Helen Atkins top vote getter in Board election Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2010 Co-op City Times
Vol. 45 No. 22
Helen Atkins
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Bernard Cylich
BY DEREK ALGER Helen Atkins was easily the top vote getter in this year’s Riverbay Board election, receiving almost 600 more votes than her closest opponent as she was reelected to a third term. Atkins tallied 2,797 votes in placing first, while two of her running mates also won seats on the Board, and Bernard Cylich of the “Team for Change” slate came in second, with 2,202 votes, followed by his running mate Andrea Leslie who was reelected to a second term on the Board, garnering 2,142 votes. The four candidates running on the “A” Team slate headed by Atkins came in
Andrea Leslie
just behind Leslie, with Director Evelyn Santiago coming in fourth, with 2,050 votes to also win reelection. “I’m extremely grateful to all who voted for me and am truly honored you have entrusted me to serve for another term on the Riverbay Board of Directors,” Atkins said. Raymond Tirado who ran with the “A” Team, placed fifth, with 1,950 votes, seven votes ahead of his running mate on the Atkins’ slate, Krystal Serrano. The preliminary results announced on Wednesday night after the election are the unofficial count from the voting machines, as well as standby ballots used
Co-gen produces 90% of community’s electric needs in April BY JIM ROBERTS Co-op City’s co-generation plant saved the community $1.5 million in energy costs in April as the plant produced a record 90% of the development’s electric needs for the month. Energy savings for the past 13 months (April 1, 2009 to April 30, 2010) came to a total of $9.019 million,
according to the Riverbay Department of Finance. Savings on energy costs continue to increase each month as both the purchases of electricity from Con Edison and the costs for gas keep declining. In April, total outside energy costs (Continued on page 5)
Memorial Day observance planned for this weekend This weekend, Co-op City residents will honor the memory of those who gave their lives for their country during military conflicts in a ceremony scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday at the community’s Harley J. Moseley Veterans’ Memorial Park on Bartow Avenue. The community’s veterans’ organizations will come together again (Continued on page 4)
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Evelyn Santiago in the election. On Thursday, June 3rd, the recanvassing of the results will take place at 66-26 Metropolitan Avenue, Forest Hills, N.Y. At that time, absentee ballots will be factored into the official count, as well as the count from Building 30B which was not included in Wednesday’s preliminary results. The 2010 election results will then be certified by the 2010 Election Committee and the official winners of the election will be announced. According to Stanley Schlein, one of the attorneys representing the Election Committee, Riverbay’s Legal Department had received 34 absentee ballots post-
Raymond Tirado marked by the Tuesday, May 25, 2010 deadline. Lauretta J. Jaysura, who rounded out the Atkins slate unofficially came in seventh, with 1,878 votes, just ahead of Leah Graham and Director Tony Illis, who were tied with 1,871 votes. “I’m proud of Helen Atkins’ showing in this year’s election,” said Rev. Calvin E. Owens, First Vice President of Riverbay, who very publicly endorsed Atkins and her running mates, “but I’m certainly not surprised. I’ve known Helen for over twenty years and have always (Continued on page 2)
Ne g o t i at io n s c o n ti n u e i n h o p e o f a ve r ti n g s t ri k e b y b u i ld i n g w or k er s BY BILL STUTTIG Representatives of both Riverbay and Local 32BJ continued negotiating yesterday in an attempt to avert a strike which would send 500 Co-op City porters, maintenance workers, grounds works and garage attendants off the job and onto the picket line, leaving Riverbay’s other workers and residents to keep basic services here functioning. As of press time yesterday, no preliminary settlement had been reached. Negotiations were scheduled to resume at 5 p.m. yesterday, Friday, just past this publication’s weekly deadline. The contract is due to expire Monday, May 31st, at which time, if no settlement or agreement to continue negotiating is reached, a work stoppage is expected to occur. The major sticking point in the negotiations appears to be over health care coverage for the 500 employees. Riverbay management has contended that the union
is demanding that the employees continue to be included in Local 32BJ’s Westchester Suburban Health Plan, while Riverbay is seeking to have the Local 32BJ employees included in the union’s Bronx Tri-State Plan which management contends provides very similar coverage, but is less expensive, saving the shareholders of the Co-op City an extra $1.34 million in costs. The Suburban plan was included in the last contract agreement signed in 2007 as a compromise to the union in order to reach an agreement and avoid a strike. But now Riverbay is insisting the employees be switched back to the less expensive Bronx plan which, according to Riverbay, provides the exact same benefits as the Suburban plan, but without the additional costs to the shareholders of the Co-op City. (Continued on page 4)