Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2011 Co-op City Times
Vol. 46 No. 28
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Co-op City keeps cashing in on recycling BY JIM ROBERTS Every month, Co-op City residents recycle about 100 tons of paper, seven tons of metal and 50 tons of plastic bottles and glass, helping to make the environment a little cleaner and putting money back into the community. “It’s making things greener - when you recycle it’s less garbage going into landfills,” said Kevin Keenan, Riverbay’s Director of Safety, who oversees the recycling program in Co-op City. “And another positive in our case is that we get money back from it.” Over the past year, Co-op City recycled 1.169 million tons of paper, 168 tons of metal, and 488 tons of co-mingled plastic bottles and glass. According to the American Forest and Paper Association, every ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 6,953 gallons of water, 463 gallons of oil, 587 pounds of air pollution, 3.06 cubic yards of landfill space and 4,077 kilowatt hours of electricity. Cooperators have participated in sorting their paper, co-mingles and metal trash out from household garbage in an expanded program of recycling that followed the passage of New York City Local Law 50 in 2007. Keenan estimates that about 70 to 80 percent of all recyclable garbage is
recovered and sent off to be reused instead of winding up in landfills. Residents leave their newspapers and paper trash in the compactor room and porters then bring those recyclables down to the basement. The Buildings and Grounds Department moves the recycled items to the Peartree refuse facility and the papers are crushed in a compactor at Peartree and shipped off in a special 30yard container by Royal Waste. Co-mingles are also sent to the Peartree facility and shipped off from there in 30-yard containers. Bulk garbage is separated at Peartree and one container holds TVs, furniture and other large items, while metals are sorted out and placed in a separate container before being removed by Royal Waste. In addition to recycling waste from all the Co-op City residential buildings, several tons of paper goods are also removed from the Riverbay offices and the commercial stores throughout the community. Recycling boxes are placed next to each work station in Riverbay offices to recover all paper, in addition to recycling dumpsters at the development’s three community centers so commercial tenants (Continued on page 2)
Riverbay adds five fuel efficient vehicles to its fleet
Riverbay’s fleet of new energy efficient vehicles includes a Ford Transit Van used by the Power Plant, a Smart Car used by the Restorations Department, and a Smart Car and Ford Escape used by Public Safety. Photo by Bill Stuttig
BY BILL STUTTIG Five non-traditional vehicles have been added to Riverbay’s extensive multi-purpose fleet in the last several months. Two Smart Car Pure Coupes, capable of getting more than 40 miles per gallon on the highway and 33 miles per gallon on city streets, according to Automotive.com, were each added to the fleets of the Public
Safety and Restorations Departments earlier this summer. Public Safety’s Smart Car, which was outfitted with emergency lighting, is used to patrol the community around the clock and takes the place of the old police scooters which are no longer manufactured. (Continued on page 4)
25¢
Public Safety Dispatch Center rededicated in memory of Helene Moskowitz
Chief Frank Apollo (center) presents to the children of Helene Moskowitz, Donna and Frank, honors on her behalf during the rededication ceremony of the Helene Moskowitz Command Center. Photo by Bill Stuttig
BY BILL STUTTIG At ceremonies yesterday, Public Safety’s modern, state-of-the-art dispatch center was officially renamed in honor of one of the first dispatchers to work for the department, Helene Moskowitz. Chief Frank Apollo, Board President Helen Atkins, Director Rev. Dr. Calvin E. Owens and many of her Public Safety colleagues who spoke at the moving ceremonies made mention that today’s center is much more advanced from the center manned by Helene on the evening tour from 1974 to 1993. Digital cameras and monitors and computers have replaced the hand-written logs and the scratchy radio transmissions, but through
all the technological changes, the toughness, dedication and compassion that Helene brought to the job for nearly two decades is still the cornerstone of what it takes be a good dispatcher and a good Public Safety employee and that is why the center was rededicated in her honor. Helene’s daughter, Donna, a key administrative staffer for Public Safety over several decades, and Helene’s son, Frank, and his family were present to receive the honor on behalf of their mother. “She would have been so proud of this day,” Donna said prior to the ceremonies. (Continued on page 2)
Public Safety arrests youth for robbing a driver on Dreiser Loop BY BILL STUTTIG Acting quickly on reports of a robbery in progress Tuesday evening, Public Safety Officers Michael Garcia and Julio Toro responded to the reported vicinity of the crime and spotted a person they believed might have been one of the suspects and detained him until a positive identification could be made. The victim was a driver who, after dropping off his friend at Building 9, was continuing on Dreiser Loop when he approached a crosswalk and stopped to let three young men pass in front of him. According to Public Safety, the three young men, instead of continuing on their way, stopped and turned back to surround the car and then threaten the driver until he handed over his cell phone and $50 in cash. The crime in progress was observed and reported to Public Safety dispatchers who immediately radioed out a description of the three robbers. Officer Garcia,
responding to the radio call, spotted a young man matching the description of one of the suspects near the scene. After a short foot pursuit, the suspect was captured near the rear of Building 10A and with the help of Officer Toro detained there until a positive identification could be made. The suspect, a 15-year-old non-resident of the community, was arrested for the robbery. The two other suspects were not found after a search of the vicinity. Chief Frank Apollo, commanding officer of the Riverbay Department of Public Safety, said: “Officers Garcia and Toro acted quickly and decisively and captured the suspect within minutes of the crime. They have been commended for their actions. I also believe our dispatchers deserve commendation because their fast work in getting details of this crime out over the radio certainly made this arrest possible.”