Category: Building Operations

Every year, like clockwork, Wayne Bellet, owner of Bellet Construction in Manhattan, says that he gets multiple requests for his company to scrape, prime and paint metal fire escapes. “It’s silly, because it’s so easy to do, and building m…

The experience of condo and co-op board members can often feel like a juggling act. There are varied interests in the community that want different things. There's legal counsel, financial advisers, and managers who try to offer the best pr…

Generally, board directors in condos and HOAs are volunteers who live in the building and want to assist in protecting their investment. Often, however, new board members enter positions without knowing the full scope of expected responsibi…

Recently, have you noticed that your managing agent has exchanged his old Toyota for a new Mercedes? Has he installed a new addition to his house? Has he appeared erratic...and returning from jaunts to Atlantic City all the time? If so, it …

While high-rise residential buildings put many people and families in very close proximity to one another, living side-by-side doesn’t automatically turn a group of people into a community—sometimes it even has the opposite effect.  Lives …

These days, as the summers get hotter, the storms get bigger and climate change is finding its way into more headlines than ever before, more attention is being paid to the environment and how the average citizen can do his or her part to s…

The process of producing energy for metropolitan area co-ops and condos has dramatically evolved in recent years, advancing to the point in which Lewis Kwit, the president of Energy Investment Systems, based in Manhattan, makes a relatively…

In the past, talking about garbage in New York City was left to disgruntled residents or comedians who were looking for something funny about the Big Apple to joke about.  In days gone by, when you opened something up, you simply threw awa…

Americans today are moving toward a more well-developed awareness of their environment, and what it takes to protect and preserve earth’s natural resources. City dwellers and suburbanites alike typically recycle paper, plastic, and glass st…

There are approximately 3 million New Yorkers living in New York City’s 6 hurricane evacuation zones. This fall, should a Class 1 hurricane (74 mph) make landfall New York City will order the evacuation of those living in the most flood pro…