AUTHORITARIAN BOARDS, PUBLIC RANCOR

What was this quality-of-life point so monumental as to warrant an expensive fight during a time of rising fuel costs, pressure to begin green initiatives, and an uncertain mortgage market?

Keeping decorations off apartment doors. Specifically, keeping an American flag off an apartment door.

It all began, explains property manager Ernest Susco of RY Management, when the Willoughby Walk board "made a decision to maintain the property rules and regulations, which [say that there will be] no decoration of any kind on the doors," Adds co-op attorney Ezra Goodman of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, to whom board president Ann Daniels deferred: "You don't want objects that might offend other people or clutter the place and make it look like a college dormitory."

Sounds simple enough. Granted, "decoration" and "offend" might not be the best words to describe a six- by eleven-inch American flag honoring a relative killed in the 9/11 terror attacks — is a roadside-cross memorial a "decoration"? And had the board thought twice about its initial decision, it could have avoided the media circus that followed: After the Associated Press and other wire services picked up on a New York Post story evocatively titled "Patriot's Stars Barred," TV camera crews came by the 16-story, two-building complex at 185 Hall Street and 195 Willoughby Street in the Fort Greene neighborhood seeking comment. And the board dug in its heels.

In Memory of 9/11

The flag is on the door of Vincent J. Romano (right), an arraignments supervisor in the Brooklyn criminal office of the Legal Aid Society, and his wife Antoinette, an administrative assistant with Legal Aid in Manhattan. They have lived in the apartment since 1992; Antoinette had bought it four years earlier. On September 11, 2001, her cousin, who worked at the insurance firm Marsh & McLennan in the World Trade Center's North Tower, was killed in the terrorist attack.

In response, the grieving Romanos placed the rubberized-magnet flag on their door, vowing to leave it in place until Osama bin Laden was captured or killed. Indeed, the Romanos say, many of the apartment doors sported American flags in the wake of the horrendous attack. In the nearly seven years since, notes Vincent, "no one raised an objection or indicated anything was a violation of a rule or objectionable or offensive."

In April, he says, the co-op had moved forward with some long-planned refurbishing that included repainting the doors. On April 25, Susco sent a letter to shareholders stating that no door decorations were allowed. The Romanos' flag remained, however, and on July 17, Susco sent the Romanos a letter ordering the flag removed from the "painted door as this will damage the door," and further stating that the Romanos would be responsible for "any damage to the door and subsequent cost" of repair.

War Paint

As Vincent later demonstrated before TV cameras, the rubberized magnet does not damage the paint. In fact, even the board's attorney says the claim about paint damage was not true. "The reason is not that they were worried about the paint," he concedes. "The key reason is there has been a rule going way back that nothing is to be placed on the doors fronting on the public hallways."

"The rule," says Vincent, "indicates 'no public hallway including apartment doors may be decorated without the consent of the board of the directors.' The rule says the board can give consent, and by not enforcing it, you're giving implied consent." The rule already is enforced selectively, according to Antoinette. "Last Christmas, we had a wreath on our door, and everybody else did, too."

The board could have easily foreseen the controversy. The federal "Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005" states: "A condominium association, cooperative association, or residential real estate management association may not adopt or enforce any policy, or enter into any agreement, that would restrict or prevent a member of the association from displaying the flag of the United States on residential property within the association with respect to which such member has a separate ownership interest or a right to exclusive possession or use."

Technically, however, your front door isn't your front door...