Co-op City Times 07/16/11

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Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2011 Co-op City Times

Vol. 46 No. 29

Saturday, July 16, 2011

25¢

Installation of Airlock water Board approves new contract valves nearly complete; annual for painting and plastering work savings of $1.4 million expected in Co-op City BY BILL STUTTIG Technicians for Green Energy Management (GEM) have successfully installed new state-of-the art Airlock water valves in 12 of Co-op City’s 13 pump rooms and the early estimates on the projected savings on the community’s water bills seems to be right on target, it was reported to management earlier this week. John Morra, Director of Project Development for GEM, met with management officials earlier this week to provide an update on the installation and projected savings and said that his company estimated a 14% savings in the volume of water counted by the city’s water meter in Building 4, one of the first buildings to be served by the new valve. Riverbay’s Director of Finance, Peter Merola, confirmed that Riverbay’s own findings confirm approximately the same figures. He said if those same savings project out over the other buildings in Coop City, this would mean an annual savings of approximately $2.7 million in the community’s water bills, with savings increasing in future years as water and sewer charges from the City of New York increase as expected. In February of this year, the Riverbay Board of Directors unanimously approved a contract between Riverbay and GEM for the energy management company to provide and install Airlock water valves in

each of the community’s pump rooms. The last valve is expected to be installed within the next coming few days, according to the Riverbay Construction Department, and then all of Riverbay’s buildings will be hooked up. The installation of the valves comes at no cost to Riverbay, but the agreement calls for Riverbay to split the savings produced by the valves evenly with the energy management company. In the case of this year’s projected savings, estimated to be approximately $2.7 million, GEM will receive a payment from Riverbay for half that amount once those savings are realized. Merola emphasized in an interview with the Co-op City Times that those payments will be made only after the savings are realized based on the actual reduction of water usage as billed by the New York City in each quarterly billing cycle. Payments will not be based on savings estimates from GEM or Riverbay, but only savings that are actually realized based on the difference in the bills from New York City from the last billing cycle before the valves were installed. Sharply increasing water and sewer bills has been a worsening financial hardship on this community over the past several years forcing Riverbay and the shareholders to pay approximately $9 million (Continued on page 4)

New York City to plant an additional 500 trees around the new Greenway BY BILL STUTTIG When the new north sector Greenway opens up in total next Spring, it will be much greener and shadier than its earlier version. The New York Restorations Project, through its Million Trees NYC Initiative, recently agreed to donate an additional 500 trees to Co-op City to be planted around the new Greenway. Riverbay Ombudsman Joe Boiko, who negotiated the new agreement for the additional trees, said that he expects the trees to begin being planted sometime in late September and the planting of the 500 additional trees project should be completed a few weeks after that. To date, the Million Trees NYC Initiative has donated more than 1800 trees to the community over the last three years. They have been planted in green spaces throughout the community, including the restored Section 5 Greenway and in smaller green spaces throughout Sections 1 through 4. Co-op City’s largest green space, the

north sector Greenway, has been closed since 2003, when the simultaneous closure of five of the community’s eight garages forced Riverbay to pave over the space to make room for some of the thousands of displaced cars. Riverbay stopped using the Greenway for parking last year and the black top was ripped up. At the south end of the Greenway, a new ballfield was installed; in recent weeks, a new stage area was constructed and crews are now placing top soil at the north end of the Greenway in one of the last phases of the project before final seeding. When the weather cools down in early autumn, the Building and Grounds Department will hydro-seed the recently prepared grounds and the hope is that the Greenway will be ready for widespread public use by the spring of 2012. When the Greenway is finally and completely reopened, it will include 500 trees that were not part of the original (Continued on page 4)

BY ROZAAN BOONE At its meeting on Wednesday night, the Riverbay Board approved a new three year contract for Atlas Restoration Corporation to continue providing painting & plastering work in Co-op City, resulting in savings of approximately $700,000 per year. Atlas, one of 23 contractors submitting proposals, was the lowest responsible bidder, according to Resolution 11-48, and has been providing painting and plastering in both occupied and unoccupied apartments, fire apartments, public spaces and bathrooms in Co-op City for the past 3 years under its previous contract with Riverbay Corporation. While Atlas President Dimitrios Tsoumas stated in a memo to management this week that he and Painters DC9 are “in the process of negotiating a wage scale that will accommodate Riverbay and Atlas Restoration Corporation,” Riverbay Corporation is not involved in the bargaining process between DC9 and Atlas. According to management, an outside contractor provides major benefits to Riverbay and the people of Co-op City,

since when work has to be redone or corrected, there is no additional charge which would be the case if Riverbay directly employed in-house union employees. Riverbay Corporation does, however, employ six DC9 union painters, management noted, directly employed by the corporation who only plaster and paint the common areas of the buildings such as the hallways, stairwells and basement areas. “This agreement with the union has been in place for over three years now,” said Riverbay’s General Manager Vernon Cooper. “The proposed new service contract with Atlas does not affect these six men in any way.” For its part, Atlas’ collective bargaining agreement with DC9 expired some time ago, however, the company is currently in negotiations with the union for a new contract for its DC9 employees. In terms of productivity, management reported, Atlas has more flexibility in managing its staffing since it can bring in (Continued on page 4)

HUD update Plea se see pa ge 6 for t he fir st b i-week ly up da t e fr om Wells Fa r go of t he ongoing negot ia tion s wit h HUD a bout a loa n gua r a nt ee for Co-op C it y.

Police seek suspect in sexual assaults at Baychester Avenue footbridge BY JIM ROBERTS Public Safety patrols have been increased at the Baychester Avenue footbridge and officials are calling for immediate safety improvements there following sexual assaults against three teenage women. Police are seeking a suspect, described as a male black, aged between 22 and 28, about 5’6” tall and weighing approximately 160 to 180 pounds. The NYPD is seeking the public’s assistance to identity the suspect wanted in connection with the sexual assault pattern that began on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2011 at approximately 8:45 in the morning when a suspect sexually assaulted a 19-year-old female on the Baychester Avenue footbridge, which is

located at Baychester Avenue and 222 Street that crosses over the New England Thruway near Truman High School. Two similar attacks then occurred on the footbridge last month, believed to be carried out by the same man. On Saturday, June 4, at 8:40 a.m., a man attempted to sexually assault another 19-yearold female on the footbridge and then 19 days later, on Thursday, June 23 a little after 4 p.m., another 19-year-old female was sexually assaulted on the footbridge. The Co-op City Department of Public Safety has increased patrols on (Continued on page 2)


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