Wild Animal Rescue on Roosevelt Island - Beaver Update, Unhappy Ending

Groundhog Image from ozoni11

An earlier post reporting on a loose beaver roaming around the Motorgate Garage led fellow blogger Roosevelt Island 360 to speculate that:

I wonder if the beaver found by the NYPD while patrolling the East River in prep for the Pope’s visit to the UN was the same animal? We don’t get too many beaver sightings around here so perhaps it was the same animal. Either way we are sorry to hear of the beaver’s passing.

It turns out that what some thought was a beaver wandering Motorgate turned out to be a sick ground hog. According to the March 30-31 Public Safety Report:

Wild Animal Rescue- Adj 684 Main Street a ground hog was taken to R.I. Resident after ASPCA and Animal Care and control could not pick it up. The resident is licensed through NYS for Wild Life rehabilitation.

I asked Public Safety Director Keith Guerra about the Roosevelt Island "Wild Animal Rescue" and if there were any other wild animals in the apartment of the tenant with the Wild Life rehabilitation license, recalling an incident several years ago where a tiger was being kept in a Manhattan apartment. Mr. Guerra responded:

It was a sick ground hog that was reported stumbling around. It actually died, from what one of my officers told me. To my knowledge, the tenant with the Wild life rehabilitation license does not have wild animals in her apartment.

For an incredible view of a life and death wild life battle between lions, buffaloes and a crocodile take a look at the Battle at Kruger in South Africa. The video is a bit longer than eight minutes but well worth it.

You Tube video of Battle at Kruger

In other East River wild animal news, earlier this spring a harbor seal was found lounging on the rocks in Red Hook. Not known if it made its way to Roosevelt Island.

You Tube video of Red Hook Harbor Seal

Beaver Loose at Motorgate Garage

You Tube video of Molson Attack Beaver

I kid you not on this. According to the 3/23-24 24 hour Roosevelt Island Public Safety Report there is a beaver on the loose in the Motorgate Parking Garage.

Loose Animal-At 688 Main Street (Motorgate Garage) PSD receive a report of a loose beaver. Search made with negative results.

There have been other public safety incidents at the Motorgate Parking garage during the past few days. From the Roosevelt Island 24 hour Public Safety report.

0700 hrs Saturday March 22,2008 until 0700 Sunday March 23,2008:

Criminal Mischief: In motorgate- vehicle window shattered; NYPD took
report.

Hazardous Condition: Light out on level 6C and 6D; motorgate attendant
notified.

Unsecured Vehicle: Level 5A - rear door open; Motorgate attendant
notified.

0700 hrs. Friday March 21st 2008 thru 0700 hrs. Saturday March 22nd
2008:

Criminal Mischief - Petit Larceny - Motorgate property taken from
vehicle.

Unsecured Vehicle - Window left open in Motorgate.

With parking rates scheduled to increase soon, I would hope that the Motorgate operators will spend some money improving security in their facility. It would also help if people kept their car doors and windows closed and locked.

Roosevelt Island Elected Officials Express Concern Over Westview Rent Increases To DHCR Commissioner - Is Conversion Agreement Jeopardized?

Image of Westview From Corrections History

Received a copy of the following letter from a Coalition of East Side Elected Officials representing Roosevelt Island to Deborah Van Amerongen, the Commissioner of NY State's Department of Housing & Community Renewal (DHCR) regarding the ongoing Budget Rent Determination at Roosevelt Island's Westview building. The East Side Coalition is composed of Assembly Member Micah Kellner, Borough President Scott Stringer, State Senator Jose Serrano and Council Member Jessica Lappin.

COALITION OF EAST SIDE ELECTED OFFICIALS
C/O ASSEMBLY MEMBER MICAH Z. KELLNER
315 EAST 65TH STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10065

July 21, 2009

Hon. Deborah VanAmerongen
Commissioner
NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal
25 Beaver Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10004

Dear Commissioner VanAmerongen:

We are writing to express our concerns with respect to the ongoing budget rent determination (“BRD”) at 595 Main Street and 625 Main Street on Roosevelt Island (“Westview”). We are informed that, in the year since the August 2008 hearing relating to the Westview BRD, the building’s owners have abandoned their initial request for an 88% rent increase, instead insisting that an increase of “only” 12-16% would be necessary. This dramatic shift in the owners’ position gives rise to troubling questions about whether the owners are using the BRD process to manipulate ongoing negotiations with tenants over a conversion agreement. Additionally, Westview Task Force, Inc. (“WTI”), through its advisor Chad A. Marlow, has alleged that DHCR may be in substantial violation of the statutes governing the BRD process.

