October 2018

October 20, 2018 Hillman and Sedgwick Avenues

Concrete being poured on Saxon Ave. Oct 30, 2018

September 2018

This notice should have been more specific.

March of Dimes in financial trouble.

The March of Dimes told 37 researchers in July, 2018 that their funding was canceled retroactively to June 30. Here's the entire nasty story

August 2018

August 3, a rainy day	August 15, a hot summer day. Jerome Park Reservoir

July 2018

Facade repairs on Building 11 have begun

Facade repairs on Building 11 have begun

No notice was given of the change to the laundry card machine in the Tower 1 basement.

April - June 2018

I saw this on Facebook in the Independence Care System group

The hip healing goes on.  I found a useful exercise guide.   I am doing out patient physical therapy at Montefiore, Yoko has been my therapist.  She has been very helpful.  May 18, 2018 will be my last physical therapy session.  This has been a positive experience.

May 10, 2018 I had an appointment with Dr. Pope.  When I got to the office I saw James Raymond McCaughan, Physicians Assistant.  Supposedly Dr. Pope was there and saw the X-rays of my hip that were taken.  I was told I didn't need to make another appointment until the anniversary of my hip break.


April 29, 2018 I hope to learn soon the components of my implant.  May 2, 2018, it was manufactured by Zimmer US Inc.  I still don't know any details.  May 10, 2018 I now know it was a unipolar hemiarthroplasty and the implant is cemented.

Cost of hip replacement?  A recent study found prices ranged from $10,000 to $125,000

January - March 2018

On March 5, I was standing up putting on my pants. Left leg in, lifted right leg and then I fell to the left. I couldn't stop the fall. Crash! I broke the neck of the head of the femur. Dr. Pope at Wakefield Montefiore, the former Our Lady of Mercy, gave me a new ball. The operation was a left hip hemiarthroplasty. After Wakefield, I went to Burke Rehabilitation for 12 days. Here is a view from the cafeteria of Burke.

View of Burke from the Cafeteria

I'm on the mend.

November - December 2017

November 3, 2017 gas and electrical repairs on the corner of Sedgwick and Gouverneur, on the P.S. 95 side of the street.

Excellent article on nonconsensual physician shadowing

Public Citizen says it's time to ban olmesartan

August - October 2017

October 18, closeup of tree on Bldg 11.  I have since learned that there are three buildings with trees growing on them with root systems extending through the sites.  Years of neglect and now there is no simple, inexpensive way to handle things.

                                                   
September 16, 2017 foliage thriving.

August 30, 2017 foliage doing well

August 19, 2017 foliage on Building 11 is flourishing

Sealed at the end of the day

Saxon Ave. August 5, 2017

Here is a photo of the steel cladding on Tower 2, and the layer beneath.  The cladding is ugly.

July, 2017

Memorial to Olivia and Micha Gee

Pedro Cabezas

If you are in a crisis or have a family member or friend who needs help, you are not alone. Call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting 'Home' to 741741.
Pedro Cabezas taught Vinyasa Yoga at the Van Cortlandt Village Senior Center.  He committed suicide.  A memorial service was held for him on Wednesday March 23, 2016 at 3 pm, the usual time of his class.
His sister brought this poster.
He was a wonderful, gifted teacher.  He could help others, alas he could not help himself.

No notice, repairs before 9 a.m.

December 3, 2017 no progress made
June 3, 2017 no progress made
May 17, 2017 no progress made.
April 14, 2017 repairs contd.

Management may not have broken any rules
but when you are going to do noisy repairs
before 9 a.m. let people in the building know.
Dec 2, 2016

Water shutoff in the Towers cancelled, this was the notice

If you didn't enter the elevators in Tower 1 the afternoon of May 2, 2017 you would not have known the water shutoff was cancelled.  The co-op spent money to install a reverse 911 system, why wasn't it used?

Fire, Building 6

	Windows have been replaced

A quote from the Highlights of Meeting of the Board of Directors, December 21, 2016
Manager's Report - ....Mr. Zsebedics noted that eight fire-damaged and water damaged 
apartments in Building 6 have been restored.  Repairs on the apartment where the fire
originated will begin on December 27.  Mr. Zsebedics stressed that the fire did not originate in the wiring of Building 6....

February 27, 2017 plywood missing from top window, blue cover missing from fire escape window.  February 28, plywood back in window.

My comment - today is January 31, 2017, the plywood and blue polyester sheet on the top floor
is still in place.  Still no explanation of how the fire started.
February 3, 2017 - inner courtyard and Van Cortlandt Park South side still have plywood on top floor
Scroll down for pictures.

Scaffolding down

November 17, 2016 I was at a meeting this afternoon about the proposed carrying charge increase and I asked about the fire.  Mr. Zsebedics said the cause had not yet been determined.

This letter to the editor was published in the November 3, 2016 edition of the Riverdale Press.

I have been a resident of the Amalgamated Houses for thirty years.  I
read Ed Yaker's letter to the editor in the October 20, 2016 edition.
The beginning of the next to the last sentence states "I prefer trans-
parency to secrecy,"  His letter only dealt with procedures he felt
should be followed in contacting the manager and not with the issues
that have made some Park Reservoir residents very displeased with the
Amalgamated management.  I would like to know more about the discontents.
If Park Reservoir chooses to hire a different management company the
costs of the Amalgamated management will have to be reconsidered.  We
probably won't need an assistant manager and would have to dismiss
employees who staff the management office, security and service
departments.
Another unnecessary bit of secrecy concerns the fire that occurred
in Building 6, on September 26, 2016.  We have been given no
information on the fire.  On October 20, scaffolding and protective
curtains were hung on the Saxon Ave. side of the building.  It is
time we were told the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage.
Sincerely,
Lora Frisch


Note:  These are casual observations, there may be other ongoing work that I have not seen.
November 7, 2016 saw men working on Saxon Ave. side.
October 31, observed men working, November 1, saw no one on outside of building.

October 27, 2016 - raining but the red cable is plugged in, indicating work is going on inside.

 

View from Van Cortlandt Park S, Inner Courtyard

Saxon Avenue

Fire, again, September 26, 2016

Two days after the fire

Paylease Amalgamated Housing's new partner

If you can name which Amalgamated building this is, your processing fee is waived (I'm joking).

On doorknob March 1, 2017 evening

How to avoid paying an employee a living wage while maintaining the comfortable lifestyles of the Paylease principals in California.
The motto of Amalgamated is "For Service Not for Profit".  What is Paylease, a privately held San Diego Company getting paid for processing Amalgamated payments?

Senior Center lunch reservation notice

Amalgamated Houses wants another multi-million dollar loan

November 15,2016 The management and board of directors once again want to take out a multimillion dollar mortgage and increase carrying charges to pay for it.

July 22, 2013 The 30 million dollar loan, 20 million of which will be used to repair balconies, windows, the Gale Place garage.  The other ten million will be used to pay off debt.  Previous debt was at a higher interest rate than this loan.  The lender is the National Cooperative Bank.

Rain pouring from G line balcony

Closer View

Waiting for a special event at the senior center

Buses for special events don't arrive on time and then there still is a wait for stragglers.

When Medicare can Dis-Advantage you

If you have an individual policy with a health insurance company when you become medicare eligible you can be added to a Medicare Advantage program that may not suit your needs.  You have sixty days to opt out, but in the deluge of insurance mail you receive you may miss the notification.
Medicare Disadvantage