In light of some of the claims being made by certain candidates (that nothing should be confidential, that all major decisions should be left to the shareholders, etc.), it seems worth highlighting the post we published in 2013 on “What it means to be a director.”
Category Archives: Politics
2017 Seward Spark Board Endorsements
This year’s Seward Spark endorsements come from Micah Arbisser, who publishes the Seward Spark, and Kate Nammacher, who recently served on the Board as a director, president, and treasurer.
After reviewing the candidates’ biographies, hearing their presentations at Meet the Candidates, and reviewing the records of those who have already served, we believe the following four candidates stand out for their high levels of engagement, knowledge, optimism, and professionalism.
#2 Darcey Gerstein – A prolific and transparent Boardroom communicator, Darcey has worked hard to keep us informed, while putting in countless hours behind the scenes on almost every major issue the Board has tackled in the last three years. Her candidate statements convey a long list of impressive achievements. We will all benefit if she is given a chance to double that list’s length with a second term.
#3 Carol Anastasio – With more than two decades managing NYC parks, Carol’s stated priority if elected is to cost-effectively improve our grounds. In her previous term on the Board she proved her enthusiasm and capability with respect to all kinds of issues, and she has a list of achievements on par with Darcey’s. And she has volunteered to help with almost every community event since the day she moved here.
#4 Karen Suss Wolfson – A lifelong resident and a Board member whose service is measured not in years but in decades, Karen is our institutional memory. We have tremendous respect for her business acumen, her ability to sense the desires of a broad spectrum of our community, and her dedication to her work as a Board member. Karen is screening committee chair and a past president.
#5 David Pearson – A first-time candidate, Dave has the most relevant professional experience of any candidate in recent memory. A Senior Vice President of Affordable Development at the Related Companies, he has years of experience analyzing and negotiating operating budgets, contracts, and financing, all with the goal of preserving affordability while upgrading quality-of-life. And he wants to do the same for us.
Whether or not you agree that these candidates are the best, please exercise your shareholder right to vote!
Your neighbors,
Micah Arbisser
Seward Spark Publisher
Kate Nammacher
Former SPC Director, President and Treasurer
Endorsements Coming Soon…
Aside
Stay tuned for official Seward Spark endorsements in the 2017 co-op board election.
2017 Board Candidates
This year seven candidates are vying for four open seats on the Seward Park Cooperative Board of Directors. The candidates are:
#1 – Arnold Sandler
#2 – Darcey Gerstein
#3 – Carol Anastasio
#4 – Karen Suss Wolfson
#5 – David Pearson
#6 – Norma Ramirez
#7 – Stanley Friedland
Darcey, Karen, and Norma are all incumbents seeking reelection. The fourth seat is being vacated by Harold Aranoff, who served for six years. Of the other candidates, both Carol and Stanley previously served on the Board. Arnold ran last year, and David is brand new to Seward Park elections.
The election will be held on June 14, 2017.
On the proposed Shareholders Association
I attended last night’s inaugural meeting of Eric M.’s shareholders’ association. Roughly 75 people were there at any given time. About a third of the meeting was devoted to Eric talking about himself. About half was a discussion of air rights related concerns. And the remainder (when not getting sidetracked by miscellaneous issues) was about the proposed shareholders’ association itself.
Some observations:
Eric likes alternative facts almost as much as Trump. Eric is a knowledgeable guy who has put a lot of work into trying to help the coop. But accuracy and truthfulness are not high priorities in his writing or speaking. He frequently repeats statements that could generously be referred to as misleading (or less generously as lies). The anonymous anti-Eric blog “Truth at Seward Park” recently published a fact check of Eric’s latest Gazette flier. Almost every misleading statement in that fact check was repeated at the meeting. Various shareholders (including me) attempted to correct the record a few times, but were often shouted down.
Nobody knows what the shareholders’ association is. There were very mixed messages about the shareholders’ association’s purpose. Eric spoke at length in vague terms about how it would be a “hyperdemocratic” way for the shareholders to engage in Seward Park politics year-round, where everybody would be welcome. But he also made it sound like a political party and lobbying group that would try to push the Board toward certain policy goals, the first of which is to strike down any air rights deal. The biggest cheer of the night was in response to a shareholder’s hope that the association would “stick it to the Board” (as if this were a traditional tenants’ association facing off against a greedy landlord, as opposed to a cooperative owned by the very shareholders sitting in the room). Meanwhile, for anyone wishing to engage more in coop politics and policy, you are always welcome to submit comments (or complete posts) to the Seward Spark, and the spcomm and LESOnline forums frequently have lively online discussions about coop issues.