As you are aware, in 2006 WTI negotiated with Westview’s owners a conversion agreement designed to fund a building rehabilitation while preserving affordability for residents. However, the resulting letter of intent was negated in 2007 by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation’s refusal to grant Westview a ground lease extension. In April 2008 the owners served their petition for an 88% increase in rent.

As we have previously expressed in testimony and in other communications with you, we believe that granting any significant rent increase at Westview would be destructive of the tenants’ efforts to negotiate a fair and reasonable conversion agreement with the owners, as well as of DHCR’s own stated goal of preserving affordability in the building. Moreover, we are concerned that the owners’ initial request for an extraordinarily high rent increase may have been intended to prejudice these ongoing negotiations. We believe that any increase would be unjustified, given the owners’ failure to implement energy efficiency measures in the building, to refinance the building’s mortgage, or to make proper use of funds raised by previous rent increases. For instance, a 2003 increase earmarked $752,000 for improvements to Westview’s elevators, yet residents report that the building’s elevators have not been modernized and the owners have not accounted for the money intended for this purpose. While there is no doubt that funds will be required for building rehabilitation, it would be inappropriate and unfair to place this burden on the tenants in the form of a rent increase—rather, the owners should fund the rehabilitation out of the profits they generate from any buyout agreement.

Finally, we are in receipt of a letter from Chad A. Marlow, who is advising WTI, to Assistant Commissioner Richard McCurnin, observing that any rent determination with respect to the first budget year of the BRD should be made using actual data now available for that period, as opposed to the projected data provided at the beginning of the BRD process. Mr. Marlow also alleges that DHCR is in violation of statutes governing the BRD process, in particular with regard to the requirements that the Division undertake a review of the housing company’s second-year budget 165 days prior to the end of the first year of the budget cycle (in this case, on January 16, 2009), and that it then pursue one of three allowable courses of action with respect to the BRD.

In light of the drastically different economic situation since the 2008 hearing, as well as the points raised by Mr. Marlow, which cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Westview BRD process, and the facts of this case, we believe that DHCR should terminate the current BRD without awarding Westview’s owners an unjustifiable rent increase, and start the process anew.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.


Very truly yours,

Micah Z. Kellner Scott M. Stringer José M. Serrano Jessica S. Lappin
Assembly Member Borough President State Senator Council Member

cc: Assistant Commissioner Richard McCurnin, DHCR
Opher Pail, Westview Taskforce Inc.
Johan Marfey, Westview Taskforce Inc.
Chad A. Marlow, The Public Advocacy Group LLC
Stephen H. Shane, RIOC

Is Roosevelt Island's Southtown Riverwalk Project Complying With Affordable Housing Requirements?

Image from NY Times

Below is joint letter from Roosevelt Island elected officials to Deborah VanAmerongen, Chair of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation and Commissioner of New York State Department of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR). In light of NYU's $43 million purchase for faculty housing of 58 Riverwalk condo units, the letter urges the Spitzer administration and RIOC to comply with the Roosevelt Island General Development Plan by ensuring an affordable housing component to the 9 Hudson/Related Southown Riverwalk buildings. To date, the extent of the required 40% affordable housing component included in the 4 existing and 2 almost completed buildings remains unclear.

Here is an advertisement for 25 affordable rental units out of a total of 221 at Riverwalk's Building 4. I am not sure if this is accurate, but I recall being told that the Weill-Cornell Medical College and Memorial Sloan Kettering units in Buildings 1 and 2 being used for staff housing constitutes "affordable housing".

The letter is signed by Congress Member Maloney, Assembly Member Kellner, State Senator Serrano, Manhattan Borough President Stringer and Council Member Lappin.

January 29, 2008

Deborah VanAmerongen
Chair, Board of Directors
Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation
25 Beaver Street
New York, NY 10004


Dear Chair VanAmerongen:

Together we have worked hard to preserve affordability in Northtown, and we are pleased that the new administration appreciates the role of the General Development Plan (GDP) as Roosevelt Island’s blueprint, a document that cannot be ignored or amended at a whim.

