River View is OUR Community

(by Brittny K.)

I grew up in a 24-unit building on 143rd Street.  My mother could count on at least four of my neighbors to watch over me and my sister whenever she had to work late.  We could call the guy from across the hall for minor repairs; and the elders usually had a helping hand to bring groceries into the building.   Sometimes the closeness went too far, and we would find ourselves a little too privy to each other’s business- good and bad.  I valued that feeling of intimacy and community with the people with whom I shared my domicile, so I never wanted to move into a large building. But here I am today at River View Towers, a huge, old building with 384 units, and about 1,000 neighbors. 

To my surprise, I still feel there’s a sense of community at River View given that many of the residents have lived here for generations and others, like myself, have long ties to the neighborhood.  There’s also a general familiarity that comes over time after repeatedly sharing two elevators with the same characters (S.O. to my neighbor with the very enthusiastic dogs ;-)).  I can’t speak for other floors, but I pretty much know the people on my floor and while we mind our business, I think we’ve developed relationships that go deeper than surface level.  Times have changed and neighbors aren’t what they used to be.  I get it – This isn’t America’s Best Friend Race!  However, the special tie that binds us here at River View is our CO-OPERATOR status.  We have a vested interest in preserving our sense of community if we all want someplace safe and secure to live.  

Keeping to oneself, anonymity and apathy are fine on a personal level, but those traits are detriments to community building.  You can be an island inside your little unit, but your unit (and your monthly maintenance) does not stand alone – it is interconnected to 384 others, plus the shared facilities like the laundry rooms, elevators, lobby, etc.  It would be in your and the building’s best interest to try to stay abreast of the news surrounding New York City Housing and Mitchell-Lama status.  We are the last of a dying breed of affordable housing and we should be diligent in ensuring River View is a protected entity because I’m sure none of us want or can afford to pay market value for a co-op in Harlem.  To the co-operators who are grandfathering their units to their descendants, please try to protect what you are giving them because it’ll be a horrible wake up call if New York decides to snatch away our Mitchell-Lama status for private real estate profit.  They do it everyday.  

Management and The Board of Directors try to keep us abreast of goings-on in the building via newsletters, countless notices stuck in our doors (#savethetrees), and meetings. The number of attendees at these meetings is sometimes shameful.  1,000 neighbors should garner more than a paltry fifty or one hundred meeting attendees.  People are busy, but we should never be too busy to preserve and discuss one of our basic needs – which is shelter.  Not to be all doom and gloom, but if this shelter was suddenly on the chopping block at City Hall, could I really count on more of you to go down there to defend it?  By then, it would be too late.  As co-operators, we should be more PROactive instead of reactive.  Let’s not wait until conditions get really bad to express our concerns.  We should work together and figure out ways to plan ahead to protect this building.  

Perhaps the size of the building does contribute to the lack of participation among co-operators. People have their own friends and families, so who has time to get to know or care about the well-being of almost a thousand neighbors?  As previously stated, well-being is nice, but what you should really be concerned about is the housing condition of your neighbor because it is also YOUR condition, which makes it a shared interest.  Try to speak to your neighbors about our home, River View Towers, and bring those conversations to management, your Floor Representatives, The Board and building meetings.   

In an effort to get to know one another, this newsletter would like to introduce a “Hello Neighbor!” feature.  Each issue will briefly profile one or two River View co-operators- maybe help put a name to those friendly faces we see in the elevators.  As a lifelong New Yorker, I am most comfortable keeping my head down and minding my own business, but since I plan on living here at River View for a while longer (and this is my cockamamie idea), I will step out of my comfort zone and be the first “Hello Neighbor!” neighbor.

About the Author

Name: Brittny K.

Side of Building: South-facing, east side

What do I love most about River View Towers: Affordability and location. This is also my first building with security.  I love not having to worry about my package drop offs.  Oh- and where else can we get outdoor space in NYC with an actual view at this price?  Great outdoor lighting.  And my floor neighbors are clean, decent and quiet.

Where do I feel like River View could improve: I wish the annual maintenance fee could remain fixed for longer term / stabilized for cooperators for an extended period of time. The annual income review is very stressful – and that along with the intermittent maintenance increases, negates the affordable aspect of living here.