The Co-op and Condo Insider
The Co-op & Condo Insider is your trusted source for expert commentary led by advocates within New York City’s co-op and condo world. Each episode offers insights into the challenges, news, and stories that shape a community making up more than 20% of this great city’s residents.
The Co-op and Condo Insider
Putting People in the Room: Barry Grodenchik's Political Journey
Barry Grodenchik, from his childhood in Pomonok Houses public housing to his terms as State Assemblyman and NYC Council Member, maintained a deep connection to the communities he served, particularly the co-op and condo owners of Eastern Queens.
Our conversation weaves through the major housing challenges facing New York's shared residential communities over the past three decades. Grodenchik details how Queens officials worked to save approximately 20,000 housing units during a major co-op crisis in the late 1980s, when buildings converted from rental to co-op status found themselves financially underwater. This required bringing stakeholders together in person—a leadership approach Grodenchik sees diminishing in today's digital-first political environment.
Particularly revealing is Grodenchik's discussion of the Climate Mobilization Act and its impact on co-ops and condos. When meeting with city officials about the legislation's effect on garden apartments, he encountered staff members who had to Google what garden apartments were, despite crafting regulations that would dramatically affect them. This disconnect between policymakers and residents continues to create challenges for shared housing communities across the city.
Beyond policy discussions, Grodenchik shares memorable personal stories, including his friendship with Governor Mario Cuomo and his proudest achievements securing nearly $300 million for schools in his district. Perhaps most telling is his commitment to constituent services at every scale—from major housing initiatives to ensuring a child with special needs could attend the Thanksgiving Day Parade each year.
What resonates most from our conversation is Grodenchik's philosophy that effective governance comes from bringing people together face-to-face and focusing on tangible results over publicity. "There's too many press conferences now," he observes, "and not enough action."
Listen to this episode for an insider's view of how New York's cooperative and condominium landscape has evolved through decades of crisis and change, guided by leaders who understood the profound importance of home.
She said you can leave. I can't hold you here. That's true, but if you leave, tomorrow morning, Peter Vallone Sr and I are going to be holding a press conference on Wall Street telling the American financial media that the Bank of Tokyo is throwing 700 American families, many of them seniors, into the street. And then she asked them if they wanted to sit down again which they did.
Speaker 2:This is the Co-op and Condo Insider, the podcast dedicated to New York's cooperative and condominium communities. This is your trusted source for the latest insights, strategies and stories shaping the world of shared housing. You will hear from the people who are leaders in this community information and insights you will not hear anywhere else. If you want to stay ahead of the curve, you're in the right place. The views and opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of the host or any affiliated individuals or organizations.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to the Co-op and Condo Insider, where we explore the real world issues facing co-op and condominium communities across New York City with insight, expertise and a healthy dose of straight talk. I'm your host, jeffrey Maisel, co-op attorney and legal advisor to the President's Co-op and Condo Council. I'm thrilled to be joined by my co-host, richard Solomon. A seasoned voice in public radio for over 20 years, richard has taken his listeners around the world to meet experts, newsmakers and the people making a real difference in our everyday lives. Richard, it's great to have you on the mic with us today.
Speaker 4:Love the honor of being here, but, more importantly, this is a phenomenal Binghamton reunion. I wore my alumni shirt and I brought my Speedy sauce.
Speaker 3:That's right. Us, that's right. Today we're thrilled to welcome a very special guest, former New York City council member and former state assemblyman, barry Grodensik. He's someone who has spent years working on behalf of New Yorkers and I know from my own personal experience and Richard will interview me and Barry about our wars together back not that long ago. We're all Binghamton University alumni. So, barry, before we get into politics and policy, we've got a few questions to ask you about Binghamton.
Speaker 4:Are you a big fan of Pat Mitchell?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was some of the best ice cream on the planet. I don't think it's around anymore, but it was truly one of those places, like Pino's Pizza on the south side, with that sourdough crust Just, I can still taste it in my mouth.
Speaker 4:What dorm were you?
Speaker 1:in. I was in Delaware Hall. Well, I was president of the. I was president there of the dorm for one semester and then for senior year I was at 69 Murray.
