Roosevelt Island’s elected officials stepped firmly into the conflict between The Landings tenant association and and owner L+M Fund Management. In an effort spearheaded by Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright, four signed a letter affirmatively bolstering the tenants’ concerns.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Elected Officials: All Onboard for The Tenants
Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, State Senator Liz Krueger and City Council Member Julie Menin put their names in the fight for tenant rights.
“As elected officials representing Roosevelt Island, we write to express our strong concern with the plan to submeter the 1,002 units of the Roosevelt Landings apartment complex,” they wrote.
While they agree that “…submetering is a useful and important tool for meeting New York State’s climate goals,” they concur with residents that L+M isn’t moving the process forward in a responsible manner.
Note: See an unedited copy of the letter below.
Concerns Raised
As we reported in an earlier article, the protests are being led by Joyce Short, a longtime local advocate. Positions she has elucidated on behalf of fellow tenants in the community’s biggest complex are echoed in the letter.
- Porous exterior insulation that allows cold and hot air to escape from their apartments.
- Baseboard heaters are not adequate to heat their apartments and are prone to catching on fire.
- Thermostats in their units do not adequately measure heat, shut off without warning, and have not been calibrated by management.
Plans for switching over to submetering this year exacerbated tenant frustrations and triggered the elected officials collaboration.
The Timeline
“Exterior insulation renovations are currently underway with an estimated completion time of 2026,” the letter concedes. But “the current plan is to implement submetering by December of 2024, before all apartments have adequate insulation. As such, tenants whose apartments have not yet been properly insulated would be required to pay for the extra costs of plug-in appliances without the benefit of effective insulation to keep temperatures stable.”
That timing sits at the core of tenant complaints. In general, they don’t object to submetering but object strongly to a callous schedule that transfers the owners burden to tenants at huge personal costs.
Safety Last
With or without a change in the transition plan, safety is paramount. “We are obviously alarmed by the many reports of fires from baseboard heating units,” the elected officials write in what many would see as an understatement.
Then, in a stinging summary, they add, “Ownership will force residents to choose between unsafe building supplied heat, and additional utility costs from plug-in appliances. No matter the outcome, tenants risk their physical and financial health while building ownership divests itself of the responsibility to provide for basic services.”
A Design WTF
“The quality and management of the thermostats makes adequate temperature control in their units difficult,” the elected officials say in another understatement. “The thermostat is placed beside the kitchen…” That’s design malpractice.
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Because of standard practices, kitchens are almost always warmer than other areas in a home. Refrigerators generate heat in exchange for internal cooling. Cooking adds more. But the owners seem not to have taken this into account. Or maybe they did but opted for a cheaper plan that renders other areas in the homes chilly by impact. That is, no room gets heat until the kitchen temperature calls for it.
Finally, the Elected Officials Call to Action
“We the undersigned elected officials write in support of the tenants of Roosevelt Landings, and request that the L+M Fund Management LLC pause implementation of this submetering plan until such a time as the residents’ concerns regarding appliances, insulation, and equity be addressed.”
Because L+M has shown a strong inclination towards income over empathy while dragging the infamous New York City eviction machine onto Roosevelt Island, the owner’s response is unpredictable, but the elected officials firm position in support can only help.
Priced Out of the Air. Priced Out of Safety.
I want to begin with a person, not a policy.A life, not a headline.
