The Sheldrake Organization and its Blackwell Management subsidiary may seek to drop support of the Island's Public Safety operation in future negotiations with the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC).  That was one of several points brought out Monday and Tuesday evenings when the new owners of Westview and Island House met with residents of the buildings in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd.

Neither of the meetings touched more than passingly on possible future resident ownership.  Charles Lucido, who for many years has headed the investor groups that have owned each of the buildings, explained that such conversations are prohibited by law.  "We are absolutely prohibited from talking about it," he said.  He did say that intractability in various RIOC administrations over the years had thwarted his personal goal of resident ownership, and added, "I will say this:  I look forward to a positive outcome for all of us."  Lucido praised his new partner, J. Christopher Daly, the owner of the Sheldrake Organization, as someone who shares his "principles and ideals" and has the wherewithal to get the job done.  "We're meeting with your steering committee, and will continue to do that, as long as things are being handled constructively," he concluded.

"Obviously, we understand there are probably a lot of questions about the future of the buildings," said Robert Klehammer of Sheldrake.  "We are discussing issues with RIOC at this time and it would be difficult for me to really address those issues.  That'll be another meeting at a later time."

A building security organization would replace the Public Safety Department (PSD) within the buildings, Daly said, adding, "The overall plan should be that the New York City Police Department should have a presence on the Island."  His company is in continuing negotiations with RIOC, he said, on this and other matters.

RIOC controls the ground leases for the buildings.  Any increase in ground rent associated with the planned privatization of the buildings' mortgages, and any increase in PILOT payments (Payments in Lieu of Taxes), would impact directly on the cost of living in the buildings.  At one point, Klehammer suggested that anticipated taxes could mean an increase of "about $300 to $400 per apartment," but said the company is working toward keeping that figure down.

Tim Johns, who for years was active on the Island House Ownership Committee (IHOC), asked about empty apartments, asking for reports "required by law."  Daly assured him, "We have to submit those same reports to DHCR, and if we're warehousing apartments, they penalize us."

A member of the Common Council of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA), Joyce Mincheff, asked Daly to be mindful of how monies his organization pays to RIOC are used.  "I want to ask you to take seriously your responsibility toward the needs of the residents not only for a better quality of life in the buildings, but also, because you, as the owner, are responsible for paying the land lease to RIOC, that you give attention to the services residents should receive on the Island in general – services paid for with the funds tenants pay you, and you in turn pay to RIOC.  As you look around the Island, you'll see that things have deteriorated.  You hold the money.  You receive money from each one of these residents, and you turn it over to RIOC, so all of us here would sincerely like to see you take a strong position in insuring that RIOC applies the money that you pay in a worthwhile way."

Mincheff added, "The garage, in particular, is a pet peeve."  Daly agreed.  "The condition of the garage is deplorable," he said.  Mincheff added:  "Our sidewalks, and our roadways... It's like taxation without representation, because the people that run that money are appointed by the State of New York and not elected by the people here.  In the past that money has not always been used effectively."  Daly responded, "Point well taken.  Thank you," and there was brief applause.

Frank Farance then connected Mincheff's comments to the Island's Public Safety Department (PSD).  "That's something we pay for, and they're not doing the job," Farance said.  "Don't be surprised to find that is a significant issue.  That's part of the equation here that you probably don't have in your other buildings."

"We ask that you call the local precinct as often as possible," Daly responded.  "The overall plan should be that the New York City Police Department should have a presence on the Island.  Without you logging in complaints, they don't hear you.  The long-term strategy should be a New York City police presence on the Island."

"RIOC does have an ear to listen to you," Farance said, "because you pay the bill.  We're counting on you to represent our interests in that regard."

