Q I live in a condominium and we just had our annual election. Each year, new people run for the board, but the existing board members solicit proxies in order to remain on the board. As a result, five “old-timers” seem to make all the …

New York City is famous (perhaps infamous) for its residents' philosophy of minding their own business—dress as a giant chicken, sport a revolutionary haircut…nobody minds. This attitude is great if you're a young person expressing your …

Rego Park, Queens is a neighborhood that has seen many changes over the years. Once considered the suburbs, it is now a bustling community home to many families, a diverse population of immigrants from all over the world and a large numb…

Want to hear a phrase that will scare away just about any potential homeowner—"Sick Building Syndrome." "Sick building syndrome (SBS) can be summarized as all the situations associated within a building's ventilation system which leads…

When it comes to living in New York City, having a doorman in your condo or co-op is a luxury that almost everyone wishes they could have. A doorman has many functions, among them providing a sense of security and collecting packages for…

With winter kicking it up a notch, co-op and condo residents inevitably begin thinking about their heating systems. How can we save money in a time of soaring energy costs? What technology upgrades are available for city co-ops and condo…

When it comes to the things that people value most, personal safety and security rank right at the top of the list. That's especially true in a day and age filled with ongoing anxiety over everything from identity theft to car jackings t…

In 2004, a NewsChannel 4 helicopter corkscrewed and slammed onto the roof of a Brooklyn apartment building, shattering into pieces. In July 2006, Dr. Nicholas Bartha blew up his Upper East Side townhouse that he was about to lose in a divor…

It's a nightmare scenario. From the 1970s-era disaster movie The Towering Infernoto the very real nightmare of 9/11, the idea of being trapped by a raging fire hundreds of feet in the air is nothing anybody wants to contemplate. High-r…

As we sit in our buildings all over the city, we'd like to think that we're protected from emergencies by our sprinkler systems, electronic alarm systems and staff. However much we don't want to think about it, an emergency situation can ha…