Page 17 - CooperatorNews March 2022

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COOPERATORNEWS —
MARCH 2022
17
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design integrity or other aesthetic con-
siderations.
Ca-CAW!
Regarding the aforementioned Cali-
fornia crow conundrum, the
Guardian
mentions that the city of Auburn, New
York, in the state’s Finger Lakes region, bird nuisance is another man’s bucolic
has experienced such an influx of crows pastime. Take this inquiry from one of
in recent years that the birds “now out-
number human residents two to one.” more than a decade, and every winter, I
This is another jurisdiction that has (and a couple of other owners) have fed
tried—unsuccessfully—to use lasers to the birds with no problems. Watching the
abate its corvid population. Lasers have birds has been a comfort to me, especially
also failed in similar endeavors in Roch-
ester, Minnesota, and Indianapolis, Indi-
ana, where the crows simply moved from However, last month some residents com-
the
inundated
busi-
ness district to another
neighborhood where the
lasers and recordings of
bird warning calls that
the city implemented
were out of range.
Kevin J. McGowan,
an ornithologist at the
Cornell Lab of Ornithol-
ogy in Ithaca, New York
who has studied crows
for more than 30 years,
tells the
New York Times
that the lasers employed
by these cities are meant to simulate plained that the birdseed was causing an
the movement of other animals, which influx of mice. After the complaints, my
has the potential to scare the crows into condo board announced new rules that
roosting somewhere else. But, says Mc-
Gowan, crows are not so easily moved
from a place they’ve already congregated. such authority, particularly without first
He suggests a less subtle dispersal tactic, consulting the owners, attorney Frank
like aiming firecrackers and bottle rock-
ets amid the interlopers. (Whether such Lincoln, Rhode Island, says, “In most in-
noise and detritus would be less of a nui-
sance than the noise and detritus of the board has the exclusive authority to op-
bird themselves is debatable.)
Looking at rising crow populations acting rules which it reasonably believes
over the last few years in cities across the will prevent damage to property. This in-
country, the
New York Times
article also cludes what it perceives as a need to avoid
cites Kaeli Swift, a postdoctoral research-
er at the University of Washington who
has studied crows. She says, “Roosts move could be a provision in this particu-
around—we don’t exactly know why,” lar condo’s governing docs limiting the
adding that roosts grow larger in the win-
ter when crows migrate from Canada. but “what is in fact more likely is that a
Their increasing numbers in cities and board’s power is limited by language re-
suburban areas (rather than the rural en-
virons they used to frequent) might have
something to do with the steady supply
of garbage left for them to descend upon.
A Bird in the Hand
As previously suggested, one man’s
our readers: “I have lived in my condo for
these past two years with so many other
activities limited due to the pandemic.
prohibit this activity.”
In response to whether the board had
Lombardi of Lombardi Law Group in
stances, [the] condominium association’s
erate the common areas, including en-
the migration or infiltration of rodents.”
Lombardi goes on to say that there
board’s authority specific to bird feeding,
quiring it to make reasoned and fair deci-
sions while operating the common areas.”
Whether their decision was a knee-jerk
response to the complaint or a well rea-
soned decision after an investigation that
proved the bird feeding was a nexus to
the mouse infestation, it would be up to
the reader and his or her cohort to sug-
gest a solution that discouraged mice
and other rodents, such as putting jala-
peño pepper on the seed, or to “somehow
prove that the birds are harmless and in
fact contribute to the overall livability of
the community.”
Even as I write this article, looking out
the window of my 17th floor New York
City apartment, I both
marvel and shudder at
the vast array of feathered
wildlife just within my
view. There are of course
the ubiquitous flocks of pi-
geons that swoop en masse
between pavement picnics
and protruding parapets.
Then there are the star-
lings, robins, jays, and oth-
er flitting fowl that mostly
seem
innocuous—until
one poops on your head or
nests in your gutter. The
seagulls seem incongruous with the ur-
ban density—until I remember that I am,
in fact, on an island. Perhaps most sur-
prising is the family of red-tailed hawks
that have made a home on the roof of the
neighboring highrise, often showing off
their impressive wingspan as well as their
predatory nature when circling and div-
ing in on an unsuspecting rodent. It re-
ally is a jungle out there.
n
Darcey Gerstein is Associate Editor and a
Staff Writer for CooperatorNews.
“‘City doves’ or ‘street pigeons’ may
be the worst of the worst when it comes
to New York bird pests, because of the
colossal amount of excrement each bird
produces annually—nearly two and a
half pounds!”
—Assured Environments
Chimney Challenges
Q
Our co-op building was com-
pleted in 1926. A taller building
was built a few years later, right
next to our building. Since the exhaust
from our chimney could go into the new
building’s apartments, our chimney had
to be built taller. The new section makes
a 90-degree turn to the side of the new
building and then up the side of the new
building beyond the top floor. The new
building built the extension and is respon-
sible for maintaining it. They have always
paid for repairs to the extension section,
although sometimes only after some “arm
twisting.”
We currently use oil to heat our build-
ing. In the future, we plan to get a new
boiler which will use gas or dual-fuel gas
and oil. A major part of converting to gas
will be the installation of required lining
in the chimney. My question is: who is re-
sponsible for paying for the lining of the
extension chimney? I have questioned a
number of lawyers and heating contrac-
tors about this matter, but none of them
have any experience with the situation or
any answers to my question.
—Feeling the Heat
A
“Assuming this property is
located in New York City,”
says Michael M. Kayam,
Esq., a partner at Lasser Law Group,
PLLC, a real estate law firm serving New
York City, Long Island, and Westches-
ter, “there is a statute which requires that
when a new building is being constructed
(or an existing building is being altered)
within 100 feet of a pre-existing build-
ing and will be taller than the top of the
chimney of the pre-existing building, it
is the responsibility of the owner of the
new (or altered) building to perform the
work to extend the height of the pre-ex-
Q&A
continued from page 7
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