Speaker 4:I believe I was one of your subjects. Yes, you were, yes, you were.
Speaker 1:Yes, you were.
Speaker 3:But actually, barry, I remember that one of the first times I met you in I'll call it public life, I think you were with the Queensborough president or I forget where, maybe in the assembly. And I did recognize you from just campus, just a face. I probably walked by a thousand times.
Speaker 1:I used to tell the young people because I did just the face. I probably walked by a thousand times. I used to tell the young people because I did constituent work and I still do it, although I don't get paid for it anymore. But I used to tell people, the young people that work for me, when you do a favor for something, they don't forget. You know, I mean, most people don't forget, some people forget.
Speaker 3:but I had a guy once it was knocking on doors and he said you know, you helped me with the DMV nine years ago and I was like, well, I'd say, I've been to meetings with you, Barry, and I've heard it and you know, like in North Shore Towers people were remember me from eight years ago. You did this or that, and that must be a nice feeling.
Speaker 1:It is a nice feeling and, more importantly, it's just to help people. You know I'm not a state lawmaker. I wasn't. I was for one term and I know a lot of the problems that you know exist in terms of property unfair property, taxes on co-ops and condos relate to Albany. But you can help people with things in the community making their schools better, making their streets safer and things like that and we were able to untie a lot of knots. You know we have in Eastern Queens and the district now represented by my dear friend Linda Lee, we have a lot of great co-op. You walk these places. You don't find a blade of grass out of place, unlike my front lawn, which I can't get anything to grow. But what are you going to do?
Speaker 3:Tell us where were you born, where were you raised? What was your early life like?
Speaker 1:I was born in the garden spot of the world, of course, the Bronx, new York, where my parents both grew up. My parents had moved to Pomonok Houses, which is a New York City Housing Authority development right across the street from Queens College. Fabulous, absolutely fabulous public housing, thousands of children, you know, between Palmanaca, 4,500 apartments. People voted back then. There was, you know, in a presidential election. 3,000 people came through the polling place, which is just staggering when you think about one polling place. So I had a wonderful childhood, went to all local public schools, graduated Jamaica High School along with David and Mark Weprin and Leroy Comrie and Sid Davidoff, one of the more notable lobbyists in the city of New York. We also can claim Bob Beeman, world record holder in the long jump for a long time.
Speaker 3:So you mentioned all these people. Tell us some of your experience and people that you met in your childhood or along the way that shaped your interest in public service no-transcript community.
Speaker 1:In depths of some of the worst days of New York City in the early seventies a bunch of people in Pomonok and Electra the guys you know maybe eight years older than me started a night softball league in the park. It brought hundreds of people out and they didn't wait for the parks department to fix the lights and all that. We had young guys who were members of Local 3 brought in bucket trucks and fixed the lights. So I think my youth shaped me in that sense, growing up in public housing being very grateful for what we had. It was expected we were going to go to college and we were working-class people. We had everything, but we had everything we needed and most of what we wanted.
Speaker 3:So was there a particular moment or issue that made you decide to run for office?
Speaker 1:I grew up and I thought you know that elected officials were these special, whatever, blah, blah, blah. But as I got to know people, I realized that I could do it as well and I really enjoyed the aspect of helping people. Sometimes it's one person. I can remember a story of a woman who called this office and she was trying to get you know a home health aid for her mother, which was very difficult, and I gently suggested maybe you know, a nursing home, which was much easier although more expensive. She said no, I said OK, I said we're going to fight for this and we did, but we still had a victory.
Speaker 1:I've been dedicated to making sure people have their dignity and I understand how important government can be in the lives of people. You know, you're an attorney that deals mostly with housing. You know, imagine that your clients had a backlog of 60, 70, 80 billion pick a number out of a hat. You know billions of dollars to redo everything. You know billions of dollars to redo everything and if you started to spend that money, things would get more expensive because you'd be chasing there's only a certain amount of construction workers in this city and supplies and all that. So I think we need to be more creative and I think my work suggested that I could do this and I was inspired, you know, by Nettie and by Claire Schulman, whose office I ran for 10 and a half years, to run and to try to make a difference.
