Election season has come and gone at buildings across the City, and most everyone has accepted the results even if they don’t like them, resigned to waiting till next time to unseat those in power. It’s expensive and time consuming to mount a legal challenge, which is why most challengers lick lick their wounds and move on. Not three defeated insurgents at West Village Houses, who recently fired the first legal salvo, seeking to overturn the results of the election just past on the grounds that the process was tainted in multiple ways. Read more »

People in my building always ask: when are they having elections for president. They don’t get it, after all this time. They think it’s like the real world where the voice of the populace is what counts – sorry, I almost forgot about that electoral college. In most buildings it doesn’t work that way. Owners get to vote for directors, and then the directors pick the officers in secret. But just because someone's been designated president doesn't mean he really is. Read more »

I need to have my head examined. Seriously. I was off my building’s board, and just got back on. My friends all tell me I’m out of my mind. They’re right. I need to go to a shrink to kick the addiction – not something I’ve ever done even though I lived most of my life in Manhattan. Some people are prone to alcohol or drugs, with me it’s righting perceived wrongs. HELP! Read more »

The best way is to observe the political process in your very own building. Here are some of the latest techniques used by candidates in buildings round the city this past election season, that are sure to prepare you for a counter-intelligence career. Make no mistake, I’m reporting on, not recommending any of them. Read more »

Nixon had his enemies list. Clinton had one for friends. FOB they were called. Reward your friends, punish your enemies. That’s the way real world politics works. Only now that time-tested tradition has filtered down to the alternate universe of co-ops and condos. Here's how it works. Read more »