Why this plan should matter to residential owners

Owners who live at Shore Towers have had it particularly hard for the last few years.

We certainly need to stay the course as provided under the current Board, but we also need to look for ways to provide better services for those owners who also live here - and by proxy, the whole building.

Shore Towers used to be a true luxury building from what I remember from the 90's. When I lived on 18th Street, on cold or rainy days, I would sometimes sneak a ride home on the jitney until Lou called me out. Over time, the value of living in the building has been slowly eroding, while, to hear it from long-time owners and residents, so has the quality of the renters. Services have been cut, maintenance ignored, and the value for renters has been reduced instead of increased.



We had an edge up until now. If you wanted to live in a luxury high-rise in a truly quiet area of Astoria, there was only one choice. It was out-of-the-way, and a great place for professionals to raise a family. The Board could also make rules that had little impact on rental prices.

With the looming development next door, we are no longer the only kids on the block. It suddenly becomes critical that the Board look for ways to increase the value that residents (owners and renters) receive for their dollar to remain competitive.

It will become increasingly difficult to attract renters during the construction period; and when there is a glut of luxury apartments that offer better amenities in a newer building with modern energy efficiency, a difficult situation will worsen. It may even become harder for investors to maintain the current rental prices as a result; any reduction in rates to stay competitive will impact not only their bottom line, but the quality of the tenants.

Another spectre that keeps raising its head is the notion of "fee for services" approach that would add undue burdens on residential owners with charges for amenities or services.  We need to find ways of not only stopping such destructive, value-robbing ideas, and instead find ways to invest in their improvements so value is added for residents and renters, which helps the investors' bottom line.

As a residential owner myself, I promise you that I will look for creative ways we can fund improvements and services that add value to living here, allowing investors to stay competitive with upscale pricing against the new development without sacrificing the character of this building or paying any more above plan. I have no interest in adding to our financial burdens for the sake of these ideas; it is my goal to fund them through savings and new revenue streams.

I also know that many residential owners feel like we are bearing a brunt on multiple fronts - we pay more now to live here, receiving fewer services, and dealing with the annoyance of rehabilitation projects that always seem to take twice as long as originally estimated. I have a plan that, if the Board approved, would give some owners immediate assessment relief as a lowered monthly bill if they chose to opt in. I promise you this has nothing to do with any financing scheme; its simply a matter of looking creatively at existing assets and seeing a way that could benefit both owners and the building itself.