2011 November
Focus on... Building Maintenance

Interior Breathing Easy
2011 November Breathing Easy

As winter approaches, it will soon be time to batten down the hatches so the warm air stays in and the cold air stays out. Keeping indoor air clean is critical to maintaining a healthy environment. The inner workings of a building’s ope…

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Interior Going Up?
2011 November Going Up?

If you’re a board member, a manager or just a unit owner of a typical New York City-area co-op or condo, chances are you use an elevator every day, except if you live in a “garden apartment” complex in one of the outer boroughs or the s…

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Interior Winter Woes
2011 November Winter Woes

It’s a well-known fact that New Yorkers are tough. But even the bravest Big Apple resident shivers just a little bit when the first signs of winter settle over the city. Winter and the inevitable snow and ice that accompany it take thei…

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Interior Maintaining a Building's Infrastructure
2011 November Maintaining a Building's Infrastructure

In many ways, a building’s boiler is like the heart is to the body: it provides heat and circulation; it works unseen; and if properly maintained, it will function well for decades without a problem. Maintaining the heat source of the c…

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Interior Keeping Safe this Winter Season
2011 November Keeping Safe this Winter Season

The deep freeze of winter will fall on New York again very soon and most New Yorkers are hoping that we don't get pounded as badly by snow and ice this year as we did some years ago. Because of weather’s unpredictability during winter, …

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Maintenance Winter Cleaning
2011 November Winter Cleaning

 For building owners and managers in New York, winter weather not only refers to  the white stuff that falls out of the sky—but rather, the white stuff that collects in a building’s lobby.    That’s right—ice and snow can be a build…

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Management Getting Back on Track
2011 November Getting Back on Track

Managing a cooperative or condominium apartment building in New York would be a piece of cake… if weren’t for all those people. “The bricks and mortar is easy,” says Margie Russell, managing director of the New York Association…

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Real Estate Trends Something Old Into Something New...
2011 November Something Old Into Something New...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 136 million tons of construction and demolition waste was generated in 1996, which was the last time these figures were made available, and those numbers have most likely ri…

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Real Estate Trends Holiday Harmony
2011 November Holiday Harmony

 One of my five-year-old daughter’s favorite YouTube clips involves an elaborately decorated house, whose  thousands of colored Christmas lights were programmed to flicker, strobe, wave,  and blink to the tune of the Trans-Siberian Orchest…

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Organizations Inside SEIU Local 32BJ
2011 November Inside SEIU Local 32BJ

If you feel safe entering your office or apartment building, see clearly outside your apartment window to gaze at the New York City skyline or receive a package of important papers on time, you have some very special service workers to …

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Neighborhoods White Plains
2011 November White Plains

 Thirty minutes outside of Manhattan, the city of White Plains has grown from a  historic colonial village to a thriving retail and cultural hub, offering a  more placid but not at all mundane environment for both its citizens, visitors,  …

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Board Operations Leading by Example
2011 November Leading by Example

 Tell someone at a cocktail party that you are on a co-op board and the most  likely response is “What a thankless task!” It seems every New Yorker has a co-op board horror story—and many of them probably contain more than a grain of truth…

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Law & Legislation New Law Changes Design Industry
2011 November New Law Changes Design Industry

As a construction attorney I can say that it is rare that a change is made in the law which revolutionizes the design industry. Up until now, the laws in the State of New York only allowed architectural and engineering firms to be owned…

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Q&A Q&A: Convicted Director?
2011 November Q&A: Convicted Director?

Q “I live in a co-op in Queens that still has a small percentage of apartments held by the sponsor. Last year the sponsor was voted off the board (they held 2 seats). This year only one person was nominated and seconded by two people who…

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Q&A Q&A: Maintenance Obligations?
2011 November Q&A: Maintenance Obligations?

Q My co-op allegedly has mold growing inside the central air conditioners. Isn't this the responsibility of management to clean? There is water inside the units which apparently is causing the mold. The maintenance crew said they will on…

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