Ronnette Gleizer was one of more than 20 residents of 2800 Coyle Street protesting the co-op board
in the building's lobby
Residents of a Sheepshead Bay co-op apartment building have turned a series of disagreements into an ugly, bitter, and personal fight pitting neighbor against neighbor.
The worst part is, it can happen in almost any co-op.
The entrance to 2800 Coyle Street sits about halfway up the block, between Emmons Avenue and Shore Parkway. Last Tuesday, January 26, all was quiet on the sleepy street. But inside, about 20 disgruntled residents gathered in the lobby donning protest signs and trading war stories about the building’s overseers.
They said they were there to oppose the “Tyranny and Corruption of the Majority Board of Directors,” specifically five members of the eight member board that they say run the gamut from incompetent, to corrupt, to an organized crime syndicate. (Technically the board has nine members, including one appointed by the sponsor, LeFrak organization, who remains neutral.)
“It’s just amazing the tactics that they use,” said Diane D’Agostino, a former vice president of the board. “It’s like I’m not even living in the United States of America. I have never been treated so horrendously as I have been by this board. It’s terrible.”
From a thick folder, D’Agostino produced documents that she and other residents say are a trail of fraud, embezzlement, extortion, and a criminal-level conspiracy to cover it all. Supporters of the minority board are chock full of anecdotes about harassment, nepotism, and waste.
There’s the girl who was allowed to have a dog if she signed a proxy vote in support of the majority board, and the man who was refused approval to buy his mother-in-law an apartment because he opposed them. There was the time an elderly blind woman with a dying son needed some documents approved but was told to first sign a similar proxy, and the dozens of affidavits from people who say they were tricked into recanting their support for a special meeting to dethrone the board when they needed repairs done to their apartment.
“It’s bullshit,” said Konstantin Zheleznyakov, the building’s treasurer at the time we spoke. “It’s just these people. Three hundred people live here, but this is twenty. I’ve done a very good job for this building. I saved money. Everything. The previous times were full of corruption.”
Upstairs in his apartment, with his daughter serving as translator, Zheleznyakov shows me a folder like D’Agostino and begins pouring through it. The board’s documents, he said, show that many of the things they are accused of happened before they were board members and are actually crimes of the previous board. In other cases it’s misunderstandings or results of mistakes in paperwork. And in most cases it’s outright lies, told by the minority group so they can regain control of the building.
To be fair, I can’t make heads or tails of the documents on either side. Their arguments sound eerily similar, their accusations near reflections, and their mutual distrust palpable.
Making matters worse, there are no oversight agencies for co-ops to look into complaints. Without verification, distrust festers and neighborly relations fail. In my discussions with people on both sides of the issue, actors on either side were described as idiots, animals, beasts, witches, ugly, fat, liars and on and on.
Residents have tried complaining to the Attorney General, the District Attorney, and even the FBI, but the allegations are either too small (FBI), out of their jurisdiction (Attorney General), or the office is understaffed to handle the complaints (District Attorney).
“They want a whole case laid out in front of them,” said Ronnette Gleizer. “But how can we make a case without access to the files?”
“There’s no one that can give an answer. There’s no one that really cares,” said former Board President Sophie Zimilevich.
Meanwhile, renters and disinterested shareholders are caught in the middle.
“It’s a pig sty, there are cockroaches, cigarette butts, and the hallways are never cleaned, the incinerators never cleaned,” said one renter who asked not to be named.
(Article continues after the photo)
About 60 residents turned out for a 4 hour meeting to depose the board
The protest was scheduled in advance of a special meeting called that week to displace the majority members of the board.
The meeting kicked off at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night, and before attendance was even taken residents were accusing each other of malfeasance.
It’s no surprise. Merely getting to that point was months in the making, as the minority group solicited signatures from 25 percent of shareholders (In co-ops, unit owners do not actually own the property. Instead they own shares in a corporation that owns the building.). During the process, members collecting signatures say they were followed by board members bent on intimidating residents out of signing. The police, they say, were called four times and the board members told to back off.
