From The Villager
a
New Penn South group hopes to wrest control from board
By: Albert Amateau
August 08, 2001
A group of Penn South residents, opposed to the co-op's long-reigning majority on the board of directors, rallied on July 22 and filled the air with complaints and vows to organize a united opposition slate to challenge the board of the co-op at the next election.
About 80 residents of the 10-building Chelsea co-op responded to the call by Robert Diario and Jim Graniela to join the new group, Penn South Independence, with a promise to consider all points of view and end what they say is the autocratic rule of a majority of the co-op's directors.
Complaints that the directors and managers of the co-op do not adequately inform residents and have a "we know better than you" attitude dominated the meeting, which was held three weeks after a fire in the Penn South power plant left the more than 4,000 residents without electricity for several hours.
"They didn't even acknowledge that there was a fire in the plant," said Simone Lageoles, one of several people at the meeting who said the Penn South decision more than 10 years ago to generate its own electricity was a mistake. In a written notice dated July 27 to cooperators that power would be interrupted again Aug. 2 to replace damaged equipment, it was acknowledged that a fire had occurred, she added.
However, Brendan Keany, manager of the Penn South complex, said later that a memo to co-op members issued on July 2 three days after the blackout, acknowledged that "a small fire," was responsible for the outage. He added that charges made at the July 22 meeting "had nothing to do with the facts."
The "no dogs" rule was near the top of the complaint list at the July 22 meeting. Residents said the rule was unenforceable and is violated by many residents.
Madalyn Margoles, who established www.pennsouthspeaks.org, an independent Web site, said she told the July 22 meeting that her handbills about the Web site have been banned from Penn South bulletin boards because the site is not sanctioned by the co-op board. "Meanwhile, there are all kinds of commercial notices on the bulletin boards," she said.
The construction of a luxury residential building at 360 W. 28th St. on property that Hirth Realty acquired from Church of the Holy Apostles adjacent to a large Penn South lawn area, was another sore point at the meeting. Residents denounced the Penn South board's granting permission to Hirth to use part of the co-op property adjacent to the site.
"It's ironic that the board of a co-op built by a labor union for moderate-income residents is allowing the developer of a luxury residence being built with non-union labor to use co-op property [as a construction staging area]," said Margoles, in regard to the Hirth project.
However, Keany said later that the co-op board granted the easement on the advice of counsel. "We allowed [Hirth] to use a small section of our property to fence off their excavation. If we didn't, it would mean that our kids could fall into the hole." Posts for the fence were first set too close to the excavation and collapsed, so the developer was allowed a few more feet to set the posts in solid ground, he said. "Hirth could have taken us to court if we didn't grant permission, and they could have won," Keany added.
Diario and Graciela insisted at the meeting that "this is not about us," and declared that Penn South Independence will include all shades of opinions. "We need to be cohesive, to form a group to endorse a slate that can," said Graciela. One-third of the Penn South 15-seat board is elected annually.
©The Villager 2003
