Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has unveiled a $59.4 billion budget plan for Fiscal Year 2010 that reduces the city’s workforce by about 13,000 jobs and counts on givebacks by organized labor to reduce a projected $4.8 billion budget gap. …
With a worldwide fiscal crisis in full swing and many New Yorkers more stressed than usual over lost jobs, pay cuts, and dwindling assets, the last thing any co-op or condo community needs is the additional expense and acrimony of a la…
At the height of the housing boom, some builders attempted to recapture profits lost in the price they paid for their properties by cutting costs spent on labor and materials, and many others could not find good contractors or obtain l…
Sometimes our neighbors can be our best friends. They’re the people we turn to for emergency babysitting help, or for a cup of sugar, or for that friendly chat in the elevator. Sometimes, though, the people we live in close proximity to…
Consider the (fictional) couple, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. They love their co-op apartment, and have lived in their comfortable and convenient New York City neighborhood for the last seven years, moving in when Mr. Smith took a job as editor…
As the legislative session in Albany winds down for the year and the New York City Council continues to address legislation, as always, there are several measures in play with serious implications for the condo and co-op community. …
Those who handle the management of any kind of residential building deal with contractors and contracts regularly—but they aren’t the only ones who should know about the process. It’s not necessarily an arcane topic—whether the project i…
Most people assume that the board of directors runs the building. Actually the responsibilities for maintaining the building are usually divided between the board of directors and the managing agent. Both parties perform their functions…
Bugs, rodents, and other pests are always a potential problem in a city or densely populated suburban area—and even upscale, well-maintained buildings are not impervious to the occasional unwelcome interloper. Cockroaches invade kitchen…
A two-mile long sliver of land in the East River between Manhattan and Queens, Roosevelt Island sits a mere 700 feet from Manhattan’s East Side. Still, many New Yorkers know nothing about Roosevelt Island’s expansive green spaces and unr…