Dear 336 CPW Friends and Neighbors,
As we go through this period of transition, we discussed whether we should keep the President’s Potpourri, a tradition Mike Schell started. Among his many talents, Mike was a prolific and natural writer. While we may not be able to match his eloquence, we thought it was important to continue using this forum to keep shareholders abreast of what is happening at 336.
Thanks, first of all, to those of you who were able to attend the Town Hall on January 25th. We know there was a lot of information to process, particularly around the proposed window program. We hope you found the discussions on that topic and the new proprietary lease as fruitful and insightful as the board members present did. We appreciated the feedback and were gratified that so many shareholders turned out.
Since the town hall the board has had additional opportunities to discuss the many points shareholders raised there. It has become clear that the proposed window program requires additional explanation. To that end, we have made several documents available on the building’s website, www.336cpw.org, which attempt to clarify the program. In particular, we would like to point you to the FAQs, which present a succinct summary of the key issues. We encourage you, of course, to reach out to any board member with any questions. We welcome continued discussion and assure you that the program presented was assembled with the shareholders’ best interests in mind.
Proxies for the vote on (1) the upgraded proprietary lease and (2) the window program at the Special Meeting on February 28 were distributed earlier this month. Whether you plan to attend or not, we urge that you complete and return your proxies as soon as possible.
With the assistance of Martin Propper (9F), we are making every effort to keep the website up-to-date and helpful to our community. Note that a user-friendly guide to alterations, pictures of staff and contact information for board members and Orsid can all be found there. Please let us know if there is anything else you would like to see on the website. We encourage you to visit it from time to time as it contains much helpful information on the Board’s robust agenda to maintain our almost 90-year-old building.
Easing our task, at least to some degree, is the continued health of Manhattan’s residential real estate market. The desirability of our building and the pace of apartment transfers help fund the upkeep and improvements of 336. We are fortunate that our financial position remains strong.
Both of us are in our second year of service on the board. It has been an honor to serve this community alongside our fellow board members. We are fortunate to have such camaraderie, talent and active contributions from this group. We have welcomed Michael Gordon (Apt. 4AB) to join the board to maintain its number as Mike Schell has moved to Cape Cod.
Sergio and the team continue to provide us with dedicated service. After struggling to find replacement staff in recent months, our team has put in an extra effort to keep the 336 engine running smoothly. You may have noticed that Sergio has brought on new temporary staff members, Danny Repollet and Gerardo Rios.
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the Special Meeting on February 28th (7:00 p.m. at the Robertson School), and to serving you and the 336 community in the exciting period ahead.
Cindy Michel (Apt. 12C) and Seth Segel (Apt. 9E)