Sitting on Top of the World:

Our first year living in the Galaxy was spent fixing up our new apartment and getting acquainted with some of the wonderful people that live here. Master craftsman, Marc John , remodeled our kitchen with hand made cabinets in the “Southwestern” style we love. Moshe, located in the Galaxy, did our painting, flooring , and remodeled our three bathrooms. Fortunately, this was done before the General Manager and Board of Directors imposed a 30 page Alteration Agreement requiring, among other oppressive rules, a $200 per hour fee for the onsite Engineer to inspect any alterations. We even had our windows replaced to appreciate the fantastic view of the New York skyline. We were very happy when we moved to the Galaxy and good things were coming to both of us. I had inherited a new family, Martha, her children and grandchildren. I was honored to be "Father of the Bride" at Sylvia's wedding. They all loved me and took care of me and I was making more money than I had time to spend with my computer contracts. Our strong relationship inspired Martha to release her God-Given artistic talents that had been suppressed for many years by a prior relationship. She started creating fantastic works of art that we placed all over our fabulous apartment. Martha's piece "The Trickster", my personal favorite, was featured on the monitors in all of the Path stations. This picture is from the Hoboken station. Martha's work has also been dispalyed in the Collisium Niteclub in Jersey City and the Truckstop Diner in Hoboken. Martha is so gifted, she created this entire web site without ever taking a course in web site design. And if things weren’t great enough, Martha had just inherited a large sum of money and real estate in Argentina. It was hard to imagine that just a few years ago I was unemployed, broke and two days away from being forced to live in my old beat up Toyota Corolla and Martha, having lost her businesses and left with practically nothing by her ex-husband, was living with her three children in a five-floor walkup in the Bronx. By early 2003 we were at the top of our game and like the old Howlin’ Wolf song goes, we were “Sitting on Top of the World”.

The Penny Pincher:

Both of Martha’s parents passed away within months before we moved into the Galaxy. Her father worked all his life as an oil burner mechanic. He and his wife lived in a two-room apartment in the Bronx without an air conditioner in the same building as Martha. He didn’t own a car and was so cheap, he forced Martha’s mom to walk a mile to the hospital for her cancer treatments. He treasured his money so much that he would not allow anyone into his bedroom during his daily ritual of “ironing” his bills. When he died, we found a cryptic message that contained the Spanish word for key “Llave” written on an old can of coffee in his apartment. In the can we found a key to a safe deposit box where he hid his CD’s from Banks throughout New York and New Jersey and the Deeds to his properties in Argentina. We found other valuables hidden in walls and in his bedpost. He died alone in his bed, hardly spending a penny of the fortune he accumulated and kept well hidden from everyone by depriving his wife, children and grandchildren of a decent and comfortable life. It was like something you might find written in The New York Post. We have his favorite cap hanging on our hat rack next to the door in our apartment. Whenever I clean our HVAC units, I wear the oil burner work jacket he wore almost every day of his life. Martha's dad was a tough man but he always trusted me. Considering the type of person he was, to me that was an honor that I must respect.

The Little Creep:

Martha is a fantastic artist and became a member of the Creative Eye Club soon after we moved into the Galaxy. The picture of the pool on the homepage of this web site is a copy of her artwork. It is a combination of a picture of the pool from our terrace and the three Towers from Blvd. East. Martha spent a significant amount of time and money creating this work of art, along with others, for the enjoyment of the Galaxy residents. She also donates her time giving instructional seminars for the Creative Eye and all residents. She offered the “original” pool picture to The Galaxy Writers Club for the Annual Gala. Someone from the Writers Club was to write a story about the picture of the pool. Her artwork was not selected for the Gala and was never returned to Martha. When we questioned the writer, he denied any knowledge of what happened to Martha’s original artwork. I intentionally picked this work of art for the homepage to bring attention to it, in hope that you may have seen it hanging on someone’s wall. We hope that you can convince the little creep thief who stole her artwork to return it to Martha. Imagine how low one must be to steal a fellow artist’s original work. What puzzles me is the fact that anyone who knows Martha would know that if they had asked her for a copy of the picture, she would have been more than happy to give it to them. We will probably never know for sure who took Martha’s art, but we are sure of one thing: Somewhere in the Galaxy there is at least one other person that is a dishonest, untrustworthy and immoral failure with no redeemable values in their personal and professional life.

Trouble in Paradise:

The first time I remember thinking that we may have made a mistake buying an apartment in the Galaxy was a short two months after we moved in. When we purchased our apartment in November of 2002, our maintenance fee was about $670. Two months later it went up 10%. When we sold our apartment in December of 2005, three years later, the maintenance fee was $970. Two months after we sold, the maintenance went up another 10%. Six months after that increase, it went up another 10%. The last increase was partially blamed on the legal fees incurred by the GTCA defending the two lawsuits filed by the Concerned Unit Owners. One of the lawsuits was filed because the Board of Directors had prohibited the “content” of one’s speech in the lobbies. You could speak to your neighbors in the lobby, but you couldn’t speak about the ongoing election for positions on the Board of Directors. Yes, you heard that right and Yes, the Galaxy and Guttenberg are located in the United States of America. The second lawsuit was filed when the Board of Directors refused to release financial records to the Concerned Unit Owners. We fought, with the “help” of the New Jersey State Department of Community Affairs, to get these financial documents for over two years before filing the lawsuit. After reading a letter last night written by a unit owner, it appears as though another lawsuit will be filed soon for the very same reason.

A few months after we moved to the Galaxy, I was approached by a gentleman in the lobby who later became a very good friend and fellow Concerned Unit Owner. It was Mr. Stan Maron , one of the few people I met in the Galaxy who wasn’t afraid to stand up for what he believed in. He was collecting signatures for a petition to stop the Board of Directors from taking a 12.5 million dollar loan without the vote of the owners. I signed the petition along with many other owners, but the Board went ahead and took out the loan, which later became 18.5 million.

These incidents were troubling but we were riding too high to pay attention to them. It wasn’t until almost a year later that our concerns started to mount. I had asked the General Manager a simple question and I did not like the answer. I will cover that in the next chapter.

Coming Next: Nuut’s Bike, Another ”Life Lesson” and The Permits

MIKE DELUCA