Tag Archives: Election

2022 Seward Spark Board Endorsements

Posted on by

This year finds an unusual number of very good candidates running for the Board, which is a most welcome state of affairs, even though it is harder for us to decide whom to endorse.  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.

#1 Jessica Kramer – Jessica is new here (she bought her apartment in 2021), but has made an excellent impression on all who have met her, and has a resume filled with the sort of education and experience that is likely to make her a very effective Board member.  She has a law degree and has worked in real estate-related legal and technology spaces, plus has experience in startups where she needed to learn complex new subjects quickly. All of this gives us great optimism about her candidacy.

#2 Kate Nammacher – Kate has co-authored the Seward Spark endorsements for the last few years, so we obviously trust her judgment.  But she also had an accomplished term as a director (including serving as treasurer and president) several years ago as the coop undertook complex projects like the transition from ConEd steam to our own boilers.  Those who served with her have only good things to say about her intelligence and professionalism.

#5 Betsy Jacobson – Betsy’s work puts her in daily contact with many of our senior residents, and she is friendly with a number of cooperators who are not particularly friendly with most other Directors. She has therefore become an indispensable Board member, giving voice to those folks’ thoughts and concerns in a challenging but constructive manner, while bringing her own positive energy and intelligence to almost every Board matter. The Seward Spark did not endorse Betsy the first time she ran, but we endorsed her second run three years ago and we enthusiastically re-up that endorsement for this year.

#6 Wei-Li Tjong – Wei-Li has served on the Board for a majority of the last 22 years, and has an excellent record of voting for progress tempered by affordability concerns. He grew up in the co-op and has strong relationships with generations of cooperators. He’s a smart lawyer with highly relevant professional knowledge and gets along well with everyone in the Boardroom.

Regardless of your candidates of choice, please do not forget to vote!

Your neighbor,

Micah Arbisser
Seward Spark Publisher

2020 Seward Spark Board Endorsements

Posted on by

This year’s Seward Spark endorsements again come from Micah Arbisser, who publishes the Seward Spark, and Kate Nammacher, who 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.

#1 Michael Tumminia – When Michael served as the Board president (2010) and treasurer (2011), he accomplished the conversion of broom closets into a community room; created a modern, safe, and legal playroom; expanded our leasable commercial spaces; re-claimed and transformed a padlocked vacant-for-50-years dumping ground into what we now know as our Hester Street lot (and Fair); balanced our budget; and much more. We need his leadership, certified public accounting (CPA) skills, and fiscally conservative outlook now more than ever, with COVID-19 sending commercial tenants (and therefore our budget) into uncharted territory.

#2 Karen Suss Wolfson – A lifelong resident, past Board president, and a Board member whose service is measured not in years but in decades, Karen is our institutional memory.  She has strong business instincts and a tremendous ability to sense the desires of a broad spectrum of our community. And she is truly dedicated to her work as a Board member, especially with the screening committee.  

#3 Darcey Gerstein – A past secretary, treasurer, and president, Darcey has proved her leadership in a variety of Board positions, putting out frequent Board communications, working hard to balance our budget and refinance our mortgage, and advancing major and much-needed capital projects to make sure our buildings will be safe and comfortable for the long haul. Her recent article in the Cooperator well illustrates how much Darcey cares about our community.

#5 Carol Anastasio – Three years ago Carol promised cost-effective and environmentally-friendly improvements to our grounds if elected, and she has delivered. With only minimal increases to our landscaping budget, our greenspaces are looking far better, with more flowers and healthier lawns and plants. Carol helped coordinate the composting program and the retrofit of the “prison yard” lights (now much warmer and more appropriate) between Buildings 1 and 2. We will all benefit from her re-election.

Regardless of your candidates of choice, please do not forget to vote!

Your neighbors,

Micah Arbisser
Seward Spark Publisher

Kate Nammacher
Former SPC Director, President and Treasurer

2020 Board Candidates

Posted on by

This year five candidates are vying for four open seats on the Seward Park Cooperative Board of Directors. The candidates are:

#1 – Michael Tumminia
#2 – Karen Suss Wolfson
#3 – Darcey Gerstein
#4 – Adam Cohen
#5 – Carol Anastasio

Karen, Darcey, and Carol are all incumbents seeking reelection.  The fourth seat is being vacated by Dave Pearson, who served for three years. Michael previously served on the board, including as president. Adam is new to the co-op’s electoral politics.

The election will be held on June 17, 2020.  We have not yet heard whether there will be in-person voting this year or whether all voting will be conducted by mail and online due to the pandemic.

2019 Seward Spark Board Endorsements

Posted on by

Seward Spark’s 2019 endorsements again come from Micah Arbisser, who publishes the Seward Spark, and Kate Nammacher, who recently served on the Board as a director, president, and treasurer.

