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August 2015

Herb Dwyer,
President

On June 22, 2015, the LATC

hosted a 25th Anniversary party at
the Lake Watch Inn on East Shore
Drive in Lansing, New York. The
event celebrated the organizations
25 years of service to landlords in
Tompkins County. We were
graciously joined by two
phenomenal guest speakers: JoAnn
Cornish, Director of City of Ithaca
Department of Planning and
Economic Development and
Jennifer Tavares, the Chair of the
Tompkins County Chamber of
Commerce. Both women offered
insight into the growth of
Tompkins County as well as future
opportunities and needs.

Our event Sponsor, Home Depot,

provided us with numerous door
prizes as well as great food and a
beautiful atmosphere for our
celebration. If you see them at the
Home Depot pro-desk, be sure to
say Hi!
We would like to thank all who
attended and helped to make this
25th anniversary a great one!

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25th Anniversary Edition

LATC

RUMINATIONS ON 25 YEARS OF THE LATC

Looking back through my
archives began to feel like
watching a movie where the pages
of a calendar flip by faster and
faster -Twenty-five years of
activities contained in a file
drawer. So many meetings, so
much effort expended by so many
people, so much determination to
make this organization what it is
today!
Ron and I attended the
organizational meeting on
February 25th, 1990. Wed been in
business a while by then. Wed
asked around and were surprised
that there was no active
association of landlords in Ithaca,
so we were interested to be at the
first meeting. In 1990 the specter
of a rent registry had arisen and
the current local government was
bruiting about the possibility of
rent control, so Neal and Pat
Howard arranged to have a
meeting and try to resurrect a
local landlord group. We joined
75 other landlords in a meeting
room at the Elks Lodge at 139 W.
State St.
The first official meeting of the
new Tompkins County Landlords
Association was held on April 4th,
1990, at the Chamber of
Commerce. Neal Howard was
elected President and his wife Pat
Howard became Secretary.
As the LATC Archivist, I have
the minutes for every meeting and
its been an interesting trip to look
back through it all. Ron and I
were more deeply involved in the
group, right from the beginning,
than I remembered! The minutes
of the second meeting, 5/23/90,
show that I was on the Phone

Tree, along with Chris Anagnost,

so that we could alert members of
meetings. (This certainly wasnt
using a cell phone but I think
maybe wed moved past rotary
dialing by then!) Other meetings
that year included discussions of
the high fees for Certificates of
Compliance and other costly city
regulations. We began meeting
on the 4th Monday of each month
and had notable local guest
speakers appear regularly John
Gutenberger (former Mayor and
then Cornell Community
Relations representative) told us
about Cornells plans to expand
student housing, which created a
great stir. (After Ron and Bill
Olney formed a Cornell Watch
Committee, Cornell actually
joined our organization as a
member.) Over the years weve
had a great roster of speakers,
including local Sheriffs, District
Attorneys, NYS Assistant District
Attorney, accountants, lawyers,
building and assessment officials,
as well as programs that improve
all areas of our management skills.
For many years now, Brian Grout
has continued to offer the same
high caliber of guest speakers.
At one of our early meetings there
was much discussion about the
Countys proposal for an 8% sales
tax. Through the years weve
continued to address the now
familiar themes of higher taxes,
city fees and ordinances, new laws
on sprinklers, lead paint, the
EPMO, etc. These issues were
being discussed even at our
earliest meetings.
The next spring, in 92, I became
Publicity Chair, and have held
that position ever since. I was the

by Carol Schmitt
occasional Acting Secretary the
first couple of years, and became
Secretary in 1992. I originally
typed up minutes on our old Mac
and printed them out for our
members, and sent in all meeting
notices to the local media by
postcard! Ron officially became
Treasurer and acquired a Tax I.D.
number for the organization, and
chaired a few meetings until Mark
Goldfarb was elected President.
Ron set us up as an official not
for profit 501(c) (6) business
league with the IRS. More
recently he also negotiated an
arrangement with our local Home
Depot in which we receive gift
cards based on member
purchases, and many lucky
meeting attendees are benefitting
with winning raffle tickets. We
also have substantial support
from the many other local
businesses that are our Sponsors.
From the very first years, the
LATC has continually made
charitable donations to dozens of
local housing-related causes, one
way that we try to give back to
our community.
At our second annual meeting the
idea of a Code of Ethics was
introduced and created by Tim
Terpening, which is a vital
requirement of membership and
has now been adopted by a
number of other landlord
organizations. Board meetings
were deemed necessary and we
began to hold Executive
Meetings at the old Manos
Restaurant. Officers and
Directors meet monthly to
oversee the myriad parts of our
now large organization, which is
still growing exponentially. We
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25th Anniversary Edition

