New York's Cooperative and Condominium Community

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THE PRINTING HOUSE

What striking workers and even some residents of The Printing House call bullying by its developer and condo-board head, Myles Horn, continues in one of the more blatant examples of the haves vs. the have nots. Apartments there sell for as high as $6 million, with one four-bedroom unit now on sale for $14 million. So how does this square with non-union concierges and cleaners making as little as $12 an hour, asks The Amsterdam News  — which notes that longtime concierge Arturo Vergara has to buy his own health insurance for $800 a month.

Part of the problem, the paper reports, is that to run the staff, Horn hired  Planned Companies, a New Jersey firm with "a history of labor violations and documented ties to organized crime." And since most New York City luxury buildings pay staff a decent wage, the issue appears to be, for Horn, a matter of won't, not can't. "They want to make a name for themselves as innovative developers," SEIU Local 32BJ President Hector Figueroa said in a statement to the paper, "but instead, they are becoming symbols of the irresponsible 1 percent.”

Just weeks after the new Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ contract was renewed, rumblings of union-busting and unfair working conditions are thrusting handymen, porters and doormen back into the spotlight.

Recent news affecting co-op / condo buyers, sellers, boards and residents. This week, a Battery Park condo board wants two pit bulls that terrorized a Yorkie removed, while a banker jumps out a window when his Fifth Avenue co-op board wants his poodles ousted. Oh, and also because he's facing a huge tax bill. And speaking of ousted, a rental-building owner is the latest to use a private detective to evict an illegal hotelier. Plus, for condo and co-op boards, we've news of a disaster-grant bill two Congressmen will introduce tomorrow, a report on luxury co-ops and condos being undertaxed and a West Village condo with a truly creative idea — making your lobby smell upscale!

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