According to a well-worn truism, "You can't fight City Hall." In the old days, that was true—particularly when it came to public works projects. If the city wanted to do it, there was no one to say 'no,' except at the ballot box, when it w…
Charles Dickens once said, “It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers.” Ah Mr. Dickens speaks the truth. Lo…
Suffice to say, parking is a big deal in New York City. On any given day, you will find hoards of people swarming the densely populated city streets in hopes of getting a good parking spot—or any spot, for that matter. Tourists circle madl…
Olivia Pope, the main character on ABC’s Scandal,is a professional fixer. If you have a problem—any problem—she can fix it. Over the past two seasons plus, she’s rigged elections, covered up murders, employed professional hit men, exposed …
As jugglers of multiple and oftentimes complex tasks, property managers must be adept at mediating between board members and unit owners, as well as resolving all manner of maintenance and legal issues. To this end, property managers don’t…
Whether a building is a luxury high rise with an in-house movie theater, rooftop pool, and climate-controlled wine cellar or a much more modest low-rise or townhome community with a simple community room or gazebo, managing common amenitie…
Whether change is good or bad often depends on who you talk to; even a welcome change produces a certain level of stress and adjustment. Personal changes are challenging enough, but for co-op and condo residents, a board decision to change…
The New York City rules for heating are confusing. For example, from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., if the outdoor temperature is below 40 degrees, the indoor temperature must be at least 55 degrees. Taken literally, this means that if the outdoo…
Q If the majority of board members pass a motion, and the president or other members of the board decide to ignore the majority's vote and proceed in opposition to their directive, what recourse do the board members have? Is there anythin…
A snowy winter is a child's dream. What's more fun than the chance to build snowmen, dominate in snowball fights and of course, relish in the pure joy that is a snow day? Oh, to be young, blissful—and mostly ignorant of the havoc wreaked b…