Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2012 Co-op City Times
Vol. 47 No. 35
Saturday, September 1, 2012
MTA officials coming to Co-op City to discuss rail plans BY JIM ROBERTS Representatives from the MTA and Metro North will be in Co-op City later this month to show the community some long-range plans for a long-awaited subway connection to Manhattan. On Monday, Sept. 24, starting at 7 p.m. in the Dreiser Auditorium, shareholders will learn about a proposal that would build a railroad station at the Amtrak tracks that run past Section Five. According to MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan, the dream of a convenient 35minute ride by rails from Co-op City to the city is still seven years away, but the time to plan and hear the community’s thoughts is now. “For the workshop on Sept. 24, we’re going to set up some boards that will have conceptual diagrams to make a presentation,” Donovan said. “Then we’re going to be looking to set up direct conversations with folks about where stations might be located, what they should look like, things of that nature.” The workshop is part of the MTA’s public outreach portion of its Penn Station
utilization study and will provide the public a chance to comment and show their support for the project. “It’s an opportunity for folks from the area to have an input on this potential project,” Donovan said. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. and many other elected and appointed officials in the Bronx are organizing to support the project. “We want to give the people of the Bronx a real opportunity to review these plans and to offer their own thoughts on the future of transportation in our borough,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. “These meetings will give my staff and the MTA a chance to hear from Bronxites about these plans, and to use that feedback in a constructive manner. “If the Bronx, and indeed the entire service region of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), is to realize its full potential both as a place to live and as a place of commerce, time efficient, cost effective and environmentally (Continued on page 7)
45th Precinct commander transferred New Captain arrives from 52nd Precinct BY BILL STUTTIG Deputy Inspector Russell Green, the commander of the 45th Precinct for the last two years, was transferred to the adjacent Bronx Precinct, the 43rd, earlier this week. Captain James McGowen, formerly of the 52nd Precinct, has been named the new commander of Co-op City’s precinct which also serves the other communities of the east Bronx, including Throggs Neck, Pelham Bay and City Island. Captain McGowen and Deputy Inspector Green started their new assignments late this past week. Green was promoted to Deputy Inspector earlier this month, after serving the 45th Precinct as its commanding officer since August of 2010. Since that time, he has earned an excellent reputation for
his responsiveness to all the communities of the precinct, not only for working to prevent major crimes, but for quickly addressing quality of life nuisances reported to him by residents and community leaders throughout the precinct’s service area. In Co-op City, he has worked with Chief Frank Apollo of Co-op City’s Public Safety Department to establish a joint quality of life patrol comprised of officers and supervisors from both agencies to address such concerns as chronic noise, loitering and public consumption of alcohol all of which often lead to the development of more serious crime problems. (Continued on page 3)
R iver b a y L a b or Da y closin g a n d Co-op City Times d ea d lin e n ot ice The Co-op City Times office and all other Riverbay administrative offices, will be closed on Monday, September 3 in observance of the Labor Day holiday. Because of this holiday-shortened work week, we ask that all Directors’ Viewpoints, religious institutions, community organizations and others that submit articles to the Co-op City Times to please do so as early as possible. Viewpoints and club articles not received in our office by 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning, September 4, will not be considered for publication in the September 8th edition of the paper. As always, you may submit your article around the clock, seven days a week via fax at (718) 320-2595 or by email at cctimes@riverbaycorp.com. Material may also be slipped under the door to the Co-op City Times office, Rm. 21 in the Bartow Community Center, over the weekend. Thank you for your cooperation. Have a safe and enjoyable Labor Day weekend.
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Power failure strikes Co-op City during overnight hours Thursday morning BY BILL STUTTIG Riverbay’s Power Plant suddenly and unexpectedly tripped off line shortly before midnight Wednesday, and the entire community was without power for approximately 2½ hours in the wee hours of Thursday morning. The temporary blackout appears to have been triggered by an electrical trip and/or failure in the main transformer of the power plant, according to View from the east towards Sections 1 and 4 during Thursday night’s blackout in Co-op City. Riverbay Power Plant Director Brian Shown is an illuminated Co-op City Boulevard Reardon. As of Friday morning, further in the background and Pelham/Split Rock Golf testing was being conducted to confirm Course beyond Eastchester Bay. The flashlights of shareholders can also be seen in numerous the cause, Reardon said. Photo by Jason Michael Foggie Riverbay’s power plant was restored windows. to full operation by late Thursday night, the vast coalition of city agencies and ending the need to import electricity from internal departments to begin reaching Con Edison, Reardon said. out to each building to assist people who While the vast majority of residents might be in distress. Cooper explained were unaware of any problem probably that the city’s Fire Department, Police until they turned on their morning news Department, Office of Emergency show the next day, many residents still Management and other officials began awake at the time became acutely aware working with Riverbay’s own internal of the problems as soon as the power departments, particularly Public Safety, tripped off. to map out a strategy to keep the commuGeneral Manager Vernon Cooper, who nity safe during the emergency and reach received notice of the emergency immeanyone who might be in distress. diately after the plant failure occurred, (Continued on page 4) said that no time was wasted in alerting
Riverbay Board President appoints Chairpersons of Board Committees for 2012-2013 BY ROZAAN BOONE At the Riverbay Board of Directors meeting last week, Board President Helen Atkins named the Chairpersons and co-Chairs of the 2012-2013 Board Committees, which includes two new committees this year. Prior to this annual process, the Board President asks each Director to submit which committee(s) they would like to be considered for. While some Directors responded in a timely manner, choosing one or several committees, others did not. Based on the responses received, the Board President is then challenged to match the best suited Directors with their respective requests for committees which, in the end, will serve the best interests of the Riverbay Corporation and the community at large. "The bottom line is that while Directors have their own preferences about which committees they would like to chair, my goal is always to make the best match where I think the Director would be best suited to affect
positive changes that provide maximum benefit to the corporation, and ultimately to the shareholders,” said Atkins. “It is therefore important that I receive each Director’s recommendations in a timely manner so that I have time to look at all of the requests and come up with the best possible matches.” Board Committees, which are made up of Board Directors and shareholders, meet throughout the year and provide policy recommendations for the full Board’s consideration. Except for the Audit Committee, any sitting Director may attend the meetings of any committee(s) they wish to. To chair the Board’s Audit Committee, President Atkins chose Director Al Shapiro, who co-chaired this committee last year. Shapiro will continue the work of the Audit Committee this year with Directors Tony Illis and Eleanor Bailey as cochairs, since the corporation’s by-laws (Continued on page 2)