Q Is it ethical for board members or immediate family members to choose to do a job that would normally be something the community would get together to do for free (i.e. spreading out mulch in the park, pressure-washing the gazebo or …
During the Second World War, the United States and its allies invested a fortune in research to understand why so many people in the Axis nations seemed willing to believe the unbelievable, do the undoable, and follow leaders who seemed…
With spring around the corner, many co-op and condo boards and HOAs start thinking about giving their landscaping design a fresh new look but they want to keep it within their budgets. How can this be accomplished? Some common sense qu…
Unless you live in the perfectly utopian condo or co-op (in which case please disclose where), conflict is virtually inevitable. Whether is it a noise complaint or larger issue of governance, disputes between neighbors and board member…
Today’s Harlem has a celebrity chef whipping up gourmet cornbread for President Barack Obama, a new Starwood Hotel featuring loft-style rooms geared toward an urban tech-savvy clientele, a newly opened 174,000-square-foot Target big-box…
According to the most recent U.S. Census in 2010, an estimated 2.5 million people—or roughly 13.5 percent—of New York’s population is over the age of 65. Older New Yorkers, especially in New York City live in longtime neighborhoods or i…
Construction and renovation projects are necessary, but often troublesome—especially when they're occurring next door. For many residents and building owners adjacent to an ongoing project, noise, debris and construction zones diminish …
For most people, few things are as stressful—or exciting—as buying a new home. That can be especially true for buyers and residential unit owners who sign up to be among the first residents in a newly renovated or constructed condo or c…
Last December, The William Beaver House, located at the heart of New York’s Financial District, sat with 209 of its 320 units unsold—units priced from $900,000 to well over $2 million each. Unfortunately, while sales had gone well for th…
In an urban environment, people can feel isolated, though they live close to each other. While high-rise residential buildings put families near one another, living close doesn’t turn a group of neighbors into a community and that’s und…