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Public Safety begins training in the use of body cameras
© Copyright 2015 Co-op City Times
Vol. 50 No. 25
Resolution #14-35, Competitive Bidding for General Manager/ Managing Agent
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Full implementation expected to begin later this summer
BY BILL STUTTIG
The process of equipping Co-op City Public Safety officers on patrol with body cameras began in earnest this week as more than a dozen supervisors, including Lieutenants, and Patrol Sergeants, received training on the use of the cameras and related equipment.
The training was provided by representatives of Taser International, Inc., the firm who is selling the technology to CCPD for use in Co-op City. Also earlier this week, high ranking CCPD management, including Chief Frank Apollo and Captain James (Continued on page 2)
A representative from Taser International Inc. trains Public Safety supervisors in the operation of recently purchased body cameras and their related software. The training will be passed onto each officer before the cameras are put into use – very likely sometime this summer. Photo by Bill Stuttig
Riverbay Construction Dept. undertakes concrete ‘facelifts’ BY JIM ROBERTS
Rather than wait for a new outside contractor to complete major repairs still needed at the Dreiser and Bartow shopping centers, workers from the Riverbay Construction Department are pitching in to repair concrete steps and other projects. Steps near the Bingo Hall and Dunkin’ Donuts in Bartow were repaired in late June and other work should begin in the next couple of weeks to repair the long stairway lead-
ing down into the plaza behind the Bartow Administration building. Work to complete all the opened up areas on the west side of the Dreiser Community Center is also on the list for completion. “Once we finish in the front of Bartow, we’ll start working on the back steps,” said Tony Rasulo, Riverbay’s Director of Construction. “Right now, we have six men, so between finishing all our other work that comes along
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Dear Fellow The Interviews President’s Message Shareholders: At the end of the In June, 2014, the Ad Hoc Committee Riverbay Board of leveling process, 3 Directors took the companies were recPresident initiative to start the ommended based on Competitive Bidding Protheir answers to a fixed cess for a Managing Agent. question and scoring sysIt was fairly obvious upon tem developed by the comreview of the Balance Sheet mittee. During the 2nd and Income State-ment that round of the search prothe approved Managing cess, this time including Agent had compiled a histhe full Riverbay Board of tory of poor performance, Directors, the 3 candidates including misconfiguring were asked if they underthe design and build of our stood the scope of the $85 million Power Plant work before being asked facility. specific management proThese and many other ject questions. After 2 to 3 revelations set forth an exhaustive hours of interviewing the limited process starting with the formation of onsite staff each provided, the Riveran Ad Hoc Committee for new manbay Board of Directors in deliberation agement which spent hundreds of and good faith could not recommend hours of preparation, documentation any of the companies presented. and interviews of prospective candiWhen the onsite candidates were dates. Simultaneously, these same asked to answer specific questions as Board Directors and Riverbay’s it relates to Residential Property ManGeneral Counsel spent a great deal of agement of a Mitchell-Lama developtime investigating, deliberating and ment, they were grossly unprepared or cleaning up the mess left behind by our suspended Managing Agent. (Continued on page 4)
Cleve Taylor
Co-op City participates in Con Ed demand response test BY ROZAAN BOONE
This past Wednesday when temperatures peaked at about 90 degrees in New York City, Co-op City participated in an electrical load shedding event called by Con Edison in which Riverbay was asked to reduce electrical load between 4-5 p.m. In response, beginning at 3:30 p.m., the Riverbay Power Plant shut down the lights in the community’s 8 parking
garages, the laundry rooms in the residential buildings were closed and one elevator in each building was taken out of service. At the power plant, the emergency diesel generators, which are designed to help restart the plant in an emergency, was also used in this demand response test to export more power to Con Ed. All of these measures (Continued on page 8)
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Holiday closings and Co-op City Times deadline notice Riverbay offices will be closing early at 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 2nd. In celebration of Independence Day, all Riverbay offices will be closed on Friday, July 3rd. Because of the holiday-shortened work week, all Co-op City Times deadlines will be strictly enforced. Directors’ viewpoints and weekly articles from building associations, clubs & organizations not received by 5 p.m. on Monday, June 29, will not be considered for publication in the Saturday, July 4th edition of the paper. Emergency services will be available. For Maintenance, please call (718) 320-3300, and press option “3.” For Public Safety, please call (718) 671-3050. Have a safe and enjoyable July 4th holiday weekend!
Hoops Upgrade … The refurbishing of the basketball courts — including new clear backboards, two newly repainted regulation-size courts — and handball courts in Section 5 was completed earlier this week. In July, the courts adjacent to garage 4 in Section 3 will be refurbished in a similar fashion. The Construction Department said that the exact dates of when the work will be performed will be announce d shortly. The work will require the closing of the courts for approximately two days. Photo by Bill Stuttig