After residents pooled together $5,000 to hire an attorney, they collected signatures from 30 percent of shareholders. The minority group said they were denied the right to meet as the majority board – needed for a quorum in any meeting – would not attend. Ultimately a court order was required.
But the four-hour special meeting at the Golden Gate Inn did little to solve the problem. The same laws used to govern corporate structure apply to most New York City co-ops, a confusing mess of procedures and formulas called the Business Corporation Law.
In the end, though nearly 90 percent of outstanding shareholders were represented and the opposition group had a clear win of 54 percent of those votes, they only were able to remove one of the four members they targeted – the board’s treasurer, Zheleznyakovst. And until the next election, that seat will be filled by an appointment of the majority board, meaning there has been zero shift in the building’s power structure.
The confusion of the BCL angered many residents, who don’t understand why an archaic corporate document is applied to a residence, though none of the protective agencies are tasked with overseeing them.
“If we’re not governed by any government agency because we’re a private organization, why should the BCL override our black book?” asked D’Agostino. “Why would the BCL get involved and put a smokescreen over our election?”
Many at the special meeting also were plainly disillusioned – some in tears – wondering why the board members can still cling to power when the majority of residents want to see them tossed out.
But worse than the confusing legal mess (and a lawsuit has been promised by the opponents) is the damage the election has done to those who made their opinions known. D’Agostino said the board, which governs residential life for the building’s 157 units, is a vindictive group of people. Unhappy residents won’t be able to sell their property, will be hassled about repairs, and will be harassed and fined at every opportunity.
“I feel like Big Sister is watching,” she said in reference to the board’s president, Svetlana Marmer. “The ones that did come [to the meeting] came out in the cold, they supported us, they did all this work. And now I’ve put them in jeopardy. They made themselves sitting ducks.”
D’Agostino has already approached State Senator Carl Kruger and Councilman Lew Fidler and others about getting protection for the building’s residents, but it doesn’t appear much will be done.
Though the story is far from over, the hope is that 2800 Coyle Street will serve as an example to lawmakers about the lack of regulation and oversight from city and state authorities. With an inexperienced board of volunteers, mismanagement and abuse are hard to tell apart. Independent oversight would reestablish crucial lines of trust.
“The people are not bad,” said current minority board member Neil Thompson. “There are people doing funny stuff, but nobody’s showing us a document by the city or state that either’s documents are wrong or right. So it’s all politics. It’s people’s attitudes that run on their emotions and not their business sense.”
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Most coops have the same issues, I own 2 coops and have the same problems at both buildings. There should be regulations to control coop boards. People are being discriminated and picked upon just because they don't have a good relationship with one board member or the management company.
I wish the residents of Seacrest Towers, aka Sheepshead's giant white eyesores, would band together and do something about their management. Still with a handful of apartments left to renters, I had rented within the building after moving out of my folks' place (shareholders). It's lovely how the two buildings that face the highway are kept near pristine, yet the ones facing the sewage treatment plant look like slums and have a deplorable mouse infestation that I was told (when complaining, as a renter) was impossible because “their brother lived their 14 years ago and there was never a problem.”
Right.
They closed up the pool to make a sitting garden that nobody uses. They hire “security guards” that sit there and talk on the phone while people's tires get slashed (residents may remember the 22 some-odd cars on Bragg Street that got slashed a few years ago). Their maintenance men do quick repairs, patch things and seal over problems that need significant repair.
I'm ranting, but, nothing beats the two weeks my kitchen was filled with 2 inches of filthy water and my closets sustained significant water damage after their hot water heater exploded, and their appeasement to me was to take $16.75 off my rent.
Thanks for the Bounty towels, management. Go f*** yourselves.
My mother lives in this building. The stories I hear of how the maintenance money disappears and how the gas bill for the entire building is not paid for the year because the money went missing. And how the Russians that live in the building feel threatened
to vote against the current board members out of fear. The super is suppose to live in the building but instead he rents out his apartment and lives elsewhere. Collecting money that is not rightfully his. The building requires that he live on the property and be available 24/7. No one is able to enforce this. I hear stories about the board members renting out parking spots from the garage that don't belong to them and collecting the money for their pockets. The best one yet, there is a mortgage company that sold an non existant apartment and they and the board member involved collected the money. This non sense has been going on for years and years. These board members are stealing money from the residents and there seems to be no stopping them. Not too long ago, they hired a company to repair all the balconies and it was learned that they were involved with the board memebers and guess who pocketed some of the money paid…the board members. There has to be someone in power that can investigate this and put these people behind bars for a very long time.
