Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2014 Co-op City Times
Vol. 49 No. 20
Public Safety arrests man believed responsible for rash of car break-ins in Co-op City Two Public Safety officers, assigned to be on the look-out for activities related to a series of auto-break-ins in Co-op City in recent weeks, arrested a man early Sunday morning as he was breaking into cars parked along Co-op City Blvd. According to the Public Safety report on the arrest, the officers observed two men in the vicinity of Co-op City Blvd. acting suspiciously and then begin to break into cars. When the officers quickly approached, the two suspects fled in different directions. One suspect was chased and captured near P.S. 178 and placed under arrest. The second suspect managed to flee successfully. After a canvas of the area, a suspect was spotted by officers in the vicinity sweating and out-ofbreath. He was taken in for questioning, but later released. Two officers who gave chase to the
BY BILL STUTTIG
two suspects were later taken to the hospital for treatment of leg injuries sustained during the chase. Chief Frank Apollo, Commanding Officer of Riverbay’s Department of Public Safety, said the community had been victimized by a series of car break-ins in recent weeks including several along Co-op City Blvd. in the vicinity of the little league fields and last week in Garage 3 where three break-ins were reported. Notices were placed around the community and in the Co-op City Times advising residents to be on the look-out for suspicious activities and report what they see to either Public Safety or the NYPD. Residents were also advised to safeguard their personal belongings and remove all valuables from their vehicle after parking, if possible. In response to the rash of break-ins,
Bartow reception area closed Monday (Continued on page 4)
Please be advised that the entrance to the Administrative reception area in the Bartow Community Center will be closed on Monday, May 19 for repairs. A temporary reception desk will be located in the hallway further down the hall, just past the double glass doors. Directional signs will be posted for your convenience. We apologize for any inconvenience and assure you that we will work diligently to complete the repairs as soon as possible and reopen the reception area. We appreciate your patience and cooperation. —Riverbay Management
Public Safety’s drive for NYS Peace Officer status takes step forward in Albany The goal of obtaining Peace Officer status to Public Safety officers of Co-op City moved one step forward in Albany when the bill to change the law won a preliminary vote in a state Senate committee last week. If the amendment to the existing criminal procedure law passes and is enacted, it would safeguard the Co-op City Public Safety Department and the community from any devastating loss of arrest powers should the NYPD some day decide to eliminate its Special Patrolman division. Under the current law, Co-op City Public Safety officers are issued their authority as Special Patrolman BY JIM ROBERTS
Riverbay Board election to be held Wednesday
Saturday, May 17, 2014
through the NYPD and the Police Commissioner. While the law enforcement arm of certain agencies, such as School Safety officers and Park Rangers are automatically granted Peace Officer status, many private concerns, such as Co-op City Public Safety officers, have to reapply to maintain their status. If the NYPD’s Special Patrolman division were to be eliminated, as has been threatened in the past, it would leave the community’s officers without full arrest powers and reduce the status of officers here to that of security guards. (Continued on page 2)
25¢
$2,500 in voting incentives being offered
Shareholders of the Riverbay Corporation will head to the polls this Wednesday, May 21, to choose 5 of the fifteen candidates running in this year’s Board election to represent them on the Riverbay Board of Directors. Voting will take place in the building lobbies from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. This year, 5,033 votes are needed for a quorum. Fifteen of the sixteen shareholders who submitted qualifying petitions to the Riverbay Legal Department before the April 7th deadline indicating their intention to enter the contest were certified by the 2014 Election Committee after the appropriate checks and validations were completed. The fifteen certified candidates in this year’s Board election, in the order and format in which their names will appear on the ballot are: Dr. Amrendra Singh, Junius Williams, Rev. Calvin E. Owens, Raymond Tirado, Eleanor G. Bailey, Tony Illis, Daryl Johnson, Frank Belcher, Alonzo Newton, Lynne Brookes, Leah Graham, Sebastian Ulanga, Emmanuel Manny Torres, Cleve Taylor and Linda Berk. There will be one vote per unit by
BY ROZAAN BOONE
residents who are shareholders of record as of April 7, 2014. After the polls close at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, the votes will be tallied in Room 31 of the Bartow Community Center and the preliminary results will be published in the next issue of the Co-op City Times on Saturday, May 24. A recount will be conducted on Thursday, May 29, and the official election results will be published in the Saturday, May 31st Co-op City Times. After the results of the election are certified by the 2014 Election Committee, the top five vote getters will be sworn in on Thursday, June 5th and begin serving their terms. Last Saturday, the third and final issue of the Election Supplement was published with the candidates’ views and opinions about issues facing the Riverbay community. If a quorum is not reached on Wednesday, the election will continue on the following day(s) using paper ballots until enough shareholders vote to meet the requirement. However, to ensure a quorum this year, a voting incentive of $2,500 will be shared (Continued on page 2)
HCR grants formal approval to Riverbay amnesty program for illegal subletters People who have been illegally subletting apartments in Co-op City will be given their chance in the coming weeks to stabilize and legitimize their residency, and at the same time, probably lower their housing costs by participating in an amnesty program for Co-op City’s illegal sub-letters. After getting preliminary verbal approval from New York State Division of Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR) officials in late April, formal approval came in the form of a letter to management’s Herb Freedman on Thursday from Assistant DHCR Commissioner Richmond McCurnin. In granting formal permission to begin procedures to start offering amnesty to interested illegal subletters, Commissioner McCurnin set down certain conditions for the program in keeping with DHCR regulations. Commissioner McCurnin wrote “…as it did ten years ago, DHCR will authorize Co-op City for a time limited period commencing no later than July 1, 2014, not to exceed three BY BILL STUTTIG
months, to publicly solicit present residents of their apartments to become cooperators although such residents may not have obtained such apartment in full compliance of Part 1727.” Commissioner McCurnin pointed out that the HCR approval is conditioned on a number of requirements and procedures that he specifically outlined in his letter, including the requirement that all families seeking amnesty must be income eligible, they must pay present equity requirements, and they must fulfill all eligibility requirements that the housing company ordinarily uses with respect to its automated waiting list applicants. The letter also orders Riverbay to “further enhance its efforts to assure that residents who hold apartments do so in compliance with the regulatory requirements or are subject to eviction proceedings.” In other words, Riverbay is ordered to make every effort to identify and evict all remaining residents who continue to illegally sublet after (Continued on page 4)