Assessment Claims
What is really going on?
Yes. Alexandrea has filed 311 complaints with the City after years of co-op inaction. The City has inspected and found that the building is violating the Building Code with two "Major" Hazards.
The building had the option to resolve these quickly and avoid a fine. They have chosen not to.
After requesting repairs for years, Alexandrea invited Board members to experience the situation for themselves. Here's a log of 2025 visits by Cissy Stamm, Joe Braun, Rob Frankel, Theo Farserotis and former Board member, Amy Seek, to experience the problem. Alexandrea was told by Paul Brensilber to stop bringing Board members to serve as witnesses because it wasn't good for the building.
Alexandrea then spent the next year paying lawyers to write letters, asking the Co-op to fix the problem, and hiring experts.
She didn't realize 311 complaints were an option until the end of 2025. She didn't file in Housing Court until February 2026.
Because of the DOB violations issued in December 2025 and January 2026, the Co-op demanded access to Alexandrea's apartment under threat of legal action, which could include eviction. The co-op installed vent dampers -- without a permit -- even after they were told they needed a permit. Here's their demand letter.
The DOB then issued a third violation against the building for doing work without a permit. This still has not been resolved.
The vent dampers were the cheapest option the building could find to reduce the negative pressure, but were not based on any engineering findings. Goldman Copeland, a mechanical engineering firm, recommended a multi-step process to resolve the problem and the co-op still has not implemented any of those steps.
The "fix" actually made the situation worse. The installer put the air flow below the legal minimums. Air continues to flow into our apartment through the outlets and party wall. Now we marinate in air pollution. The air quality has deteriorated considerably (pre-damper environmental report vs post-damper report.)
The Board voted in March to end the lease of 14J -- Alexandrea's friend -- and sell the apartment for more than $700,000 for "legal fees." Partnered with the assessment, that comes to a million dollars.
This is Housing Court. There are no damages for pain and suffering. There are no massive payouts. There's no reason for this.
The estimated cost for this repair is about $50k, but it requires building systems be fixed. We cannot do it ourselves.
The owner of 6C has agreed to have a pressure-balancing vent installed. The Board still refuses to fix.
We just want to be able to close our windows and breathe.
The Building's DOB Violations
Two of the Co-op's Dept of Buildings Violations are ECB/OATH cases. These cases involve summonses that are issued by more than 25 different City enforcement agencies responsible for protecting the public's health and safety and ensuring it has a clean environment.
Under LL 110, passed in 2019, the co-op should be notifying residents of these violations with a notice displayed in the lobby along with a copy of the violation. This notice should have been posted by January 1, 2026 and should be posted until the matter is resolved.
This still has not been done.
Local Law 110 Requirement
Read what the DOB says about this
DOB OATH Flier
This should be posted in the lobby
DOB Building Violation
Here's the violation for the unpermitted rooftop vents. The Co-op needs a "testing and balancing report for the entire exhaust and ventilation system."