Hey I have a suggestion for you guys.
Stop paying maintenance. First off IANAL, but I've read other cases where this was done. If services are not being provided then stop paying the maintenance fee. Put that money in an Escrow Account. When this finally goes to court you can show that you've been setting the money aside while the issue is in dispute and that you can pay the entire amount once everything is resolved.
Once the board doesn't have money coming in things will progress a bit faster.
My wife and I live in this building and the accusations against some of the board members are backed up by facts. Several of the boardmembers have fabricated co-op shares representing apts that do not exist and borrowed $1 million from Chase using these fictiscious apts as collateral. We've seen copies of the documents that back this up. One of these fictiscious apts. is listed as “For Sale” right now on Google.
The super no longer lives in the building, owns several homes bought on his “super's salary” and does construction work in the building for one of the boardmember's construction company when he's should be doing building repairs for us. This same boardmember's construction company also performed the renovations on our terraces which is a direct conflict of interest-the job was approved by the board's President who runs around the building bullying the less informed into signing proxies.
This corruption extends to relatives of the boardmembers and has been going on for years.
really!!! I even do not know that in your building selling soo luxury apartments for $ 1million. I think you soo stupid if you don't know such simple things that no one bank (in that case such big bank as Chase) never can't give approve for the mortgage on not existing property. If you bought you apartment you can know; before approving, three or five people from bank go to buying property to give appraisal.
YOU SEEMS LIKE YOU LIVE IN THAT BUILDING INSTEAD YOUR MOTHER. YOU VERY INFORMATIVE ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON. YOU CAN BE CAREFUL IN SUCH WORDS. YOU CAN SUDDENLY APPEAR “behind bars for a very long time”
YOU SEEMS LIKE YOU LIVE IN THAT BUILDING INSTEAD YOUR MOTHER. YOU VERY INFORMATIVE ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON. YOU CAN BE CAREFUL IN SUCH WORDS. YOU CAN SUDDENLY APPEAR “behind bars for a very long time”
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i'm sorry it not you, it is for previous person
If gas bill is not paid for the year, so, how your mother live without gas???
I hear stories about in this building lives a lot of crazy people who claim to court, to FBI, etc and never give response from such organizations because it is not true and they not have evidence about fake mortgage and etc. No one can't investigate because nothing to investigate and they very well know about it.
I also hear that a lot of people who live there fear that come previous board and that day will end of 2800 coyle street. As a result, your mother not even live without gas, but and without property. She will be live with you.
Most coops have the same issue, but not all coops has such people who continuously spreads lies about current board members, and turned many people against them to serious harm their reputation. These people is commits unethical acts towards the shareholders who live in the building.
FYI: The comments from Zelman, Vadim & Rosa all originated from the same IP address and likely are the same person. Please try to use the same “handle” or nickname for all your comments. Thank you.
kill them all
maybe it was the board taking turns from the same comp.
Is it possible that there are three people living at the same address, using the same computer, each one writing a comment? Just curious.
i am real estate agent and many my customers want live in this building,becouse maint. charge it lowes in this area,playground,gym,doorman,many parking on the street.Few shareholders like to be in charge (of couse money!!),any constraction,repair it board decide.Use to be board member sue the building to make money (it crazy) and i hope good luck for board memeber who did win last week…..
http://www.observer.com/2010/real-estate/bell-t...
First of all, I would seriously consider changing your profession because you do not seem very knowledgeable about the building. There is no more doorman because he was fired by the brainless board which increased shareholder's insurance payments. The gym should really be called a sauna as it is so hot in there and there are no windows. Also, by the way it costs money to buy a key to use the “gym”, and there is definitely not a lot of parking on the street, and if think there is- you are delusional. Secondly, the board did not win- the MAJORITY of the building voted to get them, the rest will be dealt with in court. The rest of what you wrote, I can not even respond to as it is not even English, but some random english words strung together to form no coherent thought.
