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From the Editor 42: Attack Boards
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:953:]] WHEN BOARDS ATTACKAfter a hellish month, I didn’t expect the board to turn on me. But it did. The issue was supposedly simple: who would pay the $2,000 bill for exterminating bed bugs in my apartment. A no-brainer, you say? The bugs traveled through the walls, making it a building-wide problem, right? And you wouldn’t expect the apartment resident to pay for the extermination of rats or mice, right?
Management Issues
PARTNERING WITH THE BOARD [[wysiwyg_imageupload:947:]]Call it a different face of management. Or call it a change of approach. But whatever you call it, don’t call it mundane.
Financing Flavors
Sheldon Gartenstein, a senior vice president at the National Cooperative Bank, is matter-of-fact about the refinanced loan he handled recently for the 74-unit cooperative at 760 West End Avenue. “This particular co-op needed capital improvement funding of about a million dollars,” he recalls. “They entered into a new loan that allowed for a cashout of that million while at the same time reducing their monthly payments.”
From the Editor 40
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:870:]]LOUIE, LOUIE
Abuse of Power
ABSOLUTEPOWER By TOM SOTER Two scenarios, two boards, one questionScenario No. 1: The board in a Bronxville co-op forbids subletting. A unit-owner, incensed and feeling that the board has overstepped its authority, sues. After 14 months of litigation, the court finds that the board behaved properly.
Kickbacks
THE KICKBACK INVESTIGATIONMore IndictmentsEllis Hayeem, board president at a co-op at 85 Eighth Avenue, was more than surprised. He was shocked.He had just been talking to a reporter about his co-op’s former manager and had been singing that man’s praises: “The [management corruption] scandal didn’t really affect us,” he was saying about the 1994 indictments of managers who had taken kickbacks. “We had a very good managing agent at the time; a man we could trust. The person who was running our building was an exceptional person. Have you heard of him? Eric Dubbs.”
From the Editor 40: Owners
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:823:]]She thought the board had it in for her. A lawyer, she was a tenant-shareholder in a small Manhattan cooperative. She had tried to sell her unit. But the board had turned her potential buyer down – for undisclosed reasons – and she had often remarked on what she saw as the unfairness of the rejection. She then began an unauthorized sublease that was later approved retroactively by the board.
Resources for the Elderly
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:819:]] For many at the Fort Lee, N.J., cooperative, “the problem” was getting out of hand. In a nutshell, some owners were upset about a group of residents, all aged over 70, who kept sitting in the lobby day after day. They would talk to each other, talk to the staff on duty, and, in the words of one owner, “make a nuisance of themselves.”The board was at a loss. The directors knew that the lobby was not a place for congregations. They politely asked the group to leave. Many times. But the so-called “Lobby Gang” continued to sit and chat. The board discussed it at innumerable board meetings. The members grew frustrated. And the gang remained in place.
Devil or Saint?
OWNERS AS MANAGERSDevil or Saint?[[wysiwyg_imageupload:822:]] The 22-unit cooperative had its share of troubles. The managing agent was unresponsive, problems were mounting, and the board – in the person of one director in particular – seemed to be doing all the legwork on capital projects. Why not just pay that director to run the place?So the board did. It fired its outside manager and hired the owner (who then resigned his seat on the board). Things seemed to go swimmingly, until a few board members began complaining.
The Never-Ending Story
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:800:]]Alina Nikolaou speaks softly, with a Greek accent: “It's distressing. It's depressing.” She is 25, with long, silky brown hair, an oval, olive face, and piercing green eyes, "An average couple with our income, if they don't have a fairly large income. I don't see how they can afford a house, there is no way."
