2002 May
2002 May Vol. 22, No. 5
Focus on...Interior Design
Ferry Tales
If you've ever had the dubious pleasure of trying to get onto or off of Manhattan Island from New Jersey, Queens, or Brooklyn during rush hour, you know the daily drill: traffic stopped for miles, honking horns, delays, and pot holes. Read More
Going Interactive
To paraphrase Neil Armstrong; one four-letter, top-level domain for the Internet, and one giant leap for cooperative organizations was inaugurated January 30, 2002, when co-op leaders from around the world gathered in Lower Manhattan to celebrate the addition of "dot-coop" to the lexicon of global commerce and information. Read More
The NORCs Are Coming!
The population of the United States is graying. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of Americans aged 60 and older grew by almost 4 million. Improved health care and resources are enabling people to lead longer, healthier lives, forcing many co-op and condo buildings to confront the issues of an aging ownership. In complexes where at least 50 percent of the residents have one family member over 60, a growing elderly population may now require specialized support, services and facilities that may not have been planned for when the typical population of the building, and even the building itself, was much younger. Read More
Cardio, Cappuccinos, and Convenience
Imagine this: It's a rainy gray Monday morning. You're snug in bed, dreaming away, when the alarm rings. Six thirty. You have just enough time to hit the gym before work, but the very idea of suiting up and traipsing out into the cold world to go work out makes you want to pull the covers over your head, hit the snooze bar five or six times, and just grab a big, buttery croissant on your way to the office. Read More
A Born Leader
They have to worry about everything from keeping track of financial reports to whether the masonry will survive another winter. They collect maintenance, track repairs, and soothe ruffled shareholder feathers. If they don't know how to handle something, they had better know someone who does. Part accountant, part contractor, part therapist, they are property managers, and they keep New York's apartment buildings habitable. Read More
The Creeping Horror
In 1999, after her four-year-old son began coughing up blood and her husband started suffering respiratory complaints and memory loss, Melinda Ballard and her husband Ron Allison were told by their family physician to evacuate their Austin, Texas home immediately. They left in fear, with just the clothes on their backs. The force that drove the Allison-Ballard family from their home was not a malicious landlord or a tragic fire, but rather a toxic mold called stachybotrys that had infiltrated the walls of the house and taken root, spreading dangerous spores and triggering a host of health problems for the family. Read More
A Dry White Season
On April 5, David Letterman joked that the drought threatening the Northeast is so severe that New Yorkers can't even get a moist towelette at Kentucky Fried Chicken. While the water shortage hasn't yet impacted the city's population to quite that extent, co-op and condo residents are being called upon to conserve water in preparation for a summer that will likely be characterized by a sustained drought. Read More
Shades of Meaning
Were you hungrier than you thought you were at that restaurant with the richly painted crimson walls? Did you feel particularly calm in that corporate reception area with sea foam-colored wallpaper? Perhaps you didn't immediately notice the physiological effects that the colors in both places may have had on you, but chances are you did experience a shift in appetite or mood induced - or enhanced - by the shade of your environment. Read More
Come Into My Parlor
Nothing communicates the character of a building like a well-designed lobby area. In just the time it takes for a resident or visitor to glance around and take in the visual impact of your building's "front room," as it were, an opinion of the building and its residents is formed. Read More
Urban Edens
A private garden in New York is like a rare jewel glittering in the concrete jungle. Co-ops often overlook their hidden outdoor spaces, but a well thought-out garden can transform a rooftop, terrace or courtyard into an oasis that enhances the value of your property as well as enjoyment of your building. Read More
Getting to Know You
The days of neighbors bringing casserole dishes to the door may be over, but welcoming new co-op and condo residents into the buildings they now call home is not an entirely lost art. In fact, it goes on every day in buildings throughout the city. Read More
