Workers Who Make a Difference
October 23, 2009
Good building workers do not usually get the credit they deserve. That’s why for the third year in a row, 32BJ SEIU, the property service workers union, and Manhattan Media present the Building Service Workers of the Year Awards. This special issue, along with the Oct. 22 awards ceremony, honors those workers who keep the city’s commercial, residential and other buildings running smoothly. We received more than 200 nominations for building workers from all over the city. After winnowing the list down to a handful of finalists, a panel of judges voted on the winners. Their profiles are linked below. [Read more]
Building Turn-Around
October 23, 2009
Julio Sirui started working at 6485 Broadway in the Bronx only two years ago, but already residents cannot imagine their home without him.
“After four years of living in the building, I finally feel at home,” said resident Donna Clarke, who added that Sirui, “completely turned around the building.”
In addition to the building’s improved appearance, Sirui’s helpful disposition and ever-present smile have changed the atmosphere in the apartment complex. Clarke describes Sirui as the kind of person who is always happy, cheerful and willing to help, whether it’s by holding the door or helping with groceries. [Read more]
Pride in His Building
October 23, 2009
Growing up, Emanuel Watson watched how hard his father worked to provide for Watson and his five siblings, and that taught him the value of honest labor at a very young age.
“I watched him go to work every day, all the way to Jersey from Brooklyn,” Watson said of his father. “He would leave at 6 in the morning and not get back until 9 or 10 o’clock at night. My grandfather was the same way, and I just don’t know any other way.” [Read more]
Neighborhood Nurturer
October 23, 2009
After almost 19 years as a doorwoman for the Courtney House apartment building, Sharon French says her daily commute no longer feels like going to work, but rather like “going to see family.”
One of the best aspects of her job, she says, is watching the residents grow from children to adults who get married and start families of their own. Residents and fellow employees have witnessed her life milestones as well. Two years ago, doctors diagnosed French with uterine cancer, requiring her to undergo surgical treatments and spend time in the hospital. She said her building family was with her through it all. [Read more]
The Green Machine
October 23, 2009
Bill Aristovulos knows exactly how he got his passion for conservation.
“There’s comedians who say, ‘You sound like your parents,’” he said. “Well, I certainly do.”
Aristovulos is a superintendent at an apartment building on Greenwich Avenue in the Village, where he’s worked since 1991. The self-described tree hugger says that he learned his first lesson in conservation when he was just a kid. His mother, a nurse who emigrated from Greece when he was 7 years old, saved on the cost of heating bills by keeping the temperature low. [Read more]
PATH Train Heroics
October 23, 2009
Terrence Kelsor knows exactly how long it takes to save a life.
Ten seconds. That’s how long it took Kelsor to drop to the ground, grab a 250-pound man who had fallen onto the subway tracks at the Christopher Street PATH station and bring him safely back to the ledge.
“I counted 10 seconds in my head as I pulled this man up. Immediately after, the train went by,” said Kelsor, 54. [Read more]
Rock of Gibraltar
October 23, 2009
Plinio Torres grew up in Puerto Rico, where his first job was cutting sugar cane. In 1964, at age 18, he left farm life and moved to New York City, following in the footsteps of his sister and brother. He arrived in May, not a bad month in New York.
“I love it,” he said, “as soon as I see it.”
For 29 years, he has worked as a doorman at 120 E. 36th St. It’s not Park Avenue—although it’s between Park and Lexington—but it might as well be.
“We’re not a Park Avenue building,” said Ann Marie Coleman, the co-op board’s vice president. “But he treats each one of us like we’re millionaires.” [Read more]
NYU’s Community Builder
October 23, 2009
At three cultural institutions at New York University, where writers and intellectuals gather, inspiration comes in the form of a 26-year-old custodian.
On paper, Daniel Fernandez’s job is simple to the point of mundane: he cleans and moves furniture for events under the auspices of Collins Building Services, Inc. Specifically, he helps maintain the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo. Yet in just two years, he has demonstrated a wider ideal of community and hospitality. [Read more]
A Lighting Fast Fix
October 23, 2009
As a little boy, Juan Pichardo loved to watch his father make repairs on their home in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Whether it was a quick fix or detailed electrical work, he was fascinated by it all. Decades later, Pichardo now considers those formative moments with his father the beginning of his life’s calling.
An assistant superintendent and handyman for the Eastmore, on East 76th Street, Pichardo has made a career of isolating and fixing problems.
“My dad was very technical. I watched him and it grew in me,” he said during an interview in the marble-floored lobby. [Read more]
Paramount Plaza’s Everyman
October 23, 2009
Agron Osmani, 47, does the most important work of the day during a half-hour period. That’s when son Anvi, 14, and daughter Rudna, 11, get home from school and he has 30 minutes to spend with his family before heading off to work. By 5:15 p.m., Osmani must be in the Paramount Plaza, at 1633 Broadway just north of Times Square, where he works on the cleaning staff.
A self-described family man, Osmani said getting married to his wife Nazima and having kids motivated him to get a job as a cleaner at Paramount Plaza. [Read more]
