Once a great coop, but the board has become authoritarian, and-responsive to shareholders concerns
Pros
It's a beautiful prewar Art Deco building with a 24/7 doorman, elevator, and laundry in the basement. It's conveniently located, especially with access to the new 2nd Ave subway line. Generally well-maintained except for the last 2 or 3 years.
Cons
I've lived here for decades very peacefully until about 2 -3 years ago. Our current board has been in place for many years, and they have become non-responsive to shareholder concerns. They are ego-driven and dictatorial. The worst part is that for 2-3 years now, they have reduced the amount of heat they supply - significantly. The goal seems to be energy conservation, but they are actually wasting our oil. We get heat in short spurts, never warming up an entire living area. In the industry, this is called short cycling, and on the surface, it may seem like a way to conserve oil. But the opposite is true. Instead of letting the boiler run a full cycle, they have set it to turn off about every 45 minutes (again, never fully heating an apartment). This means the boiler goes through many more start-ups throughout the day than it would if full cycles were run. And each new cycle draws more oil than if the settings were appropriate. And these constant restarts put more wear and tear on the boiler components - leading to more repairs. I will never understand how these people can justify this. They are just plain wrong! And very recently, they started a new energy-saving tactic. They put all our hallway lights on motion sensors. So you are encountering darkened hallways until you just before you are below the light fixture. This is a terrible choice. It makes the building seem so cheap that it can't even provide consistent lighting. It's also a potential safety hazard. They reason that the current bulbs our fixtures use draw too much energy, and it would cost too much to replace the fixtures. Wrong! Change the fixtures (we can probably use the same globes as we have now, as they are a standard fitter). Imagine a prospective shareholder touring the building, and the hall lights are going off and on. That's okay for a commercial space, but not for a residential building with one million dollar apts. The board has cheapened the building. Back to the heat, I used to come home on a winter evening and feel the rush of warm air upon entering my apt. Not anymore. I need that warm air to unwind, to relax my muscles. Now, I have to walk around with my shoulders hunched and wrap myself in layers (and use a space heater!). And I can never just be naked in my own home. The board has forced me to change the way I live in my own home. And I resent that greatly.
Advice to the owners
All board members need to resign.
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