QUEENS

... some Queens co-ops and condos are getting double or triple their usual water bills after automated meter readers go in, New York State Assemblyman Edward C. Braunstein demands tax fairness, and State Senator Tony Avella wants to know why New York City repairs sidewalks damaged by trees at all types of homes except co-ops and condos.

...crazy co-op neighbors, real estate license violations are now available online and condos are cool in Queens. And for co-op boards and condo associations, we've news of new tax-reform bills in Albany and more.

Read all the latest co-op / condo news for buyers, sellers and board members in Habitat's weekly Monday News Roundup. Also included: Permanent archival links. If a link ever goes dead, you'll still be able to read the backup at WebCitation.org.

... more on tax-fairness legislation introduced in Albany; whether no-smoking buildings affects apartment prices; a lobby renovation done right; and The Sheffield pools its resources. And for co-op and condo boards, an expert answer on who's responsible with bathtubs leak.

It's a nice place to visit. It's even nicer to live there. Silver Towers, in Kew Gardens, Queens, is a combination of 377 cooperative apartments, 40 condominium units containing lawyers' and doctors' offices, several commercial stores and a three-level garage. Because of the mixture of co-op housing and condo retail space, the property is known as a cond-op.

"Noise complaints are the bane of our existence," says Maryann Caputo, president of Tribor Management, which manages some three dozen co-ops and condos, mostly in Queens. "I'd rather have any problem other than a noise complaint."

They may be intractable, but noise complaints between neighbors are not insoluble — provided condo and co-op boards understand the nature of the quagmire they're getting into. And how to get out of it.

I took the criticisms to heart — and not just because I was president. I have lived in this cooperative for much of my life: After World War II, my father settled here in what was then known as the United Veterans Mutual Housing Company, run by New York State; it went private in 1990. Although I moved out when I was 17, I returned to live here some years later. After a successful career running a music / entertainment business, owning a video-production company and serving as a board member elsewhere, at the Floral Park co-op North Shore Towers, I think I know how to work with people and get things done.

At 249-37 61st Ave. and 252-65 63rd Ave., two garden apartment buildings in the sprawling 69-building, 1,398-unit Deepdale Gardens co-op in Northeast Queens, green space is abundant. Storage space, on the other hand – that recently got a boost in the form of 14 new steel lockers.

I’m a retired banker who worked at one company for 41 years. Clearview Gardens is a 1,788-unit garden apartment co-op complex located in northeastern Queens, situated over 88 acres. I was there before I was married and now I live here with my wife, son, and daughter. Altogether that spans 30-plus years.

Whither S4283?