The Top 10 Co-op / Condo Quotes of 2012

"The volunteers saved us. They saved the day, they saved our building. Veterans flew in from all over the country — they set up shop, we went there for help and they sent an army of volunteers. People came from all over the city. ... We even had people laying over at JFK, coming by in rented cars saying, 'I've got four hours — how can I help?'"

—Shore View Condominiums board president Janie Simmons, on some of the help her hard-hit, Rockaway Beach building received after superstorm Sandy

"Allowing the superintendent’s brother to live in a basement storage room creates several potential liability issues.”

— Attorney Stephen M. Lasser, in an understatement

“I've always believed that if you want to smoke, you should have a right to do so. But it kills you."
— Mayor Michael Bloomberg, on his proposal to require residential buildings to develop and disclose a smoking policy

"Everybody knows that he had been harassed by the building management."

—Lia Pettigrew, a neighbor of actor Nick Santino, who committed suicide after alleged harassment over a legal, grandfathered dog in his no-pet condo

"I'm sorry the man is dead. But it has nothing to do with the pet policy."

—One Lincoln Plaza board member Marilyn Fireman

“Because digital offering plans will be a baseline component of e-filing, we decided to give the option to offer paper offering plans until that system is up and running."

— Spokeswoman for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, on New York State backing off from efforts to mandate digital co-op / condo offering plans

"The mayor is reluctant to give up the money generated by co-ops and condos, which the city has been using as a cash cow for many years."

—Warren Schreiber, board president, Bay Terrace Cooperative, Section 1, in response to co-ops and condos continuing to be taxed at commercial-property rates, rather than residential

"The mood of the room was anger at a process that has not been corrected."

—Bob Friedrich, co-head of the Presidents Co-op & Condo Council, referring to a meeting of 900 co-op / condo homeowners after reform efforts stalled

“Even after enormous public outcry, there is still no explanation behind many of the agency’s measurements."

—Controller John Liu, on an audit that found 10 percent of Queens co-ops were overvalued by the Department of Finance for tax purposes

“Homeowners and co-op owners in Queens are getting soaked by these outrageous water bills."

—City Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens), on extraordinary, anomalous spikes following the city's installation of automated meter readers.

“That kind of thing can’t be resolved on the telephone.”

—Department of Buildings representative, stonewalling over removal of an erroneous stop-work banner on its website ... which otherwise listed all violations resolved

"If a board is not transparent, if it doesn't circulate or post minutes or at least highlights of the minutes (or refuses to allow owners to read them), that's not a good sign. If the board tells you that you are only allowed to use one particular plumber, or contractor or electrician, think 'kickbacks.' And when a board president makes decisions on his or her own without a vote, that's a red flag."

—Private Investigator Harry Houck on ways to tell that a co-op / condo board may be corrupt

"Not interested, thank you." [click!]

—Anthony Balsamo, attorney for male prostitute Stephan Greving a.k.a. Dave Bruno, hanging up when asked about The Sheffield condominium's attempt to evict Greving for using his unit for business.

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