We appreciate the Governor’s commitment to ensuring 100 years of affordability on Roosevelt Island, and we take this opportunity to remind you that this goal must encompass not just Northtown but also Southtown, and that the latter remains just as subject to the mandates of the GDP as the former.

In light of the recent news that New York University has agreed to purchase 58 apartments in Riverwalk Landing for faculty residences, there has been a renewed focus on Southtown’s place in the fabric of the Roosevelt Island community. We believe it is important that the administration and RIOC ensure that new housing in Southtown includes truly affordable units as required by the GDP.

Roosevelt Island’s amended General Development Plan mandates that at least 10-20% of housing in Southtown must be reserved for families whose incomes do not exceed 50% of the prevailing median income in the New York City metropolitan area, while at least 30-40% must be reserved for families whose incomes do not exceed 120 % of the area’s prevailing median income. With four of Southtown’s nine buildings completed, and the fifth and sixth buildings having just been topped off, it is vital that RIOC and DHCR be prepared to ensure that this 40% benchmark for affordability is upheld. What is being done to ensure that Hudson-Related upholds the terms of the GDP and that when all nine buildings are completed, 40% of their units are affordable and occupied by low- and middle-income residents?

Preservation and expansion of affordable housing is at the core of the State’s role in Roosevelt Island. This administration has demonstrated its commitment to this principle with respect to Northtown. It must act now to show that it is equally committed to guaranteeing affordability for Southtown.

We ask that you reply to Assembly Member Kellner at 315 East 65th Street, New York, NY 10065.

Very truly yours,

Carolyn B. Maloney Scott M. Stringer José M. Serrano
Member of Congress Manhattan Borough President State Senator

Micah Z. Kellner Jessica S. Lappin
Assembly Member Council Member

cc: Steve Shane, President, Roosevelt Island Operation Corporation
David Kramer, Hudson-Related
James Clancy, Office of the Governor
Mathew Katz, President, Roosevelt Island Residents Association

Here is May 2007 Main Street WIRE interview with VanAmerongen in which she discusses the issue of affordable housing on Roosevelt Island.

UPDATE 4:51 - 1/10 Main Street Wire interview with VanAmerongen on Roosevelt Island Mitchell-Lama affordable housing:

On affordable housing in New York City as a whole: "It demands a greater level of creativity and commitment. But we are doing new affordable housing within the five boroughs every year... Almost everything we have done required weaving together various sources of financing. Affordable housing in New York City is difficult because of the lack of available land, the high cost of construction, and a number of other factors that make it more complicated. But it is something we are definitely committed to." She said she would look into whether there might be a way to use the $20 million mortgage pay-off Rivercross made to ESDC over a year ago for affordable housing on Roosevelt Island.

UPDATE 2/5 - If you wish to participate in a new poll on the topic of Roosevelt Island housing, here is the question: Should there be more subsidized "affordable housing" or "market rate" housing on Roosevelt Island"? The poll is located on right column page below Roosevelt Island Governing document links

At least No Roosevelt Islander Run Over By Own Car But More Public Safety Incidents at Motorgate Garage

You Tube video of parking garage moron

There were several more public safety incidents at the Motorgate Parking garage last week. From the Roosevelt Island 24 hour Public Safety Incident reports:

3/29/08-700 AM to 3/30/08-700 AM

Petit Larceny- At 688 Main Street (Motorgate Garage) A vehicle parked that had the hatch lock previously damaged. Unknown subject gained entry and took an EZ pass and a transistor radio.

NYPD refused.

3/28/08-077 AM to 3/29/08-700 AM Petit Larceny

At 688 Main Street (Motorgate Garage) a vehicle's window was broken and a bag was taken. NYPD responded and prepared a report. PSD conducted a search for the subject yielded negative results.

Criminal Mischief- At 688 main street (Motorgate Garage) a Vehicle's window was broken. PSD responded conducted a search for the subject with negative results. Complainant will go to the 114 th Precinct and file a report.

Found Property- At 688 Main Street (Motorgate Garage) a black bag was turned over to the PSD where it was secured.

0700 hrs 03/25/08 - 0700 hrs 03/26/08
Unsecured vehicle - Officer observed unsecured vehicle in garage.
Owner notified and corrected condition.

3/23/08-700 AM to 3/24/08-700 AM
Loose Animal-At 688 Main Street (Motorgate Garage) PSD receive a report
of a loose beaver. Search made with negative results.

