Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community.
Vol. 48 No. 25
© Copyright 2013 Co-op City Times
Reduced mortgage costs help keep proposed carrying charge increase low The lower interest costs that Riverbay is paying for Co-op City’s mortgage, refinanced with Wells Fargo bank last November, is one important factor in keeping the proposed carrying charge increase at only 1% over the next two years. The Riverbay Board of Directors approved operating budgets this March for the next two years that will increase spending modestly in the first year and then maintain spending levels in the second year. The approved budget increases operaBY JIM ROBERTS
tions spending next year by $6.6 million, or about 3.3%, over the current fiscal year. For the second year of the new budget, spending actually decreases slightly by $500,000 in the 2014/15 fiscal year. The budgets for the next two years are scheduled to include a carrying charge increase of just 1% in the first year and will take effect on Oct. 1 of this year. There would be no carrying charge increase in the second year, 2014. The proposed carrying charge increases must (Continued on page 2)
A production crew from Wells Fargo bank was in Co-op City this week filming a video about the bank’s historic $621 million mortgage refinancing guaranteed by HUD. Alan Wiener, a managing director with Wells Fargo who was instrumental in completing the complex deal, will appear in the company video, which will be available on YouTube later this year. Photo by Jim Roberts
GFI/Smoke Detector installation schedule amended
The schedule for the installation of new safety devices in each Co-op City home is being amended to accommodate missed appointments during the first weeks of the program. The initial schedule for installations proved to be difficult to keep up with, especially due to the unforeseen delays that can naturally happen during the first weeks of such a massive project. This resulted in several missed appoint-
2013 Election Committee response: An Absolutely Fair Election
Saturday, June 22, 2013
ments as installers failed to keep up with the initial schedule. This week, the schedule was amended and additional installers are being prepared to join the program by mid-July. In the meantime, Saturday appointments are being made for those that had missed appointments during the first weeks of installations in Building 1, 2 and 3. (See Management Report on page 5 for more details.)
Recent criticisms of the election process at Riverbay by Director Daryl Johnson have no basis in fact or law, and evidence a lack of understanding on how the elections are actually conducted. The election of directors at Riverbay is governed by an open, fair and transparent process with numerous safeguards to ensure its integrity. All candidates are legally entitled to verify each vote cast, in each building, on every voting machine. The counting of votes, and the verification of that count, is done in an open, public manner. The detailed rules governing this process are published, and in previous years, those rules have been reviewed and approved by the Courts. Here is the process. The day before the election, all candidates and their representatives are given access to the NYC Board of Elections warehouse where the voting machines to be used in Riverbay’s election are stored. These are the very same voting machines that were previously used in federal, state and city elections. At the warehouse, candidates and members of the Riverbay Election Committee inspect each and every machine, which have unique identifying numbers, to verify that each machine is properly set. The machines have three mechanical counters. One counter records the total votes for each candidate. Candidates and inspectors verify that this counter is set to zero. The second counter records the total number of votes cast for all candidates on that particular machine on election day. Candidates and inspectors verify that this second counter is also set to
25¢
zero. Finally, a third counter on each machine records the total number of votes that have ever been cast on that machine. That number is recorded. The machines are then sealed, loaded onto moving trucks, and delivered to Riverbay. Unlike other candidates and the 2013 Election Committee members who participated in this important process, Director Johnson, and the three candidates he supported in the recent election, failed to appear and inspect the machines. On election day, shareholders of record cast their votes on these machines. Two independent inspectors of election are present at each of the 65 voting locations. There are also 15 roving supervisors who travel from polling locations during the day to ensure that the procedures are being followed. Inspectors and supervisors are chosen from a list of approved election inspectors maintained by the New York City Board of Elections. Inspectors are also required to attend a training session at Riverbay. Among other duties, the inspectors check a printed log book of building residents to verify that the voter’s name appears as a shareholder of record in the book. If they do, the shareholder signs the book next to their name and the inspector verifies that the signature is comparable to the signature on file. The shareholder then enters the booth, pulls the curtain shut, and casts their vote by pulling a lever next to the name of anywhere from one to five candidates of their choosing. Not every shareholder (Continued on page 4)
Long term garage maintenance program underway beginning with Garage 8
BY BILL STUTTIG To prevent the kind of long term widespread deterioration of Co-op City’s garages that necessitated the closing and reconstruction of five of the garages a decade ago, Riverbay began implementing a long-term garage surface cleaning and maintenance program earlier this week. The regular maintenance program, which will eventually involve every garage, began in Section 5’s Garage 8 earlier this week. The roof of the Section 5 garage was closed off to parkers as of
last Tuesday, June 18th to allow for minor needed repairs to be performed and, in addition, a thorough cleaning of the entire roof surface. This work should take approximately three weeks to complete. Co-op City General Manager Vernon Cooper explained this week that the roofs are the only portion of the garage continually exposed to the elements and the exposure of the hot sun during the warm weather months, plus the required (Continued on page 2)
Senior Prom…The R&B singing trio The Delphonics, an off-shoot of the original and legendary Delfonics, headlined an afternoon of dancing and fun as the third annual Senior Prom of the Center Light Health System, a Bronx-based senior health care provider, came to Co-op City on Thursday afternoon. The afternoon also featured dinner and dancing to the music of the Soul 1 Band, the presentation of the King and Queen of the prom, and the opportunity for seniors throughout Co-op City and the Bronx to dress up like it was their prom night all over again. See page 3 for more photos. Photo by Bill Stuttig