The PCCC Executive Committee is thrilled to announce that our co-President, Warren Schreiber, has been elected the next President of the Queens Civic Congress. This is a well-deserved honor and they could not have picked a more qualified person, who will bring his years of experience in civic affairs to this position. The Queens Civic Congress’ mission is as follows: To provide a forum for the civic associations and neighborhood organizations of Queens County to inform and address themselves to the full spectrum of issues, developments, and conditions that may affect the quality of life of our neighborhoods. To develop and present standard

The Board of the President’s Co-op & Condo Council is pleased to forward you an Op-Ed recently published in The Riverdale Press. In this Op-Ed, PCCC Co-President, Bob Friedrich, gives a detailed explanation of the archaic current system of taxing real property in New York City and its’ unfair costs to the Co-op/Condo community. We think you will find this Op-Ed informative and enlightening.  Click Here   If you have any questions about this or any other matter feel free to contact us through our website at www.pcccny.org.

Here we go again. As you may recall, last year there was strong momentum to pass legislation in the New York City Council to ban housing providers, including housing cooperatives, from conducting criminal background checks on prospective applicants. This legislation met fierce opposition in the Coop community and the PCCC led the opposition.  If this bill were passed it would ban a Coop Board from finding out whether a prospective applicant had a serious conviction in their background which would render them unfit for inclusion in their Coop. Fortunately, the bill never reached the floor and was not voted upon. However, this legislation appears

As we are all aware, the President’s Co-op & Condo Council has taken a lead role in bringing common-sense implementation for Local Law 97, the so-called Climate Mobilization Act. Our tremendous efforts have received notice in the media and our members have been featured in several stories on national radio, television, and in print. Our Co-President Bob Friedrich was recently featured on NY 1 in a piece about Climate Change. See Bob discuss the crushing penalties associated with this legislation. Click Here to Watch Bob’s NY1 Interview We will continue our fight on behalf of working and middle-class members of the Co-op and

The PCCC is getting unprecedented press coverage in our battle to bring sensibility and affordability to the implementation of Local Law 97. We are pleased to share the riveting conversation on WOR Radio on the all-important issue of Local Law 97’s impact on Coop and Condo homeowners.   Michael Wolfe FirstService Residential Geoffrey Mazel, Esq. Hankin & Mazel, PLLC Our executive members Geoffrey Mazel, Esq., of Hankin & Mazel, PLLC, and Michael Wolfe, of FirstService Residential, were featured guests on “Constructive Conversations” hosted by Jeff Hanley, of the Builder’s Realty Institute. They both provided essential information on the background, requirements and effects that Local

A coalition of cooperative and building owners have filed a lawsuit against New York City to block Local Law 97.  The lead plaintiffs in this lawsuit are PCCC co-President Bob Friedrich and Warren Schreiber. The PCCC is working hard on many fronts to ensure that the provisions of Local Law 97 do not bankrupt our Co-op/Condo members. As written, the law calls for devastating penalties if buildings do not sufficiently reduce their carbon emissions by 2024 and further reductions in 2030. We are actively engaged with both elected officials and other government officials to try to understand how the implementation of this statute

PCCC Co-President recently published an Op-Ed in Crain’s where he expresses his viewpoint on the potentially disastrous consequences of Local Law 97 on the Co-op/Condo Community. Click Here to Read More If you have any questions on this issue or any issues please feel free to contact us.

Recently Intro 115 was introduced in the New York City Council. This intro is well-intentioned as a safety measure, but would have a materially negative impact on the Co-op community in the form of much higher fuel bills; wasted energy consumption, and another major hurdle in complying with Local Law 97.   The Intro simply states “ During the period from October first through May thirty-first, centrally-supplied heat, in any dwelling in which such heat is required to be provided, shall be furnished so as to maintain, in every portion of such dwelling used or occupied for living purposes: (1) between the

As we are all aware, the past few weeks have been very trying with respect to the 32BJ negotiations. Thankfully, we were able to avoid a strike and are waiting for the new contract to be finalized and approved by the union workers. As part of our due diligence on this issue, our Executive Members have watched the negotiations from the sidelines and recently met with the Realty Advisory Board (RAB) President, Howard Rothschild.  We discussed the new contract and labor issues in general. It was a straightforward, serious, and lively discussion. Mr. Rothschild answered all our questions and responded to some of our concerns,

As part of our continuing efforts to advocate on behalf of our Co-op/Condo members, we have been actively seeking relief from the potentially devastating Local Law 97 penalties, the so-called Climate Mobilization Act. As has been previously reported, our Executive Members, co-presidents Bob Friedrich and Warren Schreiber, Legal Advisor Geoffrey Mazel, and Member Michael DeValera testified at a joint hearing before the New York City Council Housing Committee and Environmental Protection Committee. Our testimony was well received by the Committee Chairpersons and we have been having ongoing discussions with them since the hearing.    Our efforts were noticed and featured by Habitat Magazine