Q&A With Co-op/Condo Alliance's President

Earlier this month, a fledgling organization of New York City apartment owners launched a modest website with an Olympic-sized ambition:

“The Alliance of Condo & Co-op Owners aims to help owners achieve fair play, transparency, and accountability in condo and co-op governance and operations.”

Intrigued, we caught up with the ACCO’s president--Larry Simms, a 59-year-old ex- condo board president who consults with co-ops and condos on fiscal planning, communications, governance and ‘problem avoidance’—to find out more about the grassroots movement and its tactics.

Q. How did the ACCO get started?

A. The steering committee, 10 of us, met through a couple of public forums for Manhattan co-op and condo owners organized earlier this year by State Senator Liz Krueger and later State Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh. They had been organized in response to a deluge of calls from owners asking questions--some simple, some not.

These were standing-room-only forums. The breadth and diversity of the audience was stunning, and there was a lot of pent-up curiosity and frustration.

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