Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2017 Co-op City Times
Vol. 52 No. 1
Saturday, January 7, 2017
Tickets for March on Washington going fast BY BILL STUTTIG
Tickets for one of the several buses that will be leaving Co-op City on Saturday morning, January 21st, for the Women’s March on Washington, D.C. are selling briskly as more and more community organizations and elected officials are signing on as sponsors and supporters. Some of the community’s organizations have bought up tickets to be dispensed to its members interested in participating, but many individual residents are buying tickets on their own for buses for the historic March. Riverbay Board President Linda Berk, one of the principal organizers and promoters for the buses to the March on Washington, said that additional tickets will be on sale between 7 and 8 p.m. on Monday evening in Bartow Community Center’s room 31. Residents who can’t make it during that hour can call Sharan White at 347-9134224 for tickets. The bus trip to and from Washington, D.C. and to be part of the Co-op City contingent participating in the march, expected to attract more than a million to the nation’s capital on January 21st, costs $25 per seat. Buses will leave from all three Co-op City community centers at approximately 5 a.m. that morning and their return is expected at approximately 11 p.m. While some in the community have publicly criticized Riverbay’s direct participation in the March of Washington because it has little to do with issues directly affecting the day-to-day opera-
tions of the community, President Berk disagrees stating repeatedly that the issues the marchers will be bringing to the forefront on the 21st, the day after the Presidential inauguration, have much to do with what Co-op City and its residents will likely be facing in the coming months and years. Earlier this week, Ms. Berk said to the Co-op City Times: “I am proud of the effort this community has made to make sure our voices are heard. In my opinion, it is critical that we let Washington know that we are concerned about changes in policy, funding and rights that may negatively affect our community. “As a housing development under the control of HUD,” she continued, “we must stay vigilant and focused on the issues that could cost this community dearly. We are the largest NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) and we must protect Medicare and Social Security in addition to the policies that impact us as a HUD housing development. Riverbay has historically protected the rights and services of this community from JASA, to the disabled, youth and houses of worship. It is who we are and I am humbled and honored to know that I represent a socially responsible corporation.” Riverbay Board First Vice President Bernie Cylich is also a main supporter and promoter of Riverbay’s involvement in the March. Mr. Cylich said Thursday: “Frederick Douglas taught us (Continued on page 2)
2016 Year in Review: July to December BY BILL STUTTIG
The following is an account of the major events occurring in or affecting Co-op City during the last six months of 2016 as reported by the Co-op City Times. Last week’s issue featured an account of the first half of 2016. July: July began as it always does with the popular Independence Day Celebration on the Greenway featuring a spectacular fireworks display. And just as those fireworks were subsiding, legal fireworks were just beginning to heat up as Riverbay’s former managing agent, Marion Scott Real Estate, Inc., sued Riverbay for payment of fees it said it deserved after being suspended from the job in November 2014. Riverbay, in turn, countersued for revenues the former managing agent allegedly cost Riverbay due to alleged mismanagement. The two sides were ordered by the court to work it out through mediation.
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Original Co-op City worker retires Filiberto Coreano (center) began working for Co-op City as a Buildings Porter in April of 1970, frankly before most of the community was built. On New Year’s Eve, he called it a career after nearly 47 years of service to the community. That day, he was personally thanked and honored with an award for his long-term service to the community by Riverbay’s Executive General Manager Bob Klehammer. Also participating in the presentation were Director of Human Resources (HR) Inelle Cooper, Senior HR Generalist Rosalind Pierce, Director of Finance Peter Merola and HR Administrative Assistant Josephine Luna. Buildings and Grounds supervisor Peter Miranda broke in with Mr. Coreano more than 46 years ago and called him a great colleague and great, dependable and dedicated porter for the people of Co-op City for close to five decades. Even though Mr. Coreano will be leaving Riverbay, he will remain a part of Co-op City in the years to come as he will spend his retirement years here in the development where he lives with his wife. Photo by Bill Stuttig
Correction Notice In last week’s edition of the Co-op City Times, a director incorrectly stated that only two Board members had received reimbursement for documented expenses pursuant to a 1991 Board resolution. In fact, from 1991 to the present, a number of Board members have received reimbursement for documented situations in which they actually lost income while serving as volunteer directors. The resolution, which is consistent with the corporation’s By-Laws (Article III, Section 11), HCR Regulations, and governing State law, has been narrowly interpreted. Individuals are not allowed or permitted to receive a salary or any other form of compensation. Individuals wishing to serve on the Board should remember that it is a volunteer position and should not be encouraged to seek election based on an incorrect assumption that it is a compensated position. It is not. Reimbursement under the controlling resolution and By-Law is limited to the recovery of lost salary, wages or income from the director’s regular place of employment. As noted, that provision has never been interpreted broadly. In the most recent case, Director Cleve Taylor was reimbursed only for the days that he was required to leave his place of employment to prepare for and appear at Court ordered depositions. Those depositions related to a pending court case in which the director was individually named as a defendant for actions he undertook as an officer of the corporation. Although that director devoted many hours a week to his volunteer position, he never sought or obtained reimbursement for income he may have lost performing his volunteer duties as a director and officer of the corporation. —Jeffrey Buss, Riverbay General Counsel
R ive r b a y ’s n ew p r o p e r t y m a n a g e r, Douglas Elliman Property Management, began its service to the community on July 1, even though the new executive general manager Bob Klehammer had been regularly onsite weeks beforehand, attending meetings and getting up to speed on the many ongoing issues in the community that would now be coming under his charge. On July 9th, the community’s religious and civic leaders came together to host a prayer rally to bring together the police and the community in the wake of the most recent horrific shootings of unarmed African-American men in American cities the previous week and the killing of five police officers in Dallas in the wake of these shootings. Leaders from throughout the Bronx attended along with hun-
dreds of Co-op City residents. That same week, Co-op City received from the City of New York final approval to be part of its Multifamily Conservation Program allowing Co-op City to pay a fixed cost for its water and sewer charges, thus saving the community approximately $1.2 million a year. At the July 13th Board Business meeting, the new executive GM Bob Klehammer gave his first oral report to the Board, detailing several meetings held with Riverbay’s department directors in the first two weeks in an attempt to immediately improve services and reduce costs. On July 14th, Dreiser Community Center was the site of an all-day conference on the crime of Human Trafficking. “Human Trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world,” claimed Lauren Hersch, Director of Anti-Trafficking Policy and Advocacy at Sanctuary for Families. During the same week, the Riverbay Board voted overwhelmingly to allocate up to $150,000 to the Riverbay Fund to establish a Youth and Community (Continued on page 3)