Speaker 3:Was that your first position?
Speaker 1:My first position in government was with Nettie for almost two years and then I went to work as the regional rep for Governor Mario Cuomo and that was very exciting. He was a dynamic individual. My boss, david Weinraub, who's now one of the maybe I think he's the leading lobbyist in the state of New York in terms of billings. He would say don't talk to the governor unless his hair's on fire. But you know, we talked to him. I think he really just tried to help people as well. He saw injustice and he did it in his way as a community attorney. He tried to save the homes of Corona homeowners. Back in the late 60s he fashioned the compromise on the NYCHA development at the edge of Forest Hills. So you know, a smart guy and a good guy and a brilliant, brilliant orator, one of the great orators of our time.
Speaker 3:Have any good stories or personal stories about him.
Speaker 1:After Yusuf Hawkins was murdered, a terrible tragedy in this city. The governor was extremely serious that day, so we held a press conference and one thing I loved about Mario Cuomo was he read his briefings and he committed them to memory. I don't know how Gabe Pressman, who was not a big guy, looking up Mario, was like 6'1", 6'2" and the governor, gabe says Governor, why did you come to Flushing today? And then he says he looks down at Gabe and he says Gabe, as I'm sure you remember, implying that he was this old, on December 27th 1657, the Flushing Remonstrance was signed here.
Speaker 1:John Bing, my former colleague in the assembly he gives me grief on that, you know, he always makes fun of me, but in a good way and so he talked about tolerance. We had Julia Harris in the council room in there and then later on we had a meeting with civic leaders in the Flushing Library. I could tell by the way he responded to people he had read. I had to give like a paragraph bio, mini bio for everybody and it was just amazing. He remembered their nicknames and it was just like whoa, you know, tour de force. He didn't have it in front of him, he didn't need to read from a book. He was, you know, he was the law professor, you know, just a phenomenal guy.
Speaker 3:Thank you for that. That was amazing. Great man, great man.
Speaker 1:Great man.
Speaker 3:So let's talk about another great man, you. What was your first elected office?
Speaker 1:Was assemblyman from downtown Flushing, the 22nd district. I lasted one term.
Speaker 3:What year was that?
Speaker 1:no-transcript job with the governor. And I said you know, my boss stuck his neck out. David Weiner, I don't want to cut it off, you know it just so.
Speaker 1:she said all right, you know, whatever. And then, about a year and a half later, she called me. Uh, uh, the woman who had the job I eventually took was leaving. She called me and she said the borough president would like to see you. And I said okay. And I said can you want me to come now? And she said no, tomorrow morning nine o'clock would be great. So at that time I was living very close to Borough Hall and so I went to meet her. But I called back and I said can I ask you what this meeting's about? She said it's personal hall. And I said who's leaving? She said that woman's leaving and um, claire interviewed me and, um, she said to me um, I'm only view, I'm only interviewing one other person, but you're very high on my list. So I thought to myself who wants to be low on a two-person list? Oh, my god, you know. But um, that day she called me.
Speaker 3:You know, she called me the next day, um, and asked me to come work for her my one claire shulman story, because I only have one co-ops in queens were, uh, ready to go bankrupt, right and and things were a disaster and you were probably at that meeting and I walked in I probably set up the meeting.
Speaker 1:But I set it up, yeah, and I.
Speaker 3:I was shaking in my boots. I'm not going to lie to you. She was intimidating.
Speaker 1:She was, and it worked to her effect, believe me.
Speaker 3:I walked in the room. She sat there. I don't think she looked up at me. I think she might have said hello, but it was a good meeting. I do remember we got a lot done.
Speaker 1:There was a great co-op and condo crisis, especially in Queens, but really throughout New York City, and we got calls from Brooklyn and Manhattan asking if Claire would set up meetings for them. I said I'm sorry, you have to contact your own borough presidents. We can't reach into those boroughs. What happened was we had rent-stabilized buildings and because you only needed 15% I believe Jeff, you'll correct me on the facts 15% of renters to agree to join a co-op, it was a very low threshold and of course, the carrying costs for the co-op were higher, but you couldn't raise the rent. Stabilized tenants rent because that's the law. And so what happened was a lot of people made a lot of money on these conversions and then they started. You know, somebody said oh, you know, we need X a month, but we only have 80% of X. And we did workouts and sometimes we did them twice on about 20,000 units of housing, which is a phenomenal number, twice on about 20,000 units of housing, which is a phenomenal number.
