Voting machines are ready in our lobbies for Thursday’s Democratic primary — a rare contest between rival Democratic clubs for the obscure position of judicial delegate and the even more obscure position of alternate judicial delegate.
The two competing slates are supported by the local Harry S. Truman Democratic Club, long the power base of Assemblyman (nee Speaker) Sheldon Silver, and the Downtown Independent Democrats, whose leadership called for Silver’s resignation almost immediately after federal charges were announced against him in January.
Judicial delegates will attend a party convention to select nominees for the New York State Supreme Court. These positions have long been held by party insiders; Silver himself has been a delegate many times in the past.
Both Democratic clubs have mailed or hand-delivered palm cards to our coop over the past week, which you can see below. (Click each picture for a larger image.)
Truman Club slate.Downtown Independent Democrats slate.
Friends of Corlears Hook Park has done a remarkable job reviving this beautiful green space right in our backyard. Join the crew for a fall gardening weekend.
Saturday, September 19
Sunday, September 20
11:00 – 3:00 pm
East River board president Gary Altman thinks a redesigned pedestrian bridge across the FDR Drive would imperil the lives of cooperators, and he wants you to know that he’s burning through his City Hall rolodex to kill the bridge before it kills you.
His fears are unwarranted. The proposed approach to Grand Street included stairs to make sure bicyclists use a safer route. And the idea that every inch of the FDR service road is needed for an ambulance to reach building 4 is just silly.
More to the point, the designs presented in July were concepts intended to evoke constructive reactions and criticism from residents. The conversation about the Delancey crossing included ample suggestions about safety, which project planners were eager to hear and incorporate into future plans.
The designers working on protecting our homes from another storm surge are intent on enhancing our relationship to the waterfront at the same time. They are searching deeply for creative solutions to that challenge, and we should be open to finding one with them.
Altman did not attend the ESCRP presentation in July when the concept designs for four FDR Drive pedestrian crossings were shared with interested LES residents, so his mistaken impression of these design options is excusable — but his overreaction to them is not. Why stoke fear among East River’s elderly cooperators? Why issue a Just-Say-No edict to his friends in city government while a productive design process is underway?
The concepts presented this summer were well-intentioned, thought-provoking, and imperfect. Project planners deserve to know the full range of opinion from cooperators — not just Altman’s. Come to next Thursday’s workshop to see the designs for yourself and help shape this important neighborhood project:
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Henry Street Settlement
301 Henry Street
Doors open at 6:30
Presentation begins at 7:00
Thanks to East River director Lee Berman, who worked with NYCHA and the Mayor’s office to set up another community workshop to discuss the East River waterfront redesign, cooperators have another chance to meet with project designers and help shape the new East River Park.
Last month, design concepts were presented for the pedestrian bridges that cross the FDR Drive, including the one at Delancey Street right behind building 4. Some of the concepts presented included a second ramp or staircase directed toward Grand Street for easier access to the Grand Street bus stops, and an elaborate, wide plaza over the FDR. Other concepts were much more modest, essentially keeping the current bridge as is.
The high-impact concept of a new Delancey Street crossing.
The plans generated a lot of interest here at East River coop — understandably, since this bridge could redefine how we access the waterfront. For those of you interested in giving feedback to project planners, and seeing their designs with your own eyes, here’s your chance:
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Henry Street Settlement
301 Henry Street
Doors open at 6:30
Presentation begins at 7:00
Join CITYArts, Friends of Corlears Hook Park, and professional artist Davi Leventhal for restoration and wall-painting at Corlears Hook Park on Thursday, August 27, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm.
The project will help add some community color to the park, with paintings that celebrate nature and raise awareness of climate change.
Kids are welcome! … and will receive a special back-to-school gift for participating.
Meet at 1:00 pm at the comfort station in Corlears Hook. Don’t forget to wear some old clothes that you don’t mind getting splattered.
