TO: EAST RIVER HOUSING RESIDENTS
FROM: SHULIE WOLLMAN, MANAGER
RE: COOLING CENTER OPEN BLDG. 4
The Cooling Center is now open in the Community Room in Bldg. 4 for all residents who require this service. In this heat, we ask cooperators to check on their neighbors who might require assistance and not know of the benefit of the Cooling Center.
Thank you.
Note: The community room is located in section M, 477 FDR Drive. Enter in the back hallway behind the elevators.
Manager Shulie Wollman warns of “extremely expensive replacement cost” to “aging” roofs if cooperators sneak up to watch fireworks on Monday:
To: All Cooperators
From: Shulie Wollman, Manager
Re: July 4th
With the July 4th Holiday weekend approaching, I wanted to write and remind all cooperators that for safety, security and possible damage to our aging roofs, entry to the roofs in our 4 buildings is prohibited at all times.
Security guards will once again be posted on all roofs before and during the fireworks display. In many areas the edges of our roofs are lined, for the security of our cooperators, with razor sharp wire. Additionally our very expensive roofs are now over 25 years old and any non essential walking on the roofs may cause damage that could result in costly repairs borne by all cooperators. The longer we can maintain our top of the line roofs in good condition the better we will be able to avoid an extremely expensive replacement cost.
In the past a few cooperators have selfishly disregarded our notices, entered the roof and verbally and implicitly threatened our guards. This disrespect toward our staff should not be tolerated by any cooperator. Please stay off our roofs and may everyone enjoy a safe holiday weekend and summer.
June 29, 2016
To: All Cooperators
From: Gary Altman, President
Re: Heshy Jacob
As most or all of us know by now, our long-time General Manager Harold (Heshy) Jacob passed away last week after a relatively short illness. The good deeds and life saving actions which Heshy performed every day are little known by many people but have affected thousands and thousands of people and families of every race, religion and ethnic origin in our community and throughout our city and state. The respect that Heshy never sought out but had attained through a lifetime of tireless charitable, community and civic devotion meant that virtually no major politician running for city, state or national office didn’t call or stop by to sit down with Heshy. The benefits of these relationships have improved the lives of so many in our Cooperative Village. Below I will write about just a few areas in which Heshy’s life impacted so many but first want to write about our co-op at the present time.
Heshy became our General Manager in 1988 joining Shulie Wollman, our Manager, who arrived 2 years earlier in 1986. Heshy and Shulie saw us through, to name a few, reconstitution, new roofs, elevators, lobbies, hallways, Superstorm Sandy, upgrade of our electrical infrastructure and the transformation of our property into countless beautiful garden areas. Our carrying charges are virtually unmatched anywhere else with the level of maintenance service we provide. Any cooperator who believes, as I do, that this is not only a beautiful, fantastic and desirable place to live but a cooperative where a large and diverse group of people live in harmony, owes much of this success to Heshy Jacob and Shulie Wollman.
In recent years as Heshy geared up for an eventual retirement, that sadly he will not get to enjoy with his beloved wife Esther, his 5 children, many grandchildren and even great grandchildren, he turned over much of the day to day running and management of our cooperative to Shulie. Heshy, among many other things, then focused years of energy and time bringing the boiler room conversion to a very successful conclusion. Besides saving millions and millions of dollars in fuel costs our new plant now burns clean natural gas which is a bonus environmental and health benefit to all of us. Shulie while running day to day management has just completed the beautiful renovation of our fitness center, last year’s community room upgrade, renegotiation of our mortgage at very favorable rates, further expansion of our gardens, renegotiation of large commercial leases, 3 laundry room underground pipe repairs, labor contracts, union matters, finances, security and myriad issues facing a cooperative of about 4-5,000 people. Heshy’s loss is immeasurable but our Cooperative remains in very capable, committed and devoted hands.
