Co-ops & Condos Gain Voice in NY City Council — New Caucus Formed
April 30, 2010 — Co-ops and condos are more like single-family houses than they are like rental apartment buildings, and condos are more so than co-ops. So go some of the platypus-like anomalies of these two forms of apartment and townhouse living. Though both have been part of New York City for decades — co-ops since 1918, condominiums since 1965 — their needs and interests in the legislative arena have been met with the same confusion that would greet any egg-laying mammal.
At least until March 9, 2010. That was when the New York City Council held the first meeting of the Caucus on Cooperative and Condominium Housing, a.k.a. the Coop and Condo Caucus. But what exactly is that — and what do co-op and condo boards have to do to make it mean something?
The brainchild of City Council Member Mark S. Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens), the caucus is designed " to shine a light on the particular challenges facing these housing types,” Weprin said in early March. "The many New Yorkers who live in coops and condos deserve the attention of their government."
Which is all well and good. Indeed, Weprin found 22 colleagues who jumped in to join him as founding members. (See box.) But bills and laws affecting co-ops and condos have been passed for many years. What will the caucus do that's different?
Proactive, Not Reactive
It's a matter of building from ground up rather than retrofitting, says Marc Luxemburg, an attorney with Snow Becker Krauss, speaking in his position as president of the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums (CNYC). Yes, he says, co-op and condo needs were considered before, "but it frequently took many calls to specific contacts," he says. "When bills were drafted, we had to specifically remind [the legislature] that we existed and that we different problems and issues than other people that may be affected by the bills they draft. I think it's good," he adds. "We will be part of the thinking process right from the start."
The caucus aims to meet periodically to consider how to address co-op and condo dwellers' concerns and how Council legislation will impact the estimated 500,000 families living in New York co-ops and condos. residents in these buildings, Council Member Gale A. Brewer (D-Upper West Side), a condo resident herself, told the The West Side Spirit neighborhood newspaper this week. "People should understand how they're financed and how they work. These are huge complexes, not necessarily understood by my colleagues and the general public."
Concurred CNYC executive director Mary Ann Rothman, "Very often, the City Council lumps them in with other multiple dwellings … and enact legislation that doesn't take into account our function as our own small democracies."
Caucus Founding Members
Gale Brewer, Fernando Cabrera, Margaret Chin, Daniel Dromm, Daniel Garodnick, Daniel J. Halloran, Julissa Ferreras, Helen Diane Foster, Vincent Gentile, Letitia James, Peter Koo, G. Oliver Koppell, Karen Koslowitz, Brad Lander, Jessica Lappin, Stephen Levin, Michael C. Nelson, Annabel Palma, Diana Reyna, Joel Rivera, James Van Bramer, Mark Weprin, Jumaane D. Williams.
At the caucus' inaugural meeting, the council members addressed such topics as inequitable property-tax and water rates, and fuel-oil costs. Speaking as invited guests were Rothman and CNYC chairman Stuart M. Saft, a partner at the law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf. Saft spoke about the difficulties in securing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financing and the fiscal challenges that may result from a recent initiative to upgrade heating systems by eliminating certain fuel types.
Calling All Council Members, Calling All Council Members
Reciprocally, Weprin attended the CNYC's annual meeting in March to go over the new caucus' mission and aims, says Luxemburg, who notes the opportunity the caucus represents for boards. How to benefit from it? "Continuing communication," he encapsulates. " Board members need to stay in contact with their local City Council members and bring things to their attention."
And while each board's individual attorney can help keep boards abreast of pending legislation — which is also findable, with a little effort, on the City Council website — Luxemburg draws a distinction between legal matters and political clout. "Board members should stay in touch with the CNYC" when boards have concrete concerns about new and upcoming city laws and regulations.
That, he said, feeds into a united front. "We're their voice," Luxemburg says, "when it comes to these kinds of legislative issues."