Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2012 Co-op City Times
Vol. 47 No. 37
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Public Safety asks for community’s support in gaining peace officer status BY BILL STUTTIG Co-op City’s Public Safety Department at a management forum focusing on the department’s function in the community asked for residents’ support in fighting for passage of New York State legislation which would grant the department’s officers New York State Peace Office status. Chief Frank Apollo, commanding office of the Department of Public Safety, stressed that gaining such status from the New York State legislature would safeguard the department against the potential loss of Special Patrolman status should the NYPD decide one day in the future to eliminate its Special Patrolman division for whatever reason. Such a move, as was threatened years ago, according to Apollo, would reduce the status of the community’s Public Safety officers to that of security guards with no arrest powers or right to carry firearms. If this were to occur, then the community would suffer greatly, Apollo maintained, because the department would lose much of its crime-fighting abilities and the extraordinarily low crime rate the community has maintained for years, would likely rise sharply as a result.
As Apollo explained to the gathering of nearly 80 Co-op City residents meeting in the Einstein Community Center on Tuesday evening, the Riverbay Board of Directors has already thrown its full support behind this effort by voting unanimously to support the campaign for Peace Officer status in April and voting again, 14 to 1, to hire a renowned lobbyist, MirRam Ground LLC, to help push the legislation’s passage over the next year. Apollo said that some of the ground work has already been completed including the writing of the bill and its introduction into committee, but actual passage of the bill is probably a year away and will require additional effort from the community in the months to come. When one resident asked what specifically the community can do to help this effort, Apollo referred to the advice of the lobbyist who suggested that when the time is right, buses filled with shareholders can come up to Albany to let their voice be heard by the various legislators who will be deciding on this bill. But Apollo did say that such a campaign would be months down the road in the (Continued on page 2)
Income affidavit verification is a state-mandated process BY ROZAAN BOONE The annual income affidavit verification process is mandated by New York State law and Mitchell-Lama regulations whenever there is a discrepancy between information on the affidavit and the shareholder’s filed state income tax for the previous tax year. Each year, shareholders are required to file their income affidavits with Riverbay Corporation’s Finance Department before April 30. Riverbay then forwards the income affidavits to the state Division of Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) for review. HCR is the regulatory agency for Mitchell-Lama developments such as Co-op City. “When shareholders file their Income Affidavits, Riverbay Corporation forwards one of the copies of that form to New York State HCR in accordance with New York State’s regulations,” said Peter
Merola, Riverbay’s Director of Finance. “HCR then compares the information from the Income Affidavit to the shareholder’s and all household members’ filed New York State Income tax return. If there are any discrepancies in these two documents, the shareholder’s name and/or household members’ names are placed on a list which is then sent to Riverbay for follow-up.” During the review process, HCR personnel enter the information shareholders wrote on their income affidavits – occupants’ names, Social Security numbers and income – into their database. This information is then matched to the NYS Income Tax database which contains the data that all New York State residents submitted on their Income Tax Returns. After HCR completes this process, (Continued on page 4)
Update on Power Plant investigation (See pg. 4)
25¢
Deadline for HUD deal talks extended until Oct. 31 BY JIM ROBERTS The Riverbay Board of Directors overwhelmingly approved resolutions this week that allow talks to continue until Oct. 31 to reach a deal that will save shareholders millions of dollars in interest costs over the next 35 years. The proposed $621 million mortgage refinancing loan, to be underwritten by Wells Fargo Bank and guaranteed by the federal Housing and Urban Development agency (HUD), will pay off the community’s existing $558 million mortgage debt with New York Community Bank and also provide $25 million for continuing capital projects work and add $40 million to Riverbay reserve funds and pay for bank fees and expenses. By votes of 10-3 and 9-4 and 9-4 (with two Board members absent), the Riverbay Board approved Emergency Resolutions #12-76, #12-77 and #12-78 at a Board meeting on Sept. 12. (See page 14 for the resolutions). According to the resolutions, Riverbay has been advised by both Wells Fargo and
HUD that the two parties believe they can close the $621 million mortgage deal before the new Oct. 31 deadline. The talks to conclude the deal with Wells Fargo and HUD are complex because of the size of the loan and the fact that this will be the first time that HUD has insured a loan under its 223F program to a cooperative. The program has only been open to rental loans up until now. Beginning three years ago, Riverbay Management, working with Wells Fargo, petitioned HUD to open up the program to condos and co-ops, and after an intensive 18 months of negotiations, were finally able to get HUD to agree. Riverbay then initially attempted to file for the program, but found little interest at HUD, with the size of Co-op City seemingly prohibitive. In the ensuing months, there were countless attempts by Wells Fargo to familiarize HUD with Co-op City, and its supervisory and financial structures. Last (Continued on page 4)
Change-over to heat to begin on Friday, September 28 To p r ep a r e for t h e u p com ing win t er m on t h s, th e Power P la nt will sh u t d own a ir con d it ion in g on F r id a y, Sep t em b er 28. I n com p lia n ce wit h New Yor k C ity r egula t ion , h ea t will be t u r n ed on b y M on d a y, O ct ob er 15. Du r in g t h e t wo week s of t h e sh u t -down , t he ch iller s t h a t a r e op er a t ed in t h e su m m er m ont h s will b e t u r n ed off a n d m a in t en a n ce a nd r epa ir of t he h ea t ing syst em will b e cond u cted .
Co-op City remembers 9/11 … More than 100 Co-op City residents gathered at the Greenway stage Tuesday evening to participate in a candlelight vigil commemorating the 11th anniversary of the deadly terrorist attacks on our nation that killed nearly 3000 people that day, September 11th, 2001. Mark Bruh, a Co-op City resident and founder of the veterans support group, From the Warfront to the Home front, coordinated the program which included speeches by State Assemblyman Mike Benedetto, Rev. Dr. Robert Smith of Co-op City’s Church of the Savior, Bishop Angel Rosario of the Church of God’s Children, and Bronx residents who lost loved ones on that tragic day. After the presentation and as night fell, Co-op City residents and community leaders lit candles and stood together in honor of thousands who were brutally murdered so tragically and needlessly 11 years ago. Photo by Bill Stuttug