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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
What Albany's 2026 Session Means for Co-ops and Condos with guest Basha Gerhards
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Basha Gerhards, Executive Vice President for Public Policy at the Real Estate Board of New York, joins the show to break down what the 2026 state legislative session delivered for co-op and condo owners. Gerhards describes her role helping REBNY's more than 14,000 members, from architects and engineers to brokers, owners, and property managers, understand and shape the policies affecting New York City's housing market. Day to day, that means analyzing bills, tracking the city and state budgets, and turning dense statutes into practical questions: What will a mandate cost? Who has to administer it? Is there a realistic path to compliance? She also shares her system for getting through the densest legislation, which involves plenty of caffeine and, for a long time, Swedish Fish.
The conversation then turns to the state budget and the three issues boards will be dealing with for years. Gerhards explains the J-51 extension, which is now a 10-year program with its assessed value cap raised to about $60,000 and indexed to inflation. That opens the abatement to far more co-op units, though the City Council and HPD still have work to do before buildings can use it. She describes the mismatch created when Albany pushed back its statewide climate goals while Local Law 97 deadlines stayed in place, and how boards should fold compliance into their capital planning. Then comes the second home annual tax, better known as the pied-à-terre tax. She covers the $1 million threshold for co-op and condo units and a rollout she says went worse than even REBNY expected. She also explains why the tax falls on the co-op corporation, which leaves boards and other shareholders exposed when an owner won't pay. She weighs in on the bills that didn't pass, the strain AI data centers put on the power grid, and what co-op and condo leaders should watch in the year ahead.
The episode closes with Richard's lightning round, which heads to Roosevelt Island, where Gerhards lives, and settles a borough debate along the way. Her family's favorite routine is grilling at the public grills next to a playground at sunset, with the Manhattan skyline across the water. She points out the hospital ruins near Four Freedoms Park, the historic lighthouse at the island's northern tip, and its two cat sanctuaries, and names Granny Annie's as the go-to spot to eat. For anyone serving on a board or managing a building, this is a clear look at what Albany just passed, what it will cost, and what still has to be worked out.
Why Laws Miss Building Reality
SPEAKER_00I think this is something we run into a lot with the legislative process. You don't have legislators who have run co-ops, who have run buildings, and it's not innate knowledge to them. And I think in some ways it's very easy to dismiss when they have constituents screaming and crying and having very emotional responses to say affordability and their water getting turned off and say they're dealing with bad building conditions. All of those things are more top of mind than what does it mean to actually physically go collect money from shareholders who may or may not be in the state, much less the country.
SPEAKER_01This 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.
Meet REBNY’s Policy Translator
SPEAKER_02Hello, and welcome to the Co-op and Condo Insider, where we explore the real-world issues facing co-op and condos across New York City with insight expertise and a healthy dose of straight talk. I'm your host, Jeffrey Mazel. I'm a co-op attorney and legal advisor to the President, Co-op and Condo Council, and a member of Co-ops and Condo United. 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 everyday lives. Richard, great to have you on the mic with us today. It is great to be here. And today we have a we have a guest who actually changes and makes a big difference in literally millions of people's lives, not putting pressure on you, Basha, but it is true. But we have Basha Bearhardt of the Real Estate Board of New York. Basha, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for having me today.
SPEAKER_02So explain to us what is your title as Executive Vice President for Public Policy at the Real Estate Board in New York, or REDMI, as it's known.
SPEAKER_00So my my day-to-day is helping the Real Estate Board of New York, our executive committee, our board of governors, and our 14,000 plus members across the real estate ecosystem, everyone from architects and engineers to attorneys to brokers to owners and developers and property managers, understand, shape, and respond to public policy affecting New York City's built environment, housing market, and economy. So this means I'm analyzing bills, looking at the city and state budget, agency rules, working with elected officials, agencies and stakeholders, and hopefully translating complex policy into practical impacts for members. And as my boss likes to say, translating things into a more accessible language when we're dealing with everything that's complicated from the building code to the zoning resolution to legal statute.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Having been a lawyer for 42 years, and when I review proposed legislation, my head does still start to spin and my eyes start to close. They're difficult to follow.
