JUNGLELAND and JERZY WARMANS ONLINE COMMENTS

From the Riverdale Press:

On 7/28/11 at 11:22 PM, JerzyWarman wrote:
To Adam Wisnieski:

You should have pointed out, to make at least a token pretense to balance the fetching bias of your article’s title, that Charles Zsebedics was kept as on-site manager of Park City Estates – one of the victims of Elm Management – for 10 years following his guilty plea because the board and residents of Park City wanted him to stay. This fact should say something to your readers. It did speak volumes to the Amalgamated Board.


To “colleen608”:

You ARE wrong. I don’t feel obliged to correct your ravings since your talent at foaming at the mouth is matchless – in both speed and quantity. You should at least have the courage to sign your true name to the vileness you spit into the nooks and crannies of the web instead of hiding behind multiple nicks and “Anonymous” postings in order to correspond copiously… with yourself. And learn how to spell – it’s ‘seamlessly.’ Your writings, on the other hand, are unseemly.


To jhauben:

“This hiring of a manager … shows the power of the Board of Directors” – YES! Article III Section 1 of Amalgamated Bylaws states: “The management of the business of the corporation shall be lodged in the Board of Directors.” And managing the business of the corporation encompasses the Board's authority to hire a manager. Your real complaint is with the Amalgamated Co-op's model of governance, which is determined and shaped by the Private Housing Finance Law, Business Corporation Law, our Bylaws, and a century-and-a-half-old tradition of cooperative democracy.


“Whoever is elected to the Board, the question is, how can the cooperators have power to oversee and influence the Board?” – Cooperators do have the power. You have observed several meetings of the Board and were given opportunity to address it with your concerns. Amalgamated has held many "Town Hall" meetings in which you have diligently and actively participated. You have a voice in our Co-op’s affairs and you have not been shy to raise it. But you do not have an individual right to “oversee” – much less override – the Board’s considered judgments and decisions.


Every May there is an Annual Shareholders' meeting where cooperators vote to elect members of the Board. If you really do not like what the Board does, collect petition signatures, become a candidate and run for election. You are eligible. You are capable. You do have the time. You merely need to convince a plurality of other cooperators who also vote that you would make a director who might better represent their desires and interests…



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This might be a shot in the dark here, but I am going to say that contrary to whatever visions of bleeding heart grandeur Jerzy Warman might have, hiring someone whose history includes the following snippet from Newsday "The defendants were charged with grand larceny, enterprise corruption, possession of stolen property, scheming to defraud, bribe receiving and falsifying business records. Morgenthau said more indictments are expected to be announced today. He said an earlier investigation has resulted in guilty pleas from 72 managing agents who engaged in similar kickback schemes" doesn't exactly sound like anyone on that Board is concerned with addressing the "interests" and "desires" of Shareholders.

Here's some more from the Newsday Story in June of 1999:

"Among those charged were Marvin Gold, 67, president of Marvin Gold Management, who was accused of collecting $1.5 million in kickbacks, and Arnold Zabinsky, 48, of Oyster Bay, president of Elm Management, who allegedly received $645,199 in kickbacks. Both were being arraigned late yesterday and could not be reached to comment. "It is a sad indictment of the industry; pretty brutal, pretty bad," said Richard Barry, president of Century Management Services, which acquired most of Elm Management's operations in December. "Unfortunately these people didn't learn last time," he added, referring to an ongoing investigation of the industry that began in 1994. Marvin Gold Management, which handled 21,000 apartments, was purchased late last year by Arco Management. "We are satisfified that Arco is an ethically and honestly run company," said Mary Shannon Little, the compliance monitor of the new company. She said five of those charged are still at the company. "They will be handled on a case-by-case basis on whether their employment with Arco will continue," she said. A number of the alleged ripoffs occurred in Queens. For example, an indictment charged that Angelo Scudiero, 64, of Whitestone, the building manager of Dayton Towers in Rockaway Beach, collected more than $1 million in kickbacks and shared the proceeds with others at Marvin Gold Managment. Dayton Towers was developed under the Mitchell-Lama program. Sheldon Lieberman, 53, a board member of Linden Hill 1 Coop Corp. in Flushing, was charged with taking more than $35,000 in kickbacks. In another Queens case, Mohamed El-Goarany, a board member at Park City 3 & 4 Apartments in Rego park, was charged with receiving a $36,000 kickback on a waterproofing contract that exceeded $1 million. Edwin Stover, 38, a resident of Park City for four years and its former chief of security, defended El-Goarany. "I do not believe Mohamed would embezzle money," he said. "I think he's a straight-up, stand-up guy . . . he is very professional."

A further investigation of the CCC (Coordinating Council of Cooperatives) is certainly warranted. Ed Yaker is the Co-Chairman of the CCC. Attorney for the Coop, Dean M. Roberts, is often a guest speaker at CCC events in which he addresses all parties present on the fine art of screwing Shareholders in every way possible. In 2010, Dean and Ed were selected to serve as ADVISORS for the Cooperative Development Foundation a not profit organization dedicated to "forming" and "funding" international Coops. Dean M. Roberts is also working on housing court reforms in his spare time, so Coop's can screw shareholders expeditiously. They keep it in the family. It is not difficult to surmise that there is a pool of skilled Managers rotated from one coop to the next in the CCC.

The claim that the Amalgamated received "50" resumes and out of those "50" resumes, Mr. Zsebedics was the best man for the job is PREPOSTEROUS. But thats just my own opinion. If you all are alright with a documented fraudster running your Coop good for you. I'm not stuck here, nor do I wish to stay here. You simply cannot make this sham of a Coop better no matter how hard you try. I'll be taking every last dime I invested in this dump and purchasing an actual HOME with my own walls and windows and floors and doors while the rest of you can deal with your Yakers and your Warmans and your Gillmans who are more than happy to help themselves to your money for their pet projects and lavish lifestyles.