You can help by remembering to keep your car doors, windows and trunks locked. Also, don't follow any parking or garage safety tips from people like the guy in the video who get run over by their own car.

The full Roosevelt Island Public Safety Incident reports from January 19 to date are here. For comparison purposes here is the Police Blotter for Brooklyn neighborhoods including Park Slope, Williamsburg, Fort Greene and Brooklyn Heights from The Brooklyn Paper.

Roosevelt Island's Mtchell Lama Westview Building Residents & Politicians Still Fighting Tomorrow's Rent Hike But DHCR Holding Firm

Image of Westview Entrance

Below is a copy of letter from the Coalition of East Side Elected Officials representing Roosevelt Island to Deborah Van Amerongen, the Commissioner of NY State's Department of Housing & Community Renewal (DHCR) regarding the ongoing Budget Rent Determination at Roosevelt Island's Westview building. The East Side Coalition is composed of Assembly Member Micah Kellner, Borough President Scott Stringer, State Senator Jose Serrano, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Council Member Jessica Lappin.

COALITION OF EAST SIDE ELECTED OFFICIALS
C/O ASSEMBLY MEMBER MICAH Z. KELLNER
315 EAST 65TH STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10065

August 28, 2009

Hon. Deborah VanAmerongen
Commissioner
NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal
25 Beaver Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10004

Dear Commissioner VanAmerongen:

In light of information that has recently come to our attention, we believe that DHCR should revisit and adjust the latest Rent Order issued by the Division at 595 Main Street and 625 Main Street on Roosevelt Island (“Westview”). As you are aware, the Order, issued on July 29, 2009, authorized a 14.9% rent increase at Westview, effective September 1.

We are concerned that there may be material errors in the Division’s final budget for Westview, which warrant a revision of the Rent Order. In a letter to DHCR dated August 21, Westview Task Force, Inc. (“WTI”) identified a number of such possible errors, including:
• DHCR’s deviation from the requirement to base the rent determination on a forward biennial budget;
• DHCR’s failure to require the Housing Company to repay lost income from illegal warehousing;
• Unsupportable cost projections which represent dramatic and inadequately explained increases over the prior year’s actual costs, including a 171% increase in administrative offices expenses, and a 30% increase in water and sewer expenses—increases which are particularly surprising in light of the significant 0.6% drop in the New York City metropolitan area Consumer Price Index from 2008-09; and
• Energy cost estimates that are equally out of step with market reality—projecting a 0.2% decrease in electricity expenses despite the fact that spot market prices for gas and electricity have fallen by 40%.

WTI’s letter also notes that NYCRR § 1728-1.2(6) requires that the budget projections upon which any rent determination is based should take into account the economic impact on tenants of a rent increase. We agree with WTI’s emphasis on the importance of this provision—as we have repeatedly communicated to you, the budget/rent determination process at Westview must not be viewed in isolation from the broader context to which it is connected, especially the severe economic downturn which disproportionately affects Westview’s low-income tenants.

We are in receipt of Assistant Commissioner Richmond McCurnin’s response to WTI’s August 21 letter, and understand that DHCR believes that no adjustments to the Rent Order are necessary. However, WTI has raised a number of legitimate questions about the accuracy of DHCR’s final budget for Westview, which warrant further review, and we believe that DHCR should reexamine the budget and adjust the Rent Order accordingly. As the rent increase is scheduled to take effect on September 1, time is short and we urge DHCR to act quickly.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.


Very truly yours,

Micah Z. Kellner Carolyn B. Maloney Scott M. Stringer
Assembly Member Congress Member Manhattan Borough President

José M. Serrano Jessica S. Lappin
State Senator Council Member

cc: Assistant Commissioner Richmond McCurnin, DHCR
Opher Pail, Westview Taskforce Inc.
Johan Marfey, Westview Taskforce Inc.
Chad A. Marlow, The Public Advocacy Group LLC
Stephen H. Shane, RIOC

Below is the August 21 letter from the Westview Task Force to the DHCR.

Westviewrent increase Errors


And the response from the DHCR rejecting the Westview Task Force's request for reconsidering the rent hike.

DHCR Response to WTI


Although nobody likes to pay a rent hike, particularly if it is not legitimately determined, at least the Westview rent increase is not as high as the 93% rent hike for tenants at East New York's Linden Plaza Mitchell Lama building complex that was reported in the 8/27 Daily News.