conduct of board president at annual meeting

6/19/2009

One Hawley Terrace Co-Op Board

Subject: unprofessional conduct, Harassment, 6th grade attempt at browbeating and totally inappropriate verbal abuse and verbal attacks directed at me from board president Mike f 
I asked perfectly appropriate questions during this years annual meeting, some of the questions and statement I made concerned the error I noticed in the written minutes of the 2008 meeting, board members business relationships with John Holzing, and a question on the laundry room contract. I am a shareholder who has resided in this building, before it became a co-op and am a previous board member.

I consider Mike F non-disclosed business relationship with John ha conflict of interest and want to know when this relationship began. I also want to know if any other board members are involved, a few were not present at this meeting . I have always wondered why Mike F praises B and H at these annual meetings while I see evidence of failure to perform basic manager agent functions, such as the recent roof-encapsulating project that the shareholders were accessed. I am sure this gross negligence is adding to the elevator repair bill.

I stand my statement of the incorrect distributed minutes from the 20008 meeting. In spite of mike Fs verbal browbeating and his 6th grade attempts to bully and harass me, I wasn’t embarrassed, i have a medical condition related to my disability where I react to the heat and my face flushes at above 70 degrees when I am perfectly calm. I was unprepared for the 6th grade attacks; however that will not happen again, I promise to read up on juvenile macho behavior and people that try to bully and create divisions in a community.

I also note for the record that I had written the board this summer over a couple of incidents with June K, Mike F’s mother in law. Requesting to have her removed from the board for her unethical behavior, she fabricated complaints in my name to my garage neighbors, trying to create divisions between us. She also used homophobic and racist comments when referring to a previous board member and people in the neighborhood. It looks like the family uses the same playbook.

I want to build a community and a proper function co-op, no more of these senior board members violating written garage policy and skipping the rightful shareholders and assigning the garage spots to their family and friends.

 I also note that Mike F skipped the shareholders annual meeting function of the reading and accepting of last years 2008 minutes. The annual meeting shareholder template is very precise in order of events and Mike F is an expert at conducting meetings having done so for over 30 years. The accepting of the previous year minutes takes pace at the very beginning of the meeting after the quorum has been reached and officially noted.  Since mike F totally skipped that requirement, much latter in the meeting when it was opened up to the floor i brought up my protest to last years written minutes.  I also wish to note for the record that i did see a tape recorder on the table in front of rich P recording the 2008 minutes, however last night rich stated that he never taped last years minutes and never tapes the minutes.  i will check with other co-ops. Including those managed by B and Ho and see if this is the industry standard.

The $27,000 error, which was disclosed at the 2008 annual shareholders meeting, is still not resolved. I am still not convinced proper transparency to the other board members and shareholders were followed.
 I asked Mike F at the 2009 meeting when this error was discovered; he stated he discovered it approximately a week before the 2008 annual meeting, which would place his discovery in the June 2008 time frame.
He stated he, himself discovered it at this time.  This issue is not closed and I will continue to look into it.


 

digital TV house antenna

i am surprised at how many people do not realize that we have had a working rooftop antenna on the building that is wired into every apartment.
That jack in the living room can be accessed via a sub $5 antenna cord from radio shack.
i have been using it for the last 15 plus years, since i got rid of cable tv.
the antenna provided all network tv channels 2,4,5,7,9.11.13 and maybe more uhf.
the signal was as good as cable tv's .
Naow that the digital trnasgression has changed the building need to get a adapter to provide digital TV to the building.
it basically is the same as a set top converters , but for the whole building.
i know a lot of people in these tough economic times don't want to give cablevision money they don't have to. if your interested in HBO and sports you need cablevision or FIOS ( another post).
however if you just like to watch network TV at no charge, like the old days , and use netflix or streaming movies for everything else, the rooftop antenna is great.
I get the feeling that the co-op managing board may be against the cost of converting the antenna, i think the price would be under $500, or i should say , SHOULD be under $500.
In NYC the tenants can request a rent decrease since the landlord is now providing less service.

