
Vol. 49 No. 15
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Sudden appearance by food cart vendors draws complaints from residents The sudden appearance of street food vendors in all three community shopping centers last month has brought strong objections from many residents, while others are buying their food and keeping them in business here. Riverbay officials have received many complaints and are tackling the problem by coordinating enforcement of existing New York City laws and BY JIM ROBERTS
seeking a long-range solution by proposing new City laws that would give the community a say about where the vendors are located. “As a resident here at Co-op City, when I first looked out my window and saw that first truck, I immediately called 3-1-1 to try and get rid of them,” said Riverbay Board President Bill Gordon. “I was told they sent the 45th (Continued on page 4)
Food cart vendors have appeared in all three Co-op City shopping centers over the past month, raising complaints from residents and merchants who pay rent to operate their stores near where the vendors are setting up shop. Riverbay officials are leading the fight against the street vendors. Photo by Jim Roberts
GPS thief arrested after ill-advised sales pitch to an off-duty officer A man who earlier in the evening broke into a car in a Co-op City garage and stole a GPS device made the mistake of attempting to sell the fruits of his evening’s labor to an off-
BY BILL STUTTIG
duty Public Safety officer who then quickly detained him for questioning and an eventual arrest. Public Safety’s Lieutenant Chris (Continued on page 2)
NYPD heightens warning to Co-op City residents about Money Grams and Green Dot MoneyPak scams
The 45th Precinct’s Crime Prevention and Community Affairs Units have reported recently that increasing numbers of Co-op City residents, especially seniors, are falling victim to scammers using Green Dot MoneyPak cards and Money Grams, despite repeated warnings. According to the officers, while Money Grams and Green Dot MoneyPak cards are legitimate products, scammers are using them to steal money from their intended victims. The scammers utilize a variety of schemes with some of the most common being the utility company and government agencies scams in which the victim is told that they owe BY ROZAAN BOONE
money and the call is to immediately collect what is owed or else service will be shut off, or worse. As the tax deadline approaches, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scam is also prevalent. Additionally, the scammers may claim that a loved one is being held against their will, or has been involved in an accident and payment is needed to gain their freedom. They may also claim that a grandchild or relative has been locked up in another country and needs bail money. Victims are also told that they won the lottery or some type of sweepstakes and money is needed to claim (Continued on page 2)
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Official candidates in 2014 Riverbay Board election to be certified Tuesday, April 15 The official candidates who will compete for the five open seats on the Riverbay Board of Directors will be announced on Tuesday, April 15, at the Candidates’ Meeting which will be held in Room 31 of the Bartow Community Center at 8 p.m. On Monday, April 7, the conclusion of the petition period to run in this year’s Board election, 16 of the 18 potential candidates who had picked up qualifying petitions since they became available on Monday, March 24, returned their petition packages to the Riverbay Legal Department signifying their intention to participate in the race to fill five Board seats in the Wednesday, May 21st election. Among the 16 potential candidates are all five of the incumbent Board Directors running for re-election this year— Eleanor Bailey, Leah Graham, Tony Illis, Daryl Johnson and Rev. Dr. Calvin E. Owens. The other shareholders who returned their petitions include some shareholders who have run for the BY ROZAAN BOONE
Board in the past, some who have served on the Board previously, and some who are new candidates. They include Linda Berk, Alonzo Newton, Frank Belcher, Lynne Brookes, Emmanuel Torres, Dr. Amremdra Singh, Raymond Tirado, Sebastian Ulanga, Deighton Cleve Taylor, Junius Williams and Amy Rosenfeld. With the petition period over, nonresident Riverbay staff conducted electronic signature verification on each of the signed petitions this week. This process was supervised by Riverbay’s senior counsel, Michael Munns; Board President Bill Gordon, Chair of the 2014 Election Committee, and Mary Ahland, Riverbay’s Director of Computer Services. In addition, based on the results of the signature check, and the criminal background check, the 2014 Election Committee also verified that none of the candidates are indebted to the Riverbay Corporation and are up to date in the
Two arrested for violent assault on middle-aged Section 5 resident
Two Section 5 residents were arrested last Friday evening for allegedly carrying out a violent assault on a 52-year old resident near the south side of the Einstein Shopping Center two days earlier. According to Public Safety reports, the victim was attacked by assailants known to him at approximately 6:30 p.m. NYPD units responded shortly thereafter and the victim was taken to Jacobi Medical Center for treatment of injuries which, according to the Criminal Complaint filed against the two assailants, included bruising and swelling to the left eye, cheek and face caused by punching and kicking which eventually caused the victim to lose consciousness. Shortly after the attack, a description of the suspects, based on images captured on video surveillance in the area, was provided for each officer. Based on the images provided, it was believed that the suspects were known to the department because of their involvement in prior incidents within Co-op City. On Friday afternoon, shortly before 6 p.m., Public Safety officers
BY BILL STUTTIG
(Continued on page 4)
on routine patrol in Section 5 spotted two men matching the description, approached the suspects, and when one of them said something that tied him to the attack, arrested both men. Chief Frank Apollo, Commanding Officer of Public Safety, said: “You cannot understate the importance of these arrests which will hopefully lead to getting these two violent individuals off our streets for good. It was proper coordination between the Public Safety detective squad and the Public Safety patrol division that led to the quick apprehension of the individuals involved.” The suspects were turned over to the 45th Precinct where they later confessed to the crime, according to Public Safety reports. Both were charged with assault in the third degree and harassment in the second degree. One of the suspects was also charged with unlawful possession of marijuana after 16 bags of the substance was found hidden in a soda can that he was holding at the time of his arrest. One of the suspects was 21 years old. The other was 23 years old.