Co-Presidents’ Potpourri – Feb 2020

Dear 336 CPW Friends and Neighbors,

Happy new decade! Let’s move into it with confidence.

Over the past months, your Board has received feedback on many issues. One that concerns the whole community, and typically ends up a controversial one, is the lobby.

I think most of us agree that the time has come to put a bit of care into our common area. What makes tackling this task more relevant than ever is the significant rise in the number of packages the building takes in on a daily basis, from Amazon.com to Zappos.

In the lobby’s current configuration, there is no place to store all those packages — scores of them every day, piling up by the hour. While our diligent staff does all it can to process and deliver these boxes immediately, the volume is too great and often residents are not home or available to receive packages. Further, the manual process of logging incoming packages into a ledger is tedious and prone to error, and it often pulls our doormen away from the door or elevators.

To resolve this dilemma, your Board has identified an automated package intake system, one that is used in hundreds of buildings throughout NYC. While we move to implement this computerized system, the Board is also looking to make adjustments and some freshening of the lobby itself. These measures will include putting in a shelf on the north side of the entrance vestibule (for the intercom phone and other technology) and constructing a cabinet for package storage and for housing technical wiring. More details will be forthcoming. Your Board is doing all it can to keep costs of these enhancements to a minimum while ensuring that the quality of the work matches our high-quality, Art Deco lobby.

As we have previously communicated, the Board secured additional financing for the building in order to manage our future expenses, in particular to fund various maintenance and repairs as required by Local Law 11. This additional financing puts the building in a strong financial position and we are better prepared for any unplanned event.

As the engineering assessment found minimal window risks and thus the window program is on hold, a few residents have approached the Board on taking the initiative to replace their own windows. The Board supports such efforts, but please keep in mind that replacing windows can be an involved task. To assist in providing clarity, your Board has implemented a policy that window replacements be done on a “brick to brick” basis. Specifications of the window type along with other information will need to be submitted to Orsid and our building architect for review and approval.

On a more somber note, we lost our long-time neighbor and dear friend, Ruth Nagourney, on January 23. Ruth served on the board for a number of years and lived in our building for more than 40 years. Our thoughts are with Ruth’s family during this sad time.

As spring approaches, some friendly reminders to service your air conditioners, change your filters, and clean your dryer vents. If you still have a non-compliant laundry set up (i.e. lack a water capture pan and water leak sensor/alarm), please contact Sergio for assistance in resolving this important issue.

As always, we welcome noteworthy items for our newsletter. Please e-mail us at board@336cpw.org.