election, reelection board member is not a shareholderannual meeting

i just heard that gino, running for reelection is not a shareholder anymore.
none of the board members bothered to enclose any reach information.
no phone numbers,emails etc.
Are there any shareholder in this building that cares what is going on?

auction or no auction? lawyers say no, board say yes

i called the lawyers office on Friday tying to find out particulars on the auction, such as type of payment required, any minimum bid or reserve price.
the lawyers office told me the auction was cancelled, so they wouldn't give me any information.
Contacted a board member, who contacted the president and the building agent manger, they said the auction was still on.
This is crazy, but typical sad to say of this building.
They need to reschedule due to lawyers office not providing correct information to potential buyers, if in fact it is not cancelled.
otherwise it is a set up for a inside deal.
I believe the Bank paid off the co-op on Friday , so there is no money owed to the co-op now and the bank has the right to auction it.
This would make a lot simplifier for a buyer.

one apartment has been foreclosed

sucks, for the person who was there and the difficulties they must have faced and the maintenance cost that we will have to bare

good size rally across the street, no participation from 1 Hawley terrace?

i had one of my rough nights and just got up around 1145am , so i couldn't get ready to go to the rally across the street. however i can see it and hear it. They are acknowledging all the co-ops and buildings that are participating, didn't gear them mention 1 Hawley terrace, the closest building?.
why is that ? where is our board?
i hope this isn't a one time grandstand, i would really love to see a community organization in this neighborhood.

Joan Gronowski District 3

Patricia McDow is the coucilperson for some of the addresses up the street.
Joan Gronowski is our councilperson
District 3
Office: 914.377.6313

board president is not in business with owner of managing company per john H of B&H

modified posting headline to update the information i have received from john H that he doesn not have any business dealings with Mike F.
In my simple mind when a boardmember of a newly formed bank solicts someone to invest in their bank, it is a business dealing. Per john H letter, he has no business dealing with the board president. I use the word solict, because that is the terminolgy and word the board president used in the annaul meeting.

originail post= in case you didn't know. i didn't know until recently. Our board president has some kind of business relationship with John F. Holzinger Jr.
i don't know how long this has been going on, but i have problems with it.
i believe this was first divulged to the board members when they refinanced using John F. Holzinger Jr Bank. I think out president is a big investor in this bank.
This Bank IMO has political issues that are contrary to our neighborhood.
The Bank is a big supporter of the project on Alexander street and JFK marina.
This project would be a disaster for our neighborhood.
i always wondered why no one from our co-op board was at the meetings at city hall concerning the alex street master plan.
our building has a conflict of interest with the company we pay.

rally sunday across street

lots of leaflets out from RCCY this weekend , think there is a rally today , whoops make that Sunday at 1pm.
i am pretty outspoken, so i will say it here and have said it locally,
RCCY really does not act as a community organization for us. Nor would i call them our community group.
i have contacted them quite a bit in the last two years, since i first heard of them.
They only seem to have one issue , don't block their views. Now they are getting involved with the Pit , That is a good sign. The people ar the greystone buiding 1085 Warburton , must be going nuts with that disaster, imaging trying to sell if your facing that side ?
at least on this flyer they are speaking up about the disaster that forced the people next to the "PIT" out of their house , was it one or two Easter ago?
i need to check the zoning map they are trying to change to make sure our area, especially Harriman avenue is included.
i support the low rise zoning regardless, this neighborhood has nothing of a retail, social presence, so much could be done here if we had some interested people. we have a tremendous amount of open usable green space that could be put to use as a community garden .

