2004 Apr
Focus on... Exterior Maintenance

Energy Conservation Green Corner: Understanding Lighting
2004 Apr Green Corner: Understanding Lighting

There's nothing worse than bad lighting. Take an otherwise beautiful room and illuminate it with the wrong kind of light - whether too dim, too bright, too hot, too cold, too pale, or too bleak - and the mood, feeling, and livability of th…

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Exterior 100-Year Face-Lifts
2004 Apr 100-Year Face-Lifts

From the venerable Dakota on the Upper West Side to the small-but-fashionable antique brownstones in the Village, to the formidable New York Public Library, hundreds of buildings in Manhattan and the outer boroughs have been designated his…

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Exterior Out, Out Darn Spot
2004 Apr Out, Out Darn Spot

In the legendary musical Anything Goes , the character Reno wants to be taken back to Manhattan or as she calls it "my dear old dirty town." In the last decade, New York has cleaned up its act, but Reno had it right - it's still a d…

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Interior When is That Old Boiler Shot?
2004 Apr When is That Old Boiler Shot?

Like many questions, the answer is "it depends." Many people think about a 20- or 30-year-old boiler the same way they think about a 10- or 15-year-old car: "It might need to be replaced soon, so I won't spend much money on it. I'll just …

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Interior Considering an ESCO
2004 Apr Considering an ESCO

Whether it's cash in hand or borrowed dollars, your properties are constantly faced with competing demands on scarce resources. These financial pressures can keep you from replacing an old, unreliable, repair-intensive, under-performing ch…

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Real Estate Trends The Cooperator's
2004 Apr The Cooperator's

Record crowds turned out for  The Cooperator's 17th Annual Co-op and Condo Expo , March 18th, at the Hilton New York & Towers. Even some morning snow showers failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the more than 4,000 attendees, whose rank…

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Organizations Obeying the Code
2004 Apr Obeying the Code

The Byzantine bureaucracy of New York City's government offices can often seem impenetrable; a warren of offices, commissions, departments, and boards designed more to thwart than to help. While the sheer size of New York insures that the …

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Exterior Keeping the Rain Off Your Head
2004 Apr Keeping the Rain Off Your Head

While it may be a cliché, it's entirely true that few things are more important than keeping a solid roof over your head. And like any other aspect of a building's structural composition, your roof has a life span that is dictated by time…

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Organizations  Inside the Department of Buildings
2004 Apr Inside the Department of Buildings

A number of smaller bureaus and special task forces operate under the control and guidance of the DOB. Some have direct contact with residents, while others interact primarily with contractors, tradespersons, and legal professionals. B…

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Neighborhoods Beauty in the Bronx
2004 Apr Beauty in the Bronx

Situated in the far northwest section of the Bronx, Riverdale is bounded on the west by the Hudson River and the north by the Westchester County line but to many it feels like a suburban enclave within the city. Marked by a landscape …

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Law & Legislation In Brief: From the Court to the Board
2004 Apr In Brief: From the Court to the Board

In this and in future columns, I will be examining decisions of interest to co-op and condo boards and suggesting what valuable lessons can be learned from these legal decisions. Theresa Merolo v. Board of Managers of the Hill at Grasm…

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