Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2017 Co-op City Times
Vol. 52 No. 34
Saturday, August 26, 2017
While Co-op City remains affordable, New York City rents rise dramatically BY JIM ROBERTS
New York City’s economy is booming, the unemployment rate is near a record low and inflation is tame, according to government statistics. There’s just one major problem – the rents are still too darn high – and rising. While rents in New York City have climbed nearly 4% each year on average this decade, Co-op City’s annual carrying charge increases have remained just over 2% - half the New York City average. Finding affordable housing for middle- and lower-income people in the New York metropolitan area remains an ongoing battle. In Co-op City – built nearly 50 years ago as affordable housing for working people – housing costs continue to track well below the skyrocketing costs that predominate in New York City. According to a study released this month by StreetEasy, a real estate search engine, asking rents in New York City rose on average 3.9% each year from 2010 to 2017. A typical apartment asking $2,000 per month for rent in 2010 would now ask $2,657 per month, an increase of 30%. By comparison, the average carrying charge per room in Co-op City has risen from $192.22 to $220.54 ($28 per room) during the same period, an increase of 13% total over the seven-year span. Since 2011, annual carrying charge increases in Co-op City have averaged 2.23%. (Continued on page 4)
Hot Water Service Advisory To all shareholders in Buildings 1 through 7, 15 through 20 and the Adler, Asch, and Defoe townhouses: Due to work on Phase 2 of repairs to the leak in the underground pipes that supply hot water to the buildings of Zone One, hot water service to your home will be shut off for approximately 24 hours. During this time, water service will continue but the water will not be heated. The work is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. Wednesday August 30th and service is scheduled to resume at 7 a.m. Thursday, August 31st. When hot water service returns please allow some time for the water to reach its full temperature. Riverbay’s Power Plant has completed the first phase of the repairs to address the leak in the underground pipes that supply the hot water to the buildings in Zone 1. Now that we have located the leak, we will be making the repairs to the underground pipe sooner rather than later to avoid any interruptions during the upcoming holiday weekend and the beginning of the school year. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience in this matter. —Cooperator Services Office, Bartow Division
25¢
President’s Report To The Board The following is President Linda shareholders to improve customer Berk’s address to her service, technology fellow Board Direc- President’s Message and overall efficiencies. I am confident tors delivered during if we work together this past week’s Board President as a unified board Business meeting. that may not agree Good evening felon all things, we can low Board members, manaccomplish amazing feats. agement, staff and guests. To do so we will need to We can consider this our stay focused and goal orifirst meeting of the year, ented. though we never stopped I want to take this oppormeeting during the sumtunity to announce that we mer. That is a testament will hold a Board Developto the seriousness of this ment program again this board. We have worked year from October 20 – 22 in White exceptionally long and hard individually and collectively to make a difPlains, NY. We have chosen a locaference in our community. tion that is closer, newer and cost To each of you I want to less than the Doral from last year. As it is, the Doral made us an offer that acknowledge your contributions and was hard to refuse. This year the thank you for your hard work. We Crowne Plaza in White Plains has have a challenging year ahead with done even better! the start of over $100 million in capI ask that we all commit to ital projects to repair and improve our aging infrastructure. We also (Continued on page 2) have the promises we made to the
Linda Berk
Public Safety, NYPD Advises Residents To Be Aware In Wake Of Burglary Spree BY BILL STUTTIG
After three Co-op City apartments were hit by burglaries earlier this month, both Co-op City’s Department of Public Safety and the 45th Precinct are asking residents to be aware and vigilant in protecting their home and their valuables. In mid-August, three Co-op City homes – one in Section 2 and two in Section 3 – were victimized by burglaries. According to Public Safety Chief Frank Apollo they were all similar in that the burglar or burglars entered through the front door and removed cash, jewelry and other valuables from the homes. Chief Apollo is asking all residents to be aware and take certain precautions before leaving their home such as safeguarding all valuables, avoiding keeping large amounts of cash in your home, and making sure that both locks on your front door are engaged and locked before you go out, even if it is just for ten minutes. The Public Safety Commander is also asking residents to be alert to any suspicious activity they see on their floor or in or around their building and if you spot something unusual report it to Public Safety immediately by calling 718671-3050. All tips can be kept anonymous. The cases are being investigated jointly by Public Safety and 45th Precinct Detectives. Captain Carlos Ghonz, commander of the 45th Precinct said, “In a few of the burglaries that have taken place, the homeowners do not seem to remember if they properly locked the door to their apartments. We are advising people to make sure that the doors to their apartments are locked when they leave their (Continued on page 2) homes, even if it is for a short period of time.”
Clarification An article in the August 19th issue of Co-op City Times on Public Safety’s launch of its Community Outreach Policing Strategy stated that the idea grew out of “several consultations and much encouragement from the Riverbay Security Committee over the past year.” This statement is accurate, but also true is the fact that the Security Committee Chairperson between 2015 and 2017, Board Director Junius Williams, was a vocal proponent of bringing the community policing concept to Co-op City both while serving as Security Committee Chairperson for those two years and as a sitting member of the committee prior to that.