It is said that he or she who saves but one life it is as if they saved the entire world. Then Heshy’s lifelong volunteering work in front of and behind the scenes saved many thousands of worlds. As President of NYC Hatzolah, and the Founder of the Lower East Side Hatzolah, our incredible daily life saving volunteer ambulance corps, Heshy used much of his free time building a volunteer organization which 24/7 – 365 days a year serves one purpose – SAVING LIVES. Very few of us have not been affected by this amazing group of people. Hatzolah answers every call and never, never, never asks about your religion, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. They only ask what is wrong and where you live. It doesn’t matter if it is 2 A.M. or the Sabbath, they come running with their equipment, often before their ambulance is retrieved from its nearby garage. Call 911 and take your chance on how long you may wait. Call Hatzolah and with their life saving quickness and expertise you will likely be attending your cousin’s wedding in a few weeks. On 9/11 Heshy and many of our Co-op Village Hatzolah volunteers were not only first responders but one of the VERY first responders. They were there so quickly and were so close to the towers that they had already treated numerous of the injured when the first tower fell and destroyed their ambulance and almost took a number of their lives. This was one of Heshy’s passions and it extended to other areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Upstate where Hatzolah ambulances, supported only by donations, stand ready 24/7 to save lives. A few years ago when a cooperator with Alzheimer’s went missing, Heshy within minutes mobilized a huge search group. Our cooperator was safely found wandering in Northern Manhattan.
As General Manager of East River Housing and Hillman Housing, Heshy was in charge of 2,500 apartments containing approximately 6,000 people. This is more people than most towns and villages in our country. With so many people come the usual social, financial, medical, emotional and conflict issues that invariably arise and eventually often come to the Management Office. Heshy, Shulie and the staff dealt daily with many of these problems which rightfully very few people should ever know about. As Chairman of the United Jewish Council of the East Side, Heshy and the Council’s devoted staff served the needs of countless families of all religions who needed social services, financial, housing, home health care help, etc. For East River cooperators that meant that any person who needed assistance for themselves or a loved one (like a child or elderly parent) could always go directly to the UJC or if they first contacted the management office could immediately be assisted or directed to the proper party. No person who came forward or who was heard to need any kind of assistance was ever left behind. If a family member’s name was on file, they were contacted and apprised of the situation so they could hopefully also help with emotional and other support for loved ones they had often left somewhat on their own.
At his funeral 2 comments made really struck me as indicative of the inner heart and soul of Heshy. One was when Rabbi Reuven Feinstein said that when one asks for volunteers for an assignment people stand up, sometimes reluctantly, but with Heshy, “He would jump up and say count me in, what needs to be done and he would get it done.” If I received a call or letter and couldn’t personally help and brought a cooperator’s problem or need of assistance to Heshy he would immediately spring into action or pick up the phone and start making calls. In extreme cases he would ask me to give him a day or 2 to find a solution, and sure enough within days the cooperator received the help he or she needed from the proper sources.
The second was when his oldest grandson said he once asked his grandfather, “Why do you do so many good deeds?” Heshy answered, “It is in my nature, my blood. I have no choice. I have to help people and as long as I have strength, I’ll be there.” To those who truly knew him, he was not the sometimes boisterous and opinionated great presence you saw when he fought for our community or a cause he believed in. Politicians never wanted Heshy on the other side of an issue affecting our community. To his friends and family he was in private a humble man who never boasted publicly of his accomplishments and good deeds. He was a loving and devoted husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather who by example taught all around him the meaning of community, charity and good deeds often at the expense of more time that could have been spent with his loved ones.
One of the greatest enjoyments in life, besides our family, is helping others to the best of our ability without fanfare or seeking out acknowledgements. In this Heshy Jacob was a giant and a friend whose stature and influence the Lower East Side may never be able to replace. In his memory and on behalf of our community and all those in need let’s all commit ourselves to respecting each other, getting along and helping as best we can. In this way Heshy’s life accomplishments will continue to bear fruits in the years to come.
I just heard from an East River board member that Harold Jacob has passed.
Mr. Jacob was the general manager of Coop Village for many years, and a fixture on Grand Street.
Services will be 1:30 this afternoon at Bialystoker Synagogue, 7-11 Bialystoker Place (Willet Street).
Shiva will take place until Wednesday, June 29th at 500 Grand Street, #C4A.
Like murder and jazz? Jokes and dancing? You’re in luck!
Come see CHICAGO tonight at 8:30 pm on the ballfield in Corlears Hook Park. The 2003 musical blockbuster stars Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Renee Zellweger and won the 2003 Oscar for best picture.