Speaker 1:Peter Vallone Sr was the councilman there and Claire and him were in a meeting and among the you know, I think, the people who held the underlying mortgage was the Bank of Tokyo.
Speaker 1:So they came to the meeting. They got up and they were about to leave and Claire, as you alluded to before, she was one tough cookie. She said you can leave, I can't hold you here. That's true, but if you leave, tomorrow morning, peter Vallone Sr and I are going to be holding a press conference on Wall Street telling the American financial media that the Bank of Tokyo is throwing 700 American families, many of them seniors, into the street. And then she asked them if they wanted to sit down again, which they did. They ate $17 million, if my memory is correct. So the good news is that this was a time when banks were starting to have big profits, and so they were able to write off these losses. But they were as negligent as anybody in making these loans and say you know, not doing the math, they were very happy to place the loans, but Claire did a phenomenal job of doing work. There was a lot of meetings on co-op and condo workouts.
Speaker 3:That was kind of my start in this advocacy world. You got elected to the city council. What year was that?
Speaker 1:Special election 2015 after Mark Weprin resigned.
Speaker 3:That's when you and I started collaborating.
Speaker 1:Right, yes, we did. It was among my opponents. It was a very genial race. Jeff, you represented and represent a lot of the co-ops and condos in that part of the world. We have thousands and thousands of units.
Speaker 1:We had one issue at Glen Oaks where we changed the law on, you know, gas hookup, natural gas hookups, and so they got caught up because, you know, over 20 or 30 years, uncle Morty comes over and installs your dryer and this one and that one. But the problem was we had two buildings in Manhattan that blew up, literally blew up, killing like a dozen people, and so the city council tightened the laws. So I had the director of operations for the buildings department and I mean he got a little heated, but by the time they were done, you know, we had come to some kind of solution and Bob and the head of the CAS operations were backsliding each other. So you know, I learned from Claire really, and that he, uh, you got to put people in the room. That's how you get things done. You can't have. You know, if you know I can't tell you how many meetings took place at borough hall uh, 20, 30, 40, 60, 70 people in the room around this enormous table and the door would open and say she did it again. You know, um, and I had a friend of mine who worked for NASA a bus call me once about Claire.
Speaker 1:He said I don't know what your boss did, but the people at the Long Island Railroad are terrified of her. I said because she asked for basic stuff. Just tell them to do what she wants, it's not going to cost them that much. And you know she's not asking for gold-plated trains. She wants services for her constituents. She wants services for her constituents, do you both?
Speaker 4:feel that in those days, by not having the internet, by not having immediacy, by having real in-person interactions or groups, that you were able to be more effective in getting substantive change accomplished.
Speaker 1:I think there's an argument to be made for that. You know face-to-face. You know I like to meet face-to-face. I always did, and Jeff probably knows that, or for that you know face to face it's. You know I like to meet face to face. They always did, and Jeff probably knows that or remembers that. Obviously, during the age of COVID, things changed and I was in office when COVID hit and it was very frustrating because some of the stuff that I wanted to accomplish just got, you know, dust in the wind. Because of that, we got a lot done. You know there's always more that you want. I think you're right. It's more effective when people meet together and they get to know one another.
Speaker 3:Rich. I think it's a mixed bag. I think if you want to get something done on an issue and there's immediacy to it, certainly an in-person meeting is the way to go. However, you know, the digital world has opened up things like this podcast, so thousands of people can learn about Barry Gudanchik. So let's go back to issues starting in 2015.
