Roosevelt Landings has many names. Folks who’ve lived in the building from its inception know it as Eastwood. Our last landlord called it Roosevelt Landings, and then The Landings. Our present landlord refers to it as North Town Roosevelt LLC. The Public Service Commission (PSC) identifies it as Case #08-E-0838 for submetering purposes.

Several years ago, your Roosevelt Landings Residents Association fought a six year war to stay (halt) the landlord’s progress on submetering. We did not, nor do we currently object to the premise of submetering. In fact, we’re in favor of doing our share to green our planet. We object to the current landlord dodging the high costs of heating their poorly insulated building by hiding behind the socially acceptable premise of conservation. After all…. who could possibly argue against such a noble cause?

Currently, the flaws in our building’s insulation falls entirely on their shoulders. They are trying to force tenants to share the load by picking up the tab for the plug-in space heaters that many residents need in order to make their apartments habitable during the cold winter months.

Even during the summer, the landlord is not spared from the high costs of their building’s porous skin as air conditioners, which are plug-ins, are used overtime because the cold air they produce escapes through the building’s walls into the atmosphere. The cost of those a/c units will become entirely the tenant’s responsibility.

The solution is simple….

The landlord should fix the insulation and construct new facing for the building. In fact, they claim to be doing just that but have not provided us with any project design plans. The completion of this project is likely to take several years, but they are jumping the gun to submeter now before they have solved the building’s problems. A landlord with the best intentions would complete the work and test its efficacy before placing tenants at risk.

One more wrinkle….

Because the electric bill will become a part of rent each month, this premature dump of responsibility can lead to wide spread evictions when tenants are saddled with the un-remedied costs. More concerns follow below in the discussion of letters for the PSC.

So what’s an Eastwood, Roosevelt Landings, North Town LLC resident to do?

Although the landlord is behaving as if submetering is a fait accompli, (otherwise known as a “slam dunk,”) they seem to have completely ignored that our tenants have rights and voices. It’s up to YOU to use YOURS!.

This link will get you to the PSC’s website so you can see every document filed on this case since 2008.

Here’s how you can help:

1. Sign our petition that is circulating throughout the building. If you have yet to be asked for your signature, contact me at jm_short@ymail.com and I’ll hook you up with a building captain.
2. If you would like to be a building captain or a member of your building’s team, write to me at jm_short@ymail.com. Please be sure to include your contact information, building number and apartment number. I’ll be forwarding your inquiry along to the appropriate parties.
3. Call our legislators so they know how important this issue is to you. Legislators act on concerns by their constituent base. Our tenants are the largest voting block on Roosevelt Island. Here’s how to contact them: NY State Assemblymenber Rebecca Seawright, 212-288-4607, seawrightr@nyassembly.gov. NY State Senator Liz Krueger, 212-490-9535, lkrueger@nysenate.gov. NYC Council Member Julie Menin, 212-860-1950, jmenin@council.nyc.gov, or Jszott@council.nyc.gov.
4. All adults who live in your apartment can send comments to the PSC. The comment period began on June 26th and expires on August 26th. Don’t wait ’til the last day. The sooner, the better. Be sure to identify Case #08-E-0838 on your correspondence.
5. Email the PSC with your comment. Here’s how: Email it to Secretary@dps.ny.gov. Be sure to sign your comment with your actual address and phone number, and cc me your comment at jm_short@ymail.com. Please state “Comment for Case #08-E-0838” in your subject line.
6. If emailing is not your preferred means of communication, snail mail your comment to Michelle L. Phillips, Secretary of the NY State Public Service Commission, 3 Empire Plaza, Albany, NY 12223-1350. If you send your correspondence by mail, please drop off a copy to me by slipping it at my door, 540/1604. Be sure to sign your comment with your actual address and phone number. Also, please state “Comment for Case #08-E-0838” on the front of your envelope.

Please be aware that absolutely no tenant in our building was evicted or the least bit harassed by the landlord because they joined in the previous fight to halt submetering. In fact, the law protects all tenants who engage in building activities, including opposing the landlord’s policies or conduct.

Here are some of the issues that can help turn the tide:

1. My heat is not sufficient to keep me and my family warm during the winter. To augment the heat I must run space heaters that will add to my plug-in load.
2. My original baseboard heater had a summer/winter switch that made it possible to run my air conditioner safely on a separate circuit. The present heater they installed has no such device. I am aware that air conditioners larger than 120 volts or 7 amps should be run on a separate circuit. The landlord has not provided the proper wiring and several tenants have had fires because of this failure. I am afraid that all of our tenants are at risk.
3. Many of our tenants heat their apartments by turning on and opening their oven or boiling water on their stove. They simply are not getting sufficient heat from the landlord due to the faulty insulation of the building.
4. I am a disabled resident who needs electric devices to provide care for my medical condition. I have no idea how the landlord will accommodate my needs without seriously raising my electric bill.
5. I was just told that the landlord is changing the readers on our heaters in order to accurately submeter. They have told me for several years that the readers are accurate. How can they expect me to have faith that they will correctly calculate and reduce my bill by the accurate amount?
6. My apartment is extremely drafty. I can feel that it is not sufficiently insulated. The landlord’s project to insulate the buildings will take years to complete. Until then, my heat and my air conditioning are escaping into the atmosphere.
7. I am on a fixed income. I cannot afford a change in my monthly expenses. I am afraid that my inability to pay the electric bill can cause my eviction. There is no effort by the landlord to distribute my payments over a longer time frame like there would be if I paid directly to the electric company.
8. I am concerned that wiring for the heaters and lights in the common space of the building is connected to our apartments. The wiring of our building should be completely checked before submetering can take place.
9. My thermostat is located far away from where I actually live in my rooms. My heaters have no blowers and the cold air from my floor-to-ceiling windows and cold exterior walls does not reach where the landlord strategically placed my thermostat. The thermostat reaches the set point where it is located, but that does not make my room warm enough for me and my family.
10. My heaters are so dysfunctional that they have burst into flames.
11. My thermostat is confusing to use. The landlord does not send someone to the apartment to set their confusing equipment for us.
12. My thermostat cuts off the heat every three hours.
13. The landlord has not come back to check on the calibration of my thermostat since it was installed. I can’t count on them to do so on a timely or regular basis in the future.

Submetering is a good thing when it’s done the right way. Our landlord must make the needed changes to keep from wasting electricity. His waste is not the fault of the tenants. The fault is on the shoulders of L&M for being so derelict in addressing the flaws in their building. For the landlord, it’s about cost cutting by shifting costs onto the tenant’s shoulders. For us, it’s about protecting our homes!