Daly asked residents to make the Blackwell Management office, headed by Jennifer Jones, their first call "when you see something you don't like."  He said, "If you see something you don't like – that a porter's doing, that security people are doing, our people are doing – call Jennifer, or call the maintenance people.  Don't talk to the super, don't talk to someone else, don't call Public Safety – call us."  (The Blackwell Management phone number is 212-755-3012, and Jennifer Jones's e-mail address is JJones@BlackwellMgmt.com.  Hours at the office are Monday through Friday 9-5, and 9-7 every first Thursday.  Daly also told those attending the meeting that a box provided in lobbies for rent checks can be used to present suggestions and complaints, as well.)

After one complaint, Lucido offered a testimonial promise on behalf of Sheldrake.  "What I find very surprising is the resistance the tenants showed to the change in management.  Chris Daly's intention here is to win you over, not with words, but with performance.  These are very competent people here.  I checked on his other buildings and what was going on there.  The quality of life in those buildings that he owns and manages, from what I'm hearing, is superior to this.  Let me add something else.  You are very responsible, and very active, and I admire it.  But there is something that goes on in this community and in our properties that disturbs me, and that's a certain protection of tenants who offend your rights, who offend your quality of life, and that shouldn't exist.  I think that you should demand that the tenants live up to the standards of the community.  Chris has explained – he did last night and I'm sure he will tonight – that if you report someone, that information, your identity will be kept in confidence, but they will see to it, if something that can be done to correct a lot of these continuing problems, they will attempt to correct it."

Lucido continued, "We do pay too much for Public Safety.  I had a big fight with RIOC over the past few years because they were increasing the charges, and again, because there were other issues on the table, we mitigated the problem somewhat, so that's my little speech to you.  I hope things improve."

Frank Farance described a computerized system of reporting building problems – "something Judy Berdy called the þschmutz patrol'" – and their resolution, employed after the mid-'90s in cooperation with RIHMC.

[While Daly and some other members of his team used an amplified microphone in answering questions, tenants had none, and not all their questions or comments were audible on The WIRE's recording of the meetings.]

Renato Folla, one of the heads of the resident ownership movement in Island House, told the Sheldrake team, "It's not going to be hard for you to do better than was done before.  There have been years of neglect.  We look forward to working with you."  He asked for a schedule for meetings between Blackwell Management and residents.  "We'd like to see a report – what have you looked into, and how long will it take?"

"I anticipate that in the spring we can have some answers for you," Jones responded, "with regard to the pool and outside work.  We're actually still getting information from the previous management.  Joe Driscoll has been hired to look into the contracts and other matters, so I hope that by the spring – earlier, even – we can come back with some changes, and we do intend meeting with the maintenance committee and the steering committee to talk with them about the changes we'd like to implement, and to see how they receive them, and get an idea how the residents will receive them."

In general, the same issues were covered at both meetings, but Tuesday night's session with Island House residents was palpably the more contentious one.  At one point, responding to a series of questions about charges for repairs and incidental services like clearing plumbing clogs, a visibly annoyed Daly told a resident in a deliberate, measured cadence, "We... just... got... here!"  He was asking for time for his management operation to settle in.  "We're working through what we need to do.  Do you want to give us a chance to do it or not?  If you want to give us a chance, you will.  If you don't, you won't."  About a list of maintenance charges, he said, "When we're ready, it'll come out."

When Charles Matterson pressed him on the point, Daly asked, "Do you have a place to live?  Do you get heat?  Do you get hot water?  How has that changed?"

"I'll tell you what, then," Matterson responded.  "There was a time when we didn't, and it was resolved in court.  And if you're familiar with what happened, that can happen again."

"Be my guest," Daly responded.

The next questioner, Sharon Bermon, began by saying, "I'm reading the body language here, and a lot of people are getting upset.  Maybe we can all just back off a bit."  In response to Bermon's question about the charges, Daly said that the same list of charges in place with the old management team – Roosevelt Island Housing Management (RIHMC) – are in place under his Blackwell Management team.  Klehammer made the point that the charge list was approved by DHCR, the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, which supervises the buildings.