Speaker 3:And again, I was lucky enough to work with you for many years and I did experience your old school style I'll call it your hands-on approach. We did have many meetings and I do remember specific issues. You'd call us in, you'd tell us there was a hearing coming up. You'd get us in the first two tables or three tables of the hearing, because after that nobody listens. We got a lot done on many co-op issues and I appreciate it uh, we appreciate it and we we appreciated working with you. And one issue throw it out there. You know the climate mobilization act was an issue that we worked with you and with various council members. Um, we didn't have numbers, we didn't know what it was going to cost. We knew it was hard to follow. If you read the statute and understood it, you're either a genius or you're lying. And we got a lot of insurances, from leadership and from the sponsor of the bill, casa Casanitas.
Speaker 1:Good friend of mine and a good man.
Speaker 3:And the details would be worked out. But here we are, five years later.
Speaker 1:It passed toward the end of 2019. Yeah, but I think you know we had assurances from the mayor's office and from council that we would be able to negotiate One of the problems we had. I said to Steve he came back from the first meeting. He said the city can't decide what's a garden apartment. So that was a big problem and you know these meetings don't take place every day. They take place. You know you'll have one in November that, while still important, took a backseat to getting you know. Mrs, mr and Mrs Smith food. I think that's one of the things that really hurt. To amend the laws. I voted for the bill with the understanding that we would follow up on it and tweak it to make it more palatable, but one of the promises was and this is in an article that Costas quoted that co-ops and guard departments would be actually exempt.
Speaker 3:And, barry, I don't know if you remember, you set up a meeting for you and I to meet with city council staff regarding guard departments and we went to. It was in 250 Broadway and we go in a room and we were the two oldest guys, by about 25, 30 years.
Speaker 3:Everybody had laptops and we began to realize all these young people in the room, they're all data scientists counting carbon emissions. And we said you know, we're here to represent people. And we talked about garden apartments and they had to Google garden apartments and they said oh yeah, my aunt in Flushing lives in one.
Speaker 1:Sometimes bureaucrats and elected official staff. You have to remember that it's a great honor to work in government. It should be considered that and you're there to help people. You know, I understand you're getting paid and all that and that's important. But at the end of the day, if we're not doing what needs to be done to help people with their various problems, what's the point? The point isn't about collecting a paycheck. So you know, when you tell me stories like that, you know it can drive me crazy because, yes, those figures are important, but if Mr and Mrs Smith or Mr and Mrs Jones or whatever can't pay their bills, then that kind of doesn't really matter to them so much.
Speaker 3:We are meeting with various groups, including unions, and we actually have a meeting later this week with an environmental group to explain, you know what? What it bill. It doesn't matter what you're burning, because people are going to be displaced.
Speaker 1:Well, new York is the most energy efficient state in the nation, so we're doing our part, largely because of mass transit. I'm going tomorrow morning to take an older sister to the doctors down in Grange Village, union Square area and I'm going to take you know I'll drive over to Bayside, I'll park and I'll take the Long Island Railroad in. You know, the Long Island Railroad is a generally on-time, comfortable ride and you know, from Bayside it's like 30 minutes into Midtown. It's great, you know.
Speaker 4:And now you can go either to Penn Station or Grand Central.
Speaker 1:Yeah, after $14 billion, it's the nicest station in New York City. I mean, it's just amazing. But hey, what can you do?
Speaker 4:What would you say was your greatest, proudest moment in serving the people? What do you say when you look back? What do you say you know that was really cool.
Speaker 1:You like to think. You know I was very proud to be part of Claire Schulman's executive management team. We saved the homes, and not only the homes but the money, because had those co-ops gone out of business, not only would they have lost their homes, they would have still owed the money on their, you know, on the underlying on the mortgages. So you know it's a double kick in the ass. In my own district when I was in the council I can look around I visited every school every year. Ari said you're going to be like Chuck Schumer visiting every county? I said yes, I am, but I wanted the principals to know that I was there for them and we did a lot of good work. I would say I brought resources to the school system in excess of what they would have gotten anyway, of close to $300 million in six years. The last construction that I started and I thank Linda Leaf for finishing it is an addition to PS26 along 73rd Avenue in Fresh Meadows. Looks fabulous, it does.
Speaker 4:And the basketball courts in front look great.
