Coop and Condo Dwellers, Unite

City Council members form voting blocs and caucuses based around race and ethnicity, gender or political ideology. But now, there is a caucus focused on those who live in coops and condominiums. A Queens Council member, [Mark Weprin], recently formed the Coop and Condo Caucus and recruited 23 of his colleagues including East Side Council members, Dan Garodnick and Jessica Lappin The caucus" mission is to meet periodically to discuss ways to tackle coop and condo dwellers" concerns. The caucus will also consider how Council legislation will uniquely impact residents in these buildings. â??There are a lot of issues we consider in the council that could have a special impact on coops and condos, Garodnick said. â??We want to make sure any particularized interest of coops and condos are taken into account. Often, the 500,000 families that live in such buildings are subject to laws targeting multiple dwellings that may be inapplicable, said Mary Ann Rothman, [Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums](http://cnyc.coop/)" executive director. â??Very often, the City Council lumps them in with other multiple dwellingsâ?¦ and enact legislation that doesn"t take into account our function as our own small democracies, said Rothman. But the caucus will also take up issues of property taxes, water rates and [heating oil](http://nypress.com/2010/01/08/dirty-air-culprit-old-boilers/). With a heavy concentration of coops and condos that burn polluting oil in the Upper East Side, the city has been trying to push the use of cleaner-burning fuels. â??We can reach out to coop and condo owners to encourage them to switch to bio-diesel, said Council Member Jessica Lappin, who started such an [initiative](http://nypress.com/2010/03/04/coalition-launches-east-side-biodiesel-campaign/) with environmental groups.