As part of the PCCC’s mission to be the “voice” of the Co-op community, co-President Bob Friedrich testified at the recent DOB Public Hearing on Local Law 97 rules. It is critical that the voice of the Co-op community be heard in such a vital issue as Local Law 97 and thank Bob for his efforts. See his testimony in full below.
BOB FRIEDRICH TESTIMONY AT DOB PUBLIC HEARING ON LL97 THE CLIMATE MOBILIZATION ACT
My name is Bob Friedrich and I am President of Glen Oaks Village, the largest garden apt co-op in NY with 10,000 residents.
Local Law 97 is the greatest unfunded mandate and penalty ever imposed by the city council on their own constituents.
Affordable co-ops are the entry tier for most first-time homebuyers. The majority of these co-ops can be purchased for less than $400,000. The crippling costs associated with LL97 endangers that affordability.
Unpaid representatives of co-ops like me are often villanized by the environmental lobby and others seeking rigid enforcement of the rules, for simply trying to find a reasonable way to comply with Local Law 97 without bankrupting our co-ops and families that can least afford it.
Requiring co-ops that are already stretched to the limit to take out loans and increase their debt as the NYC Accelerator program encourages, is financially ruinous.
There are Winners & Losers. The WINNERS, represented here today by lobbying and advocacy groups who are being paid for their efforts are the environmental consultants, mortgage lenders, engineers, contractors, electric heating manufacturers, solar and wind producers that will all profit from the electrification mandate.
The LOSERS of course are the non-profit affordable co-ops and families on fixed incomes seeking reasonable enforcement accommodations from the punitive penalties that are destined to impoverish them all.
Think about this: LL97 ends Energy Diversity in the household. Currently in a blackout, you could still heat your home, cook and boil water on a gas stove. Once you remove gas, you have nothing – no cooking, no boiling water, no heat.
Green advocates here today will tell you, retrofits will save buildings money, but the math to get there is elusive and requires speculative assumptions about future energy costs, and time horizons. Analysis by NYC shows 60% of LL97 cost burden is unrecoverable through cost savings. (per Crains NY 9/13/23)
Working class families living in NY’s older housing stock will bear the cost burden of compliance since newer multimillion‑dollar buildings with wealthier individuals are constructed to current energy codes and are better able to afford the costs necessary to comply with LL97.
According to NYSERDA’s “Heating Bill Implications” pamphlet, homeowners with electric heat pumps can expect significant heating cost increases.
“Natural gas customers will likely see overall utility bills increase by switching to electric systems for heating due to the high cost of electricity relative to natural gas in the Northeast. Because electricity is more costly … than natural gas, electrification results in higher utility bills for space heating, even when heat pumps are operating efficiently, [especially] in the New York City region.”
This is devastating to those already paying the nation’s highest electric rates.
Affordable co-ops need more time and reasonable enforcement concessions.