Joanne Batista our property manager, Jeff Schwartz our attorney, and four members of the board were given an opportunity to meet with Julie Walpert and Joe Quigley of H.P.D. on 3/5. The topic of conversation was a new rule that requires shareholders to be charged an additional $150. a month penalty on top of a 50% surcharge if they didn't state their income on the affidavit. In the past residents were allowed to accept the full surcharge without disclosing the exact dollar amount. It's interesting to note that H.P.D. was forced to drop the long standing rule that shareholders whose earnings were over the income limit for three years would be evicted. This rule instituted since the time of Moses was unenforceable, and left them in an awkward position. How do they deal with shareholders with very high incomes when the surcharge is capped at 50%? Whether you make 150k or 1.5 million you pay the same maintenance charge. In this current environment of class warfare that is unacceptable, at least as far as Warren Buffet and his secretary are concerned. H.P.D.'s plan (or lack of one) seems to involve collecting income information, penalizing those who don't comply, and hopefully in the future some bureaucrat will develop a formula for a sliding scale surcharge of as was alluded to by Julie Walpert. She indicated it might go as high as 100 or 150%. This is putting the cart before the horse. Develop a formula first, hold hearings, then codify and enforce. This is an issue that is long overdue, it cannot be improvised as you go along, and highlights a lack of vision on the part of H.P.D. They are also genuinely concerned that once the 99% finds out that millionaires live in subsidized housing there will be an Occupy H.P.D. demonstration. I just hope those chefs from Zuccotti Park show up.
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I'll occupy the salmon cakes, wild heirloom
potatoes, and quinoa salad please. |
This article does not reflect the opinion of any board member other Dan Nasco, and is written to entertain as well as inform.
The residents of Village View have learned some valuable lessons from Hurricane Sandy these past five days. 1) A.M. radio is not obsolete, and belongs in your home not a museum. 2) Water may cover 71% of the earth, but if it's not fresh and stored in your apartment it's useless. 3) The only emergencies cell phones are good for are when you run out of pizza on Superbowl Sunday. Most importantly heroes don't look like James Bond, wear a tux, or rappel down from helicopters.They are your neighbors, and the volunteers who worked to make sure our residents were safe, and had the basic necessities during this disaster. A great deal of thanks goes to Board President Adam Silvera who was able to secure supplies from local businesses, and mobilize hundreds of volunteers. Also many residents helped with the distribution, and walked up 21 floors to deliver them. It reminds me of that saying, "when the going gets tough, the tough get walking." It's important that we acknowledge; J&S Construction, J Corp, Tompkins Sq. Gospel Fellowship, and Russ and Daughters for their enormous contributions. A special thanks to the Village View crew is in order as many traveled up to 3 hours to get to work, and will have the immense job of cleaning up in the aftermath of Sandy. We are extremely grateful to all those who helped during this crisis.
