Vol. 58 No. 39
Saturday, September 30, 2023
NY City Council Bronx Metro-North Area Study Public Workshop to be held in Co-op City, Oct. 18
BY ROZAAN BOONE
Councilmembers Kevin C. Riley, Rafael Salamanca Jr., Amanda Farias and Marjorie Velazquez are sponsoring community engagement workshops in four Bronx communities in which new Metro-North train stations are being built to connect the East Bronx with Penn Station in Manhattan. In Co-op City, a public workshop will be held on Wednesday, October 18, from 6-8 p.m. in Room 45 of the Einstein Center, 135 Einstein Loop, Bronx, NY 10475. This is an in-person event and registration is required. To register, you may visit https://bitly.ws/VWJf or scan the QR code at left. This information is also available on the Riverbay Crawler, channel 591 (Altice) or channel 12 (MATV). “I am happy to partner with my colleagues in government, the New York City Department of City Planning and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to welcome the Bronx community to participate in the upcoming Bronx Metro-North Station Area Study Community Engagement Public Workshop. Community engagement is the cornerstone of building a thriving community, and by enabling our residents to have a direct involvement in its development, we are committed to the collaborative effort of advancing the Bronx,” said Council Member Riley. “This public workshop creates space for residents to provide feedback for the ongoing Bronx Metro-North project, ensuring that our neighbors’ voices are heard and considered. I highly encourage my neighbors to attend and engage in this opportunity to not only learn about these monumental planning endeavors, but to actively shape their direction. Your participation and feedback will be instrumental in advocating for needs and aspirations of our vibrant Bronx community.” (Continued on page 4)
Heat Change-Over Transition from air conditioning to heating operations has begun at the Power Plant. Personnel are currently working to prepare the heating system for start-up beginning the first week of October 2023.
Traffic Mobility Review Water, Water, Everywhere Board Meeting on Oct. 2 BY BRANDON ORTIZ
Torrential rain falling at the rate of 1-3” an hour and flash flooding wreaked havoc on Friday morning’s commute for millions across the region. Streets and highways were closed and subway and bus services were disrupted. Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for New York City, Long Island and Hudson Valley on Friday morning, and many local communities remained under a flash flood watch, including Co-op City. Above, approximately one foot of water flooded the front yard at the Bartow Center. According to the National Weather Service, more than 8.5 million people in New York and New Jersey were under flash flood warnings on Friday. Severe weather began on Thursday night and heavy rain and flash flooding were expected through Friday evening. Rainfall is predicted to continue into Saturday, Sept. 30. Photo by Rozaan Boone
The Traffic Mobility Review Board (TMRB) will host an open meeting on Monday, October 2, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Individuals interested in viewing the meeting can do so online at youtube.com/live/7-ao3CbNbL8, or in-person at 2 Broadway, 20th Floor, New York, NY. TMRB is a six-member panel tasked with providing a recommendation for the tolling structure that the MTA will use to implement its congestion pricing plan, which is called the Manhattan Central Business District Tolling Program. The MTA’s congestion pricing plan is designed to reduce the city’s overall congestion problem by establishing a toll for individuals driving below 60th Street in Manhattan, and at the same time, create a new channel of financial support from toll revenue for the MTA’s future capital projects and improvements. Logistically, the tolls would work using E-ZPass infrastructure, or by sending a bill for the toll via mail to the driver’s place of residence.
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$1.25
Board Votes Not to Proceed with EV Charging Grant as Written President’s Report
Sonia Feliciano Dear fellow shareholders, Greetings to you and family. For the past two years, Board members have been talking about EV charging stations. As you well know, the government is promoting electric charging stations as a way to reduce carbon emissions. The installation of charging stations will be cheaper to maintain in the long run than gasoline powered cars. The NY Drive Clean Rebate Program provides a $2,000 rebate along with a federal tax incentive of $7,500 if you qualify when buying an electric vehicle. This paves the way to cleaner transportation, supporting environmental concerns, such as quality of life and health. The Board strongly supports this initiative. Under the ConEdison Make Ready Program, a state funded program, our consultant, En-Power, obtained a grant on our behalf of $2.4 million for charging stations in our garages at no cost to Riverbay. The caveat of this program is that we had to have a minimum of 2024 charging stations per garage, having them on the 2nd floor where there is enough power or put them on the roof where the vendor could run a line up for power. The charge would be a level 2 encompassing seven hours of charge. We are not equipped for the fast charge due to power limitations. Seven hours is a long time to fully charge a vehicle that may need to be monitored. One hour may get you 35-70 miles. We went back to our consultant and asked for less charging stations as the amount of vehicles would not meet the demand, especially for a 7-hour charge. We were seeking to capitalize on this revenue stream that we may not qualify for at this funding level (100%) later on. However, having so many stations may displace our shareholders who hold leases in our garages. We asked about the feasibility of solar canopies and having the stations outside instead of inside or on the roof. We were told that the grant is very specific and would only allow for inside and roof installation. Having stations outside would require a lot of work to build out and end up being too costly. We would also have to maintain a 16% usage in order to ensure that we do not pay a yearly fee of $17,850 for the first five years. We are not allowed to change the specifications. Concerns on adding additional weight to our (Continued on page 2)