Riverbay Election Supplement on pages 31-42 Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2014 Co-op City Times
Amnesty Program for illegal subletters gets green light from HCR; Vol. 49 No. 18
Saturday, May 3, 2014
HUD approval now being sought
People who have been illegally subletting apartments in Co-op City will very likely have their chance to stabilize and legitimize their residency, and at the same time, probably lower their housing costs by participating in an amnesty program for Co-op City’s illegal subletters, if HUD approves of the program. A similar amnesty program for illegal subletters in Co-op City was offered 10 years ago. In a memo to the Riverbay Board
BY BILL STUTTIG
dated Wednesday, April 30, Riverbay’s management informed Board Directors that the state’s supervisory agency, New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), had finally given approval to proceed with the amnesty program. “Management has been attempting for some time to resurrect the program,” wrote Herbert Freedman, principal of Marion Scott Real Estate, Inc., Riverbay’s managing agent. “We asked (Continued on page 2)
25¢
2014 Election Committee announces Voting Incentive Program To ensure a high turnout of shareholders for the Riverbay Board of Directors election scheduled to take place on Wednesday, May 21, the Riverbay Board of Directors has approved offering the 2014 Voting Incentive Program once again this year. On Wednesday, May 21, voting will take place between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the lobbies of the residential buildings. Shareholders who vote in the Board election will be automatically entered into the Voting Incentive contest which this year offers $500 to 5 winners, one from each section of Co-op City, who will be randomly selected in a computerized drawing after the Board election with the process overseen by the Riverbay Finance and Legal Departments, and the 2014 Election BY ROZAAN BOONE
Committee. During the drawing, five choices from each of the five sections will be randomly chosen by computer from a database in which all of the buildings in the development are sequentially listed. Each of these numbers correlates to a building and an apartment and as the numbers are drawn identifying a possible winning apartment, they will be matched against the voting registers and also compared against absentee and challenge ballots to ensure that the shareholder voted in the election on Wednesday, May 21. If the first number drawn comes up invalid, meaning that the shareholder did not vote, the second number will be considered, and so on, until a winner is selected. (Continued on page 4)
Second Candidates’ Forum Wednesday in Dreiser Auditorium B Sign up to speak between 7-7:30 p.m.
The second of three official Candidates’ Forums for the 2014 Riverbay Board of Directors election will be held on Wednesday, May 7, in Dreiser Auditorium B at 7:30 p.m. and all certified candidates running in this year’s Board election have been invited to attend. Shareholders who would like to
BY ROZAAN BOONE
The State Division of Homes and Community Renewal this past week gave Riverbay permission, pending the approval of HUD, to offer amnesty to illegal subletters in Co-op City. If HUD approves of the overall plan, then subletters will be offered a chance to become full shareholders if they qualify. Photo by Elijah Bernard
Power plant transition from heating to cooling begins this week; full range of additional repair procedures scheduled Beginning Monday and continuing for the next three weeks, Power Plant staff will begin the process of changing over key components of the Power Plant from heating to cooling functions, an annual, involved procedure which aside from the necessary seasonal change-over work, also includes the performance of vital maintenance and repairs that can only be performed during this relatively brief period when the heating/cooling plant is not operating. For this year’s extra busy seasonal transition period, the work will also include coordinating with contractors on the long-anticipated Water Treatment Plant installation project and the High Temperature Hot Water Heat Exchanger installation project. BY BILL STUTTIG
The most immediate repair to be performed this week will be the inplace repair of the isolation valves on the boiler feed water system and this will result in a temporary shut down of hot water service to the entire community for approximately 12 hours during the overnight beginning late Tuesday night through most of Wednesday morning. However, unheated water will be available in all homes throughout this 12-hour repair period. Because of the 12-hour hot-water shut down period, all shareholders are advised days in advance to plan for the loss of service by rescheduling their daily routines requiring hot water around the planned shut down period (Continued on page 9)
ask questions of the candidates must sign up between 7-7:30 p.m. “The Candidates’ Forum will begin promptly at 7:30 p.m., so if anyone would like to ask the candidates a question, you should arrive early and sign the list,” said Board President Bill Gordon, Chair of the (Continued on page 4)
Co-op City now 99.4% occupied; only 105 homes available for sale According to the numbers posted in the latest sales report from the Riverbay Sales Department, Co-op City is as close to a virtual sell-out as it can possibly be, with only 105 apartments not occupied or claimed while awaiting closing. In the report filed with executive management this past Monday, it was revealed that there are currently only 221 apartment now vacant in the community, but more than half of them have been claimed and the buyer and Riverbay are in the process of completing or closing on that sale. According to the report, of the 105 homes that are not yet claimed, 88 of those homes have been offered to an applicant and Riverbay is currently awaiting a response to set up an
BY BILL STUTTIG
appointment for the applicant to view the available home. Another 17 applicants have responded to Riverbay’s invitation to view the apartment currently available for sale and appointments have been set up for the very near future. The only two homes that are vacant and have not been claimed or offered for sale to specific applicants are the two apartments currently being used as sales models as part of the current successful marketing program. After the most recent sales report was received by management on Monday, Herbert Freedman of Co-op City’s managing agent, Marion Scott Real Estate, Inc, said in a memorandum to the Riverbay Board of Directors, (Continued on page 2)