SUMMARY of the MAY 2010 GENERAL TENANTS MEETING - updated June 10, 2010

MAJOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT (MCI)

A Major Capital Improvement (“MCI”)  is an improvement that benefits the whole building, such as a new roof - even if the people on the 2nd floor never got leaks from the roof.  New York State's housing agency, the Division of Housing & Community Renewal (DHCR) has a list of common work done in buildings and how long that work and specific items (like boilers) typically last. 

MCI's directly affect the rents of rent-stabilized and some commercial tenants.  (Tenants on SCRIE, DRIE, or Section 8 will not see any rent change. Neither will market-rate tenants.)  Within 2 years of completing the work, the building owner asks DHCR to increase the rent based on a formula.  

1. The cost of the work (parts and labor) divided by 84 (the number of months in 7 years, for depreciation purposes). 
2. That result is then divided the number of rooms in all the apartments in the building, whether market-rate or rent stabilized.

Given that arithmetic, Stellar has asked for  an increase of $20.72 per room.  If you have 4 rooms in your apartment, that would be 4 x $20.72, or $82.88.  On the notice given to all rent stabilized tenants, Stellar noted the number of rooms in YOUR apartment for MCI purposes.

But just because Stellar ASKED for it does not mean DHCR will grant it.  Our lawyer is working on a response for us as a group.  The first step is reviewing all of the landlord's papers, including the source of the money.  After all, the escrow account that was created when we left Mitchell-Lama covers some of the things that Stellar claims for hte MCI - and Stellar's senoir staff told us that a state grant covered the submetering. (Looks like Stellar's trying to double-dip again!)

Whatever amount DHCR may ultimately grant Stellar for an MCI, that increase could not happen all at once.   Our rents may not be increased more than 6% above any new lease you may have signed in a given year.  So if the total increase that DHCR awards would come to more than 6% of your apartment's rent, then it will spaced out:  6% above your previous rent the first year; another 6% above that rent the next year, and so on, until the full MCI increase is achieved.

APPLIANCE OVERCHARGE COMPLAINTS

If you had appliance surcharges under Mitchell-Lama that became par tof your rent stabilized base rent - and you haven't yet filed an appliance surcharge cvercharge case, contact Sue or Greg immediately for help in preparing it.  Tenants who have done it recently are getting DHCR orders reducing their rents within a few months - instead of a year or more. 

If you have a DHCR grant reducing your rent, you are legally entitled to pay the "Legally Regulated Rent" that DHCR has ordered - even if Stellar is biling you at a higher rate.  We suggest sending 2 checks:  one for the legally regulated rent, and one for the electric bill.  (Send them both in the envelope Stellar provides.)  If you have had a new lease go into effect since the DHCR letter, contact Sue for specifics.

FUNDRAISING

We  need money for flyers, and to pay our lawyer for the MCI case (and possibly to hire an engineer), and for the ongoing "unique or peculiar circumstances" case.    So please give generously!  (Market-rate tenants: we're happy to help you figure out the logistics of trying to get your apartment back into rent stabilization.)

POT LUCK

It was a terrific success, and people thoroughly enjoyed the outdoor-indoor combination.  Thanks to Debbie Gonzalez, Maxine Soares and Lydia Pitsirilos, the Pot Luck Planners, and to the many peolple who brought food, set up, and cleaned up.

BUILDING ISSUES

FLOWERS: Thanks to Barbara Geller for providing and planting 1,000 daffodil bulbs that she donated so the front of our building looks good next spring.  And thanks to Mary Martin, Vernon Smith and Linda Umans for helping the plant the bulbs and other plants around the builidng.

SECURITY: If you are not handicapped, please do NOT use or make keys to be used for hte side door: everyone else sees it and wants one.  Please remind the building guard that you want anyone coming to your apartment to use the intercom.

IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Come see how the new voting machines work on Monday, June 28h  from 7:30 to  9 PM at the Second Presbyterian Church, 6 West 96th St. (the red door).

ALBANY UPDATE

Thanks to Na'ava Ades, Prudence Opperman, Barbara Geller, Monica enkins, and Steve Koulish for participating in a Mitchell-Lama PIE Campaign telehpone bank to tenants in Senator Pedro Espada's district. (He is the head of the State Senate's housing committee.)  They have urged tenants in his district to call Espada to pass the bills we need!  Other tenants are going to do canvassing and door-knocking in Espada's district on June 19th.  If you are available to help, please contact Katie Goldstein, 212-608-4320, ext.400.  

Rent regulations are due to expire in 2011.  The Real Rent Reform Campaign is working to get them renewed this year, to expire in 2018 (a gubernatorial election year - good for tenants).  Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is supporting it, but it is not clear if it will get through the Senate.  IF it gets through there is a slim possibility that our laws will get through too.

The Real Rent Reform Campaign is sending buses of tenants to Albany on 

• Tuesday, June 15
• Wednesday, June 16
• Thursday, June 17, and
• Monday, June 21.

If you'd like to get on the bus, contact Mary Tek, at Tenants & Neighbors.