A memo from Mr. Jacob yesterday evening covers several items:
August 20, 2015
To: East River Housing Cooperators
Hillman Housing Cooperators
From: Harold Jacob, General Manager
Re: Generators / Winter Preparedness
Dear East River and Hillman Cooperators:
Approximately 5 years ago the Boards approved the purchase of generators in case there was an emergency.
That foresight by the Boards has already paid off. The elevators in 500 A Grand Street Building had not been working properly and were shutting down. After testing the voltage and amperage we found that 500 A Grand Street Building was not receiving enough amount of electricity from Con Edison, the voltage varied from 180 to 220 volts causing the elevators to shut down. Con Edison kept telling us that these were our elevators, so we decided to disconnect the Con Ed’s wires, hook up the generators and, lo and behold, the problem was resolved.
Meanwhile, Con Edison has finally determined that there was a burned line under the street. Now they are trying to locate it and fix it. We are hoping they will succeed soon so we could disconnect our generators and put them back.
As for generators in East River, temporarily we have installed them in strategic locations next to the pump rooms, close to the electric lines, thus in case of an emergency it will take a short time to have them connected, rather than tow them to the locations first and only then be able to hook them up. Similarly we would be able to do it in Hillman and reduce the time needed for connection. After the hurricane season we will remove all the generators from the parks and put them back behind the boiler room.
While it is only the end of August, Management is already preparing for the winter season. We are checking if we have enough salt in stock, that our snow blowers, ploughs and other equipment are functional and operate efficiently. We have carried out some maintenance and repairs in the boiler room. Now we are testing all the equipment to make sure it is ready for lower temperatures in order to avoid the problem we ran into last January when some moisture got into one of the switches and hindered the alternate fuel system to turn on. We are also repairing the sidewalks in order to remove all trip hazards. Hopefully, the weather will be more cooperative this year.
We are constantly examining different technologies to reduce our operational costs, such as co-generation, battery back-ups, etc. To date we have not found any new feasible technology that could reduce our costs. E.g., due to our size we are buying gas at a much lower price, and in order to co-generate we would have to use the hot water and the steam from co-generation units, which would be produced at a higher cost. In the end, the finances must make sense.
Earlier today, repair crews came to fix the sidewalks on Madison Street right outside the coop. Bikes attached to the street posts there had their locks cut and were loaded into a white East River pick-up truck.
Give management a call if one of these bikes is yours: 212-677-5858.
In just over a year, Friends of Corlears Hook Park, led by cooperator Michael Marino, has helped to turn around this often-overlooked part of our neighborhood. New plantings, fixed benches and lighting, improved dog runs — next up: art!
This coming Tuesday, Aug. 18 will be a workshop sponsored by CityArts, an organization that brings together professional artists and community groups to create public art. This is the beginning of a process to transform part the concrete walls around the playground at Corlears Hook into a vibrant urban mural. Children are especially encouraged to attend and participate in the whole project.
Tuesday, August 18
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Vladeck Houses Resident Association
(Entrance at Gouverneur & Monroe St)
Next up will be a day to prepare the bare concrete for a mural: a painting party! Community members will join corporate volunteers from BlackRock to repair and paint the retaining wall and benches.
Tuesday, August 27
1:00 – 4:00 pm
Meet at the field house in Corlears Hook Park
For the painting party, don’t forget to wear some old clothes you don’t mind getting splattered.
The recent board newsletter made scant mention of the cost of the dog litigation we’ve been mired in for years. Under the heading “Dog Litigation — Resolution,” the newsletter mentioned $85,000 paid to two dog-owners by our insurance carrier, but did not resolve how much we’ve paid in attorney’s fees for this failed legal strategy.
At last year’s annual meeting, cooperator Tommy Loeb asked how much we’d spent on lawyers and was answered weeks later by board president Gary Altman: “The amount is approximately $575,000. It is expected that our insurance company will reimburse the Corporation for a substantial portion of this amount.” In its February newsletter, the board noted that $195,000 in legal fees had been reimbursed by insurance.
When the settlement was first reported in the news, back in March, Tommy again reached out to Altman, but was told that since the settlement was not final a full accounting could not be delivered.
