CHAOCblog

Please remember to attend the RC meeting in the community room of 325.  Entrance is on Waverly and Lafayette.  The meeting opens at 7pm with a speaker from the local community.  I anticipate the meeting will move into CHAOC specific topics around 7:45. 

For all the ideas and suggestions our residents have, remember… If you aren’t part of the solution, you are part of the problem!

Unfortunately I haven’t been home for the past few Halloweens so am unsure if the kids in the building trick-or-treat to residents.  Where I grew up the town had designated hours for the kids and people knew to be home.  Does anyone know if something like this would work well here?

I also heard about the Children’s Halloween Walk in Clinton Hill (see the Society for Clinton Hill site for more details) and was thinking if there is a way our co-op which is such a large part of the community could participate.  Its too late for this year, but how about a display and contest of carved pumpkins?  They can be lined up along the walkways in the south campus since the public can enter.  Maybe I just miss having a good reason to carve a pumpkin…

When I first moved in I wanted to be part of the co-op’s “landscaping committee”. Now, I don’t know if this actually existed and sadly, after getting settled in, I didn’t pursue finding out.  Last spring as the new sidewalks dried, the efforts on updating our landscaping kicked in.  Being the daughter of a parents who own a nursery (plants, not kids!), I know a little about shrubs and flowers so when I saw the way some of the shrubs were being planted, I was a bit critical. But, being that I was apathetic to being part of the decision committee, I felt that I had little justification to complain.  Most of the plants have rooted and thanks to some neighborly tips the watering has been improved and effective.  Honestly, I think the campus is a vast improvement from what it looked like when I first moved in.  I still don’t know who is on or how to join this infamous Landscaping committee (I have yet to even ask), but I just want to say thanks – the yard looks good.

Please print and bulletin post and/or distribute the attached flier in your building.  To avoid duplicate efforts, please make a comment against this blog post with the building(s) that you volunteer to do this for.

Thank you!

(To print image, first click thumbnail to make full screen. I can also email you the original JPEG if you send a request to 355rez@gmail.com)

FACTS

1. All shareholder voting power is defaulted to Board President, John Dew, for every shareholder who does not either a) show up to vote for their self, or b) does not appoint someone else to vote on their behalf.

2. The Board consists of nine (9) Resident Directors and eight (8) representatives of the “Sponsor” (Clinton Hill Equities LLC, ie., Francis Greenburger) and “Holders of Unsold Shares” (ie., CH Equities Corp & TC Equities Holdings Corp)

3.  Elections to the Board depend on a Quorum which requires representation of over 50% of all shares. It is currently unclear whether this is 50% of all shareholder owned shares, or 50% of total shares (including unsold and those held by leasing companies).

4. There are 1,213 apartments at CHAOC.  As of July 2007, 238 of these apartments (20% of total shares) were owned by the “Sponsor” and “Holders of Unsold Shares”, and 100 (8%) of the total are owned by B.Y. Equities and B.B.Y. Enterprises Inc.

5. Quorum would require 438 apartments or ~97,416 shares (based on 2007 figures) represented by present voters at the Annual Shareholder Meeting. Those present can also represent by proxy.

GOOD NEWS

The Annual Meeting of Shareholders is coming up in November (date currently unknown) which means we have time to collect Proxy Ballots from our neighbors.   As concerned and interested shareholders, I encourage each person to have your neighbors empower you to vote on their behalf through the Proxy Ballot form if they will not attend the meeting (found in packet from last Oct 30, 2007 or to be received in the next packet which should be received in the next week or so). 

Please consider running for the Board! Only 9 shareholders can be elected and with Quorum, the shareholders are empowed to decide who these 9 are.  To apply you must submit a letter and resume to the management office your application.  Check out the ones submitted last year in your Oct 30th packet. I also highly suggest you email me your application and I will post it for others to read.

In order to ensure you are not collecting proxy ballots from renters, the unsold apartments are listed in the 9th amendment to the restated offering plan. I have not yet received (or can’t find!) the 10th ammendment.  These appear to be published annually around July/August so please let me know if you have the 10th amendment already.

The next R.C. meeting is Oct 30th in building 325. I assume it starts at 7pm.

Aviator Badge

Thanks to my uncle, a Navy-retiree, I am uncovering a little of the history behind our building.  Many of you may already know this, but if not hopefully you’ll find it as interesting as I do.

Navy badges are earned after qualifying in a rating system – half earned through schooling, half through demonstrating skills and knowledge.  The badges are most often worn on the left breast.  Or, in the case of our buildings, on the awning above the entrance way.

Submarine Dolphins

The winged anchor, shield and line on buildings 185, 205, 210, 361 & 325 is the US Navy Aviator Badge.  The bearers are pilots qualified in Aviation Warfare.

The dolphin insignia around a submarine image on buildings 193, 201, 345 & 365 identifies those qualified in Submarine Warfare.  The symbol is the same for an Officer or an Enlisted.

Aviation Ordnanceman

On buildings 209 & 355, find the winged flaming spherical shell of the Aviation Ordnanceman (AO) badge.  AOs are the people responsible for inspecting, maintaining, repairing, stowing, assembling and loading aircraft armament (a.k.a. bombs, missiles, torpedoes and mines) and ordnance (ie., weapon) systems.  I found a great webpage with history and photos (http://www.aaoweb.org/AAO/History/)

Gunnery

The last navy badge to appear on the CHAOC buildings is the enclosed deck gun on building 345.  I believe this is a discontinued rate and can’t find more information.

Good news! The contract with the laundry service provider is up in January.  The Co-op is hoping to get a new agreement with a company that can install new, card operated machines.  As for the cleanliness of the space… residents brought it to management and board attention that this maintenance is equally important.

“Clinton Hill Apartments, located in Brooklyn, NY is installing twelve Capstone Micro Turbines to supply electricity needs and domestic hot-water heating. This project is expected to provide a peak load reduction of 528 kW and save Clinton Hill Apartments $217,000 per year in energy costs.”

Source: NYSERDA 2002 briefing paper; NYSERDA publications http://www.nyserda.org/programs/pdfs/Clinton%20Hill%20Apartments%20CHP.pdf

In June 2006, CHAOC “completed the largest installation of advanced microturbine cogenerating units serving a residential complex. Fueled by clean-burning natural gas, the 13 units generate 600 kilowatts of electricity as well as hot water for 7 of the 12 buildings. These dual-purpose units will reduce Clinton Hill’s energy usage and costs by 40 percent and also enable the summer shutdown of four nearly 60-year-old heavy residual oil burners used to produce hot water.”

Source: http://www.cleanaircommunities.org/projects/clintonhill.html

According to the CHAOC Financial Statement, Mar 31, 2008, Note 11, p. 14 (Jacobs & Schwartz, CPA), “This new equipment has had a dramatic effect on the efficiency of utility use and consumption at the Cooperative. The Cooperative has been able to secure grants [$1.4M] from NYSERDA and Clean Air Communities.”

I think it is amazing that we live in a community that has embraced this new technology, but it would be nice to see some 5 year historic energy utilization reports to really validate the projected benefits…