The field of candidates this year is by far the smallest in recent memory, but the race remains competitive.  Wei-Li Tjong, Darshan Somashekar, and Betsy Jacobson are the candidates who will continue to ask hard questions and seek good answers in the Boardroom, while maintaining civility and helping the Board to do its incredibly important (and often underappreciated) work.

#1 Wei-Li Tjong – Wei has served multiple terms on the Board and has an excellent record of voting for progress tempered by affordability concerns.  He grew up in the co-op and has strong relationships with generations of cooperators. He’s a smart lawyer with highly relevant professional knowledge and gets along well with everyone in the Boardroom.

#2 Darshan Somashekar – Darshan is a first time candidate and relatively new to the co-op but has lived in the neighborhood for almost 10 years. He brings a fresh young perspective, a genuine desire to serve the community, and technology and business skills that will enable him to make a very real, substantive contribution as a Director. Everyone who meets him seems extremely impressed.

#3 Betsy Jacobson – Betsy’s work puts her in daily contact with many of our senior residents, and she is friendly with a number of cooperators who are not particularly friendly with most other Directors. She has therefore become an indispensable Board member, giving voice to those folks’ thoughts and concerns in a challenging but constructive manner, while bringing her own positive energy and intelligence to almost every Board matter. The Seward Spark did not endorse Betsy three years ago, but seeing her track record while on the board, we do so with high confidence this year.

Whether or not you agree that these candidates are the best, please exercise your shareholder right to vote on Tuesday, June 11!

Your neighbors,

Micah Arbisser
Seward Spark Publisher

Kate Nammacher
Former SPC Director, President and Treasurer

2019 Board Candidates

Posted on by

Only four candidates will compete this year for three seats on the Seward Park Cooperative Board of Directors. The candidates are:

#1 Wei-Li Tjong
#2 Darshan Somashekar
#3 Betsy Jacobson
#4 Arnold Sandler

Wei-Li and Betsy are incumbents.  The third seat is being vacated by James Mastroianni, who served a single term during which he worked very hard on the air rights and mortgage refinancing matters, among other projects.  Arnold is waging his fourth consecutive campaign to win a seat on the board.  Darshan is a first-time candidate.

This is the smallest candidate field we have seen in a board election for at least 15 years.

More to come…

The people have spoken, and they said no

Posted on by

As The Lo-Down, Bowery Boogie, The Real Deal, and Crain’s have already reported, only 690 out of the 1,227 participants in Tuesday’s vote said yes, which is 128 short what was needed for the deal to pass.

It will be interesting to see if the developers conclude that there is no way to get a deal passed, or whether they’ll do more market research to see if there are changes to their plans (perhaps scaling them down a little?) that might turn around 128+ votes if the developers and Board go back to the negotiating table.  Given that the vote fell considerably short of the needed two-thirds, however, the developers may conclude that we will never approve any deal and simply move forward with their as-of-right construction plan (whatever it might be).

Opinion: Vote Yes on Air Rights

Posted on by

Vote Yes GraphicOn June 12, Seward Park Cooperative will vote on whether or not to sell about 165,000 square feet of our unused development rights (aka “air rights”) to the developers of the Bialystoker Nursing Home and its adjacent lots for $53.7 million in cash.  After much consideration, we believe we should vote YES.

A YES vote is not without downsides. Nobody (except the developer) prefers huge buildings next door, and the buildings they can build with our air rights are significantly bigger than the buildings they could build as-of-right. Rainbow Park, where many of us spend much time with our families, will get a few less hours of direct sun at certain times of year.  And we think the East Broadway streetscape will look better if the buildings are kept smaller.

But at the end of the day, we have a choice between bigger buildings next door, or bigger bills for all of our shareholders.  We cannot justify spending tens of thousands of dollars out of each of our pockets over the coming years (and forcing many of our neighbors who already struggle to pay their bills to do the same) to keep the buildings next door smaller, when we could all save that money by accepting bigger buildings.  Despite our reservations, we will be voting YES, because we think it is the right thing to do for the co-op.

Note that two thirds of those participating in the vote must say YES for it to pass.  Voting in the Board election without casting a vote on the air rights question is an abstention, which is effectively a NO vote.  Please be sure to vote YES or NO on the air rights question.  Do not leave it blank or abstain.

Micah Arbisser, John Bellettiere, Harold Bravo, Minh Duong, Randi Halpern, Jeffrey Hillock, Linda Jones, Caroline Laskow, Brett Leitner, Terry MacAvery, Kate Nammacher, Eric Reich, Ian Rosenberg, Roshni & Jacob Sacks, Gina Sung, Alexis Tomarken, Michael Tumminia, Hilary Weissman, Lori & Paul Weissman, Jodi & Jac Zagoory

For responses to many criticisms of the deal, please click here.

