The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at STAR Academy (P.S. 63), 121 E. Third St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.
Assemblymember Keith Powers, State Sen. Brian Kavanagh and Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal are also expected to attend.
According to a flyer distributed to Village View residents, attendees will be able to provide feedback on the proposal.
Registration is not required to attend.
As previously reported, the Village View board has been exploring a possible sale of the property.
According to minutes from the co-op's January board meeting, directors voted to hire Alan Cohen of ABS Partners under a six-month exclusive contract to market Parking Lot 7 — located on Second Street between Avenue A and First Avenue — to prospective residential developers.
The board's decision to retain a broker has prompted questions among some shareholders about what, exactly, could be built there and how any future project might affect the co-op and the surrounding neighborhood.
The possibility of redevelopment has raised concerns among some shareholders, who say they want more transparency about the process and assurances that affordable housing will be considered if the site ultimately moves forward with development.
5 comments:
(I live a block away) we would like to see into this neighborhood-affecting proposal. Thank You
I live at VV. Like a lot of Mitchell-Llama co-ops, maintenance costs are rising. Plumbing repairs are more frequent. Equipment is aging. Keeping up a 1,200+, 7 building co-op is costly. We still have a few buildings that needs roofs. We need new intercoms. Some of the building doors need to be replaced.
The plan to sell the lot and then invest the money and use dividends to fund capital repairs is smart. Obviously it needs to be done transparently, and the lost parking spaces should be considered, even in a new development.
But much of this information has been disclosed in shareholder meeting minutes. Trouble is, most people don't read them or attend the meetings. Until a hot topic issue like this comes up, then everyone just begins making rumors or becoming combative.
As a fellow resident of VV, I am writing to share my perspective on the current state of our community. Like most shareholders, I understand that the costs for labor and services are rising. However, the core issue we face is a fundamental lack of trust between shareholders, management, and the Board of Directors.
Regarding our immediate financial and capital needs, the money has already been earmarked for the roof replacements for buildings one and three, so that is not an issue. I also agree that the lot should be sold, as we urgently need new elevators and a reliable intercom system.
A major concern for many of us is our current managing agent, who is difficult to work with. Shareholders frequently have to jump through hoops and escalate requests just to receive basic services, which is unacceptable.
To move our community forward, I believe we should sell the lot, change our managing agent, and proceed with the much-needed repairs—including updating the plumbing for our buildings, which are now 62 years old.
Can I ask... What are the maintenance costs at VV?
I am a current cooperator and have lived at V.V. for 50 years. There are several issues at hand here. Village View is suffering financially; we have aging and deteriorating buildings and we are over 2 million dollars in debt currently. The only money that is collected and used for maintenance and upkeep is raised through the residents who pay rent. More than half of the residents who live at V.V. are senior citizens, most of whom are on fixed income and pay a reduced rent based on their income. The amount of money that is collected from residents does not cover the daily real world costs of up upkeep, repairs and inflation for these aging buildings. V.V. is also not an independent housing corporation. H.P.D. (Housing Preservation and Development) has always had absolute oversight over operations here at V.V. This means that little to nothing can be done without H.P.D. sign off, this includes the sale of any parking lot property. Most if not all independent oversight agencies in NYC have already been contacted and have investigated the proposed land sale and found nothing illegal this includes, The State Attorney General, Dept of investigations, District Attorney’s office, The Mayor’s office, etc… There are only two possible future roads for V.V. One, we do not sell the parking lot and just keep raising the maintenance/rent by double digits till we no longer can be considered affordable housing. Two, we sell the parking lot and create an endowment that will help stabilize the financial picture for this Mitchel Lama for generations to come. It’s really that simple.
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