SPEAKER_00I have my system. It usually involves a healthy dose of caffeine and for a long time Swedish fish in order to get through that pretty dense material. As you get older, you can't eat as much candy. So, but stick with the caffeine. And then for your audience, really, when we're talking about co-ops and condos, the it's I'm trying to answer the practical questions. What will this mandate cost? Who has to administer it? Is there a realistic compliance path? What protections or resources are available?
SPEAKER_02So that kind of leads me to my next question. Redni is has a broad base of members, owners, managers, brokers, and lately working closely with the co-op and condo community. How does the co-op for condo community fit into Redmi's broader agenda?
Why Co-ops And Condos Matter
SPEAKER_00I feel like most of my day is spent thinking about housing, and co-ops and condos are central to preserving home ownership and housing affordability here in New York City. So this is not a side issue for us, right? Co-ops and condos are homes. They're you're all operating businesses and long-term capital assets at the same time. Boards have to manage aging systems, insurance, labor, energy taxes, capital projects, all while keeping monthly costs manageable for residents. This is what I think about on a day-to-day basis, not just for the co-op and condo community, but it's these topics, right? Insurance, labor, energy taxes that keep me up there right now and keep me working.
SPEAKER_02Is your focus on New York State legislation or is it broader than that?
SPEAKER_00So it's New York City, New York State, and when federal laws are changing that impact those topics across insurance, labor, energy, touching housing, we're looking at that as well. Our goal is to make sure public policy recognizes the operational realities and does not unintentionally undermine attainable homeownership if we're looking at this through the co-op and condo lens.
SPEAKER_02So I know you kept a close eye on the 2026 New York State legislation legislative session. There was major landmark legislation that was in the budget. We'll get through we'll get into that in a minute. There were some wins for the co-op and condo community and some losses, but that's I'm a Mets fan, so I understand both sides of that. Not the winning is much, but the losing as much as I think.
SPEAKER_00So I look at something like the LLC transparency bill that has been through multiple rounds, the bill focused on co-op ground leases. These bills may have serious unintended consequences for existing contracts, privacy, and things like that. And those bills did not proceed.
J51 Returns As A Repair Tool
SPEAKER_00What did proceed was a 2027 budget for the state. That's approximately $268.5 billion. And as part of that was something known as J51. This program was extended and strengthened in the co-op lens and condo lens in terms of providing a potential tool for capital repairs and energy upgrades, with it increased to the assessed value cap, which had been locked in place for nearly a decade, I want to say, with nominal increases. While the increase was not as high as we wanted, it went from about $60,000 as the assessed value cap. It is now indexed to inflation and has to be adjusted over time. And since this is now a 10-year program, that's really important in terms of ensuring that co-op units can continue to take to utilize this program over time and not get locked out of it as their assessed value increases.