i'm back

it has been a long time since i kept up with this blog, without any community feedback or support, or seemingly interest , i have caught up on some of my own personal to do list. i also have medical issues that wipe me out for periods of time, and require my complete attention. This is a reason i don't want to be a board member. that can always change, and i can tell i still know more about the operation of this building , the laws, and building maintenance than a majority of out board members, on my worst days. We have a couple good members, and we need to support them. It is a real shame that bob Riley stepped down, that IMO is because we, I , did not help him out and give him support. Dealing with board members that refuse to give you the information you request , you can not do your board obligations..
getting involved in the co-op was the last thing i wanted to do, since i live here and like everyone else , just want to live my life without more stress.
hopefully with warmer weather i will see people outside and try and form some support since, as far as i see we have some big problems in the building.
i will place them under separate posts so they are easy to index.
i had done quite a bit if correspondence with the managing agent, the owner of barhite and holzinger refuses to speak to me .
i found out that the owner of our managing company has been a business partner of our board president , i don't know how long this has been going on but , IMO that explains a lot of the looked over stuff. since i haven't found much of any support or feedback in this building , i am going to go big with a co-op blog, concerning the whole metro area.

A xmas miracle

they are putting on the railing for the front steps!
a xmas miracle.

front steps?

any one know what the story is on the front steps?
did the builder take the money and run ?
did the co-op make the mistake of paying for the job before it was completed and inspected?
the story about the rails being on order is pure BS , rails are cut and welded on premises in a day.

new windows on first floor stairways look good

nice surprise to see something positive and work actually get completed.
i was thinking about the request for the windows in June's meeting and noticed that had not been installed as of last week.
i was wondering if they would still not be completed by the next annual meeting.

these scammers were in the building last month

idt energy - Consumerist

the managing agent will be asking the board for their holiday tips soon

one of the items i tried to stop when i was on the board was the tipping of the managing agents, i hear that it has even gotten worse where the managing agent has tried to get tips for their staff that handles the mailing and billing. the co-op pays for these services ,
i believe the board declined the request to tip the administration staff at b and h , maybe that is why the mailing this year have been going out late and there have been a lot of problems with maintenance bills and bookkeeping.
the super does extra work outside their contract for the building and should be tipped.
the managing agent doesn't even do the job they are paid to do , no way should they be tipped, this is not directed specifically at the current managing agent , but all the manging agents.
i member when i was on the board the managing agent at the time had the audacity to send A memo to the board requesting a tip and specifying what amount it should be.
managing agents should not be tipped, let your voices be heard, it is your maintenance monies.

Velocity at Greystone development in Yonkers faces foreclosure | lohud.com | The Journal News

Velocity at Greystone development in Yonkers faces foreclosure | lohud.com | The Journal News

stairs and sidewalk completion

The stairs are being unusable for over 4 months, and the railings by Hawley terrace are about 5 or 6 months overdue.
The story is that we are awaiting the railings, the reality has to be something else.
it takes less than one day to weld and place railings .
the non shareholders here probably have more bargaining power since the tenants may be able to get a rent decrease for the amount of time the terrace stairs have been under construction, the 2 week time frame was sufficient to complete the project.

going on 4 months for stairs ?

what is going on? The railings can be made by any local welder, it is iron not imported brazaillian hardwood.
this is [past crazy and the continued lack of communication from the top of the co-0p board, plus the vice pres and pres using their position for personal gain, and their refusal to remove themselves from discussions where they had finical interest in the outcome is just heaps more of shady dealings that will be moving forward to higher leveled.
note to co -op board members you should investigate and talk to the people that are using some board members of discriminatory and homophobic/racist actions, and not just let the president lead you down a personal liable path. do not let their personal liability become your personal liability. you are NOT indemnified for these actions, especially if you haven't performed due diligence.

how to handle problems with a co-op board

NYS Attorney Generals CO-OP FAQ

A New Board Member Asks to See Old Minutes - Real Estate Q&A Blog - NYTimes.com

this is from a co-op legal question article in the NY times, this is something the newer board members should be aware of, they have the right to look at any document t since incorporation.
A New Board Member Asks to See Old Minutes - Real Estate Q&A Blog - NYTimes.com