Vol. 54 No. 33
Saturday, August 17, 2019
DHCR approves carrying charge increases for 2019, 2020 By order of Deputy Commissioner of the state Department of Housing and Community Renewal Mark Colón, Riverbay has been granted approval to raise Co-op City shareholders’ carrying charges by 1.9 percent beginning Sept. 1 and another 1.9 percent beginning Sept. 1, 2020. The increases translate to $4.27 more per room per month as of Sept. 1 and an additional $4.35 per room per month starting Sept. 1, 2020. The increase comes after an April 8 request from Riverbay Corporation to DHCR for a carrying charge increase, citing an inability to meet the financial demands of running Co-op City with existing revenue. The bulk of this shortfall, according to Riverbay Director of Finance Peter Merola, is attributable to the ongoing and upcoming capital projects being undertaken to ensure sustainability of the community’s infrastructure. The carrying charge increases are at the levels they are, Mr. Merola told a small gathering of shareholders Aug. 7, because Riverbay is attempting to spread the capital projects out over time in such a way it negates the need for larger increases. In order to request a carrying charge increase at all, Riverbay’s management must first submit a two-year budget that demonstrates the need for the carrying charge increase — it did — and have the Board of Directors sign off on the particulars of that budget — it did. DHCR also looks at the budget to make sure it is BY JASON CHIREVAS
Riverbay, CSC spot-cleaning new laundry install process Rome wasn’t built in a day. We all know that. But no one thinks about how long it must have taken to get all of Rome’s laundry rooms in place. Those shareholders with a sense of the nonsensical are probably best situated to appreciate the above scenario as well as the one they’re currently living as Plainview-based CSC Serviceworks makes its way around the buildings of Co-op City, installing new laundry rooms and leaving a fair number of growingpain, settling-in type problems behind. Fortunately, both CSC and Riverbay are aware of these problems and are working together to fix them. In addition to first-few-days problems like some of the newly-installed machines simply not working or performing as well some shareholders have also experienced several kinks in the system of obtaining and BY JASON CHIREVAS
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Kevin Shaw Scholarship Winner See pg 3 for story
in agreement with the requesting management company before proceeding to a public hearing on the matter, which, in this case, was the aforementioned Aug. 7 meeting, which drew only about 14 shareholders to room 45 of the Einstein Community Center and a smattering of opposition. In the end, Deputy Commissioner Colón agreed with Riverbay. “Owing to causes beyond the control of the applicant, there have been and will be substantial increases in (Continued on page 2)
SCRIE & DRIE May Help Defray Carrying Charge Increases For Some Co-op City Shareholders Eligible Co-op City shareholders registered with the city’s Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) and the Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE) programs may be able to avoid paying the monthly carrying charge increase that becomes effective Sept. 1, 2019 if they meet the programs’respective criteria. Shareholders who are eligible but have not yet registered for either of these programs are encouraged to do so now that Deputy Commissioner Mark Colon of New York State Housing and Community Renewal (HCR) has issued the carrying charge increase order approving Riverbay’s application for 1.9 percent BY ROZAAN BOONE
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$1.25
ORDER OF THE COMMISSIONER OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY RENEWAL HCLP-81
RIVERBAY CORPORATION, hereinafter referred to as the "applicant" a limited-profit housing company duly organized and existing under the provisions of Article II of the Private Housing Finance Law, subject to the supervision of the Commissioner of the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, owns and operates a limited-profit housing development known as Co-op City in the City of New York, County of Bronx, State of New York. The said applicant filed an application dated April 8, 2019, in the office of the Commissioner of Housing and Community Renewal requesting that the present carrying charges be increased because the present carrying charges, together with all the other income of the said applicant, are insufficient to enable it to meet the payments required to be made by the provisions of the Private Housing Finance Law. Notice and application, together with the Division of Housing and Community Renewal financial projections, were given to the cooperators with a notification that written statements in opposition to the proposed carrying charge increase could be sent to the Commissioner not later than August 7, 2019. The purpose of such statements is to afford an opportnity for the cooperators or their representatives to refute, correct, supplement or otherwise modify the allegations and figures contained in the statement, exhibits, and schedules attached thereto. A meeting was scheduled for August 7, 2019, at Riverbay's Einstein Community Center, 135 Einstein Loop, (Continued on page 2)
Mall At Bay Plaza Celebrates 5th Anniversary
In addition to free food, tables were set up for local businesses to give out information about their services and to attract new customers. Photo by Brandon Ortiz
The Mall at Bay Plaza celebrated its fifth anniversary on Wednesday, Aug. 14, with a celebration that included a lot of giveaways and free food. Olive Garden, Cinnabon, Chipotle, Starbucks, Dallas BBQs, Stop & Shop and Outback Steakhouse were some of the food vendors sponsoring the event. Children in attendance enjoyed free animal balloon making, face painting and dance contests to win prizes. (Continued on page 3) BY BRANDON ORTIZ