I looked at an apartment in this building as an investor but decided not to make an offer. I just did not have a very good feeling about the building. Generally speaking I believe that at least someone on the board, perhaps the president, needs to be paid for their services. Being on a Coop board is a significant commitment and when there is compensation it's easier to hold the board members accountable. It also sounds to me from the observer perspective that the buillding has the wrong management company. Have the shareholders looked into changing the management company?
This building needs to start from scratch. There should be new board-all new faces without damaged reputation. What you have now is a continuation of the board of directors dating back to 2003: depleted reserve account, conflict of interest in terms of capital improvement contracts, discrimination, extortion. I hear that even now, president of the board approaches shareholders who did not sign for her trying to intimidate them. THIS IS WRONG! People should not be afraid. People have a right to choose. If the majority of the shareholders do not want these people on the board of directors, the board must listen! This is what happened at special meeting. shareholders made their choice to remove current board. Why are they still fighting to stay on? Use your imagination………………………………….
and this is why real estate agents/brokers get a bashed.
Very well put, you seem to know your facts, it's a pleasure to read what intellegent people write, especially those who are sensative to others and what we really are going through in this building. There is Facism and communisim properganda depicted by the Board, Shareholders are threatned on a continuous basis, repairs are not done for them if they don't sign a proxy for them, threatning legal letters go to shareholders threatning to take their shares away, irresponsible lawsuits are created by the Board against Shareholders. This Leon is a complete twit.
Alex, The Board is compensated plenty through their misdeeds, that's why we don't have money in the building. Bills have to be paid through the reserve account. When we refinanced our mortgage, the Board refused to refinance at a rate of 5.90, instead went with a friend that works for WAMU(Chase) for a rate of 6.175, costing the building $435.00 more a month on mortgage payments, getting points in back of the mortgage of almost 2million dollars is great compensation. Bringing in your Construction Company to renovate the building is another huge compensation wouldn't you say so? As for the Management Company we had 4 in two years. All Area was one they couldn't wait to be fired, the Board refused to work with them and gave them no information on the building. Arco Wentworth was fired before All Area came for improprieties, like shreading paper in the Board room with the Super and an ex Board member. Than there was Aris Properties, they were very good, they really wanted to help the building, but the Board refused to work with them and they quit within 3 months, now we have Cooper Square aka Marvin Gold aka Arco aka Wentworth aka Arco Wentwork aka Cooper Square, which signs off on their financials as Wentworth. What a Web the Board wove for us. It is a shame that we need help to oversee our building, such as hopefully Government intervention to protect us. The Attorney General whom approved of our bylaws and it is not abided by Board members. The President of our Board stated that there is no such thing as a Constitution, she is the Constitution she makes the laws in the building and all should adhere to her laws.
What you say is true, I have seen these documents and they are being investigated.The President of the Board is a tyrant, she goes around threatning Shareholders for not signing their proxy. She used our money to renovate her kitchen. She paid of two Shareholders $3,000 each to sign her proxy. She went with at 6.175 mortgage instead of a 5.90 because her friend was giving her a yield spread in back of the mortgage,resulting in the building paying $435.oo more a month in mortgage payments. The Board brought in their own company to do the construction on the building and for friends in the building that signed her proxy during election she did work in their apartments through the construction company passing it on the building with what is know as a change order. They put cheap railing on the balcony from China, that is already rusting and denting. They put it on horizontally instead of vertically so if a child climbs the railing they will go off the balcony. They were warned by three others sitting on the Board at the time railings were going up to rethink the structure of the railings but they wanted only to make decisions. The President of the Board along with the Attorney for the building whom the Board brought in without a Board meeting or minutes and is a friend extorted a proxy from a Shareholder. The womans son was in the hospital dying of cancer, she need a copy of her certificate of shares for legal purposes, the two told her to come to the attorneys office to sign documents, when she got there they told her they would only accomadate her if she signed a proxy for them for the shareholders election coming up ina few days, the woman being in duress was forced to sign the proxy, but came to the meeting and told everyone what they did to her and recanted her vote to the opposition. God Bless her. Her son died that night. This is what is running 2800 Coyle Street Owners Corp. For those idiots that stick up for these people, one day all this should happen to them and their families.
