Vol. 53 No. 34
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Co-op City Affordability Provides Homes For Middle Income New Yorkers
“Affordability” is a rare commodity in the New York City housing market. Clean, safe affordable homes are always in high demand, and Co-op City remains at the forefront of opportunity for working-class families to raise their children and retire in comfort. The U.S. Department of Housing calculates Fair Market Rent (FMR), the estimated amount of money a rental with a certain number of bedrooms in a specific area of the country will cost monthly. For the NY Metro Area, HUD calculated the FMRs by unit bedrooms. In 2018, a fair market rent comes out to $1,558/month one-bedrooms, $1,789/month two-bedrooms, $2,280/month three-bedrooms and $2,437/month four-bedrooms. In Co-op City, monthly carrying charges for a one-bedroom apartment can be up to approximately $936, two-bedrooms $1,167 and three-bedrooms $1,484 making affordability here approximately 35% below the HUD baseline. HUD estimates that a single New Yorker earning up to $58,450 annually is in their lowincome category. According to a study by the NYU Furman Center, new housing is lagging far behind the growth of population in the metro NY area. Between 2000 and 2016, the housing stock grew by about 8 percent, while the adult population went up nearly 11 percent. Jobs were up more than 16 percent, another sign of the rising demand for housing in the city. The study also found that more renters are living in overcrowded units. (Continued on page 2) BY JIM ROBERTS
Another Successful Summer Internship Program The Riverbay Institute Summer Internship Program concluded this past Friday, August 24. 40 interns took part in this year’s program, which kicked off on July 9. Only Co-op City youth in high-school, transitioning to a technical or trade school program, or attending a college were eligible to apply. To conclude the program, interns attended a final meeting where they were able to share their experiences and give feedback about the program. In addition to a free lunch, Board Director and President of the Co-op City branch of the NAACP, Jerome Rice, was invited as a guest speaker. “You don’t ever want to be comfortable where you are,” Rice said to the interns. “Because that is when you think you know it all, and when you think you know it all that is when you make the ultimate mistake.” he said. “You have to be the difference,” Rice said. Photo by Brandon Ortiz
NYS Democratic Primary Candidates Forum
Candidates for the Democratic Party’s nomination for New York State’s three highest elected positions – Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General – will be attending a candidate’s forum sponsored by Co-op City Working Families and the Coalition to Save Cynthia Nixon Affordable Housing beginning at 4:30 p.m. Sunday in room 31 of Bartow Community Center. All of the eight candidates vying to run in November on the Democratic Party ticket for each of these three positions were invited to this forum and so far, five have confirmed their participation, as of press time. Gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon has accepted her invitation to participate along with candidate for the office
of Lt. Governor, City Councilman Jumaane Williams. Three of the four candidates vying to run on the Democratic ticket for State Attorney General have also accepted invitations to participate: the city’s Public Advocate Letitia James; Leecia Eve Letitia James and Zephyr Teachout. Candidates invited, but who have yet to confirm their participation, include incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo, incumbent Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, and candidate for Attorney General Sean Patrick Maloney. The doors will open at 4 p.m. with the forum starting at approximately 4:30 p.m. The Democratic Primary for New York State will be held on Thursday, September 13th.
$1.25
Construction Activity Around Co-op City To Increase This Autumn
Scheduled and required inspections, repairs and renovations of Co-op City’s buildings are scheduled to commence in the coming weeks, according to Riverbay’s Construction Department. The largest of these projects is the required Local Law 11 inspections affecting Buildings 1 through 25, Section 1 through 4. As part of this required inspection procedure, over the next four months the façade and exterior brick work of each of the 25 buildings will be inspected by a certified inspection contractor. According to Mark Warren, Riverbay’s Director of Construction, each inspection will require scaffolding drops to be present at each building during its scheduled inspection process. The amount of time required for each inspection depends largely on the size of the building and varies from a few days to a week. Mr. Warren said the residents will be notified of their building’s scheduled inspection approximately a week before it begins. The inspections will not affect residents of the buildings except that they might notice the presence of the scaffolding drops required to support the inspectors as they thoroughly examine the exterior walls encompassing the height and width of each building. The Local Law 11 inspections will determine the level of restoration repairs required on each building which can and does range from a safe designation, meaning no work is required, minimal repairs meaning (Continued on page 4)
BY BILL STUTTIG
Co-op City Spotlight: Mary Vin Rose How she used misfortune to drive her passion for inspiring others to live a healthy life Mary Vin Rose, a long time resident of Co-op City, grew up in Section Five in a multicultural family. She’s a graduate of Binghamton University who majored in Political Science but had a passion for working in TV production. Mary transitioned to becoming a celebrity event planner and in a rare case of serendipity, stumbled upon an opportunity to become a TV producer, a dream come true! “I’ve always wanted to tell stories,” she said. Having a family history of diabetes and high (Continued on page 2) BY TORIEA McCAUSELAND
Mary Vin Rose, right, and her guest, licensed acupuncturist Joannie Campuzano, in an episode that airs August 28.