Walk on the Wild Side
Lou Reed joined Gotham Organization president David Picket Nov. 10 at the sixth annual “Ten O’clock Classics” (TOC) benefit. Chaired by Picket and with an advisory board that includes Sandra Bernhardt and Billy Joel, TOC’s mission is to provide musical instruments to underprivileged children and additionally provide music lessons taught by graduates of the Juilliard School; instruments for home practice; educational outings to concerts at venues such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall; and outreach concerts for large groups of children at public schools. Held at the Union Square Ballroom in Manhattan, the charity gala raised $200,000 for TOC by auctioning off items including a Justin Timberlake autographed piano and two Lou Reed autographed guitars. The Gotham Organization is a fourth-generation New York City real estate and construction firm, with portfolio operations of more than 1.7 million square feet of multifamily residential and retail properties.
Home for the Holidays
Just in time for Thanksgiving, communities from nine Home Properties’ regional divisions pitched in this month to collect 8,000 pounds of food and hygiene items for local food banks. The Vienna, Va.-based REIT’s food drive was themed “You CAN make a difference,” and was timed to coincide with a fall dip in contributions experienced by many food banks that traditionally see the bulk of donations occurring around the winter holidays. “It is often easy to ignore the pleas of those who have less,” says Home Properties spokesperson Charis W. Warshof. “Through the actions of Home Properties and its many wonderful residents, those with less will have more—not just more food, but more happiness and more hope. The residents heard that they could make a difference, and they most surely did.”
All Bark, No Bite
After a heated two-hour debate at City Hall on Nov. 12, The San Francisco Commission for Animal Control and Welfare tabled a resolution suggesting that the city prohibit housing discrimination against responsible pet owners. Although the resolution would have been non-binding, it would have been a key first step in encouraging a San Francisco supervisor to move forward in pushing legislation before the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor’s office. At issue is multifamily housing: After hearing testimony from resident groups in favor of the resolution and landlord associations worried about its on-site impact, Commissioner Philip Gerrie pulled the resolution, adding that he would come back in January with a revision that laid out more specifics about what the rights of landlords and tenants would be.
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