The Value of Pitching In, the Simplest Cost-Saving Plan of All
572 Sterling Place, Brooklyn
July 14, 2014 — The board at 572 Sterling Place deals with challenges every day, but its members know how to face them. The key, they say, is that instead of picking up the phone and calling a manager when problems and challenges arise, they're willing to roll up their sleeves and take on the task themselves. Or, as board vice president Ralph Pinero puts it: "Nowadays, if you want a place to live that's decent and affordable, you're going to have to get your hands dirty."
"Sometimes it gets pretty hectic, especially when we're doing a major capital improvement," says board president Mauricio Guerrero. "And there are always surprises. Last Saturday, I went down to the basement to check on things and noticed water dripping out of the water heater. It was a lot of work getting a plumber, finding a new water heater, removing the old one, and installing the new one. By Wednesday, we had it fixed, and people were without hot water for only about five hours. That was a bump in the road. It doesn't happen all that often. Generally, things run pretty smoothly because we don't let things slide."
Alert About Arrears
The board is also strict about collecting maintenance and arrears. "After a shareholder fails to pay maintenance for a second month, we start legal action," Guerrero says. "We don't want it to drag on for months and months, because that's bad for the building." Only once in his 10 years there did the board evict a shareholder for failure to pay maintenance.
And just last winter, when Arctic-grade snowstorms raked the city, board members and shareholder volunteers pitched in to shovel the sidewalks. "It became routine," Pinero says. "We just grabbed the shovels and did it, and it didn't cost anything."
(l. to r.) Ralph Pinero, Claudia Clark, Brenda Reed, Mauricio Guerrero
Photo by Jennifer Wu
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