News

Hurricane Warning from Management

Sandy’s coming …

TO EAST RIVER & HILLMAN HOUSING
COOPERATORS

FROM: SHULIE WOLLMAN

RE: UPCOMING WEATHER / HURRICANE WARNING

There is a strong likelihood that Hurricane Sandy will approach and affect New York City sometime Monday afternoon/evening or Tuesday. At this point we continue to monitor all Emergency response systems, but they do not know on Friday afternoon how strongly it will hit our area. Watch areas include as far north as Maine and as far west as Ohio. This is potentially a dangerous storm.

Please be advised that we are now preparing for this storm and ask residents to keep their windows closed and locked, and remove all objects from their balconies, including furniture and plants. Please make sure balcony drains are clear of debris. Strong winds are predicted and those winds will cause objects, which are not tied down to become projectiles. Please take this warning seriously and prepare accordingly with ample food and water for 3 days, and other essential items including any necessary medical prescriptions, flashlights, etc. You should also have a working radio with batteries.

Depending on the severity of the storm our main office might have to be closed, but our Maintenance office will remain open for emergency only.

Stay safe and stay indoors.

News

Who Hates Halloween in Section C?

We’ve been putting posters up around the Coop — elevators, laundry rooms — to make everyone knows to sign up for trick-or-treating for Halloween. Nice responses, and lots of apartments already on the list.

But by the section C elevator, our sign has been removed three times in the last 48 hours. Luckily we’ve got lots of extra copies … but who’s the Halloween hater? If you have a clue you can leave below in a respectful way, please do.

Result

3 Out of 10 Cooperators Running for the Board?

The scientific nature of our polling methodology will be put to the test this week when we all find out how many people are really running for the Board of Directors. Because over 30% of cooperators who responded to our Question of the Month — “So is this the year you finally run … ?” — answered “I am in!”

If our polling data is accurate, we’ll have one heck of a race this fall, with close to 500 cooperators running for four open spots. Wouldn’t that be something?

More likely, the accuracy of our polling will be heavily criticized.

In the meantime, please help us finish our Candidate Questionnaire. Since not all cooperators can make it to the candidates forum (scheduled for Monday, November 19), we’d like to ask the candidates to go on record about some of the challenges facing the coop. What should we ask them?

News

Seward Park Halloween Bash this Saturday

The Seward Park Halloween Bash has become a treasured neighborhood tradition. This Saturday from 2pm to 6pm, cooperators from East River are invited to join our friends down Grand Street for a parade, costume contest, games, face painting, and more.

The party will be between Seward buildings 1 & 2 — you can enter their courtyard just east of 425 Grand Street.

Purchase tickets in advance online or at their management office at 413 Grand Street. (You can buy tickets at the door, but they’ll be slightly more expensive.)

They are also still looking for some volunteers to help set everything up. If you’ve got some time, you can sign up to volunteer online.

News

Sign Up for Halloween Trick-or-Treaters

For the past few years, Lee Berman has single-handedly set up trick-or-treat lists in East River and Hillman for families to follow on Halloween. There’s nothing quite like watching our big, bad city turn into a friendly neighborhood where kids dressed as Princess Leia and Iron Man can walk from door to door picking up satchels full of chocolate.

This year Lee has asked for some help from Cooperatively Yours to organize the trick-or-treat lists, and several cooperators have been glad to oblige. You can sign up at the security desks starting Wednesday, October 24. Or you can use our online sign-up right now at cooperativelyyours.org/halloween.

Trick-or-treating will be from 5pm – 9pm on October 31 — you can sign up for partial availability during those four hours.

If you have any questions, you can still email Lee Berman at LeeBermanER@gmail.com.

Happy Halloween!

News

Gardeners! Join Us on Thursday at 7pm in the Community Room

Not only is the growing season winding down, but we will soon lose weekday access to the courtyard between buildings 1 & 2 due to the ongoing building inspection and repair. So along with cleaning up the garden and preparing for the winter, we’d like to have an end-of-season meeting to share our experiences of this first season. While it’s all still fresh in our minds, we would like to hear ideas for improvement, complaints, and compliments so that we can plan properly for next year.

Please join us in the building 4 community room for an hour to share our stories this Thursday, October 4, at 7pm. Please come prepared to offer your honest assessment and hopes for the future.

If you can’t make that meeting, or would like to share your ideas before then, please head over to our online Garden Suggestion Box.

Thanks for all your work and support during this first season!

News

What should we ask the candidates for Board of Directors?

3 Comments

Cooperatively Yours is preparing a short questionnaire for this year’s candidates to the Board of Directors. Not all cooperators are able to attend the meet the candidates forum that will be held shortly before the annual meeting. And we thought that asking candidates to go on record about some of the challenges facing our coop would help clarify the choice for voters.

If you have any questions you suggest asking, please add them below in the comments, or email hello@cooperativelyyours.org.

Result

Cooperators mostly feel safe

A plurality of cooperators responding to this summer’s question of the month said that yes, they do feel safe in our neighborhood. And a clear majority felt either safe or “safe enough”. This despite an uptick in reports of crimes, from muggings to arson.

How would you categorize the security of our neighborhood? Why do you think most cooperators feel insulated against the criminal activity around us?