There is a dearth of air rights information available. Many shareholders came to discuss the air rights deal, but the leaders of the meeting did not appear to have prepared anything on the subject other than an anti-sale petition, and were surprisingly unknowledgeable about the terms of the deal and the process of the shareholder vote. Many valid concerns were raised about shadows and views, sharing open spaces, pollution, garbage collection, etc. Having researched many of these subjects myself, I stepped in to try to answer as many questions as I could, and appreciate being given the opportunity to do so. But it is clear that the Board needs to get moving with more complete and authoritative information about the deal and more opportunities for shareholders to get their questions answered.
(Other) Election Results
Curious how your neighbors voted in the presidential election? DNAInfo has a map that breaks down the results precinct by precinct. Since each of our buildings is its own precinct, we now know that Building 1 has the most Trump voters. Um, congrats?
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
| Building 1 | ||
| Clinton | 296 | 75.7% |
| Trump | 83 | 21.23% |
| Johnson | 4 | 1.02% |
| Stein | 3 | 0.77% |
| Total: | 386 | |
| Building 2 | ||
| Clinton | 352 | 80.55% |
| Trump | 73 | 16.7% |
| Johnson | 4 | 0.2% |
| Stein | 0 | 0% |
| Total: | 429 | |
| Building 3 | ||
| Clinton | 299 | 77.26% |
| Trump | 72 | 18.6% |
| Johnson | 5 | 1.29% |
| Stein | 10 | 2.58% |
| Total: | 386 | |
| Building 4 | ||
| Clinton | 362 | 78.87% |
| Trump | 80 | 17.43% |
| Johnson | 7 | 1.53% |
| Stein | 6 | 1.31% |
| Total: | 455 | |
| Overall | ||
| Clinton | 1309 | 79.0% |
| Trump | 308 | 18.6% |
| Johnson | 20 | 1.2% |
| Stein | 19 | 1.1% |
| Total: | 1656 | |
On the likelihood of a big maintenance increase
Tiny fliers appeared under many doors this weekend. While unsigned, they use the same fonts, writing style, and printing technology as a certain former director’s namesake newsletter.
While small in size, these fliers packed in quite a few pieces of information. We will try to address the other (mostly dubious) items in a future post, but the most significant was a prediction of a 10-15% maintenance increase.
If true (and based on recent financial statements, we believe it is entirely possible), this would be the largest maintenance increase in quite a few years. It will be painful for everyone.
That said, we do not see what other choice the Board has. While Boards in recent years have taken several commendable actions to decrease expenses in certain areas (investing in our own boilers for the first time in the co-op’s history, bringing security in-house, etc.), many non-controllable expenses continue to go up. Property taxes alone went up over $4MM (net of abatements) between 2008 and 2015.
During that same period, maintenance collections increased by less than $2MM, a cumulative increase of only 16%. There were many years during that period where the Board staved off maintenance increases by spending flip tax receipts, flipping apartments, spending down reserves, and avoiding paying off debt. But their avoidance of maintenance increases has left us with an empty operating account, outstanding debts that are as large as ever, and a big gap where predictable recurring expenses have increased by millions more than predictable recurring revenues.
So as much as we hate to see an increase in our monthly bills, we believe the Board will be doing the right thing if they take action to plug the hole left by their predecessors and balance the budget.
And the winners are…
Congratulations to Wei-Li, James and Besty!
The final, certified vote tallies were:
#3 Wei-Li Tjong 461
#5 James Mastroianni 441
#8 Betsy Jacobson 424
#6 Leah Strock 397
#1 Arnold Sandler 360
#7 Tina Reiter 344
#2 Marc Albaum 151
ABSTAIN 3
Based on these numbers, at least 861 shareholders cast votes.
Thanks also go out to Marc Albaum, Dave Pass and Dia Shepardson for their service over the past three years.
Corporate AND Cooperative
Following is the text of a flier that was circulated by former director Jodi Zagoory, who is also an occasional contributor to the Seward Spark.
