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Co-op City Times / January 20, 2024 Director’s Viewpoint
Mary Pearson
My Fellow Complainers We do love to complain don’t we? But we must at least try to come up with some solutions to our problems instead of just bellyaching about them. The holidays are over. Three Kings Day and Fourth King Day have passed. It’s time to buckle down, remind ourselves we live in a cooperative, and make an attempt to make life better for ourselves and our neighbors January is when I like to trot out my favorite bit of writing on that exact subject. I divide it into three parts, following the no-quote-longer-than-50words-in-a-row viewpoint rule. (The Board will be getting a refresher today and tomorrow regarding that rule and a zillion others because it’s development weekend season!) The slightly variable quote by George Bernard Shaw starts with: This is the true joy in life; being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; ... being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. Whenever I Google this little gem, all I have to do is put in the author’s name along with the word “clod” and up it pops. Another fun fact – see the above ellipsis (aka the dot dot dot)? That’s where this very often intentionally left-out line belongs – being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap. Dark. But now here’s Part 2: I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. Remember... that’s George talking, not me. But it did seem during the past year and a half that that was indeed my entire life, complaining on behalf of the community about what was being foisted upon us by Project X and the Metro-North railroad station. But no more. No more 24/7 complaining. I’ve since switched to part-time complaining. And here’s the big finish of Shaw’s quote: I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on
to future generations. Sounds like one of the principles that built Coop City, doesn’t it? I doubt it’s still a secret, but many cooperators are being invited to meet with the mayor this Monday. It’s a by-reservation-only event, originally meant for a restricted number of community leaders, but since it’s being held in Dreiser Auditorium, maybe it’s not all that restricted after all. It’s called a “Co-op City Community Conversation.” It’s not exactly labeled a complain-fest, but – fingers crossed! You never know. It’s always important to know who to complain to. So if it turns out you’ll be attending Monday’s discussion, don’t waste your time complaining about something neither the mayor nor his staff can address. Like Project X. That’s a New York State DOT issue. Same goes for the buses or subway or the coming railroad station. They’re MTA issues – which are also state controlled. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to be more systematic about my complaining. From what I read, the most important thing is to get documentation via a complaint “ticket” by reporting city issues to 311. Maybe that was the route I should have taken complaining about the hazardous condition at De Reimer Ave. and Erskine Pl. I complained directly to NYC DOT in mid-October about the need for additional stop signs at that intersection to be able to safely make a right hand turn toward the I-95S entrance. Three months later, Case Number DOT620762-C2N4 is supposedly still “active.” Given the chance, that’s something I’m going to bring up on Monday. Another NYC DOT issue is potholes. We’ve gotten a lot of paving done in our area recently (recently being the past couple of years). Unfortunately, they missed a spot. Probably more than one. The two Section 5 cul de sacs by Bldg. 33 on Elgar Pl. and Bldg. 27 on Erdman Pl. could really use repaving. And there’s a
Riverbay’s Official Website is:
www.coopcity.com Building 15B Association Hello, neighbors. We want to wish you all a Happy and Healthy New Year. First of all, we would like to thank our cooperator, Herbie Arroyo, for taking his time to decorate our lobby for this past holiday season; he did a great job as always. We would like to invite you to our next Building Association meeting that will be on Thursday, January 25, at 7:00 p.m. in our meeting room in the rear lobby of Building 15B. We will have a guest speaker, Mr. Joshua Blake, director of Janitorial. Please come down with your concerns and he will gladly answer any of your questions. We would like to welcome any new cooperators to the building and invite them to join us at our meeting. Please make every effort to attend and bring a neighbor. Refreshments will be served and we will also have a 50/50 raffle. If you have any question or would like to communicate any concern, please feel free to send an email to this address, building15bassoc@gmail.com. —Sandy Krasnove
perennial two or three car length puddle – rain or shine – along the curb in front of Co-op City pharmacy on Einstein Loop South. Perhaps someone at Monday’s meeting will know who to forward those problems and pictures to. The mayor boasts he likes to Get Stuff Done. Let’s help him do precisely that, my fellow complainers! You’re familiar with the phrase never let a crisis go to waste? Well, I say: never let a righteous opportunity to kvetch slip by unaddressed! But beyond Monday, you just have to figure out which agency to address it to. Then you need to be persistent. Finding a few dozen other annoyed people willing to jump on your particular bandwagon is a big plus. In this apathetic world, even a few dozen is sometimes all you need to get your particular stuff done. So who ya gonna call? Call 311. Sometimes the automated response entity won’t decipher how to address your problem but that’s actually a good thing because it’ll transfer you to an actual living representative. I recently experimented with the puddle-by-the-pharmacy issue. The helpful representative determined it was a Department of Environmental Protection problem, took the information, and assigned it a Service Request Number. Not only did the e-mail pop up in less time than you could say Bob’s your uncle, but the e-mail also offered to create an account “to track updates in one convenient location” for semi-professional squeaky wheels such as myself. Now that’s service! For more complaining tips, or whatever, please feel free to reach out. MPearson@RiverbayBoard. com / 718 219-2211.
