2012 September
Focus on... Energy & The Environment

 With the green movement in full swing across the country, it is not surprising  that incorporating energy saving and efficient measures has trickled into  condominium development. Today, many buildings in the New York area pride  themselv…

 Going green doesn’t have anything to do with choosing a natural paint color for your kitchen, or  planting herbs in your community garden. But the phrase can have many different  meanings and can be done across a broad spectrum. Turning o…

 We as a culture produce a lot of trash—and not just in the form of reality television shows, late night infomercials,  and bad romance novels. Whether it’s the candy wrappers we toss into the trash bins outside on the sidewalk, the  newsp…

 Saving energy does a lot more than just reduce a building’s carbon footprint and toxic emissions—going green can save a building some green too. The steps a co-op or condo  building can take to reduce energy consumption and save money ran…

 As any good co-op or condo building administrator knows—either through common sense or painful experience—failing to clean up snow or ice promptly can result in injuries, acrimony, and  expensive lawsuits. Any one of those is reason enoug…

 It is one of life’s eternal questions: is it possible to have too much of a good thing? That  question certainly can apply to the matter of long-serving board members: those  individuals who get elected and re-elected term after term and …

 For the most part, human nature is fearful of change; people are more likely to  stick with what they have and what they know, rather than explore new  possibilities and take on unknown risks. That’s certainly the case with condo and co-o…

 Most people don’t think much about their garbage after they toss it down the chute or into a  container for pickup, but the fact is, removing a multifamily community's trash  and recyclables can be a big job, especially in a private devel…

 Anyone who lives in a city that is a popular tourist destination has likely  played host to a procession of family, friends, friends-of-family, and other  assorted houseguests over the years. It's something of a running joke in places  li…

 New York is one of the most diverse cities on the face of the earth. Its huddled masses yearning to breathe free include immigrants from places  completely unlike the Big Apple: Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe, Uruguay—even North Dakota. There are m…

Wait a second. You say you bought your apartment, but you don’t own it? Huh?” Explain the concept of the cooperative apartment —you buy shares of a corporation and then rent the apartment to yourself—to a homeowner outside of Ne…

 In December 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research announced that the  United States was in a recession that had started back in December 2007. The  official announcement was old news for most Americans.    As the dust cont…

 As an attorney and an apartment dweller, Michelle Freudenberger had seen it all  and more when it comes to living with difficult residents.    “I lived next door to twin toddlers whose parents were both attorneys,” says Michelle, w…

 Long known as a working class, Irish enclave tucked under the No. 7 subway line  in the western portion of Queens, Woodside is a neighborhood with a  multicultural flavor, affordable housing and an extremely convenient location.   …

 According to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), New  York City currently has the largest unfiltered surface water supply in the  world. Every day, some 1.3 billion gallons of water are delivered to more than  …

 As winter looms, property owners can cut costs and save on their heating bills  with preventive maintenance and upgrades to their steam systems. Here are some  suggestions for savings from Con Edison.    Optimize Steam Piping Syste…

 Heating and cooling systems within co-op or condominium developments are called  upon to provide safe, consistent energy to residents. The people who bring you  heat, air cooling and refrigeration know that, and want to find what works—an…

Q The building where I live, a former hotel, was converted to a condo about four years ago. There are nine hotel-stabilized tenants remaining as renters within the condo. Management says that our hotel-stabilized units have been “condom…

Q I live in a townhouse development consisting of 120 units. The board is the management team and the association is financially responsible for outside maintenance. In 2009, there was work done on the sidewalks and stoops, and more wo…