When I served on the Board of Directors, we rebranded the co-op as “Seward Park Cooperative” instead of “Seward Park Housing Corporation.” We believed fully in the cooperative character of our community, and wanted it to be the first impression we gave to the outside world. But as directors, we also never lost sight of the fact that our cooperative is in fact a business corporation.
As shareholders, we elect directors to the Board to be the stewards of a corporation that today has a $25 million annual budget and over $1 billion in assets. They are charged with making decisions for our benefit, and it is crucial that they have the qualifications, work ethic and temperament to tackle this difficult assignment in an informed, collaborative fashion.
We absolutely need directors who will remember every day that they are overseeing a cooperative consisting of neighbors who call the cooperative home, not faceless shareholders who can simply dump their stock if they don’t like the corporation’s direction. And I can happily say that I believe that all of the candidates running for the Board this year fit that bill.
But we also need directors who are willing and able to do the work of a director. They need to engage with and develop a deep understanding of the important and complex issues we face, like restructuring our debts, handling offers to buy air rights, responding to lawsuits, and more. It is not enough to want peace. Past Boards led by directors who chose to stick their heads in the sand led us to big budget holes (and big maintenance increases), bungled contracts and long-deferred necessary capital projects.
At Meet the Candidates Night, there were three candidates who had clearly done their homework. They were familiar with the issues, had studied the co-op’s financial statements, and gave thoughtful and informed answers to questions. These three candidates stood out for their mindfulness of the needs of all cooperators, and also for their positivity and their knowledge and eagerness to serve.
On June 15th, please join me in voting for #3 Wei-Li Tjong, #5 James Mastroianni and #6 Leah Strock, for a board that is truly cooperative, and also effective.
Jodi Zagoory
Former Member
Seward Park Cooperative Board of Directors
Seward Park Board Election is This Week
Seward Park Cooperative shareholders return to the polls on Wednesday, June 15. Please remember to vote! If you are unable to vote in person on Wednesday, you can vote online using the codes you should have received in the mail from Election America. If you have misplaced your codes, please contact us and we will send you a proxy form that will allow another shareholder to cast a vote on your behalf.
This year’s Seward Spark endorsements come from Kate Nammacher, who recently served on the Board as a director, president, and treasurer.
After reviewing the candidates’ biographies and hearing their presentations at Meet the Candidates, I believe that the following three candidates stand out for their high levels of engagement, knowledge and professionalism, and their complementary skills.
#3 Wei-Li Tjong – Wei-Li previously served three terms on the Board and distinguished himself as a leader in making improvements and finding cost savings for the co-op. As a practicing corporate attorney his professional focus is spotting potential problems and figuring out cost-effective ways to avoid them. At Meet the Candidates he said his proudest achievements from his prior Board tenure include settling major lawsuits that could have cost us millions and slashing our legal bills by changing the way we engage with our lawyers. He is responsible for replacing our prior management company with Greenthal/ Frank Durant, resulting in enormous quality of life improvements for all shareholders. Wei-Li grew up in the co-op and chose to return here as an adult, representing concerns of both lifelong residents and new arrivals.
#5 James Mastroianni – Jim is a relative newcomer to SPC compared to many of the other candidates, but has jumped right in to volunteer as an active member of various co-op community groups and celebrations. Jim is a corporate tax attorney and a partner at the accounting megafirm PWC, bringing skills that are crucial in the Boardroom. His knowledge about co-op issues was on full display at Meet the Candidates, where Jim cited financial figures from memory and explained bylaw provisions that seemed completely unfamiliar to other candidates. With skyrocketing real estate taxes, we strongly need Jim’s level of expertise.
#6 Leah Strock – Leah has lived in the co-op since 1989. She is a nurse practitioner with extraordinary listening and problem solving skills. A frequent and always positive participant on various online community forums, an enthusiastic volunteer for GASP (Gays at Seward Park), children’s programs, Hurricane Sandy response and more, she is a model of neighborliness and cooperation. At Meet the Candidates she had smart and informed answers to every question that was sent her way. She will be a force for moderation, consensus and progress in the Boardroom.
Whether or not you agree that these candidates are the best, please exercise your shareholder right to vote! We need strong representation and good voter turnout.
Your neighbor and former director, president and treasurer,
Kate Nammacher