SPEAKER_02What do you think? I saw that the J51 had broad support this year, which is different than I've actually been working on the J51. I did generally have been renewing every four years, I believe. And it was always a bit of a push to get it extended. And just for people listening who's not familiar, J51 is when a building does capital improvements, let's say you do a million dollars. I'm sure I'm explaining this somewhat incorrectly, but I'll do my best. And you get a 10-year period to reduce your taxes by 10%. So it would be a hundred thousand dollars tax credit every year. So it's very valuable and it it's it incentivizes capital improvements. And I don't know, I want to say this about 12 years ago, they limited the beneficiaries of the bill to buildings, I think at the time with what they call assess valuations, which is your evaluation on the tax rolls, to 32,000. Anyway, the good news in 2026 this bill is up to 60,000. Which did you guys, I think you guys did the study. It was a sigma, and it's like hundreds of thousands of people are now eligible.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yeah. And when I think about our housing stock, there was a recently a draft report was issued saying we need 700,000 new units of housing to address our affordability and supply crisis released from the city. And the last time we had that level of production was the 1920s. So I like to think of it as we have 700,000 units of homes that are 100 years old. And do we have the appropriate preservation tools? And I think, especially in the co-op lens, again, this is affordable homeownership for many New Yorkers. Do they have the tools available to them that will allow them to do these capital repairs, whether it's the boiler, the roof, the facade, redoing the electrical system? We could have a whole separate podcast. And I believe you have on Local Law 97 and probably, I think, a few conversations on that. But these types of tools are really important. But because the city is a creature of the state, we need the state to enable these types of tax programs. And so I think we do view that as a consequential piece of legislation coming out of the session. Jeff, to your point, yes, this has been a bit of a slog in the past. I think one of the points of debate was should the city council have permission to authorize the local program? Since in years past, they the program was authorized for three years. They took two years to reissue it, and then six months of rulemaking by HPD. This is now a program that's in place for people to be eligible to use its benefits for 10 years. The council has already introduced legislation, and that will be heard on September 9th, in terms of moving forward and look and doing the local authorization for this state program. Pretty important in terms of actually getting the program up and running. The other thing to keep in mind with all of this, if the city is a creature of the state, one of the conversations at the state level this year was certainly around taxes. And when you're talking about a program like J51, where there is a reduction on the property tax, that means money has to come from somewhere else. And we see that with the implementation of the second home annual tax or Piataire tax.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, which we'll get to in a minute. Just uh fun fact about J51, if you can use those words in the same sentence, is I was reading because I'm not that old. In the 1950s, it was enacted to help buildings convert from coal to oil. And that was number six oil. So can you imagine?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, now we're trying to phase out all oil together.
SPEAKER_02So no, but it's it was interesting, and it's been around since the 50s. And it was just to me refreshing, because usually I'm on the short end of a lot of these issues to see that it was both in the budget and now City Council is in just really expediting it. I gotta think it's for state law and just again to explain to the audience the J 51 tax abatement, and it's a very complex system that we're dealing with. I use the word Byzantine just to annoy my son who hates when I say this, but the law has to pass the New York state legislature, which it did in June. I assume that was signed by the governor.
SPEAKER_00So it was actually passed as part of the state budget. Budget, but okay. So if we really want to go deep down the rabbit hole, I don't know if that's a preferable analogy, right? But the the state session meets from January through June. It is dominated in the first half of that six-month session by budget negotiations. The budget is supposed to be done by March 31st. However, over the last several years, it has certainly wrapped up much later than that. All of this happened in June within a very short few months, short few weeks, actually, was the final budget getting adopted and then the remainder of session where they have to deal with standalone legislation and actually a lot of local enabling legislation in terms of can this sheriff pension be authorized? Do they need this lake renamed? There's a lot of the kind of local needs that need to get sorted out post-budget by the individual legislators in the two houses. And then those bills can go to the governor.
SPEAKER_02So again, the bill passed in June and then was introduced in the city council, and it needs city council approval, also near city approval. And it was introduced, I believe, last week or two weeks ago. And it's coming up for hearing September 9th, which means it's really on the fast track at the city level.
SPEAKER_00Because after the hearing, it city council bills have to they refer to aging. It's the physical process of placing the bill language on a city council member's desk, and it has to be there for a minimum of 10 days, with the goal that the legislator reads it, analyzes it, reviews it, asks whatever questions, and then they vote at it at the next eligible stated. So we could have this program in place in statute at the local level as soon as October. And then it does require HPD rulemaking, and hopefully that will also be expedited through the local rulemaking process.
SPEAKER_02So I would like to thank, and this is Mike and uh Bosha's there's a disclaimer at the beginning of the show anyway, don't worry. That I think years of advocacy by Coca-Conda groups, obviously, this alone, obviously, landlord groups, and more recently, environmental groups see it as a valuable tool for local 197 compliance and a vehicle to help in essence finance local 197 projects.
