Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2010 Co-op City Times
Vol. 45 No. 34
Saturday, August 21, 2010
North sector Greenway restoration to resume just after Labor Day BY BILL STUTTIG Work on the restoration of Co-op City north sector Greenway, which stopped late last year because funds had to be diverted to other more urgent projects and repairs, will resume again in early September. It is projected that all installation and construction will be completed by early January 2011, according to Liviu Zalman, Riverbay’s Assistant Director of Construction. Herb Freedman of Marion Scott Real Estate Inc., managing agent of Coop City, said funds for the restoration to resume were freed up thanks to the saving from the community’s co-generation plant. The plant, which has been providing virtually all of the community power needs since the spring, is saving the corporation between $1 million and $1.5 million each month.
Zalman said that the contractor, Total Construction Corp. of Brooklyn, will begin moving in their equipment right after Labor Day. Last autumn, much of the asphalt that covered the Greenway since it was converted into a parking facility in the 2003 was dug up and removed before the project was halted. When workers return in September, installation of the Greenway’s many new planned facilities will begin. Work will start at the south end of the Greenway where the components of the community’s new baseball field will be erected through September and October. This work will include erecting the back stop, the chain link fencing around the fields, and installing the dirt (Continued on page 8)
Investigation continues in Sunday evening stabbings BY JIM ROBERTS Detectives from the Co-op City Public Safety Department and the 45th Precinct of the NYPD are continuing their investigation of a vicious stabbing attack against three men that occurred Sunday evening, Aug. 15th, in Co-op City. The lobby attendant in Building 29B called Public Safety around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday to report that several men had entered the building and that she was “in fear for her life,” according to Public Safety Chief Frank Apollo. When Public Safety officers arrived, they were informed that the men had gone up to the seventeenth floor of the building. The officers proceeded upstairs in the elevators, but found nothing and returned down to the lobby.
Upon returning to the lobby, they found an 18-year-old male coming through the back of the lobby lifting up his shirt to show the lobby attendant that he had been stabbed. Co-op City Emergency Services Unit officers who were part of the Public Safety team there immediately began treating the man for his stab wounds. He suffered several life-threatening wounds to both sides of his body and remains hospitalized in critical condition, police said. While Public Safety was working on that victim, a second male, 17 years old, was observed banging on the glass outside of the Building 29B lobby trying to (Continued on page 5)
Two arrested in attempted robbery case BY JIM ROBERTS A cool head and quick thinking by a Coop City resident led to the arrest of two men who attempted to rob him last Friday night. The intended victim was approached by several young men as he walked under the Hutchinson River Parkway on Aug. 13 around 11:30 p.m. and confronted him saying “give me what you got,” according to Co-op City Public Safety Chief Frank Apollo. One of the teenagers lifted his shirt above the waist, revealing what appeared to be the handle of a gun, according to the
Riverbay establishing comprehensive emergency notification system BY BILL STUTTIG To be able to alert all Co-op City residents in an instant in case of any emergency situation affecting the community or the general region, Riverbay is partnering with the nationally renowned alert service “Send Word Now,” to establish a new state-of-the-art Co-op City Notification System. According to Lieutenant Jeff Bowman of the Department of Public Safety, the system, which is currently used by communities, businesses, universities, government agencies and others throughout the nation, is capable of sending tens and thousands of urgent messages to a select or a wide spread audience in an instant either via, phone, e-mail or through wide variety of popular texting services. Riverbay’s Communications and Technology (CAT) Team, comprised of Bowman, Riverbay’s Computer Services Director Mary Ahland, Human Resources Director Colette Ragin, Rick
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Schmidt of Technical Services, Bill Mosley of Computer Services, and Shona Pinnock of Human Resources have been coordinating the effort to initiate this vital new service over the past several months and over the coming weeks will be sending out a test of the new system to each resident on a building-bybuilding basis. (see adjacent related story) According to Ragin, the new system will have many uses and advantages for the community. Besides its high priority use in the case of emergencies, the notification system can be narrowed down to reach residents of a specific building, building line or even a specific floor to notify them to a temporary loss of service, such as a hot water shut down or the loss of an elevator due to needed repairs. The practical use of the Co-op City Notification System under these circumstances — once the system becomes (Continued on page 4)
victim. Another picked up a handful of dirt and clutched it in his hand. The victim then told the young men that police would be coming by the area at any moment on patrol. That caused the attackers to back off, and while yelling profanities, they left the scene, the victim said. The man then went over to the Public Safety headquarters in Bartow and told police what had just happened. He provided a thorough description of his alleged attackers and that information was immediately (Continued on page 5)
Riverbay seeking to update contact information for Co-op City Notification System Soon Riverbay will reach out to all Co-op City shareholders to update their current contact information for participation in the upcoming Co-op City Notification System. A test of the phone numbers Riverbay currently maintains for residents is planned to begin on Monday, August 23rd. To begin with, Riverbay will phone residents in one building each day. Riverbay will rotate (Continued on page 7)