336 CPW

President's Potpourri

March, 2013

Dear 336 CPW Friends and Neighbors,

We are into March and sailing toward early spring - we hope. Once again, the building has withstood a major storm - the mini-blizzard of February 8-9 - and there does not appear to be any leakage or other breach of the outer skin. The house would appear to be in a good and healthy state - I say with a healthy respect for the unknown, unforeseen and unknowable.

Our oil-to-gas fuel conversion project is proceeding on pace. Con Edison is pretty much done with the work under Central Park West for our building and is now ready to install the distribution access from the main line to the northeast corner of the building. Combustion Engineering - our plumbing contractor with the mandate to do the internal piping and other construction in the basement - has laid out a 16-week schedule to complete the internal work and implement the changeover. If the gods are smiling on us, that would mean we would be burning gas by sometime in June.

We have had a very preliminary look at the financial result for 2012 and the financial condition of the co-op at year-end. They both appear to be quite good. Of course, we won't know the complete picture until the accountants have constructed the income statement and layered in the accrual basis entries dictated by GAAP, but right now it appears we managed to stay pretty much on budget for the year. That is good. As for our financial condition, the criterion we attend to most carefully is cash on hand. That number exceeded $500,000 at 2012 year-end, which is roughly where it was at 2011.

year-end. This is especially satisfying when one considers the capital investment and heavy building repairs we have had to make in the past couple of years. And, equally satisfying, if you make a physical inspection of the building, I think you will see it is in excellent repair and that we do not have any major planned maintenance projects facing us.

We have a new account representative working with us from Orsid. His name is John Devall. He has now attended two board meetings and is becoming better and better acquainted with Sergio, Orlando, the staff and the board. I hope that some of you have already had the chance to meet him. His email address and telephone number now appear on the list of official phone numbers in this Newsletter. I think we have an excellent, collaborative and well-integrated team caring for the building, the residents and their interests. That means the Board, the managing agent and its team, including John Devall in particular, Sergio, Orlando and the building staff. I think you will find the Board shares that opinion, and I hope that the residents will grow into that view if they don't already hold it.

With great apprehension and trepidation, I feel compelled to mention the proposed Columbia Grammar & Prep School middle school construction project. As you read this, there will have been a second meeting of a committee of Community Board #7 on the subject, and that Board will be moving toward a projected decision on April 3. Although there has been some discussion of the matter in our building, it is my sense that there is more concern, organization and activity at 333 CPW, 327 CPW and in some of the row houses on 93rd and 92nd Street. Our Board, however, will continue to monitor the situation and maintain an open communication line with the interested neighbors and with the School.

The laundry room upgrade is proceeding according to plan. The old vendor and the new vendor are coordinating with Orsid to organize the transition, which will likely take place either at the beginning of March or the beginning of April. There will probably be a shut-down of the laundry room for about a week when that transition is ready to be implemented. And please remember not to overfill your payment cards as you will not be able to transfer the value remaining on an old card to the new card.

Please mark your calendars for the 336 CPW annual meeting of shareholders which is scheduled for Monday, April 29, at 7 PM. As we have done in the past, we will be making every effort to achieve a 90 plus percent shareholder attendance at the meeting, so please try to set that evening aside for the meeting.

On that business note, let me wish you best regards and a Happy Spring.

Mike Schell



	2013 Annual Meeting of Shareholders Monday, April 29, 2013, 7:00 P.M Alexander Robertson School, 3 West 95th Street

	Fire Safety A number of informative handouts created by the FDNY on Fire Safety can be downloaded here. Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Detectors: Smoke Detectors save lives! But, only if you have batteries in them. Please make sure that the smoke detectors are located, as required by law, outside and within 15 feet of bedrooms as well as near the kitchen. If your detectors are battery-operated, please test the units and change the batteries twice a year at Daylight Savings time. Fire Extinguishers: Please locate extinguishers near bedrooms as well as in the kitchen and check the expiration dates or gauges on your canisters. Candles, cigarettes, etc: Be sure that candles and cigarettes are fully extinguished before going to bed or leaving the apartment. Even candles that you believe to be out can burn slowly and ignite tablecloths - especially cloth with anti-stain treatments, which are flammable. The safest practice is to douse them. Fireplaces: Use fire screens. An ember can go unnoticed in a carpet for a long time before igniting. Have your flues cleaned regularly.

	Renovations There are many renovations in the planning stages. Please keep in mind that Sergio and his staff can handle only four renovations at a time.

	Recycling Batteries, old cell phones, PDAs and printing cartridges can be recycled. Just put them separately with the trash, and our staff will recycle. We suggest you put them on the upside-down cover of the trash barrel. Also, metal coat hangers, with paper, can be placed separately in the trash and our staff will take them to the dry cleaners, or you can take them when you go to the cleaners. Please make sure that you are placing recyclables in their proper bags or containers. To learn more click here (pdf).