By Nathan Duke
More than 200 angry Beech Hills shareholders turned out last week for a raucous meeting at which they demanded answers after the Douglaston co-op's board of directors recently announced it would raise monthly maintenance costs.
Shareholders from the residential community, which encompasses more than 45 acres in Douglaston along the Horace Harding Expressway and Douglaston Parkway, said they were outraged following a hike in maintenance costs under which they would be forced to pay $21 more per room every month. The co-op's maintenance costs cover everything from gas, water and electricity to real estate taxes, said a board member who did not want to be identified.
Residents at the meeting, held at PS 221 in Douglaston, listed an unfinished door replacement project at the co-op as well as sanitation costs as some of their areas of concern.
“This place is filled with people who are stealing from us and stealing our time,” said shareholder Carol Wurcel, criticizing the board as well as the union responsible for the co-op's maintenance. “They are on the clock, but not working. Something's wrong in Denmark.”
Board members sat on a stage in the school's auditorium as residents registered their complaints from microphones to loud cheers from the standing room-only crowd. Many shareholders said they were upset about a project at the co-op that was supposed to replace doors at the co-op's 816 units, but had not been completed.
“We paid a tremendous amount for these doors,” said shareholder Naomi Nieman.
Patty Kleinberg, chairwoman of the co-op's board of directors, said the new doors would last longer than the ones previously installed at the residential community.
“For years, we received complaints that the doors were rotten,” she said. “[The new doors] are meant to last for 50 years and beyond.”
Other residents said they were upset about rising costs for sanitation services at Beech Hills. The community currently uses a private service to pick up trash and recyclables rather than using city sanitation services.
“My problem is that once you increase the cost of maintenance, it's not going to come off,” said a Beech Hills man who did not want to give his name. “It's not temporary. It's like when they raise the cost for oil, but will not decrease it if the cost of oil goes down.”
Other resident complaints included costs associated with the placing of new benches at the co-op, as well as budgeted money for snow cleanup following the mostly snowless 2008 winter.
A board member who did not want to be identified said the board had placed a one-month moratorium on raising the co-op's maintenance costs. She said there will also be further discussion on whether the co-op will continue to have privatized sanitation or use city services.