2018 Seward Spark Board Endorsements

Posted on by

This year’s Seward Spark endorsements again 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.

#1 Aaron Fineman, #4 Doron Stember, and #6 Erica Cullmann – The incumbents this year are among the most hard-working, thoughtful, effective directors in the co-op’s recent memory.  They absolutely deserve reelection. Erica, Doron, and Aaron have led us through a challenging period where they raised revenue from non shareholder sources, overhauled our budgeting process to make it more stable, expanded access to amenities, and were responsive to shareholder concerns and alternative Boardroom viewpoints.  They also toiled for 17 months to bring the best possible air rights deal to a shareholder vote, while presenting detailed and balanced information about the deal.

#2 Sidney Goudie – From Sid’s first days in Seward Park, he has demonstrated a deep commitment to our community.  Sid is well known for his friendly presence in the E section, and can often be found engaging neighbors with questions about our collective home in an effort to understand the issues from all perspectives.  He is someone who can naturally find common ground on the most pressing matters facing our co-op. Sid also has a strong finance background and focuses on long-term preservation of capital. He wants to apply his financial expertise to the co-op’s budgeting and fiscal management strategies and would be an extremely valuable Board member.

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

And the winners are…

Posted on by

Congratulations to Karen, David, Darcey, and Carol!

The final, certified vote tallies were:
#4 Karen Suss Wolfson 793
#5 David Pearson 529
#2 Darcey Gerstein 498
#3 Carol Anastasio 465
#1 Arnold Sandler 421
#6 Norma Ramirez 408
#7 Stanley Friedland 394
ABSTAIN 2

Based on these numbers, at least 878 shareholders cast votes.

Thanks also go out to outgoing Board members Norma Ramirez and Harold Aranoff for their service to the co-op.

The Candidates on Air Rights

Posted on by

Several people have asked recently about the candidates’ positions on air rights.

The first question asked at Meet the Candidates was “How do you recommend shareholders vote on the forthcoming air rights deal, and how will you vote personally?”

Paraphrasing the candidates’ answers, as we don’t have access to a transcript:

  • Stanley –  I just want to know, if we do raise the money, what we’re going to do with it.  How are we going to spend it?  What are we going to do with it to help Seward Park?
  • Norma (incumbent) – I feel every shareholder should be allowed to vote. If that happens, I’ll back the majority. [editor’s note: under our bylaws all shareholders most certainly are allowed to vote and we need 2/3 of those voting–not a majority–for it to pass.]
  • Dave – I need more information to know whether or not I’m in favor of it. If elected I’m going to work hard to make sure we’re getting a good deal and to provide as complete and detailed information to shareholders as possible.
  • Karen (incumbent) – I don’t think anybody can recommend and it’s up to individual shareholders to decide for themselves. Currently our attorneys are still negotiating as best they can and once we have better information we’ll put it up for a vote. Right now we don’t have enough information. When we do, it’ll be brought to the shareholders and it will be up to the shareholders.
  • Carol – It’s up to all of us to decide based on our personal priorities, but right now we don’t have enough facts because they are still under negotiation. Something is going to be built so I’m somewhat inclined to say yes to make sure we have a seat at the table and have some control over what they build, but I really don’t know enough yet and each shareholder’s vote is his own.
  • Darcey (incumbent) – I echo what Karen and Carol said. My view is that the board should be agnostic and I’ll make my decision as a shareholder based on what is best for my family, weighing the pros and cons once we know what they all are.
  • Arnie – “They’re going to build anyway.”  You’re told that.  It’s an insidious message that you should vote for it. Would they have offered us $46 million if they were going to build anyway? Donald Trump said in the Art of the Deal that you shouldn’t be desperate when you negotiate.  We need to hold our position and wait until we get the best offer.  We sell votes for ice cream parties.  We do all kinds of things that are not in the best interest of the co-op.  Eleven people are not experts.  None of them have been trained.  I’m a retired army colonel and women’s shelter manager but don’t pretend to know what I don’t know.  My whole platform is we need to have more views involved. [The current board says] they need to reach out, engage and educate.  That’s why we don’t have the vote now.  I don’t think that’s the truth. I think they saw that people are saying no, and they wanted more time to get the yes votes.

My personal view is that because a shareholder vote is required for any air rights deal, it is less important whether a candidate is “for” or “against” than whether a candidate appears to understand the negotiation and approval process, and is committed to presenting the deal to shareholders in as accurate and balanced a way as possible (recognizing, of course, that we all have biases).  Shareholders should keep in mind that it is up to the board to work thoughtfully and efficiently with the professionals they’ve hired to first finish negotiating the deal, and then to present it to all of us in a way that distills a whole host of complex issues into an accurate and comprehensible package on which we can vote.