State Climate Timeline Vs Local Law 97
SPEAKER_02So this kind of ties in the governor also in her budget made amendments to the CLCPA. Can you explain what she did, what the changes are, and why they're significant for COPA condominium buildings?
SPEAKER_00Sure. So the state budget adjusted the Climate Act's implementation timeline. And this was in recognition that reliability, infrastructure, and affordability have to be part of implementation. So REMI remains really supportive of decarbonization and renewable energy goals, but we also have to recognize the reality of where our technology is, where our grid is, where the manufacturing sector is in terms of being able to produce the materials, say, like how many solar panels do we need, federal appetite or lack thereof in terms of funding and permitting, all this has to be recognized. So the practical issue for multifamily buildings is whether clean electricity, grid capacity, and affordable technology needed for electrification are available when mandates require them. Unfortunately, while the state climate act changes were enacted, they do not themselves change local law 97 deadlines, emission limits, or reporting obligations. The state bill and the state changes is really about the state grid and the state goals. So local law 97 remains in full effect. This unfortunately creates a policy mismatch. You have Albany acknowledging statewide implementation constraints, including a grid that is not going to green as fast as everyone thought it could or would, while city obligations remain on their existing calendar and cadence.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, so that's and that's really where we are today, where the amendments to the CLCPA are dicked back 10 years for the electric rent to be I think 70% renewable, whatever it was, versus 2030. Yeah, the local 97 looks for a major overhaul in in the systems and electrification by 2030. So that I guess that's an issue, and we'll we'll get to that. I mean that's an issue, that's a today issue going forward, because this all just happened. Okay, so we have a question. How should the call up and contact boards plan now when the state climate framework has changed, but the New York City's local ball has not?
SPEAKER_00You are obligated to continue planning against the city calendar for reporting, for emissions reductions, and compliance. I think the thing to keep in mind is how can you preserve flexibility as policy incentive and grid conditions evolve? What is your current baseline? How are you sequencing projects through the building's capital plan rather than treating climate work as a standalone expense? Really, I think a lot of what the conversations are around when we're thinking about climate adaptation is changing in behavior and integrating that change in behavior into everything you do. So I think it's really important to think through these projects that your capital planning cycle, when are you coming to the end of useful life for certain systems? And that is most likely the most appropriate time to change those systems over to a system that is local law 97 compliant. However, I think you also then have to ask the question is that past my deadline for compliance? Is the technology available? I think these are the questions we're all grappling with. We encourage people to prioritize measures that reduce energy use and improve building performance now. And people should continue to evaluate the incentives, including J51. Is this enough? I think the legislative conversations around helping people where they are now and getting them to these goals is a constant. It is not a one-and-done conversation. So I think it's really important for an organization like Rebney to continue getting feedback from the co-op universe in terms of is J51 enough? What else do you need? What are the other supports? One of the things we've done is partner with the Building Energy Exchange, the mayor's office, and we'll be running a workshop in September, hosting, co-hosting for co-op boards to come in and learn about some of the tools that are available.
SPEAKER_02Want to plug it? What day and have people come join it?
SPEAKER_00Sure. I think you might need to post the registration link, but if you go to the Building Energy Exchange website, the workshop will be September 16th, and it's hosted at Rebney Offices at 570 Lexington.
SPEAKER_03Richard.
AI Data Centers And Grid Pressure
SPEAKER_03So with the rise of AI, there is now an enormous pull on the energy grid because AI uses massive amounts of energy. Has anyone looked at the competing interests of putting more energy pull from buildings and clean energy against the pull that is required to sustain all the AI-generated content creation, exchange, and storage, because now we're putting so much upward pressure that more and more, and there's truly a physical limit on how fast we can grow sustainably and efficiently.