continued to expand our

membership, and had member
drives at Old Port Harbour,
arranged by Brian Grout, and also
one at Whats Your Beef, set up
by Sharon Marx. In more recent
years, weve held successful
Vendor Days, offered seminars
on Lead Paint Certification, and
have continually helped to
educate our members in many
other ways. The highlight of every
season has been our annual
picnic. Usually held at Stewart
Park, and overseen by master
chefs Mark Goldfarb and Brian
Grout, no matter the weather, we
have gathered to relax, get away
from business concerns for a little
while and enjoy being with our
colleagues and their families.
Each of our Presidents has had
different leadership qualities and
have brought energetic but
different approaches to their role.
Neal Howard had the foresight to
recognize the need for reforming
this group and the tenacity to
follow through. After Neal,
Theron Johnson, president of the
previous local landlords group,
offered his leadership until the
next election. Mark Goldfarb
brought wise judgment and broad
understanding of our business to
bring the LATC into focus. Jane
Schafriks lively nature and local
involvement helped us create a
recognizable position in the
business community. Carol
Mallison gave us a broader
perspective, bringing in her
experience in managing public
housing. Larry Becks calm
demeanor and expertise raised the
bar for all of us. Gary
Lindenbaum brought his goodnatured personality and
experience as a landlord to

LATC

continue our good leadership.

Herb Dwyer was elected in
October of 2009 and his vitality
has pushed our organization and
overseen our increasing growth.
Our future is unwritten but
certainly bright.
Looking through even the early
minutes, there are recurring
names through all the years
Larry Beck offering insights from
his attendance at city committees
like RHAC (which he still chairs,
after many many years of
volunteer time); Carol Mallison
reporting on city meetings; Mark
Goldfarb, Phil White, and many
other names appearing in the
minutes, right from the beginning.
Bill Olney became the VicePresident in 1994, and
volunteered to begin working up
a format for a Newsletter, which
he continued to publish for many
years. In 1995 he also wisely
proposed that we change our
name from the Tompkins County
Landlords Assoc. to the
Landlords Association of
Tompkins County. Peggy Thorpe
kindly took over as Newsletter
Editor in 2012, producing the
attractive newsletter you are now
reading. We may have grown in
numbers, and experience, since
back then, but this group was
always exceptionally professional
and though we didnt really know
it at the time, one of the best
landlord associations in the
country.
In 1995 we began asking for
members to provide their email
addresses. Very au courant! Ron
and I also set up the LATC
website in 1997 and acquired the
highly coveted website name of
LandlordsAssociation.com. A
couple years later we actually

began to send out our minutes via

the new listserv, created at our
urging.
Our group is of course now
completely integrated into
necessary technology. One of our
biggest successes has been
IthacaRents.com, which
originated in 2010, at Monica
Molls urging, and she has
remained the go-to person for all
things techie. Ron and Monica
have continued to optimize it
so that we come up at the top of
apartment searches around the
world for housing in the Ithaca
area. The LATC has always been
a group for landlords, by
landlords and has succeeded
admirably.
After ending our meetings at the
Chamber of Commerce in 1997
we began meeting at the Transit
Center on Willow Ave. Later we
held meetings at the new Public
Library, then a year at BOCES on
Warren Rd., before settling on the
Ramada Inn starting in 1999. A
few years ago we had to change
rooms because of our growing
attendance at meetings, and now
have the downstairs Ballroom,
and have purchased our own
projector and microphone so that
everyone can hear guest speakers.
The LATC has always promoted
professionalism in our members,
and I admire the work ethic I see
in our membership, and their
concern with maintaining sound,
ethical business practices. I
believe the LATC has truly
improved the quality of housing
in the county. At a recent
meeting, City Housing Supervisor
Gino Leonardi credited our
organization as being influential in

25th Anniversary Edition

the improvement hes seen in the

quality and safety of local housing.
As our members continue to offer
quality housing, our reputation as
landlords will keep improving.
We have now celebrated the 25th
anniversary with a gala party at the
Lake Watch Inn. During these past
25 years weve made many good
friends, volunteered countless
hours to the group, and learned a
great deal about the rental business
by belonging to the LATC. Its
been a gratifying experience, for
sure, and were certainly proud
charter members.

