Vol. 56 No. 29
Saturday, July 17, 2021
$1.25
Co-op City Times Survey on Participation in Riverbay Board Elections Survey available online and in print
As reported last week, the Co-op City Times survey on shareholder participation in the annual Riverbay Board Elections is available in print (see page 8) as well as online at Survey Monkey, https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KB39P7N. We’d like to know about your participation in the annual Board elections, an important process to choose members of the Riverbay Board of Directors who make policy decisions for the community. While some questions are required, some are optional, and you can choose whether to respond. If you complete the survey online, remember to include your address in #11 to verify residency in Co-op City. Only one response per residential unit. There are 10 questions and the survey takes less than 3 minutes to complete.
Designing the future and helping those who need it most Pre-registration is now open for students BY TORIEA McCAUSELAND
Durell Coleman, CEO of DC Design, is all about providing solutions for those who need it most, and his Design the Future program sets out to do just that. He said, “Design the Future is a summer program that teaches high school students how to change the world. That’s the goal of the program.” The program teaches students how to design and launch products in apps that help people with disabilities. Students meet a project partner who lives with a disability, receive mentorship and guidance from them, and learn about challenges they face. Mr. Coleman said, “The students come to decide on a challenge that they want to address together and then based on the challenge that that partner lives with, the students will design and develop an app from there to begin to address it.” This summer, the program had 21 different teams of students; all 21 of them designed apps that benefited their project partners. One of those project partners is Co-op City’s Michelle Sajous. Program Coordinator, Eliza R. Peters, noted that this year, with the program going digital, so did the outreach in finding project partners. She said: “Word of mouth is significant for us because partners do have such valuable experiences in the program and sharing with their networks. This year, we went digital, utilizing social media to recruit project partners from all over the country.” That’s how Ms. Sajous came across the organization, a case of luck while browsing on Facebook. She said: “I saw something on Facebook, ended up getting to their website and I saw that they were looking for partners. After I filled out the application, I soon received a call back; the more they told me about the program, the more I wanted to be a part of it.” (Continued on page 3)
Congratulations, Broun Place residents who voted in the 2021 Board election! In addition to the Broun Place Townhouse Association being awarded $500 for having the highest voter turnout in the recently completed 2021 Riverbay Board of Directors election, each Broun Place shareholder who voted in the election will receive a $25 credit on their August 1, 2021 carrying charge statement. Way to go, Broun Place residents!
The survey deadline is Friday, July 30, 2021. Those completing a physical survey can return them by email to cctimes@riverbaycorp.com, by mail to Co-op City Times, 2049 Bartow Avenue, Rm. 21, Bronx, NY 10475; or slipped under the office door. We thank those who have already completed and submitted the survey. Your participation is valued and appreciated.
Shareholders assured about integrity of Co-op City buildings BY ROZAAN BOONE
Recently, flooding has been reported in the basements of Buildings 11, 15, 16, 17 and 32 which prompted shareholders in those buildings to contact Management to inquire as to the cause of those floods, and with some expressing concerns vis-à-vis the high rise condo collapse in Surfside, Fl. Management and the Riverbay Board continue to assure concerned shareholders that despite Co-op City buildings being more than 50 years old, they are not in the same condition as the Surfside building reportedly was, and in fact, undergo a much more stringent set of inspections mandated by New York City law than exist in Florida. According to Management, basement floods in the five buildings were caused by a variety of issues, all non-structural – pump room floods as a result of drains not functioning properly, convector coil breaks from apartments, laundry room back-ups and pipe breaks. As reported in the May 1, 2021 issue of the Co-op City Times, the community has been undergoing an in-depth series of HUD-mandated property needs inspections being performed by the Dominion Due Diligence Group. These inspections are a requirement of the community’s current HUD-insured mortgage with Wells Fargo, and are mandated every 10 years for all HUD-insured (Continued on page 4)
CDC Wants All Kids Back For In-Person Learning This Fall BY BRANDON ORTIZ
The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) is certainly an advocate for a return to in-person instruction this fall for all K-12 students. New guidance released by the CDC last week shows the agency’s hope of getting every child back into their respective classrooms by the start of the new school year. At the top of the new guidance, which is available online at cdc.gov, the CDC highlights that having students return to the classroom is a “priority.” Below are other noteworthy updates to the guidance: ● Unvaccinated individuals who are two and older should wear a mask while indoors or in settings where physical distancing cannot be maintained. ● Students should have a minimum of three feet of space between them. In instances where a school’s space cannot accommodate all students while maintaining three feet, the CDC strongly advises schools to utilize other strategies such as wearing masks indoors. ● Schools should continue screening for COVID-19, retaining proper ventilation, emphasizing handwashing hygiene and asking students to both stay home when sick and get tested. ● Schools are also advised to continue their contact tracing efforts, quarantining and diligent disinfecting of classrooms. In instances where a school is unable to accommodate every student while also maintaining three feet of social distance, the CDC still suggests having (Continued on page 2)
See Co-op City Times Election Survey on pg 8