SPEAKER_00So I think those constraints then run into global competitiveness as well, and even national competitiveness. And this is not just the New York conversation, though the governor has put into effect an executive order effectively pausing data centers over a certain size to actually analyze these exact questions. What is their energy and water utilization rates? Are there ways to mitigate those environmental impacts if there are them? I think a lot of this is there's just a lot of unknown. There is the perception. And then I think we need to really study and see how much perception matches up with reality. The other part of this is you have other states that are have their, I'd say their borders wide open to data centers being built, which means jobs are going there. You have the, I would say, the associated indirect economic impacts that are associated with wide-scale construction, both from a jobs perspective, income perspective, and your tax base. So I think all of these things have to be calibrated. The governor did the first moratorium in the country. You have other states looking at this model as well. But the important thing, I think, is the governor was really clear. The goal of the moratoriums is to study exactly how to do this right, balancing and calibrating across these multiple public interests.
SPEAKER_02We really are at like a generational crossroads with where the great energy needs in technology. It's just an incredible time. All right, so let's move on to the third big issue that was in the budget.
Second Home Tax Rollout Problems
SPEAKER_02And it's the second home annual tax, which I guess we all know is a P and a tear. Can you just explain what who's subject to this tax? And I guess while you're at it, I'll make it a little longer question. My father was saying, What the hell happened with the rollout?
SPEAKER_00As as my boss likes to say, we could not have anticipated the rollout going worse, but we'll come back to that. So what is the second whole thing?
SPEAKER_02He could have anticipated it. He could have anticipated.
SPEAKER_00We anticipated it was going to go poorly. We didn't anticipate it was going to go this poorly. So what is it? It's a new annual surcharge that means every year someone is obligated to pay this thing on certain high-value New York City residents that are not primary residents. It was enacted in tax law article 30C through part HH of the fiscal 2027 budget. All very technical way of saying here's what that means. Phase one is July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2028. This is a $5 million threshold for one to three family homes and a $1 million threshold for condos and co-ops. That $1 million threshold gets a little complicated, though, because it is not based on sales. It is based on a bunch of imputed values and then DOF picking a share number for a co-op building to determine which units within that co-op building actually meet that threshold. The rates range from 4% to 6.5%. Starting July 1st, 2028, the threshold moves to 5 million. So from the 1 million to 5 million under a comparable sales valuation method, which does not exist today. So the first year schedule in terms of what happened here, the law took effect July 1st. DOF rules were adopted July 10th. Task commission materials followed July 15th. And notices were due by August 30th. Initial notices were sent out. The deadline to challenge Am I is Am I do I actually live here? Is this the right value? That's been now extended three separate times. So now we're looking at a later deadline. Line. A lot of the questions are how did DOF identify the properties that were subject to these thresholds and where there is not a primary residence? How are the notices done? One of the things that I think a lot of garnered a lot of press was DOS issued a supplemental role. They issue tax rules every year where they post people's addresses and who lives there and the values. But this was the first time I think people were really paying attention because it was like, oh my God, am I on this list? And should I be on this list? And so I think one of the things that is not actually written out in the statute or in the DOF rules, despite I would say multiple rounds of public pleas to do so, is what does this mean for someone who transferred the property after the retroactive date? Because this goes back to January 1st, effectively January 1st, 2026. So if someone was living in that, or I should say, not living in that unit and sells it to someone who is going to be the primary residence, what whose obligation is it? And in the co-op universe, because of the way DOF is calculating this and the way co-ops are managed, if someone no longer is in the country or says, I, you know what, I don't want to pay this, I don't agree with this tax, I shouldn't have to pay this whatsoever, the obligation, the financial obligation, falls to the rest of the shareholders and to the board. And that creates a number of legal considerations and challenges.
SPEAKER_02When it was put in the budget and in the rulemaking process, was this ever mentioned to DOF or the legislature?
