Not content to let any cooperative deed go unpunished, the board of directors has taken over Halloween!

For the past five or six years, cooperator Lee Berman has organized the trick-or-treat list at East River. He’s put out sign-up sheets at the security desks in all four buildings, then collected and compiled apartment numbers onto lists for families to follow on Halloween. It’s not a huge job, and he’s never made a big deal out of it. But I think the cooperators with children who celebrate the holiday, as well as those who like to give candy to someone else’s smiling kids, would agree that Lee deserves a thank you.

Our board of directors apparently feels different. They think the sign-up sheets he’s been using now count as “electioneering” because they have his email address listed in case parents have any questions. So today management was ordered by the board to put out new sign-up lists, on official East River stationery. One staff member was seen this afternoon meticulously copying names from the old lists to the new lists.

For good measure, the board also ordered the color posters with  a link to our online sign-up form to be taken down — more “electioneering”, apparently, because Cooperatively Yours cares about not only Halloween and chili, but also strengthening our financial security, protecting cooperators’ safety and health, and sharing ideas and information with openness and respect.

Guess what: my 7-year-old doesn’t care who gets credit for the trick-or-treat list, just as long as he can dress like a psycho killer and eat fistfuls of candy corn. Right? That’s how Lee’s kids feel too, and, I’m guessing, yours.

The only people with a different idea are the ones who run the place.

Note: you can still sign up online to hand out candy on Friday night and we’ll share whatever names we’ve gathered with the management office so that they can compile a complete list.

When all the trash-talking was done, there was just chili. Nine kinds of chili, nine proud chefs, and over 100 cooperators who came downstairs Sunday afternoon to taste and judge and chat.

Participants were: Minnie Michalski, with a Texas beef & bean chili; myself, with a zombie chili made from freshly killed zombies; Judi Aronowitz, who grabbed a kosher chili from East Side Glatt; Ramon Peña, with a gorgeous presentation of traditional beef chili and rice; KC Sahl, with a New Mexico green chili; Paola Zanzo with a vegetarian option; Juliet Leibon, with a traditional chile filled with love; Yu Duk So with another sumptuous traditional beef chile; and Jim Keenan, with an amazing Italian-inspired chile. No kidding.

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When the eating was over, the judging began. The People’s Choice award was carefully administered and counted by various cooperative children — two of whom just happened to be the sons of winner KC Sahl.

Then our three official judges — cooperators and food professionals all — handed out various kudos and compliments. Just like in little league, everyone got a trophy, but the best traditional chile was awarded to Juliet Leibon aka Chiliet!

Many thanks to our initially reluctant but eventually enthusiastic judges — Andrew Chase from Cafe Katja on Orchard Street; Kevin Heald from Malt & Mold on East Broadway; and Vivian Sorenson from Chopped on the Food Network.

See you next year?

A few of you have made rumblings in this direction for a couple of years, but this is finally the year it’s going to happen! There’s going to be a CHILI COOK-OFF on Sunday, October 19 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

There will be professional judges, plus a popular winner voted on by cooperators. We are advised that this event will be held rain or shine.

If you want to compete:

• Sign up on the form below, and use PayPal for a $20 registration fee (which helps pay for bowls, spoons, sterno, etc.)
• Cook any kind of chili you like and bring at least 1 gallon (16 cups) for the cook-off. You will not have to divulge any secrets, but you will need to indicate if any basic allergens were used ( milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybean).
• You need to show up Sunday at 1:30 p.m. to set up your station.
• You may cook sides, but you will not be (consciously) judged on your sides.

If you want to eat chili:

• Just show up next Sunday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the courtyard between buildings 1 and 2 (on the south side of Grand Street).
• Bowls and spoons will be provided, as will some basic soft drinks.

Here’s the registration form: