Page 1 - NY Cooperator November 2020
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November 2020                                   COOPERATOR.COM  continued on page 9   Even bottles of pure isopropyl alcohol and glycerin gel became scarce   as citizens resorted to homemade concoctions and alternative topical   disinfectants—a method neither recommended by the U.S. Food and   Drug Administration (FDA) nor endorsed by this publication, it should   be noted... but desperate times call for desperate measures.   Whether the supply chain got its act together or the public heeded the   exhortations of the CDC (and pretty much every credible medical profes-  continued on page 8   As we know, climate change has far-  ranging effects on everything from polar   ice caps to coastal shorelines to expand-  ing deserts around the world. The steadily   warming planet  also  affects man-made   structures, including the buildings we live   in. All the materials that go into building   construction—bricks, mortar, steel, and   glass, as well as sealants, coatings, and a   huge array of other structural and weath-  erproofing elements—are all designed   with  climate  in  mind.  In  the  deserts  of   Arizona, for example, engineers designing   and choosing building materials must take   into account that temperatures there can   easily reach 120 degrees during the hot-  ter months. By the same token, develop-  ers in Miami and other coastal cities must   consider how to reinforce their properties   against increasingly frequent, increasingly   violent hurricanes.  But what about the flip-side of this   equation? We may be adjusting how we   construct housing in the face of a rapidly   changing global climate, but how have   our previous choices of building materi-  als—and the ways in which we maintain   them—contributed to climate change and   its acceleration? What can we do to both   lower the impact of buildings on climate   change and to protect them from the ef-  fects of it?    Chicken or Egg?  Fred Goldner is president of Energy   Management and Research Associates, an   engineering firm located in East Meadow,   New York. He believes the problem of   sorting out and reducing the environ-  mental impact of multifamily residential   buildings is more complex than a simple   analysis of a given building’s carbon foot-  Even though the world has been contending with COVID-19 and its consequences for nine   months and counting, the routines and practices we’ve adopted to prevent its spread and mini-  mize personal risk of infection are still evolving. With new data come new recommendations,   adaptations, and inventions. If nothing else, this pandemic keeps us on our toes. Though they   might seem like opposing qualities, vigilance and flexibility both have equal importance in the   global effort to restore some form of normalcy in our lives.   So it is with cleaning, especially in multifamily buildings and communities where comings   and goings through common areas are unavoidable—however limited they may be to reduce   social proximity and interpersonal contact. According to the website of the Centers for Dis-  ease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Communal spaces, community activities, and close   living quarters in multifamily housing increase the risk of getting and spreading the \[corona\]  virus”—which makes the cleaning and sanitation procedures in these settings all the more im-  portant for the health and safety of the approximately 74 million Americans who live in such   homes, according to the Community Associations Institute (CAI), as well as the staff who sup-  port them. Those responsible for keeping these areas clean and free of hazards—including viral   pathogens—have to contend with the ever-changing protocols, products, and processes in place   to protect the public—and themselves—from the spread of COVID-19.    But even in the midst of a pandemic, is there a point where cleaning and disinfection can go   overboard?  Sanitizer Insanity  In the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, hand sanitizer became such a hot commodity that   the federal government took to usurping shipments headed for hospitals and hard-hit areas   because supplies were so limited and demand was so high. If you were lucky enough to even lo-  cate a bona fide product with the CDC-recommended percentage of alcohol content (the CDC   recommends that a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol be used in situations when soap and   water are not available), you would be faced with usurious markups and strict quantity limits.   In multifamily housing associations and   cooperatives, the annual meeting of own-  ers or shareholders is a legally mandated   opportunity for a community to convene,   learn, share, and exercise their essential   duty—to vote. The lead-up to the election of   directors and other matters before the own-  ers or shareholders can amount to an entire   election  season—spring  or early summer   for many multifamily communities—that   includes mingling events, campaigning,   and informational meetings.   This year, boards, managers, and their   legal counsel had to face the unprecedented   challenge of conducting these processes   safely in the midst of a pandemic while   complying with both the law and their own   governing documents. For some, it meant   adjourning  the  meeting  to  some  future   point when the world might resume some   form of normalcy—which of course has   yet to happen. For others, it meant acquir-  ing and adjusting to new, virtual systems   of gathering: the online meeting platforms   of Zoom, Google Meets, Microsoft Teams,   and the like with which, for better or worse,   we have now all become intimately familiar.  Holding the Remote  In many states and municipalities, the   legislature offered some solutions in the   early days of the pandemic. Scott Smiler,   attorney with the New York firm Gallet   Dreyer Berkey, tells   The Cooperator   that the   Business Corporation Law (BCL), which   governs cooperatives as  corporations,  was   amended “specifically \[to provide\]  that   meetings can be held solely by means of   electronic communication, and that the   platform or service will be deemed the place   of the meeting….So whether your bylaws   provide it or not, we can now look at that   specific BCL section to give us the author-  ity.” Smiler mentions that this provision ap-  plies only to co-ops—not condos or HOAs,   which are governed by Real Property Law—  but that courts would likely apply a similar   thought process to condominiums as well if   challenged on the matter. An additional ca-  veat is that the order expires on December   31, 2021. (As Smiler says, “Hopefully, we’re   not in these conditions at that point.”)    Cleaning Through COVID  Maintaining Sanitation—and Sanity—in    Multifamily Housing  BY DARCEY GERSTEIN  Virtual Governance  How Co-ops & Condos   Hold Meetings Distantly  BY DARCEY GERSTEIN  Climate Change   and Building   Maintenance:  The Chicken and the Egg  BY A.J. SIDRANSKY  205 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY 10016 • CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED  continued on page 10 


































































































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