SPEAKER_00Our role in these conversations is to raise the unintended consequences, any legal concerns, and we certainly did so in many conversations. I think the political drive to do this quickly, to make sure money was starting to collect for the city this fiscal year was a very high pressure. Again, I think we point to a very compressed timeline for the agencies to effectuate this tax and the collection. And I think this is something we run into a lot with the legislative process. You don't have legislators who have run co-ops, who have run buildings, and it's not innate knowledge to them. And I think in some ways it's very easy to dismiss when they have constituents screaming and crying and having very emotional responses to say affordability and their water getting turned off, and say they're dealing with bad building conditions, all of those things are more top of mind than what does it mean to actually physically go collect money from shareholders who may or may not be in the state, much less the country.
SPEAKER_02So just to be put my lawyer hat on for a minute, technically the tax is owed by the cooperative corporation.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02Not the shareholder that's in the that has the that owns a Peter Tear. And the way proprietary leases read, basically the money expenses get put in a pot and then get distributed by share or room size. Things will have to happen and get amended, and it's not easy. I I just want to give an example while I have you, Basha. I I got a notice yesterday. I represent a co-op for their garden apartments. The most expensive apartment there is maybe $300,000. That's real money, not average valuation. And it's subject to a land lease. So the the owner of the property is an LLC. The LLC guide a peer-to-tier notice. It's embarrassing. So they don't know there's a ground lease and they don't know it's a co-op. They just saw the tax lot, they saw the name, and I don't know how they came up with the fact. I don't even know is it computer generated? Do we even know?
SPEAKER_00Or we don't know. And unfortunately, the Department of Finance did not show at the City Council oversight hearing to where the council members wanted to ask these questions, right? How are the values being calculated? What if what data sources is the department using to determine primary residency? And then this gets into a whole host of let's say fact pattern cases of what do you do in this situation when the situation is not accounted for a rule. So the rules did ultimately account for one of the conditions we had raised in our testimony and our comment letter was okay, someone's in a nursing home. And they've been in a nursing home and they're in rehab. Is the unit their primary residence or not? And making sure that was accounted for. What's not accounted for is someone who's renovating one apartment with the intent to move into it. What's not accounted for is the person who bought it for someone who is not a primary resident. So all of these things, to your point, the older proprietary leases don't address the surcharge. They don't address late fees, escrow, transfer conditions, recovery costs, and this creates a whole host of headaches. And that might be the smallest way to describe it and in terms of what this means for the board and the property managers who assist these boards.
SPEAKER_02But it's guarding the subject to at least one litigation that I'm aware of, and I know there's other litigation being planned. And I'm sure if we meet up next year at this time to go over the 2026 session or 2027 session, hopefully most of us is sorted it
What Boards Should Watch Next
SPEAKER_02out. So talking about looking ahead, what do you think? Uh what legislation is out there? What issues are out there that you and Repney C co-op and condominium leaders should be watching out for?
SPEAKER_00So I think when I think about our three topics here, local law 97, J51, the second home annual tax, the common thread is implementation that is transparent and financially workable. So with local law 97, I think we really need to be encouraging government to look at meaningful compliance pathways and being more expansive and flexible in how people meet the goals. I think that's just really important. J51 is one of the things that will help people do what's ob what they're fulfill their obligations under the existing law today. But there's lots of ways to be green. And this singular focus on electrification is in a lot of ways, I think we're finding to be really expensive and impractical for a number of buildings. I think being more expansive in terms of how we think about that. The goal is not to undermine the goal, right? And I think this is sometimes where the rhetoric kind of clouds the actual practical conversation. It's not that we want the grid to remain dirty. It's not that we want buildings to continue emitting greenhouse gases, but we need to be really practical about how we get people there and how we get these buildings there. And doing an ideological purity test about how you get there means we're not going to meet our goals. And I think that would be a failure of the public policy altogether. On J51, I think where the struggles have been in the past is in implementation of bureaucracy. Byzantine may not be a favorite word for everyone, but it is the appropriate word, unfortunately, when you can't get a project manager assigned for a year under certain HPD programs, when you're not sure where your paperwork goes, where things aren't tracked digitally. The city is taking a number of steps to start to address some of that transparency communication deficit, but that's going to take some time to play out too. On the second home tax, there's so many challenges. It's hard to know what to prioritize here, but I think number one would be better communication. What are they using to make these determinations? What happens to your paperwork when you submit it? And making sure that there is co-op-specific administration and understanding of the challenges in implementing a tax like this. I'd say that my kind of last thought in terms of looking ahead. I think the co-op constituency is a really important one. Again, you're holding the line on homeownership affordability in New York City. And I think that's really critical thinking about the importance of having neighborhoods that offer a range of housing options to New Yorkers. Building affordability is not just the income levels of the people who live there or the income levels of what it's sold or rented. It's also shaped by the combined effect of mandates, taxes, insurance, utilities, and capital costs. And we really, it is my sincere hope that side of the affordability equation will be more broadly recognized in conversations around public policy.