Speaker 1:We did build three new school additions and we added two Catholic schools. The community in Bayside Hills and the community in Queens Village was thrilled. So St Robert, bellarmine, our Lady of Lourdes schools are now New York City public schools. We took an old bowling alley that had been a charter school that the city had a lease on. We turned that into an early childhood center along Jamaica Avenue. So major, major investments.
Speaker 1:But you know, it starts with one thing. I got a call just as I was elected to the council. There is a child and his biggest thrill every year is to go to the Thanksgiving Day Parade and his mother told me, you know, he watches, you know videos of the parade year round. And I got a call from Mark McMillan who is the district manager still of Community Board 13. And he asked me if I could help.
Speaker 1:I says, mark, if I can't get this kid two tickets, I shouldn't be in the New York City Council. And so every year when I was in office for six years, I remembered, but without being prompted, we got that kid, you know, with his mom or whoever went with him to the parade. We got them two tickets so they could sit with dignity, and that's some of the stuff you can do for people. So you know, it may not be the greatest thing I did, but I remember it very fondly and you know that's the kind of stuff you can do for people and that's what people should be doing. I think there's too many press conferences now and not enough action.
Speaker 3:So this is the we're coming to a close. Rich you ready for the lightning round?
Speaker 4:I'm ready.
Speaker 3:Go ahead, shoot.
Speaker 4:Favorite neighborhood in New York City.
Speaker 1:I gotta say my own neighborhood, because it's where I live, but I don't really think about it. I love Greenwich Village. I love Flushing Downtown. Flushing is amazing. There's vibrancy all over New York though, by the way, when you were, love Flushing Downtown. Flushing is amazing.
Speaker 4:There's vibrancy all over New York, though, when you were in Flushing with Governor Cuomo, did you go to Gloria Pizza?
Speaker 1:No, we went to Ten Ren Tea House and we stopped. I remember Ten Ren because the governor asked about the bags under his eyes and he said that he looked in the mirror and he said they're still there. And the woman said it takes 24 hours to get bags Moving along.
Speaker 4:Bagel or Bialy.
Speaker 1:Bagel, but just by a little bit.
Speaker 4:All right, mets or Yankees.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's not even Mets. See my shirt. It says Mets on it.
Speaker 4:There you go, even though you were born in the Bronx.
Speaker 1:I was born in the Bronx but I'm Queens-raised. Book or movie that really inspired you Power Broker. I know that seems like a cliche answer. You're going to hear about a lot. I got to meet Robert Caro, who's the author of the Power Broker, but we were talking about his LBJ bios and I told him I almost didn't want to meet him because you shouldn't meet your heroes, that thing. And I said I was talking to somebody about my favorite chapter in the book, about rural electrification. And he said that's my favorite chapter in the book. And I just threw up my hands I said I'm done, it's not going to get any better than that.
Speaker 4:If you didn't do what you did either politics or financial endeavors what would you do instead? What would you have done?
Speaker 1:I would have been a right fielder for the New York Mets. There you go.
Speaker 4:Any hidden talents, special hobbies that we don't know about?
Speaker 1:I like to walk, but that's not a special. I left that to my older brother, max, who was an actor, and he achieved fame on Star trek, deep space nine, with a recurring character called rom. And people will come up to me to this day and they say you related to me, I'm like. Only since I'm born, I like to drive long distances, 800 miles in a day, is you know it's not much for me roughest politics state, city or temple. Temple, not even close.
Speaker 3:All right, listen.
Speaker 1:Not even close. But you know that's an honor. That's what I'm doing now. I'm president of my synagogue and I'm president of the Queens Jewish Community Council. I got to plug them both. But you know, my life work has been about bringing people together and it doesn't always work. Work has been about bringing people together and it doesn't always work. But you know, um, you know, alex Rosa used to say if you don't ask, people can't say yes. And um, you know, I think people need to get back to being, to disagreeing without being disagreeable.
Speaker 3:I think we've lost some of that. Barry, you're a true legend in New York City and state politics. I loved hearing from you and we owe each other lunch.
Speaker 1:I'm ready.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:Thank you again. Live long and prosper.
Speaker 3:Live long and prosper.