LATC

On February 25, 1990, 42 Businesses signed in, and 22 of them

are still members! Here is the Honor Roll of Charter Members:
Bruce Abbott
Tom Amici/Ed Mazza
Chris Anagnost
Bill Avramis
Jim & Deborah Belinski
Carl Carpenter
Jason Fane
Frank & Gail Flannery
Johnson Apartments
Lambrou Real Estate
Dan & Margaret Liguori
Gary Lindenbaum
Lucente Homes
Marann Management Mark Goldfarb
Quality Rentals David Gersh
Jim Rider
Ron & Carol Schmitt
Tim Terpening
Thorpe, Ralph now Peggy Thorpe
Gordon Van Nederynen
West Shore Apartments Bob Terry
Phil White

25th Anniversary Edition

LATC

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25th Anniversary Edition

Thats a long time. We should all

be proud of the LATCs longevity
and even prouder that its good
health today is a predictor of an
extremely long life to come.
When I attended that first
meeting a quarter of a century
ago, it didnt enter my mind that
Id be writing memoirs about
landlording in 2015. Back then I
probably hoped Id be done unplugging toilets by now. By the
time of our formation I had
already been in the business 18
years and I cant clearly recall if
certain of the events Ill mention
here were pre-LATC or not.
Perhaps some of the pre-LATC
events were, in part, the reason
we were conceived. At any rate,
there have been lots of changes in
the business over the decades.
Government rules and regulations
have certainly multiplied over the
years. I remember when we were
first required to install smoke
detectors in apartments. As a
matter of fact, I think it was one
of the first ordinances that
required you to modify an already
existing apartment. It used to be
that such changes in codes were
only implemented in new
construction. So there we were.
We had to put in all these smoke
detectors. Many of us had no
knowledge of them at all. I chose
to put hardwired AC models in a
complex I was managing at the
time because who would want the
hassle of changing batteries. We
didnt have battery back-ups in
the early years. There was a good
hallway location in each unit just
above the electric service panel
and we could drop a wire down to

LATC

it. These early detectors were

pretty sensitive and back then
there was a lot of smoking of
various kinds going on in
apartments. I could get a second
hand high just changing a faucet
washer (does anybody remember
those? the washers, not the
highs). Those damn detectors
were going off all evening long
and scaring the tenants to death.
Theyd fall off the couch and
knock their bong over and ruin
the wood parquet floor. Then
they would figure out which
breaker to shut off to stop the
noise. Of course, they usually
wouldnt turn the breaker back
on. We finally went back around
and re-hooked the smoke
detectors to the refrigerator
breakers so the tenants would,
eventually, turn them back on
when they noticed their beer was
warm.
The smoke detectors were a State
mandate. The City of Ithaca
came up with one just for them
selves. Deadbolt locks.
Everything had key-in-knobs
before that. I never drilled so
many darn holes in my life. I
cursed the City many times that
year. To make matters worse, I
think that was before we all had
cordless drills. So, I figured
whatever the City does, the rest of
the County will have to do in a
few years. I started putting
deadbolts in all over. Here we
are, decades later, and I think
theyre still not required outside
of the City. But, lo-and-behold,
we started noticing that the
incidents of tenant lockouts
dropped off drastically since they
now needed their key to lock the

by M
ark G

oldfar
b

door and at least left home with

it.
The Federal Government also
climbed aboard the landlord
mandate bandwagon. If my
memory serves me well, the lead
paint disclosures and pamphlets
we hand out were the first time
the entire USA had a requirement
affecting our business. It was a
pain in the you know what to us.
We also wondered how
prospective tenants would react.
Would they be scared? Well, it
turned out OK. Not that big a
deal. But it could have been.
Congress was starting to come up
with lead removal requirements
that would have devastated our
bottom lines. We were saved by a
group of School District
Superintendents addressing
Congress. I believe it was the
Superintendent of the Newark,
NJ, schools that begged Congress
to please dont do to us with lead
what you did to us with asbestos.
We were going through financially
devastating asbestos removal
programs in our schools across
the country. Congress backed off.
Another, non-mandated, change
was in refrigerators. All apartment
refrigerators used to be of the
single door manual defrost
persuasion. They were certainly
the norm. Frost-free two door
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25th Anniversary Edition

LATC

Ranting & Rentingcontinued

models were around but very
expensive. Very few homeowners
had them let alone apartment
dwellers. I grew up defrosting
refrigerators with the pots of hot
water because my parents didnt
have a frost-free model. Of
course my grandparents didnt
have to defrost their iceboxes.
They defrosted automatically,
hopefully not before the iceman
brought a new block. Anyway, the
tenants would go on their merry
way defrosting fridges on
occasion. Some impatient ones
employed the aid of sharp
implements and poked holes in
the coils releasing that old nasty
R22 (or was it R14?) Freon into
the atmosphere. Ive kept that
fact quiet all these years because I
think my refrigerators are the
cause of the hole in the ozone
layer. Did my insurance have a
Freon Exclusion Clause back
then? The policies now exclude
everything you should really be
worried about. The years rolled
by and slowly, new tenants knew
nothing at all about defrosting
fridges. They never heard of such
a thing. Their parents had frostfree models. This ignorance first
surfaced in Ithaca College girls
from Long Island, right here in
our own New York State. Not
our third world students that
never had a refrigerator. Finally I
had to bite the bullet and start
buying two door frost-free
refrigerators. Do they still make
manual defrost models? I miss
the old days.