If you have a friend in the title Company (abstract) which they do, they all work together and they did. The certificate of Shares was illegal as you must know it is not hard to get false license, and other documents, well they also falseified the stock certificates for the bank. That is how it is done. They took out mortgages on apartments that don't exist, it was approved by the Board member, Vice President sitting on the Board at that time. He too is going to jail. All involved is now selling off their apartments, doesn't that tell you something.
The truth is the truth, nobody has any reason to go after anyone if they are doing the right thing. Why do you run from the truth? Why don't you want to see the facts? Many people in our building won't hear the truth they feel as long as they do for me, why should I care. Well, when the building goes into bankrupcy we will all pay, when the mortgages are called back that they took, we will all pay because it was an agent for the building whom approved this ponsey scheme on mortgages.
You got that right. It is the Board. I know they can't spell they speak like they spell. It is most indubitably them. It is a pleasure to know there is someone intellegent out there.
That's a thought!
Some have more serious issues than others, I agree that most power should be taken away from Board members. They should only be in charge of overseeing the Management Company that should be doing all the work that's what they are there for. Management should be paying bills, getting bids for construction, overseeing repairs for the building, internally and externally. They should collect arrears, they should enforce the rules, not Board members that hold a vendetta if a Shareholder does not vote them into office. There should also be an agency to act as a arbitrator/intermedia like the Council for New York Co-op's.
Hopefully, co-op's will be evaluated by a Government Agency and we can all live in peace and free from stress.
Yes Ray you are right. It is a mother (the she devil President), her son and her mongolia husband.
You first who go to jail for the lie. You don't not have evidence or any truthful proof. And you very well know about it. It is unbelievable!!!!! I think you have some kind of personal obsession for them. it seems like you just talk too much, but can't do nothing because it is a LIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
I do not know how to get false license, and other documents. I see you very well knowledgeable about how to make fake papers. It is interesting!!!!
Adding a government oversight committee might seem like a good idea, but i think the government is getting into areas that they shouldn't, that aside, i think we should thunder dome this crap…last man standing wins!
it would make things so much easier.
I think you are one of the board members trying to defend himself. You have all been caught. Face it. Times up.
Hi Ned,
What would seem to make it fair, if two current board members step down replaced by opposing side. So there will be 4 members from their side and 4 members from our side. This will give an even balance. A forensic audit should be done on the year building lost a large reserve fund and over 600,000 dollars of co-op owned apartments were sold with no account of that money. This is not from current board, why are they objecting? Slight change in board members, full financial disclosure and audit. I dont think this should be a big deal and a solution to make every person secure there investment is and has been being watched carefully and,no large maintenance increase or assessment will come. No big deal, whats the objection?
How can anyone say a hippopotamus is not cute when you look at a picture like this.
A hippopotamus weigh anywhere from 3,300 to 7,000 pounds. They are about the same size as a big submarine. This particular gigantic hippopotamus resides at the 2800 Coyle Street.
USA, Ned asked us to keep this post to come up with solutions and ideas. No more thow stones. lets try and get everyone to work together and agree. See my postd suggestions below. Maybe board wants to work for the betterment of building and will compromise. Well majority board what do you said willing to compromise?
Not USA -high heeled, high priced “interperter” and high priced “date”
Ned someone is using USA to write the dispicable message as written using Hippopotomus as an insult to someone. They are using my psudonym to insult an innocent person. I wish Neighboor and Peace would stop with their nasty, uneducated behavior towards people that want to have an intellegent meaningful exchange of words that could possibly change the structure of cooping and the way Board members behave towards their neigbors.
i AM TRYING
I have given suggestions how to make the building fair. There has not been response from the majority board to show they are willing to work to the betterment of the building. Its becomming more and more evident they are not a group that wants to work with anyone else. A secret socity. Now, what they do is use someone else's name to write negative comments. They have proved more of there tactics and cunningnes . But they claim because someone had a LEGAL lawsuit and won, she is dishonest? This is there objection to letting 2 people from the 51% of the building, who dont want them, on board. Again, it would be 4 and 4 a perfect balance. This is what we have to live with – for now.
how? Who is going to replace the person that was taken off? Why doesnt one more person step down and let the other side place 2 people. Wouldn't that be fair?
