Dianne Ackerman

With coronavirus (Covid-19) spreading in NYC, your building should be ramping up cleaning efforts—and notifying residents what steps are being taken.

It isn’t easy being green in a high-rise apartment building, but your neighbors have to take your wellbeing into consideration. You could suggest that your neighbors store their compost in their freezers until they can take it to an outdoor bin or facility.

And after three flooding incidents, you should consider the possibility that your apartment might have mold. This is dangerous for anyone, especially for young children and older adults. To resolve this, you may need a special cleaning company to come in and dry out the ceiling and walls and remove any mold.

A lobby, the focal point of any building, should be as nice as possible, but there are quite a few ramifications involved with a renovation. First of all, everything costs money, even a coat of paint. Your board may be reluctant to raise the maintenance or apply an assessment if the budget won’t cover the cost of any renovations.

When you lodge a complaint with management it should be confidential. But, if you are still concerned that your neighbor will deduce it was you who ratted on their dog, organize a posse. You cannot be the only person who is upset about the lack of furniture on the deck. So, get together and ask that it be returned.

Ms. Demeanor tells some co-op residents who have a difficult NYC neighbor to hold management accountable.