Page 3 - CooperatorNews NJ Expo 2022

NEW JERSEY THE CONDO & HOA RESOURCE COOPERATORNEWS Expo 2022 NJ. COOPERATORNEWS.COM continued on page 20 205 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY 10016 • CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED and social distancing optional in most settings in March 2022, cer- tain properties, including a great many co-ops, condos, and HOAs in New York and New Jersey, are asking residents to remain vigilant. “We as management 100 percent comply with the CDC and city guidelines,” Middleton says, adding that even though a large major- ity of residents are vaccinated, many younger children are not, and older residents may have existing health issues that put them at risk. “The city is pretty much lifting all mandates, but at R.E.M. we en- The psychosocial impact of the pandemic is far-reaching. And like the rest of the world, residents living in condos, co-ops, and HOAs have been conditioned to keep their distance and turn inward. But even with infection rates slowing overall, vaccines in arms of most age groups, and warmer weather on the horizon, it still remains uncertain how safe residents will feel participating in community activities this summer. “At first when the pandemic hit, I think it was the idea of ‘let’s get together and get through this,’ but we are human beings, and as \[you\] hear more and more kids running back and forth, or home office chairs wheeling back and forth—by month three or four relations became strained,” recalls Rashaad Middleton, director of management for New York City- based R.E.M. Residential. “Calls to \[non-emergency municipal hotline available in many U.S. and Canadian cities and towns\] 311 went up, and I think the number-one complaint was loud televisions and things like that. “So it was kumbaya at first, ‘I hate my neighbor’ second, and \[since\] it has been boards and management trying to manage expectations and all these personalities,” Middleton adds. In some regions of Metro New York, this new post-pandemic norm continues to impact the collective ability to observe and engage in niceties that were once taken for granted— those idle chats by the mailroom, or participating in special committees. And while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made mask wearing Resident Re-engagement After COVID Co-ops & Condos Getting Their Groove Back BY W.B. KING Soundproofing Stopping Noise Complaints Before They Start BY A. J. SIDRANSKY Management Through COVID Same Responsibilities, New Challenges BY LISA IANNUCCI Do you remember when you were a kid and the closest thing you had to a cell phone at the time was two cups with a string attached between them? You pulled the string taut, spoke into one cup, and hoped your friend holding the other would hear you. Miraculously, they did! That long-ago game worked because sound travels along rigid pathways. If you let the string between the cups go slack, the sound doesn’t travel. Turns out, all you really need to know to understand soundproofing you probably learned in kindergarten. The ABCs of Sound & Soundproofing According to Sarah Marsh, President of MAAI Marsh Architects in New York City, “There’s no such thing as soundproofing; rather the proper term is sound attenu- ation.” Sound attenuation is the effective reduction of sound—not necessarily its elimination. Much of the sound we hear through walls and ceilings in our apartments is known as structural sound, explains Marsh. Structural sound is created inside a building by someone or something caus- ing vibrations. Structural noise—the nega- tive aspect of structural sound—is the re- verberations that come through the actual building structure. The reviled ‘footfalls’ of your upstairs neighbor’s children or high- heeled shoes clacking against the floor at the same time every morning are the es- sence of structural noise. “The only way to stop the vibrations is to interrupt them Thanks to COVID, managing co-ops and condo communities over the past couple of years has been a vastly more complicated job than it was in ‘the Before Times.’ From staff shortages and supply chain disruptions to the struggle to en- force mask and vax mandates among staff and residents alike, managers have dealt with a lot—and many have gone above and beyond in keeping their client com- munities safe and connected through an extraordinarily stressful time. That said, there are still some basic, fundamental duties and responsibili- ties that a building or HOA should ex- pect from its manager. Those haven’t changed—and boards should have a way to assess the performance of their man- agement, and a method of communicat- ing with him or her when that perfor- mance isn’t quite up to snuff. No Two Days Alike “We have to do everything that’s nec- essary to keep the building running,” says Daniel Wollman, CEO of Gumley Haft, a management firm based in New York City. “And that includes infrastructure issues, mechanical issues, shareholder or resident issues, and staff issues. Every day is different. You can list 10 priorities to take care of when you come in in the morning, and by 9:30 a.m., there are 10 more priorities to take care of.” David Movahedian, CEO of Alpha Property Management in Queens, says that as a property manager and a fidu- ciary, he is responsible not only for the financials, but also the safety of the site staff and occupants of the buildings he manages, and that “In addition to resi- dential, I manage commercial buildings with high-profile tenants \[as well\], and continued on page 21 continued on page 23 NEW JERSEY’S BIGGEST & BEST CONDO, HOA & CO-OP EXPO! MEADOWLANDS EXPOSITION CENTER — WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 10:00-4:00 FREE REGISTRATION: NJ-EXPO.COM LIVE AND IN PERSON