But multiple voices were raised:  Many residents said they had never been charged for things on the list.  "We got the list from Doryne [Isley of RIHMC]," Klehammer said.  "There's nothing new here."

"We'll look into it," Daly said.  "Can we get onto something other than this?  We'll look into it and report back."  For the rest of the evening, Daly's staff took down apartment numbers as various complaints were listed – drafts from windows, inadequate heat, windows not cleaned, the swimming pool out of service.  Daly's occasional attempts at humor – occasionally saying the opposite of the more or less obvious answer a tenant would expect to hear – sometimes worked Monday night at the Westview meeting, but did not in the Island House session, where he found he had to follow up with a reassurance:  "I'm kidding."

The contentious tone was almost entirely absent from Monday night's Westview meeting.  Daly had arrived late for the Tuesday night session with Island House residents.  On Monday night, by contrast, he had arrived early and essentially acted as an emcee, making a longer opening speech and setting the tone for a more relaxed Q&A session with Westview residents.

Asked about the swimming pool, which has been out of service for years, Daly told a questioner, "We're going to take a look at the pool, see what the problems are, see how much money it costs, if it's within reason.  You'll be informed.  We'd like to see it open, too.  But we don't know what the damages are."  He asked Lucido to discuss the pool problem.

"I have been involved since 1974," Lucido said.  "When Island House and Westview were first opened, it was uneconomic to run both pools.  [The pool at] Westview remained open for a short while, but they closed that pool, and both apartment house complexes used the Island House pool.  Along the years, rent-up was slow, and the rents could not meet the operating costs and debt service. 

Click here for an expansion of Lucido's remarks about the pools, with some financial history of the buidlings

Island House was $6 million into arrears; Westview went over $3 million in arrears, so before long – and the State was in trouble, too, in those years – so it was decided by UDC, at that time, to put both properties under the administration of a receiver, Myron Holtz, and he made the decisions regarding the administration and management of both properties.  So he was making the rent-increase requests, and the same organization was deciding how much the increases were.  The owners had nothing to do with it; we had a new general partner, but the general partner was unresponsive.  For those of you who have been here that long, the general partner changed hands, and things continued to go downhill."  Lucido continued by saying that a change of general partners brought $4 million into the operation.

In response to another question, Lucido added, "I can tell you that there was a gentleman who was interested in renting the Island House pool as a photography studio, and he had his folks take a look at it, and the lining of the pool was bubbling up like a marshmallow.  There was so much water pressure underneath it that it's raising the metal lining.  So where that pressure comes from, I don't know.  Maybe we're below river level.  It might a bigger engineering problem than just repairing something."

Though generally understanding the proscription against discussing possible tenant ownership, Island House residents were frustrated.  A seven-year resident of the building (but 27- year resident of the Island), Judy Berdy, made an effort to put tenants' situation in perspective.  "We're all in this quandary.  We're all scared out of our wits," she said.  "We're not millionaires.  We see what's happening to every other Mitchell-Lama project around us, and I know you're not going to discuss it, but you have to understand how we feel."

Berdy continued with a discussion of heating problems in north-facing apartments.  Daly responded, "We'll start looking into it right away.  We know there are problems, but unfortunately it's going to be a bigger problem than we can solve quickly."  He pointed out that the design of the building didn't take different north and south exposures into account.  "Couple that with poor windows and bad insulation and you have not a good recipe for comfort.  We're well aware of it.  How we go forward will depend on how the building goes forward.  We know the windows are in bad shape, we don't like the lobbies, we don't like the steps... there's a lot that we don't like.  We know money needs to be put into the buildings, and we'll be working with your maintenance committee and steering committee about how we go forward.  We know that money needs to be spent.  Unfortunately, there are some things we're not going to be able to do this winter.  We just got here, and the problems have been lingering for 25 years.  So we don't want the buildings to stay in the state they're in now."

"I can show you a newspaper article," Berdy said, "that says Con Edison paid the developers $100 per apartment to put in electric heat."