Roosevelt Island Favorites And Closing
SPEAKER_02So we're winding down on time. Well, we we like to end the short end the podcast with a lighter note. Richard is quite an expert on Queens. We've had guests from the Bronx and Manhattan. And I think we've delved into Northeast Queens, Southeast Queens, Corona, Astoria, but never Roosevelt Islands. And most people don't even know it's in Queens. So Richard, I'll turn this over to you.
SPEAKER_00It's technically part of Manhattan. That has been a debate over many congressional drives. We're physically connected by a bridge to Queens. We're physically connected to Manhattan via the Sky Tram and to both by the subway.
SPEAKER_02What borough is it in?
SPEAKER_00It is technically part of Manhattan.
SPEAKER_02I am wrong.
SPEAKER_00And I am part of Speaker Menon's council district.
SPEAKER_02I stand corrected.
SPEAKER_03Over the years, uh Roseville Island has been a forgotten and lost part of New York City, but it's got cool stuff. It's got the the abandoned hospital ruins, it's got the geyser, you got some great views, you got the skytram. What are your favorite little spots that no one really knows about? I'm not really talking about necessarily food, but when you walk around, it's not really that wide. It's not really that long. And parking is a challenge.
SPEAKER_00Don't drive there. I don't encourage anyone to drive. And I don't encourage anyone to come during the Terry Blossom Festival because that seems insane. And I think as a resident, we just stay inside during that period. But both from allergies and the crowds in order to navigate on and off the island. So one of my favorite things is actually we have a lot of public grills. And one set of public grills is next to a public playground. And Roosevelt Island fundamentally is wonderful for families. We have a public school on the island, in addition to a public hospital, which people may not realize. So I think one of the things I appreciate is the all the different ages being out. And one of our favorite things to do is grill at one of those public grills next to that public playground and look out into Manhattan at sunset. And it's just you get to everyone talks about what's the what are the most wonderful things about New York? It's our neighborhoods and getting to be out there with my neighbors and enjoying the the work that I do and seeing the skyline and getting to enjoy that and our little hearing the water go across the come across the rocks. And yeah.
SPEAKER_03Is there an abandoned hospital structure still out there from the old yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00That is towards the southern part of the island, towards the Freedom Park, which is for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. There's also several monuments. Roosevelt Island being for FDR. So you have the abandoned nurse hospital ruins that's at the southern part. The northernmost part of the island has a lighthouse that's on the National Register of Historic Places. And in between, there's a lot of cool things. There's two cat sanctuaries for any cat lovers.
SPEAKER_03Oh it's about why's your favorite place to eat on the island? And that is my closing question.
SPEAKER_00I give credit to Ryok and the range of restaurants, but our favorite is probably Granny Annie's. It's the Irish pub, but there they also have a great kids' menu. And again, like there is a lawn next to it. So the theme here is we like places where we can eat in peace and our kids can run around and expend all of their energy and go to sleep the whole night.
SPEAKER_02Sounds like the best of all worlds. Sit in the grass and look at Van Adam.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay, Pasha, at this point, I just want to congratulate you. You're now officially a Co Avocado insider. And uh take that off your bucket list. For those of you listening, thank you for listening today, and we look forward to speaking to you on the next podcast. Thank you, everybody.