Super Hero XII: Which is Worse/Better: An Israeli Kibbutz or a New York City Co-operative?
By Robert Kroll Being a co-op superintendent is not all glory, glamour, and pride. Much of the time, when the super is not busy making […]
Covid Clinicians, Like HIV/AIDS Caregivers, Suffer Untreated PTSD
By Robert Kroll Long after the advent of palliatives for AIDS and anti-retroviral drugs, University of Maryland virologist and HIV/AIDS specialist Dr. Carla Alexander was […]
SUPERHERO X: Life or Death in Apartment Buildings
By Robert Kroll Life in an apartment building is tough; it’s treacherous, death-defying. Apartment residents are literally at the mercy of all the other people […]
Super Hero IX: California Yankee in Kings County Court Street
By Robert Kroll Like the Connecticut Yank in King Arthur’s Court, it was not obvious whether I had wandered into a local asylum or into […]
Our Way Out of This: I Think Not
By Robert Kroll AUTHOR’S NOTE: This essay was written exclusively for the denizens of the West Village; that is not only because WestView News doesn’t […]
SUPER HERO VIII: What the Cats Drag In
By Robert Kroll, co-op super and woodworker Close your eyes and try to envision the worst neighbor you’ve ever had in a co-op tenement. Recall […]
Super Hero VII: The Sociable Democrat—What Can a Super Do to Get Out the Vote?
By Robert Kroll The Super of a tenement building is generally viewed as a servant, an underling, a middle person between the tenants and the […]
Voter Fraud—Not Bloody Likely
By Robert Kroll and Rose M. Ray, PhD and poll worker Anyone out there thinking of voting more than once at the upcoming General Election? […]
Coast to Coast Coronavirus Caravan
By Robert Kroll During the past six weeks, my wife and I and our 15-year-old Shih Tzu snaked our way through a virus-laden northwest passage, […]
Pride Under Quarantine In The West Village: The Natives Are Restless
By Robert Kroll What can an apartment building’s super do to boost the experience of Pride Under Quarantine in a West Village co-op? The Super […]
Super Hero V: Epidemic of Cooperation—The Three Cs of Isolation
By Robert Kroll We’re sheltering-in-place, aka SIPing, in Northern California. We were there on a business trip in early March, and two days later Governor […]
Super Hero IV: Hiss…Boo
By Robert Kroll Winter is winding down. The flush of leaf buds is emerging. We’ve survived the cranking, clanking pipes of the cold season—many of […]
Everything You Need to Know About Japanese Woodworking
By Robert Kroll You can always tell when you’re in the presence of a Japanese woodworker: They usually have ten fingers. They have ten toes. […]
Super “Hero”
By Robert Kroll There are around a quarter million co-op living units in “The Naked City.” There are around 80,000 supers running them. Every one […]
How Can You Borrow Money on a West Village Brownstone Co-op?
By Robert Kroll How tough could it be to refinance an old high-interest $500,000 loan on a nice, well-maintained brownstone building in the West Village? […]