Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2012 Co-op City Times
Vol. 47 No. 32
Saturday, August 11, 2012
45th Precinct Commander, Captain Green, promoted to Deputy Inspector BY BILL STUTTIG Captain Russell Green, who has served as the commanding officer for the 45th Precinct for approximately two years, was promoted to the rank of Deputy Inspector on Friday, August 3rd at ceremonies held at Police Headquarters in Manhattan. Deputy Inspector Green has served as the head of the 45th Precinct since the late summer of 2010 and during that
approximate two-year period has earned an outstanding reputation for his responsiveness to the quality of life concerns in communities served by the Precinct and willingness to meet with residents and community leaders on a regular basis and respond quickly and effectively to the concerns expressed at those meetings. (Continued on page 2)
Final testing of the diesel “black start” generator delayed BY BILL STUTTIG The final stages of the required testing procedures for Riverbay’s diesel “black start” generator were put on hold yesterday morning to allow for repairs to be performed on some of the plant’s control wiring, according to Brian Reardon, Riverbay’s Power Plant director. A new date for the final testing procedures, which should have minimal to no effect on electrical service to the community when they are performed, will be announced in the coming days. The 63,000 pound “black start” generator serves as an insurance policy against a major regional blackout such as the one that hit the northeast in August of 2003. The massive generator, which can be seen on the power plant grounds immediately adjacent to Co-op City Blvd. near the Bartow Avenue intersection, allows power plant crews to restart the plant in approximately three hours if a major shut down of the grid occurs. Even with Co-op City’s new co-generation facility providing all of the power for the community with no or very little reliance on outside utilities, the plant is still interconnected to the grid and as such can likely trip off should the grid suffer a major regionwide outage such as what occurred in
2003. The black start generator is designed to power and restart one of the gas turbines in case of a major regionwide outage allowing that turbine to power the other gas turbine thus restoring near full electrical power to the community within three hours after the initial outage. But because the generator is only used in extreme emergency situations, the likes of which has not occurred since the generator was purchased and installed last year, periodic testing of its functionality is required. To ensure that the testing procedure that was due to take place yesterday would not affect service to the community, some pre-test preparation work involving the breakers serving approximately half of the buildings of the community had to be performed on Tuesday and Wednesday and according to Reardon that work was successfully completed. On Tuesday, that work affected Buildings 1 through 8 and the Deb and Defoe Townhouses and the only noticeable affect was an expected slight twosecond interruption in power during the day and a lessening of the cooling effect
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Six ca n dida tes file petition s to r u n for va ca n t City Cou n cil sea t BY JIM ROBERTS Co-op City voters could face a long list of choices when they vote for their new City Council representative in November to replace Larry Seabrook. Seabrook was convicted on nine federal felony counts July 26 and was immediately expelled from office with one year remaining in his term. New York election law requires a nonpartisan ballot to pick a Council Member for the District 12 seat to complete the last year of Seabrook’s term. The unusual special election, which will be part of the Nov. 6 general election, won’t have the typical Democratic and Republican party designated candidates. Six different candidates have submitted their petitions to the New York City Board of Elections to appear on the ballot. Candidates need 450 valid signatures to be certified and the deadline for submitting their petitions was at midnight on Aug. 8. The candidates who submitted petitions, and their party names are: Andrew King, People First; Andrew King, Community First; Pamela Johnson, Unity in the Community; Neville Mitchell, United Neighbors; Cheryl Oliver, Unity in Solidarity; Joseph Nwachukwu, Restore Trust and Integrity; and Garth Marchant, Children First. According to Valerie Vazquez, director of communications for the New York City Board of Elections, the period of time to file general objections to candidate petitions will end on Aug. 13. A hearing will be held on Aug. 28 at 1:30 p.m. at the
Board’s executive office at 42 Broadway in Manhattan where the election commissioners will make their determination which candidates have enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot Nov. 6. Both the candidates and the person filing objections will have the opportunity to appear before the commissioners, Vazquez said. King, a political operative who works on health-care issues for the 1199 SEIU union, challenged Seabrook in the Democratic primary for the Council seat in 2009. He gained 30 percent of the vote in losing the nomination to Seabrook. According to several press reports, King will receive the support of 1199 SEIU this time, unlike 2009 when the union supported the incumbent Seabrook. Oliver was a candidate in the Riverbay Board of Directors election held this May, finishing sixth with 2,254 votes, missing out on winning a seat on the board by just 45 votes. The 12th City Council District includes Co-op City, Williamsbridge, Wakefield and Eastchester The boundary extends from East Gunhill Avenue north to the Westchester County line. Seabrook, 61, will be sentenced by Federal Judge Deborah Batts on Jan. 8, 2013. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each of the nine felony counts. In addition, he faces possible fines of more than $2 million. Seabrook is deciding whether to appeal the verdicts and remains out on bail. (Continued on page 8)
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Laundry room update The following laundry facilities are slated to be shut down for renovations and/or floor replacement during the months of August and September: Building 24 will be taken out of service on Friday, August 17, and reopened on Monday, September 10. Building 21 will be out of service from Friday, August 31 and reopened on Monday, September 24. Building 25 will be out of service on Friday, September 14 and returned to service on Monday, October 8.
Building 16 will be taken out of service on Friday, September 28 and reopened on Monday, October 22. The renovations in these four buildings include floor replacement. The locks to the lobby doors in neighboring buildings will be adjusted so that residents of buildings whose laundry facilities are undergoing renovations can utilize the facilities in the nearby buildings while their laundry room is being serviced. (Continued on page 8)
Dancing the Night Away… The Bartow Swingers, comprised of Co-op City’s youngat-heart seniors, “strut their stuff” for more than 1500 of their neighbors who came out for Co-op City’s annual National Night Out Tuesday evening on the Greenway. The celebration is designed as a display that this community will not be held hostage to crime. Participants listened to brief presentations from police commanders, community leaders, community organizations and elected officials before enjoying some free entertainment, including a movie shown on the Greenway after darkness fell. During the course of the celebration more than 750 hot dogs were served along with soft drinks. The evening was sponsored by the Riverbay Fund, Public Safety, the 45th Precinct, the 45th Precinct Community Council and State Assemblyman Mike Benedetto and expertly coordinated through Riverbay Community Relations Director Michelle Sajous. (See page 3 for more photos)