3 thoughts on “Memo: board president alleges ‘mistruths’”

  1. Here’s Heshy on March 6th 2012 in the New York Times saying that modifying the sabbath elevators will cost $1,000,000.00. Was what he said in the Times untrue, or is what they’re saying now about the repairs untrue?

    http://tinyurl.com/HeshyElevator

    Two of Seward’s neighboring co-ops, Hillman Housing and East River Housing, also have Shabbos elevators, but they still stop on every floor.

    Heshey Jacob, the general manager for those buildings, responded like a protective parent when queried about the relative smarts of his elevators, saying, “People like to make recommendations, but when you tell them it costs a million dollars, there’s nobody home.”

  2. I can’t resist a few points of rebuttal:

    1. In April 2014, the temporary fuel surcharge first imposed in 2006 was made permanent and added to our monthly carrying charges. Even if that didn’t change our personal finances from one month to the next, it is a permanent maintenance increase.

    2. Every year, our audited financial report contains the following note: “the Cooperative has not conducted a study to determine the remaining useful lives of the components of real and personal common property and current estimates of the costs of future major repairs and replacements.” If the board were to produce a reliable report on our roofs and elevators, we would be able to avoid unexpected assessments.

    3. The need for a reasonable reserve fund was agreed to by every single candidate at the Meet the Candidates forum, not only those supported by Cooperatively Yours. Absent a reserve fund, the current board borrowed $10 million in 2012 to pay for capital expenses, which is arguably a more expensive way to pay for upgrades. (Instead of gradually building a reserve fund, the current board has approved $1.25 million extra in legal fees over the past three years to pursue dog owners.)

    We can have constructive discussions about the value of these decisions, and decide together on a course of action.

Comments are closed.