Marina, it is a pleasuer to communicate with someone that has intellegence. I agree with Ned that this blog should be soley for constructive ideas on how to make coop living a better place. So what we should do is not read the garbage that is written, ignor their comments and just communicate with the intellectual, kind spirted people. I own a coop at 2800 Coyle street and sublet it when I found out that our building has not profited since 2001. I also saw the Vice President and the Super running around the building doing many construction jobs that were illegal without permits for plumbing or electrical. This is dangerous, I was aware that many people had floods in the building because of these jobs, and was also afraid that fire could be caused and endanger lives. I was aware that neither the Super worked in the building at the job he was getting paid for, and many Shareholders complained of work not being done in their apartments as work orders. The Vice President had not worked at any legal business, he was only doing his business for himself in the building. I saw this myself, that he would run around the building with plaster all over himself and a red bandanner on his forehead. If this was not enough, we would get assessments to pay and fund their construction projects. So I decided to sublet. I also own a coop on Ocean Parkway, it is emaculatly clean, our lobby is beautiful newly renovated with ceramic tile, new intercom that speaks to you and shows who is ringing your bell. The exterior was newly renovated which looks asethically beautiful. Our maintenance was reduced twice, no assessments since I bought my apartment. The Shareholders get along well, because we are happy with the Board they are doing the right thing, they have experience in business and know about finances and how to manage our money. We are all happy with our living conditions, we don't even talk Board. This is the way your building is suppose to be like. It sounds like the Board at 2800 Coyle St. are opportunists. I believe that the whole Board should be replaced and that anyone that sat on the Board should never sit again, there has been to many losses of money, they seem to want too much control over peoples lives. Get rid of all of them, they must go as Ned suggests get a third party to come in and oversee your operation. You must do this, there must be some intervention on coop's there are too many nightmare stories, people pay high mortgage and maintenance for them to be subjected to this treatment. Keep going to council persons, senators, mayor and write stories about your heartaches and abuse of power. Keep writing, and tell your story all over the internet and coop magazines,neighborhood papers let Ned know what is happening so that he could write about it. Get help, seek help where ever you can. Good luck!
I will tell you how and who replaced the person that was taken off the Board. They voted off a Konstantin Zhelnyakova, one week later the majority Board members still had the majority, instead of replacing Konstantin with another Shareholder, they replaced him back to the Board. This shows blatant Collusion. This action was Unorthodox, politically incorrect and disregard for our legal system. Cooper Square Management aka Arco Wentworth was also involved in this decision knowingly, that this action should have been Prohibited, but they went along with it. The master mind was the attorney for the building Karl Bikhman, located on East 17th. St. Bklyn. He too knew of these actions and advised them every step of the way. God Help Us ALL!
I will tell you how and who replaced the person that was taken off the Board. They voted off a Konstantin Zhelnyakova, one week later the majority Board members still had the majority, instead of replacing Konstantin with another Shareholder, they replaced him back to the Board. This shows blatant Collusion. This action was Unorthodox, politically incorrect and disregard for our legal system. Cooper Square Management aka Arco Wentworth was also involved in this decision knowingly, that this action should have been Prohibited, but they went along with it. The master mind was the attorney for the building Karl Bikhman, located on East 17th. St. Bklyn. He too knew of these actions and advised them every step of the way. God Help Us ALL!
Sheepshead Bites wrote a note titled 2800 Coyle Street: Co-op Of Corruption. Read the full text here.!
How much greenhouse gases do humans emit compared to non-human nautural activities?
When did humans begin using greenhouse gases? Also, if humans never created greenhouse gases and today was just an extension of the dark ages, would the global warming trend of the past 100-200 years still be occurring?