Co-op City Times 05/19/18

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Vol. 53 No. 20

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Voting Period For 2018 Board Election Ends At 8:59 P.M., Wednesday, May 23 The voting period of the 2018 Riverbay Board of Directors election will end at 8:59 p.m. sharp on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, the deadline for all ballots to be returned to Election-America, Riverbay’s independent election contractor. In addition to casting your vote through the mail by completing and mailing back the paper ballot in the stamped, addressed envelope included with your ballot, Co-op City shareholders can also vote online by using their smartphones, iPads or computers. Those voting electronically will need the PIN number and CODE that were included in their ballot letter. They should also use the “url” provided by Election-America in their ballot letter to access the voting portal. Another alternative is to utilize the Election-America kiosk located in each of the three community centers near to the ATM machine. You will also need your PIN and CODE numbers to vote using this option. Instructions are posted at the kiosks and the entire process takes less than three minutes. For those who need assistance using the voting kiosk, Election America will have a staff person available daily on Monday-Wednesday, May 21-23, in the Einstein Center from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.; Bartow Center, 12:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., and the Dreiser Center from 4-5:30 p.m. (Continued on page 14) BY ROZAAN BOONE

$1.25

My Choice Of Candidates For The Board President’s Message

Linda Berk This week we, as shareholders, have the opportunity to vote for five members to represent us on the Riverbay Board of Directors. This is an awesome responsibility for which the entire Board has encouraged the community to participate. Why is it so important? Because the fifteen-member Board of Directors oversees the management of our property and makes consequential and important decisions that impact us all. One of the biggest challenges of a residential board of cooperatives is to keep to the business at hand. Our responsibility as directors is to perform the business of the corporation, and unfortunately, residential Board directors tend to get personal and that serves no good purpose for the corporation, which, in fact, is each and every one of us, the shareholders. (Continued on page 2) President

Planting Season for Grounds Department

NYC DOH Presentation On Animal Shelter On Thursday In Co-op City

On Thursday, May 24, the New York City Department of Health will give a presentation on the proposed animal shelter to be built on city-owned property at 2050 Bartow Avenue when Community Board #10 holds a joint meeting of its ad hoc Co-op City and Housing & Zoning Committees. The meeting will take place in Co-op City at 7:30 p.m. in room 31 of the Bartow Community Center. Following this joint meeting, CB #10 will schedule a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) public hearing in June (date to be announced) when Co-op City residents will get the opportunity to express their opinions about the proposed animal shelter. CB #10 is working on holding that meeting in Co-op City as well to make it convenient for community residents to attend. After the public meeting, the community board will make a recommendation either for or against the animal shelter and then the matter will be returned to the City Council’s Land Use Committee which will make the final decision. The proposed $60 million animal shelter will be a 47,000 square feet, fullservice facility. It is slated for opening in 2024.

Riverbay Grounds employee have been busy planting perennials in all of the flower beds around Co-op City this planting season, May through June. In photo above, we caught up with Andrew Davis, Nivarrio Martin, Michael Monahan, Ryan Francis and acting director of the Grounds Department, Michael Ambo, outside of the Riverbay Administrative office as they tended to the flower beds in that area. Photo by Rozaan Boone

Innovative Riverbay Financing Program Helps Cooperators And The Corporation A financing program for new shareholders that was created after the “Great Recession” of 2008 continues to provide a pathway to affordable housing for New Yorkers here in Co-op City. The Riverbay Deferred Equity Program lets shareholders put down 35% of their required equity and then pay off the remaining balance each month over a seven-year period. Currently, there are 1,600 shareholders using the program, just over 10% of the total shareholders in Co-op City. The program is offered to both new shareholders and transfers. The program meets the goals that were created by the Riverbay Board of Directors in 2011 – provide another option for new shareholders who might find it difficult to get bank financing after lending was tightened by banks, while ensuring that Riverbay keeps selling apartments to keep the comBY JIM ROBERTS

pany financially sound. The shareholders using the program delay their equity payment to Riverbay. In return, they add a 5% premium each month as they reduce their debt, giving Riverbay additional funds. “Over the seven years of the program we’ve built up the fund and now there is about $13 million in equity that has been deferred,” said Peter Merola, Riverbay’s director of finance. “The good side of that is that Riverbay gets that 5% premium which comes to about $650,000 a year in additional income for the corporation.” Deferred equity ensures that apartments remained occupied. “It also means we were able to sell all those apartments and keep them occupied,” Merola said. “If the carrying charges average $1,000 per month, every empty apartment is $1,000 per month (Continued on page 2)


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Co-op City Times 05/19/18 by Co-op City Times - Issuu