Resident Shareholders Meet to Fight Sponsor Control

A couple of years ago, folks at the Flatbush Development Corporation, a community group serving residents of that area, starting hearing complaints from co-op residents where a sponsor controlled a number of apartments and was also the management company. The sponsor had too much control over the finances and operations of the building, wasn’t completing the conversions from rental to co-op, and had its hands all over the board of directors. “It can be very difficult for shareholders to exercise any control over what’s going on,” says Aga Trojniak, FDC’s director of housing and immigration reforms. After forming a committee for co-op owners of different buildings to share information and work together to fight sponsor control, FDC is taking the issue city-wide. They’re holding a meeting on Wednesday at 7PM for shareholders in co-ops anywhere in New York City where the sponsor still owns 40% of the units, is also the management company and controls the board of directors. They meet at the Church of the Nativity, 1099 Ocean Avenue in Flatbush. For more info, send them a note, or call Aga at 718-859-4763. More information on the issue can be found here.
Photo by Norci