Surfside Residents Hold a Town Hall to Hold Alma Accountable

By Katie McFadden

Hear ye! Hear Ye! Alma, do better! On the evening of Tuesday, August 20, residents of the Surfside Buildings between Beach 105th and Beach 108th on Shore Front Parkway, including the housing association, SHAFT, gathered with neighbors, elected officials and Surfside and Alma staff to speak on the ongoing issues with the current buildings, as Alma Realty Corporation proposes adding even more buildings to the property.

Barbara Buffolino and Karen Nevirs of SHAFT organized the large town hall type meeting after holding another just last month, where residents of the buildings voiced their concerns over issues and signed a petition against Alma’s proposal to develop on top of the existing property. “Out of that meeting, we heard that you’re still dealing with different issues or chronic issues, so let’s get this out in the open,” Buffolino told the residents. In attendance to hear the concerns were Christian Williams, assistant commissioner of external affairs for the mayor, Khaleel Bragg from the office of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Councilwoman Joann Ariola, Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato and Nick Conway, the current manager of the Surfside buildings.

Buffolino opened the meeting with making it clear that the current issues have nothing to do with the hardworking staff members that aim to address them. “I would like everyone to understand that the issues we’re going to discuss tonight do not reflect the hardworking staff who pick up the slack due to the reduction in manpower. We place the blame on Alma Corporation making the choice to bust the union and then cut staff,” she said. Buffolino then got into some of the history of the three Surfside buildings, saying that Alma took over in the early 2000s from the Zuckermans, who weren’t paying real estate taxes on the buildings. Alma was able to purchase the buildings in a bankruptcy deal. As part of that deal, she said Alma made some repairs to the buildings, including installing new windows, making repairs to the facades, and some paintjobs, but things started to get worse when Alma busted the union and let go of several staff members. “We used to have a super per building, three porters per building, a handyman per building, at least two people in the office answering phones and doing all that stuff dealing with tenants but that’s all cut. You all know, you see it,” she said.

Buffolino then laid out some of the ongoing issues tenants have seen over the years, many that come from printed email complains that she keeps in boxes in a shopping cart. “We’ve received over the years, 8,000 to 10,000 pieces of paper, all talking about the same issues, the repeat issues all coming back and this is what we’re dealing with,” she said. Among the ongoing issues are elevators malfunctioning, water interruptions including shutdowns due to brown water, inconsistent heating in winter, drafty and leaky windows, malfunctioning vents, roach infestations, laundry room machines malfunctioning, and the newest issue being safety concerns as several trespassers have entered the buildings due to broken gates and key fobs. They’ve also brought up issues with the playground where the meeting was held, saying things have not been replaced or repaired in several years. “We’ve had meeting after meeting, and we’ve had to involve elected officials to get a little more fire under it,” Buffolino said, going on to list the plethora of elected officials they’ve had to contact over 20 years to address such issues, dating back to late Borough President Claire Shulman, who served until 2002.

Buffolino explained that she estimates Alma collects $1 million a month in rent from tenants, $12 million a year, and over 20 years, the tenants have not seen many improvements to the current properties. However, Alma is attempting to move a proposal forward to build four more buildings, up to 24 stories tall, on the parking lots, pool area and open spaces between the existing buildings. Buffolino then switched gears to touch on that, mentioning how Alma is already being sued by the Mayor’s Office for neglecting other buildings in the city. “Alma Realty Corps is greedy, no integrity. It’s greed, not need that is happening here,” she said.

Councilwoman Ariola spoke of the “deplorable conditions” that she’s heard about since stepping into office and the simple fixes that Alma has made when they attempt to address the issues. “You come and do a little bit of a Band Aid fix to shut us up to make us go away, but we’re not going away,” Ariola said. She then spoke of Alma’s proposal. “The nerve, the gall to think you can build another 10,000 units or more here on this property when you can’t manage what you have is absolutely unconscionable. We’re not going to let it happen,” Ariola said, adding that Alma is a “slumlord.” She encouraged residents to continue to send emails to her office about the ongoing complaints. ““These people deserve better,” she said. “I will never stop fighting for you.”

Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato also encouraged tenants to continue to file complaints, including with 311, as the state’s HCR is willing to take 311 complaints for longtime issues. “Keep those complaints coming to the city. We’re going to keep putting them in and matching it with the state to see what’s going on here,” Pheffer Amato said. She also told the building staff that she’s going to figure out how to get them unionized again, and that she is fully against any new development plan from Alma. “I do not support any part of the upzone or the seduction that’s happening to tell us about a pool and amenities that will come here,” she said. “Major overhauls have to be done and investments have to be made into these buildings because you deserve it,” she told the residents. “Keep up the fight.”

Several residents then got up to explain some of the issues they’ve been dealing with, while others spoke down on Alma’s proposal and the negative impact it would have on residents and the community as a whole.

Nick Conway, the Surfside manager, then spoke, clarifying that he is responsible for the day-to-day functions of the buildings. “A lot of the concerns seem to be around the development, and I want to make sure the concerns about the existing buildings don’t get lost in fears or talk about the development. We’ve listened to a lot of concerns. We started a program to replace the elevators, the water heater and water distribution system, and that’s my focus, making sure your life day to day gets better and the affordable housing that you have is being maintained without interruptions, and we’ll continue to work on that and do better,” he said.

Buffolino shot back, “every time we have a meeting, there’s no carryover, so that’s crap.” Another resident responded to him that the only time he’s ever followed up on issues is when she copies elected officials on emails to him.

At the end of the meeting, Williams of the Mayor’s Office told the crowd, “The concerns and comments that were shared today, I will make sure gets viewed ASAP and I wanted to state that on the record.”