MULTICULTURALISM AND YOU

Take Connie Lau, board president of a four-building, six-story co-op complex in Queens. When she joined four years ago, 60 percent of the residents were Asian, and almost half of them could speak no English. Lau would sit at board meetings and think, "None of the shareholders know what's going on; we put up notices and nobody abides by them." After speaking with many of her neighbors she finally realized, she says, "It's not that they don't want to — it's that they just don't understand."

In an attempt to leap cultural barriers and foster good communication, Lau and the other directors — which include an Englishman, an Italian and two Asians — make themselves readily available to translate any notice, announcement or policy to any shareholder with a query. "We tell everyone that they can come to us at any time with questions," she says. "They know they can come knock on a board member's door and get something translated."

The Continental Divide

Yet it's often not just a question of overcoming the language barrier but a matter of leaping the cultural divide as well. Lau faces that issue every day in her co-op, where many of the residents emigrated from China and have trouble translating concepts. "You have to make them understand what a co-op is," Lau says, noting that, "the culture back in their country is quite different from that in America. They don't have a lot of [housing] rules and regulations to follow [in China], and for them to move into a co-op, where there are a lot of rules and regulations, is very hard."

Sensitivity to religious belief is also needed. For example, notes Steve Greenbaum, director of management at Mark Greenberg Real Estate, at properties with large Orthodox Jewish populations, you want to be cognizant of such issues" as forbidding contractors to work on secondary Jewish holidays. He also suggests, in buildings with a great number of Orthodox residents, adjusting one elevator for the Sabbath. In such situations, the elevator stops at every floor so that ultra-observant Jews do not have to press the call button in violation of their beliefs.

But beware: the language/cultural barrier can be used as a means of skirting the rules as well. Lau says that some of the residents in her co-op use their ignorance, real or purported, as an excuse. "We cracked down on a lot of illegal sublets; the [shareholders] took advantage of the board not speaking their dialect. They thought the board would not get involved." Greenberg points to a Flushing co-op in which the manager faced "what you call a ‘hot-bedding' problem, where you'd have ten mattresses in a one-bedroom apartment."

Lau reports that financing and ownership rights are other areas of confusion: Many of the building's Asian residents do not understand the guidelines and financing restrictions. "When they purchase an apartment, they don't understand that they have to submit paperwork and get approvals before and after they buy. They have money, and once they buy it, they think they can do whatever they want. They think they can turn a studio into a one-bedroom. They don't understand alteration agreements. They think the apartment belongs to them. They sign the lease, but they don't understand a word of it."

Communicate. Comuniqúese. Связывайте. 通信.

Your main step in correcting these problems is to be certain that all the residents understand what is happening in the property. Important notices — water shut-offs, elevator repairs, annual meeting dates — can be printed in English and whatever other language is widely spoken within the property. Some boards turn to bilingual members of the staff or the building to do the translating. But be certain that those translating are at ease with the written and spoken word. As one manager notes. "A lot of people who can speak it can't write it."