Message from management:
June 9, 2016
To: All Fitness Center Members
From: Shulie Wollman, Manager
Re: Reopening the Fitness Center
The Board of Directors and Management are happy to announce that our newly renovated fitness center is ready to reopen ahead of schedule today, June 9, at 5 P.M. The gym equipment has all been installed and is ready for your use and enjoyment.
All new televisions have also been installed. A necessary part, which allows control of the television channel and volume from the gym equipment will be arriving in a few days. We did not want to delay the reopening waiting for these parts to arrive.
In the meantime, each television will be preset with closed captioning to a specific channel and we ask that no one touch the televisions until the upgrade is completed.
The center was out of service for 10 days and great effort was made to refurbish the entire room as quickly and as beneficially as possible. Every fitness center member will be receiving a $10 credit per member on their maintenance bill to cover the lost use of the gym during the days closed.
We hope that everyone will enjoy using the new equipment for many healthy years to come.
Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez is being challenged by businessman Yungman Lee and lawyer Jeff Kurzon. East River Democrats will have a chance to vote in a primary on June 28.
Lee is president and CEO of Global Bank in Chinatown. Kurzon challenged Velazquez in 2014 and was soundly defeated. Velazquez has been a member of congress since 1993, but has represented our neighborhood only since 2013.
Lee obviously wants to use incumbency against Velazquez. His first campaign mailing arrived this weekend, calling Velazquez an ineffective “politics as usual” representative and linking her indirectly to former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
Do you use CitiBikes to commute? You do?
Have you ever noticed how hard it can be to find a dock if you come home late from work? Sure you do!
Well, CitiBike has noticed too, and has started a pilot program this month to have valet service at Delancey & Bialystoker weeknights 7:00 pm – 10:45 pm.
That means you don’t have to find an open dock, there will be an actual human waiting at the CitiBike station on that corner who will take your bike for you and check you in.
CitiBike valet has existed at several high-traffic locations around the city during morning and evening rush for a while now. And Grand Street at night might not be as busy as Union Square in the morning, but someone’s noticed that we like our CitiBikes.
The deal is this is a pilot program, which means it could disappear at any time. If we don’t use the valet service, our CitiBike overseers will likely conclude we don’t need it, and they’ll reallocate their yellow-vested resources elsewhere.
In announcing the $1000/year maintenance increase last month, the board neglected to expand an important safety net for shareholders with limited means: Maintenance Security for seniors.
The coop can’t survive on a fixed income. Basic costs like taxes, fuel, water, and insurance are always rising. Occasional increases to our monthly maintenance are inevitable.
But some cooperators, including some of our many seniors, do live on a fixed income, and asking them to suddenly come up with an additional $1000 per year could price them out of East River and force them to sell.
That’s unacceptable.
The coop should immediately institute a Maintenance Security enrollment program that would guarantee no senior on a fixed income is priced out of their home by the board’s maintenance increases.
The coop has had a program like this in the past. Before reconstitution in 1997, certain cooperators qualified for New York City’s SCRIE program. This protected seniors and others on a fixed income from rent increases. When the coop reconstituted in 1997, the coop made provisions for a substitute SCRIE program that would continue to protect those cooperators — maintenance increases are deferred until the shares are transferred, at which point the coop collects all past due plus interest.
But the coop has never opened enrollment to anyone new, even though almost 20 years have passed. Seniors today are not protected from the current maintenance increase, or any increase to come.
Just as cooperators’ circumstances change, the coop’s policies need to adapt. In particular, if we are committed to remaining a naturally occurring retirement community (NORC) we need to give seniors more than just free flu shots — we need to tell them they won’t be pushed out of their homes.
The application would be simple — NYC still has guidelines for their public program we could adopt. The cost to the coop would be zero, since all maintenance due is eventually paid back with interest. But most important, we could communicate clearly to everyone who lives here the sort of cooperative community this is.
Two fun events are happening this Sunday in our immediate neighborhood.
First up is the East River Coop Yard Sale from 10:00 – 2:00 on the blacktop next to building 2 (577 Grand Street). About 40 cooperators will be selling items like books, household items, kids’ clothes and toys. Come ready to haggle and to find a bargain!
Then from 1:30 – 3:30 is Family Fun Day at Corlears Hook Park.
Families are encouraged to bring a picnic and enjoy the park!