OUR NEXT GENERAL TENANTS MEETING:  

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

If you have an issue to raise before that, please contact a member of the Executive Committee.

Sue Susman

Na'ava Ades

Joan Browne

Rich Jordan

Steve Koulish

Greg Murray

Pot Luck Photos

We feasted . . . 

(Gloria, Ruby, Janie, Marjorie, Brenda, Frank, Barbara)





Thanks to the Pot Luck Planners:
Debbie, Maxine and Lydia

 And socialized indoors and out







(Sharon, Andrew  and friends)

and ate some more (Marion, Lauria, Joan, Steve, Prudence & Debbie

as Rosa prepared the raffle, Olivia sat in and Marie staffed the welcome desk

Sue & Laura led singing

as Marjorie, Gabrielle, Marlene, Loretta, Janie, Mae & Sheila studied the words

And folks chatted outdoors (Melissa Mark Viverito, Laura, Steve & Joan)

Kathy, Patricia and Prudence

We admired (and then dug into)  the "50 WEST TENANTS" and U.S. Flag cakes brought by Paul,

And drank Marlene's punch.

Pot Luck Party & Raffle Drawing this Saturday!

We'll feast on roast pork and Indian vegetables, pigeon peas and rice, chicken with olives, sausages and black beans, spinach, sweet potatoes, string beans, potato salad, tossed salad . . . . and more.

Come party between 6 and 9:30 PM - food in the Community Room and frolicking in the backyard. 

We'll have a raffle drawing at 7:30 - and fun!

What can you bring?  Tell the Pot Luck Planners (Debbie in 15G, Maxine in 14N, and Lydia in 9T).


Admission: 
FREE if you 

• Bring food or beverages (non-alcoholic) for 8-10 people

• Sign up to work (set up, keep things running, clean up)

or

• $15 per household ($10 for an individual)

• plus $10 per outside guest.

May 19 General Tenants Meeting - we need you!

Come to the 

GENERAL TENANTS MEETING

Wed., May 19, 2010 at 8 PM 

in the Community Room.

AGENDA

Fighting the Major Capital Improvement application

Have you authorized our lawyer to represent you yet? If not, contact your floor captain.

 

We need your input as we fight to preserve our rents.  

Please bring to the meeting

• all notices form Stellar about the elevator, including replacement of the cabs
• all notices from Stellar about heat or hot water problems since 2008
• list of problems with the facade, elevator or boiler you know about, including chunks of concrete falling from balcony ceilings since 2008.

Submetering Overcharge case

Report from Albany

Finances

Pot Luck Party & Raffle - May 22nd!

Bring a chair and a neighbor.

Old and new tenants welcome!

Major Capital Improvement Application

All rent stabilized tenants should have received Stellar's application for the outrageous Major Capital Improvement (MCI) increase in our rents.  Our lawyer also received this notice, and we will fight the MCI together.  For now, just hold onto the application that was sent to you.  

It is somewhat amazing that an owner who has not complied with existing DHCR rent-reduction orders can ask DHCR for more money.

Tenant action for last 10 weeks of State Senate

Please join your neighbors on a bus to ALBANY on 

Tuesday, April 27

 7:00 A.M.  - leaving from Broadway at 98th Street.

The NYS Assembly plans to pass tenant legislation that day, and we need those bills passed.

Even more, we need to focus on the Mitchell-Lama bill that will end "unique or peculiar" increases - and probably end our lawsuit.

Contact  212-873-6600 ext. 304 or larryw@goddard.org
for more information.

SUMMARY of MARCH 17, 2010 GENERAL TENANTS MEETING

FLOOR CAPTAINS MEETING – April 7th in the Community Room – Floor captains are the thread that holds our building tapestry together, and they are invited to a meeting on the evening of April 7th (check the time on the mailroom board) to talk about their important role.

APPLIANCE SURCHARGE CASE:

-->

                                                                    

Although the lump sum payments due us must wait until the appeals are finished, Stellar is supposed to lower our rents immediately. That also means that any leases renewed (or that have gone into effect) since the date of the letter should be revised in keeping with DHCR’s order.  Tenants might want to keep  some money aside in the very slim case that our win is reversed.  

Despite DHCR regulations, Stellar is still charging the original rent for those tenants who have already gotten a DHCR order lowering their rent.  If you have received a letter from DHCR with calculations stating what your rent should be, please pay only the "LRR" (legal regulated rent) with a letter saying that that is what you are doing.   Don’t forget to pay the electricity bill too! (If you recently got a lease renewal with a higher rent, please contact Sue for a special letter.) 

You can put aside (in your own bank account) the difference between the legal regulated rent ordered by DHCR and the rent Stellar is charging - in the unlikely event that we lose Stellar's appeal.

 
If you can, please COPY your entire rent bill and get Sue the copy to give to our lawyer.

