'HARASSMENT' BY CONDO'S MANAGEMENT MAY HAVE LED TO RESIDENT'S SUICIDE

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Anger has erupted toward the board. "People are still in shock here," said building-resident Cleary. "There's a picture of [Nick] in the lobby." Richard Veloso, a friend of Santino's who walked his dog Daisy with him, wrote on Facebook, "I'm furious over these co-op boards who try and control people's lives [and] there should be consequences for their actions/harassment." A Facebook memorial page posted in the wake of the tragedy has garnered heartfelt comments, as has a second one that organized a candlelight vigil at One Lincoln Plaza yesterday (Feb. 2). One commenter posted on the latter:

"THESE INSANE, HATEFUL, SMALL MINDED, IGNORANT, PREJUDICE PEOPLE MAKE ME SICK!! THERE IS MURDER, CARNAGE AND HUNGER ALL OVER THE WORLD AND THIS IS WHAT THEY DO WITH THEIR TIME!!!!!!!!!! HARASS GOOD HEARTED ANIMAL LOVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM ENRAGED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The heated emotion of that post aside, there's no way something like that can be good for a building's reputation. For co-op and condo boards to avoid their building being buffeted by bad press, it's critical to get ahead of the story. Unless you've hired a professional publicist, either on retainer or on a case-by-case basis, that means, in cases like this, that a board should craft a suitably genuine statement of sympathy and loss without saying anything that could be taken as an admission guilt — but also without being defensive and blaming the victim. Have talking points for when your spokesperson — who can be your board's attorney, your managing agent or a well-spoken board member — responds to inquiries by either the press or understandably traumatized residents. Deal with potentially negative press quickly and directly. Otherwise, more people than need to will feel like the above commenter.

In the End

Sometimes, at least, these stories have relatively happy endings. In Ruskin, Fla., this week, after a TV-news story brought its actions to light, the Bahia Del Sol Condo Association reversed its decision to evict a therapy dog owned by a woman with terminal breast cancer. But other times, as at the co-op Woodbury Gardens, in Woodbury, N.Y., a hard-line stance by an authoritarian board can result in a similar tragedy as this one. (See "How One Board's Fight Against a Therapy Dog Became a Federal Case")

In the end, "They'll be buried together," Santino's sister, Catherine Schmidt, said of her brother and Rocco. "I knew his dog was important to him."

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