Five months later, and Tommy’s getting a little impatient. He has sent a follow-up letter to Altman and the rest of the directors this week demanding accountability for the expensive, unnecessary, and unsuccessful lawsuits our coop has initiated over the past three years.
The line item for legal and audit expenses has increased 462% over the past three years, costing the coop an additional $1.2 million. And that’s only through June 2014, before most of the federal lawsuit played out. A whole year has passed since then, and the board is only willing to tell us how much was paid by our insurance carrier, not how much was paid by you and me.
The high-impact concept of a new Delancey Street crossing.
Imagine a sloping landscape that blocks traffic noise from East River Park and keeps floods from washing away our cars. Imagine an entrance to the waterfront that starts right at the foot of Grand Street. Imagine walking on a bridge over the highway and already being in the park.
Now imagine five years of construction, and a long concrete ramp permanently installed right outside your front door.
All this and more is what community members were asked to imagine last night as the design team behind the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (the Big U, the Dryline) presented concept designs for each of four FDR Drive crossings.
After Sandy, federal recovery money was allocated to storm surge protection along the East River from 23rd Street down to Montgomery. This area represents low-lying neighborhoods vulnerable to flood, and, crucially, is home to the Con Ed plant that powers almost all of lower Manhattan.
Workshop leaders discussed four current bridges that take pedestrians into East River Park — at 10th Street, 6th Street, Houston, and Delancey — and presented three design options for each one that ranged from low-impact (and lower cost) to expansive (and expensive) redesign.
They explained that the money to erect flood walls, berms (wide, gradual slopes), and deployable storm surge barriers was also an opportunity to increase access to East River Park and improve our neighborhood’s connection to the waterfront. As such, the pedestrian crossings are being looked at closely to determine how to make them more accessible (not as steep, better positioned), and more integrated into the park.
For each bridge, the low-impact version involved keeping the existing span but repositioning the ramps on either side so that they have more gradual slopes. The high-impact version involved rebuilding the bridge so that it is wider, with ramps that are landscaped into the park and reach deeper into the neighborhood. (In the middle was a Goldilocks option somewhere between the two extremes.)
For Delancey Street, the possibilities were eye-opening. From previous workshops, planners had been told that the bridge was too noisy (so close to the Williamsburgh Bridge traffic) and not accessible enough to Grand Street. So the high-impact concept they presented pulls the bridge away from Delancey and places one ramp along the FDR access road, right in front of building 4, letting out on the corner of Grand.
The design was curved and beautiful, and, as all architectural models look, it felt utopian and aspirational. Of course, for those people who live in building 4, on the lower floors perhaps, the prospect of a pedestrian bridge out your window might seem like the end of the world.
The Goldilocks version for Delancey, narrower but still reaching toward Grand Street.
There were lots of caveats: these are concepts only, and the designers seem eager to get feedback and see the challenge from all angles.
Board member Lee Berman was at the workshop, along with House Committee members Jeff Super and Ellen Renstrom, and other East River cooperators. Lee spoke with project planners after the presentation and initiated the arrangement of a stakeholders meeting right here at East River, as the redesign of the Delancey Street crossing, one way or another, will obviously have a big impact on our coop.
One last note: The Corlears Hook bridge was left out of the workshop for a simple reason — it already embodies many of the concepts the designers are trying to incorporate elsewhere. The bridge is wide, it is already part of the park, and the amphitheatre is already built up like a berm to cut off flood waters. Aside from better lighting and other cosmetics, designers are not likely to spent too much of their money making alterations there.
Weeding!
Earlier today, repair crews came to fix the sidewalks on Madison Street right outside the coop. Bikes attached to the street posts there had their locks cut and were loaded into a white East River pick-up truck.
The line item for legal and audit expenses has increased 462% over the past three years, costing the coop an additional $1.2 million. And that’s only through June 2014, before most of the federal lawsuit played out. A whole year has passed since then, and the board is only willing to tell us how much was paid by our insurance carrier, not how much was paid by you and me.