Send your rent check by certified mail, return receipt requested to:

Stellar Management
156 William Street, 10th Floor
New York, New York 10038
Attention: Francine Schiff.                                                                             

There is no reason for Stellar to have our money (in violation of DHCR regulations) in the meantime.  Our lawyer has written to Stellar asking that rents be reduced  and recent overpayments credited) and that leases be revised.  If you have not yet filed a complaint but had appliance surcharges when we were in Mitchell-Lama that became part of your rent stabilized rent, you can still file!  Contact Sue.

GARAGE: It’s a public area, so please do not leave valuables and do remind the staff to lock your car after parking it.

"UNIQUE OR PECULIAR" CASE:  Stellar and the other landlords have filed a notice that they intend to appeal our win in the lowest State court.  We are talking with the tenant associations in the two other buildings that have shared a lawyer with us about apportioning the appeal costs based on the number of affected apartments in each building.  We need to appeal to present a human face to the court, to show tenant unity, to underscore the importance of the case, to stand up to bullies, and because there is little relief in sight for Albany – although we keep plugging away. The landlords are challenging DHCR’s regulation that says that just leaving Mitchell-Lama is not a “unique or peculiar circumstance” justifying an increase in our stabilized rents.  Stellar applied to raise our rents between 300 and 500% (depending on the apartment.) 

FINANCES:  Treasurer Joan Browne and Board Member Barbara Geller will provide summaries to each tenant of their (gratefully received) contributions three times a year.   Our legal fund pays for our lawyer for the “unique or peculiar” case (to keep the owners from raising our rent stabilized rents to market rate); for the appliance surcharge case (we’ve asked for legal fees, but they are not common at the DHCR); for advice on other issues that affect our building.

Please contribute:  We are asking every apartment to contribute $100 toward our legal fund, $10 for annual dues ($25 for new tenants), and whatever they can afford. 

And we’re selling RAFFLES! 

If you haven’t received any to sell, please contact your floor captain.   The drawing will be at the POT LUCK on May 22nd in the backyard (or the community room if it’s raining).  

The Prizes are:

• Spirit Cruise Dinner and Dancing for two 
• 16 AMC / Loew's / Cineplex Movie tickets 
• Gabriela's Mexican Restaurant $50 Gift Certificate
• Ozen Asian Fusion Restaurant $50 Gift Certificate

and more. 

To help with the Pot Luck for May 22nd, contact Debbie Gonzalez at debboroo [ at   ] msn.com.

POLITICS:  Stellar Tenants for Affordable Housing (we’re a member) is providing important information to the City’s HPD and other agencies involved in letting Stellar take over affordable buildings like Tivoli Towers in Brooklyn.  These agencies need to know that Stellar disregards  DHCR orders – like the one to lower the rents of those with appliance surcharges under Mitchell-Lama.

The Real Rent Reform / Housing Here and Now Campaign and the Mitchell-Lama PIE campaign (we’re members of both) will knock on doors and make phone calls to tenants in the districts of 4 state senators who oppose the repeal of vacancy decontrol and oppose our Mitchell-Lama bill.   The senators are Pedro Espada, Jeffrey Klein, Martin Malave Dilán, and Martin Golden.   Contact Mario Mazzoni at Met Council on Housing if you would like to participate: 212-979-6238, extension 207, or email: mario@metcouncil.net .

Pedro Espada, who heads the Senate’s housing committee, finally has an opponent for the Democratic primary: Desiree Hunter.  Although not (yet?) supported by the Bronx Democratic Committee, Ms. Hunter support from her position on the board of the North West Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition (a 12,000-member group), and as head of a 1500-apartment co-op.  She headed the group opposed to turning the Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping mall, and is now part of the government committee to make it into a community center, among other things.  She also took her co-op’s $25 million capital fund out of Wells Fargo bank (which had bought the prior bank where the funds had been) since Wells Fargo was a major player in snookering people with subprime mortgages.   Espada got just over 5,000 votes last time.  With tenant help, his opponent can beat him.

Tenants signed letters to Vito Lopez, head of the State Assembly’s housing committee thanking him for NOT supporting Espada’s phony rent stabilization bill.  That bill would freeze the rents of the poorest tenants (a good thing), but pay for it by allowing all landlords with J-51 tax benefits to go ahead and take thousands of apartments out of rent stabilization.  This would undo a recent decision by the state’s highest court.  It would also support the landlords’ view that rent stabilization should only exist for the very poor and not for the middle class.

BUILDING:
We’ve had luke warm water in the evenings.  Both Carlos and the building manager have been notified.  If it doesn’t get better, let’s start calling 311.  (The law requires  hot water 24 hours a day in all seasons.) 

And we’re hoping the backyard garden will look good in planting season - and especially in time for the Pot Luck Party on May 22nd! If you want to help with the garden, contact Barbara Geller AFTER April 25th.  We hope building manager Lucio Pedraza will do as promised and work with Barbara for nicer plantings all around.  

JOIN US!

The Executive Committee

  Sue Susman

  Na’ava Ades

  Joan B. Browne (new e-mail pending)

  Rich Jordan

  Steve Koulish

  Greg Murray