Co-op City Times 07/06/13

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Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community.

Vol. 48 No. 27

© Copyright 2013 Co-op City Times

Community Board 10 requests comprehensive transportation study of the Co-op City area BY BILL STUTTIG Citing the exploding rate of commercial development around Co-op City combined with a lack of planning of additional infrastructure and/or public transportation alternatives to support that planned development, Community Board 10 recently passed a resolution asking several city and state agencies to coordinate a comprehensive study of the present and future transportation needs of the Coop City community. According to Ken Kearns, the District Manager of Community Board 10, the request for the resolution came directly from Community Board 10’s Municipal Services Committee of which several members have participated in recent meetings and public forums regarding future traffic improvement plans for the new Mall at Bay Plaza opening next year and the recent forums requesting a full restoration of the MTA bus lines cuts in 2010. Kearns said at the last full Board meeting of the Community Board held on June 20th, the full board got behind and passed the resolution which call for a full study of the area’s transportation needs to be conducted through several agencies directly involved with the area’s increasing development.

The resolution, as passed reads “At the request of the Municipal Services Committee of Bronx Community Board #10, that a Resolution calling upon the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Board, the senior management of New York City Transit, MTA Bus, Metro North Railroad and the New York City Economic Development Corporation to authorize a comprehensive and coordinated public transportation study of Co-op City, inclusive of bus, rail, and water ferry service, taking into consideration existing bus transportation patterns and future needs that will include a commuter rail station and possible connection service to ferry service and that the above agencies, after developing said plan, conduct a hearing(s) in the Co-op City community to share the plan and recommendations…” The following day, after the Board passed the resolution, John Marano, chairman of Community Board 10, sent a letter to Thomas Prendergast, chairman of the MTA, informing him of the resolution and the Community Board’s overall concerns over the lack of adequate public transportation being provided to the residents of Co-op City, especially in

Riverbay’s cogeneration plant praised as ‘Sandy Success Story’

BY JIM ROBERTS Co-op City’s state of the art 40 megawatt cogeneration plant has been recognized as a “Sandy Success Story” by a coalition of New York City civic organizations promoting environmentally sound sustainability initiatives. What made the Co-op City plant a “Sandy Success Story” was the ability to keep power running in Co-op City during the devastating storm last year while others nearby went without electricity for days. “According to Con Edison, roughly 50,000 Bronx residents lost power during Superstorm Sandy, including those living in the neighborhoods surrounding Co-op City. Residents in Co-op City, however did not lose power nor did they lose heat or hot water,” according to the report from the coalition, which is led by the Environmental Defense Fund and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The report praised Riverbay’s cogeneration plant as a shining example of a project that helped achieve aggressive energy

Riverbay willing to start talks with Verizon on FiOS

Saturday, July 6, 2013

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efficiency and climate action targets. “The ability to both generate power and provide thermal services allowed ‘business as usual’ operations for residents and staff at Co-op City,” the report from the alliance stated. “Had it not been for the cogen plant, Co-op City would have experienced power losses during the storm. Prior to Superstorm Sandy, the cogen plant had been a worthwhile investment for the Riverbay Corporation; however, the experience during the storm now makes the investment look even better,” the report concludes. Noting the environmentally-friendly advantage of Co-op City’s cogen plant, the coalition’s report states “To reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions, the cogen plant runs on natural gas, with powers the turbines that produce electricity and steam. The steam is then used to generate additional electricity and produce hot water, heating and cooling.” Because Co-op City generates its (Continued on page 2)

BY JIM ROBERTS The door is open with a standing invitation for Verizon to bring their TV, internet and phone service called FiOS to Co-op City. But so far there hasn’t been any indication from the telephone and communications giant that they are ready and willing to invest the dollars needed to wire the buildings. Currently, over 90% of Co-op City apartments are using Cablevision’s service for the cable TV and internet connection. But now that Verizon has nearly completed installing their fiber optic lines under the streets surrounding Co-op City as required by New York City law, the only thing stopping FiOS from coming here is Verizon itself. “We want to help facilitate the best quality of life that we can for the residents of this community. That’s really the bottom line for us,” said Vernon Cooper, General Manager of Riverbay. “If the residents want to see Verizon’s FiOS brought into their homes, then we’re all for it. It’s unfortunate that we keep hearing comments about how management is trying to block Verizon from coming in. That’s just not true.” Last May, Verizon workers began installing underground hardware at different locations throughout Co-op City to carry the company’s fiber optic network. However, those installations end at the street and don’t connect into buildings here. Under terms of the New York Citywide cable charter that Verizon received in 2008, all those street connections must be completed by 2014.

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But there is no law that says that Verizon has to then complete their FiOS connections from the street to buildings so residents can receive FiOS in their homes. The street level connection project is on track to be finished by June of next year. But Verizon has not approached Riverbay to start discussions about completing an agreement to install their lines inside the buildings here. In fact, there has no been no word from anyone from Verizon for over two years about their plans regarding when they might offer the FiOS service to shareholders. “Verizon has not met with us in about two and half years in any formal discussions,” said Joe Boiko, Riverbay’s Ombudsman. “We spoke with them several times before then while they were doing feasibility studies about how to lay their wire in Coop City and having preliminary discussions with us for them to provide cable service here.” Boiko said that Riverbay is ready at any time to start discussions with Verizon about the terms and conditions of how wires could be installed in the buildings and what fees or services Verizon will supply to shareholders in standard negotiations that are always conducted between landlords and cable providers throughout New York City. “Every cable company negotiates terms with the landlord that would include services or fees they would (Continued on page 2)

Swearing in the new officers…New York State Supreme Court Justice Efrain Alvarado gave the oath of duty to 22 new Public Safety officers earlier this week. Before administering the oath, Justice Alvarado explained the responsibilities of all police officers in their role as a key component of the criminal justice system. The 22 new officers are now in the middle of an extensive nine-week training program which they will complete next month and then immediately be assigned to regular patrols throughout the community. Photo by James Keappock


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