The work looks done ...and none too soon

 

Although the photo quality isn't great, the retaining wall looks great this morning.  Why is this important? Over the years I've lived here, this wall was constructed and then failed.  My co-op needed to repair it, and I was one of the loudest advocates for this repair.  The repairs were finally completed while I was on my cruise.

Why is this important?

Given retaining wall failures which have affected the commuter rail line I live near, the last thing I want to see is a preventable landslide which could either destabilize our building, negatively affect downhill neighbors, or both problems.  

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As I've noted in the past, I live in a naturally occurring retirement community (for many of us long term residents), as apartment ownership has proven the best investment for our needs.  We know that someone else has to take care of the property, and that we can reside in the apartment as long as we are able to pay the maintenance.  (I won't get into other issues for leaving in this discussion.)  And that's where the problem lies.  Most of us, myself included, live on fixed incomes.  Older people usually have fewer resources to draw on, and are least likely to afford maintenance hikes or property assessments. 

Most co-op boards have to balance the needs of their shareholders.  Do we raise maintenance charges, knowing it might be a hardship for some?  Do we apply an assessment for needed repairs, as we did when we had to replace our windows many years ago?  Do we defer maintenance, so that we don't have too many bills being presented to the co-op at once?  There are so many things a co-op board must address, and there is no way we can make everyone happy.

I am lucky to have the resources to pay my bills (and a little bit more).  Many others are not.  The position a co-op board member has to take is similar to being a fiduciary - one must act in the best interest of the client, and not of his firm.  In my case, my responsibility is to the health of the co-op, and not any one individual member - including myself.  That's why I pushed for repairing the retaining wall as much as I did.  And now it's done... 

I wonder when this problem will be completely resolved.

I have to be careful in discussing this problem, as I am a member of the co-op's board of directors, and do not want to reveal any of the internal workings of the board.

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A few years back, we had a contractor erect a retaining wall to secure the land one of our buildings sits on. Once one of these walls is erected, most people take it for granted as it becomes part of the landscape. However, this is a big mistake.  People have been killed because retaining walls have failed.  In New York City, retaining walls should be inspected every 5 years by a licensed professional if they have a portion over 10 feet in height, or they face a public right of way.  If this had been done for one wall, it would likely have been repaired before failure, and Northbound traffic on the Henry Hudson Parkway below would not have been affected.

In our case, I feel that the remaining part of our retaining wall has to be replaced. This will likely add to our costs in keeping our land from eroding from under our building.  This is a critical repair, and contractors will need to work up bids for our co-op.  This takes time, as the costs of labor and material availability must factored into the total price, so that the contractor can make a profit. But there is a cost of regulation that also has to be factored into the price.  Regulations often imply "best practices" which many unlicensed firms ignore.  Given that board members act in a fiduciary capacity for a co-op, we need to make the best choice of contractor, the best choice of retaining wall options, and the best value for money spent.  The latter may be the most important consideration, as our co-op errs on the side of frugality.

Later in the morning, I did some research and sent an email with the following text to our board:

I did a search for information regarding retaining walls, and came up with this important piece of info.. New York City now requires all retaining walls that extend upwards of 10 feet OR are adjacent to a right of way to be inspected every 5 years. This was in response to the retaining wall collapse that caused the shutdown of the northbound lanes of the Henry Hudson Parkway in 2005.(?)  However, there is not much regulation outside NYC, and most of that seems to regard decorative walls and permits. 

Since our managing agent's site representative is supposed to do a walk through of the property on a periodic basis, would this imply that proper eyeball inspections of the wall had not been done, and would it also imply that needed licensed inspectors should have been periodically used to inspect this critical part of the co-op's physical infrastructure?

I feel that "Best Practices" should always be used by managing agents in the course of business.  Once NYC established a 5 year cycle for inspection, wouldn't this define a "Best Practice" for our managing agent to see that our retaining wall is inspected on a regular basis?  I would hope so.

More to come as things become public....