Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2010 Co-op City Times
Vol. 45 No. 49
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Fast acting Public Safety officers save the life of a former Board Director BY BILL STUTTIG Public Safety officers were responsible for saving the life of a man who had gone into cardiac arrest and lost consciousness while driving his car in Section 5 last Saturday morning, December 4th. Officers Yan Gularte and Hector Tejada, while on regular patrol, noticed a car drifting off the road in Section 5 at approximately 9:40 a.m. and instantly investigated. The car had come to a rest against a fence near the intersection of Hunter Avenue and Earhardt Avenue and the officers found the driver unconscious and apparently not breathing. The two officers were forced to break the windows and extricate the heart attack victim from the vehicle. Once the officers removed the man, they could not find a pulse so they immediately started cardio-pulmonary resusci-
tation. Other units began arriving on the scene and officers began taking turns administering CPR until a defibrillator was brought to the site moments later. Two shocks were applied to the stricken man with no results, but a third try resulted in the man’s heart restarting. The city’s Emergency Medical Service arrived moments later and transported the victim to the hospital for acute medical care. Aside from Officers Gularte and Tejada, Officers Pablo Catala and Antonio Mojica and Lieutenant Alberta Robinson were instrumental in the man’s resuscitation. The stricken man was later identified as Saul Weber, a long time community leader and former Board Director who served on the Riverbay Board for over a decade. (Continued on page 2)
Total cogeneration savings reach $16.46 million for Co-op City residents BY JIM ROBERTS Shareholders in Co-op City have paid nearly $9 million less to Con Edison from April to October this year than they would have if the community’s cogeneration plant didn’t exist, saving money that is being used to help pay for the continuing capital projects.
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HCR approves increased fees for laundry services and late payments of maintenance charges BY ROZAAN BOONE The New York State Housing and Community Renewal (HCR) this week gave the go ahead for Riverbay to implement proposed increases to laundry service and the late fee for carrying charge payments for Co-op City shareholders on January 1, 2011. The increases amount to $20 more in the late fee payment for those who pay their carrying charges after the 10th of the month and $50 more for legal fees for non-payment action, and 25 cents more for the use of washers in the laundry rooms. At the November 22nd Board meeting, the Riverbay Board approved two resolutions, 10-59 and 10-79, which specifically addressed these increases. The increases were then reviewed by HCR--formerly known as the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), the state supervisory agency for Mitchell-Lama developments such as Co-op City—and earlier this week HCR notified
Riverbay’s management that the agency agrees with the increases. Resolution 10-59 stated that management proposed increasing the late fee for the payment of maintenance charges after the 10th of the month by $20, from $30 to $50, as a way of influencing shareholders to pay their carrying charges on time and to cover the associated administrative costs incurred. The late fee will be collected as additional rent. Citing HCR’s Management Manual for Housing Companies (9 NYCRR 1727-4.1) which states, “Payment of rent promptly by tenants can be made a matter of habit” and that managers must diligently follow procedures to ensure timely monthly payments, Riverbay’s management reported to the Board on September 8, 2010 that for a one-year period, from July 2009 to June, 2010, the average number of Co-op City’s 15,372 shareholders who did not pay (Continued on page 4)
In the latest figures from the Riverbay Finance Department, the savings for the month of October, 2010 reached $1.534 million. Savings in August of this year were $1.644 million and the September savings were (Continued on page 4)
CERT and Public Safety team up on emergency preparedness strategies BY BILL STUTTIG In what is being described as an unprecedented partnership for a New York City community, Co-op City’s volunteer Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) began a series of strategy and policy setting meetings with the Department of Public Safety to better devise and define roles when and if the community is faced with any of a wide variety of emergencies. The first in a series of what is being termed “table top exercise orientations” was held Wednesday evening between leadership of the community volunteer CERT team and the commanders of the Department of Public Safety. Public Safety’s Chief Frank Apollo said that at the first session Wednesday— which included participation from vari-
ous Public Safety commanders and eight CERT members from the community, including its leader, Board Director Khalil Abdul-Wahhab, and Riverbay Assistant General Manager Gail Badger—a specific hypothetical emergency scenario was presented, a power failure affecting Section 5, and various strategies were discussed for sharing the responsibility of assuring the safety and comfort of residents throughout the duration of the emergency. “We went over policies that are in place and made revisions to certain procedures,” Apollo explained. Responsibilities for certain functions, such as traffic control, the distribution of water and other supplies and strategies (Continued on page 2)
Lighting the Season … State Assemblyman Mike Benedetto received the honor of lighting the community’s holiday tree at Co-op City’s annual Holiday Celebration held in the Dreiser Community Center auditorium on Wednesday, December 1. Songs, dances and stories celebrating most of the holidays observed by the community many cultures during this time of year were presented to a gathering of more than 200 shareholders. An appearance by Santa Claus, who handed out candy to the children, closed the evening which also featured a rousing performance by Gospel for Teens of the Mama Foundation for the Arts, winners of the prestigious Verizon Gospel Festival. See more holiday pictures on page 3. Photo by Bill Stuttig