Co-op City Times 04/09/11

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Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2011 Co-op City Times

Vol. 46 No. 15

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Board considering refinancing deal with New York Community Bank BY JIM ROBERTS Talks are underway between Riverbay management and officials with New York Community Bank about a deal that would refinance Co-op City’s existing $475 million mortgage at a lower interest rate and provide cash now to pay off existing debts and replenish reserve funds. The refinancing would provide much needed new funds to help pay for $18 million in ongoing capital projects in Co-op City, including completing the window replacement program, as well as balcony repairs required by New York City’s Local Law 11. In addition, according to management, $25 million would be used to restore money in reserve funds, and $11.7 million would be available to pay ever-increasing water bills to the City of New York. Members of Riverbay’s Board of Directors are now examining the proposal and are being asked to vote on the deal at a Board meeting on Wednesday, April 13. “Co-op City is not an isolated island, and we are very much affected by national and international events in these uncer-

tain times,” said President Helen Atkins. “Different Directors may have different opinions, but the Riverbay Board of Directors has absolutely no influence on the rising cost of gasoline at the pump or astronomical water rates charged by the City of New York. “Fiduciary responsibility and reality means we have to consider a refinancing to keep our community afloat,” Atkins continued. “We don’t live in a perfect world, but be that as it may, I strongly believe in continuity over chaos, and unfortunately, some are trying to capitalize on people’s emotions by not being honest about the current financial situation we are facing in Co-op City.” Second Vice President Khalil AbdulWahhab said: "Co-op City, like many other cities and states across the nation, are caught between a rock and a hard place in these tough economic times. The only way to continue to move forward is to consider every logical, sensible action that improves our budget and our overall capital for (Continued on page 4)

State restores funding for Einstein and other senior centers BY JIM ROBERTS Round one in the fight to save the Einstein Senior Center is a victory for Co-op City’s senior residents, but the budget battle might still have one more round to go. Proposed cuts by Governor Andrew Cuomo to money that the state sends to New York City to pay for senior centers were restored in the final 2011-12 state budget that was passed last week in Albany. “Both the State Senate and the Assembly rejected the Governor’s proposal in his budget and we elected to restore all funds to the City of New York to be used for senior citizen programs,” said State Assemblyman Mike Benedetto, who represents Co-op City in Albany. New York State will receive $103 million in Title XX funding from the federal government, which is allocated to the Office of Children and Family Services. Of that amount, $66 million is used for mandated adult protective services and domestic violence programs. The remainder, $37 million, is distributed to fund programs at local discretion. These discretionary programs may include senior services, low income day care and supportive housing services.

When Gov. Cuomo proposed taking that $37 million away from senior citizen services, New York City’s Department for the Aging (DFTA) drew up a list of 105 senior citizen centers that would have to close and the Einstein Senior Center in Co-op City was on that list. The $37 million will now come to New York City from Albany this year and the city is expected to fund the senior centers that may have closed if the Governor’s proposal had been accepted by the state legislature. “We’re very pleased that Title XX was adopted in the final budget. The cut would have had a significant impact on the seniors of New York City. We’d like to thank everyone for their hard work for restoring these vital funds,” said Christopher Miller, a spokesperson for the city’s Department for the Aging. However, Mayor Bloomberg’s budget for the new fiscal year is due by June 30, and there is no guarantee that all of the city’s senior citizens will be funded, according to Assemblyman Benedetto. “Now the money is sent back there (to New York City), but there is no mandate that Mayor Bloomberg must use this money for this purpose,” Benedetto (Continued on page 2)

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Official candidates in 2011 Riverbay Board election to be certified next Tuesday BY ROZAAN BOONE The official candidates who will compete for five open seats on the Riverbay Board of Directors will be announced next Tuesday, April 12, at the Candidates’ Meeting which will be held in Room 31 of the Bartow Community Center at 8 p.m. Last Monday, March 28, at the conclusion of the petition period to run in this year’s Board election, 13 of the 14 potential candidates who picked up qualifying petitions when they became available on Monday, March 14, returned their petition packages to the Riverbay Legal Department signifying their intention to enter the race to fill five Board seats in the Wednesday, May 18th election.

Among the 13 potential candidates are three incumbent Board Directors running for re-election this year—Rev. Dr. Calvin E. Owens, Emmanuel “Manny” Torres and Eleanor G. Bailey. The other shareholders who returned their petitions include some former Board Directors, as well as some who have run for the Board in previous years. They include Frank Belcher, Yolanda Canales Schumann, John Rose, Kenneth Mercer, Leah Graham, Carmen Howell, Michelle S. Davy, Krystal Serrano, Daryl Johnson and Tony Illis. With the petition period over, nonresident Riverbay staff have conducted (Continued on page 2)

Election Notice to Building Presidents regarding scheduling of Candidates Meetings Monday, April 11 is the deadline for building association presidents who would like to schedule a Candidates’ Meeting to request a date from the 2011 Election Committee. Only one building association candidates’ meeting can be held per day, therefore, meetings will be scheduled on a first come, first served basis from Wednesday, April 13—the day after the

candidates are certified and they are allowed to begin campaigning—through Friday, May 13. All requests must be directed to Director Bill Gordon, Chair of the 2011 Election Committee, c/o Riverbay Legal Department, 2049 Bartow Avenue, Bronx, N.Y. 10475. Late requests will not be considered. —2011 E lect ion C om m it t ee

Co-op City receives $300,000 of $1M NYSERDA grant for energy efficient garage lighting BY ROZAAN BOONE Riverbay Corporation has received $300,000 of a $1M grant from the New York State Energy Research Development Agency (NYSERDA) for energy efficient lighting that was installed in the community’s parking facilities last year. The payment, which was received late last week, is the first payment of the $1M federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant administered through NYSERDA which Riverbay qualified for last year. As a result of the award, Riverbay contracted with Green Energy Management Services Holdings, Inc. (GEM), a Teaneck, N.J. based company, to retrofit and maintain 4,928 garage lights, 395 exterior lights, 496 elevator and stairwell lights and 279 exit signs in the community’s 8 parking garages. The 10-year GEM contract will provide Co-op City with approximately $350,000

annually in electricity savings and approximately $2.5 million in maintenance cost savings over the life of contract by utilizing power-saving long-life induction and LED lighting. “The installation of LED lights in our garages is a great energy saving initiative,” said Vernon Cooper, Riverbay’s General Manager. “Not only will we have light bulbs installed that have a longer, useful life and that burn less electricity, but thanks to the NYSERDA grant, the housing company will not have to pay for the material or labor associated with the installation of these lights either. Additionally, going forward, the contractor will take over the responsibility of maintaining the light fixtures and will split the energy savings resulting from the installation of the new light bulbs with the (Continued on page 4)


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