over the years is the general

attitude of tenants to their
landlords. Years ago it was great
sport and almost expected of you
to screw your landlord. You left
the place a mess. Youd have a
dog even if you didnt want one
just because the lease said you
couldnt. You left owing rent.
Thats where collecting last
months rent came from. You
knew you werent getting any
security deposit back because
landlords didnt like returning
them. Of course there are still a
few bozo tenants like that but I
feel that the majority of tenants
have become more conservative
and just want to get along. They
want to do whats expected. And,

perhaps because of that, or

perhaps because of professional
and ethical organizations like the
LATC, we landlords want to treat
the tenants as valued customers.
We want to give them what they
bargained for. And we really do
want to be able to return their
security deposit in full.

Probably the most noteworthy

change Ive seen in the business
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25th Anniversary Edition

LATC

More 25th Anniversary Celebration Pictures

25th Anniversary Edition

LATC

The LATC Code of Ethics is an integral part of our organization. Our core values and expectations have
changed very little over the years and serve as a testament to the solid foundation this group was built on
25 years ago.

LATC CODE OF ETHICS

The property owners and managers of the Landlords
Association of Tompkins County pledge themselves to honor
the following Code of Ethics:
1. We will act fairly and reasonably in our dealings with
tenants, and treat tenants with honesty and dignity.
2. We will strive to provide our tenants with safe, clean and
functional housing, and will adhere to all safety related codes.
3. We will stringently practice fair housing policies as provided
by law.
4. We will respond promptly to tenant requests for service and
assistance.
5. We will strive to keep ourselves informed of and abide by
applicable laws and regulations.
6. We will be responsible, and encourage our tenants to be
responsible, to our properties' neighbors. We will strive to
maintain our properties so they contribute to the
neighborhoods in which they are located.
7. We will act fairly in all matters regarding security deposits;
make only those deductions which are fair; and return security
deposits as promptly as possible.
8. We will work to serve the community in which we live and
do business.

25th Anniversary Edition

LATC

A Note
From the
Founding LATC President
The reason Pat and I re-started
the then called "landlord assoc"
25 years ago is because the City
of Ithaca wanted to start rent
control.
We got a handfull of landlords
together that were in the old
defunct landlord assoc. and
fought against it and won. We
had election of officers and set
up yearly dues in case we
needed money to fight other
ridiculous things that the City of
Ithaca wanted us to do.
We used to meet at the
Chamber of Commerce
building but our membership
increased and we out grew the
space that was provided to us.
The LATC has helped a lot of
landlords in Tompkins County
and we are proud that we were a
part of it.

Dont forget to use

Ithacarents.com to help you
rent your apartments. It is
professionally developed and a great
addition to your own websites.

NEXT MEETING
September 28, 2015
@ 4:30 pm

l as
the LATC, as wel
Many members of ces contributed to
sour
valuable online re
this newsletter.
of
n
tio
the crea
Thank You!
e to
ticle you would lik
If you have an ar
se
ea
pl
xt newsletter,
submit for the ne
m
.co
ail
tm
thorpe@ho
contact me at ps
Thanks!
Peggy Sue Thorpe

Its easier than ever to search for the

answers to your landlording questions
on the LATC Message Board.
1. Go to
http://www.landlordsassociatio
n.com/message-board.html

Thanks. Neal & Pat

(Click the link above to go directly to

the message board)

WO W

onthly
d the m amazing
n
e
t
t
a
in
to
forget
ce to w
Don't r your chan sponsors!
o
f
r
u
s
o
g
meetin prizes from

2. Log in
3. In the search box enter your key
words
By doing this you can see posts that
have already addressed the topics you
are interested in.
Try visiting the Message Board and see
how easy it is!

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25th Anniversary Edition

LATC

LATC Officers & Board Members

Officers

IthacaRents.com
As a member of LATC you
can advertise your properties
on the Ithaca Rents website.
Its new design and friendly
interface make posting your
rental units simple.

President- Herb Dwyer

herbert.dwyer@asienergy.com
Vice President- Larry Beck
jobeck@lightlink.com
Treasurer- Ron Schmitt
RDSchmitt@aol.com
LandlordsAssociation.com
This is the web address for
the Landlords Association of
Tompkins County. Here you
will find access to our list of
sponsors, a page dedicated to
key information important to
landlords, as well as
announcements and meeting
dates.

Secretary-Jim Lane
jlane@twcny.rr.com
Corresponding Secretary- Brian McIlroy
iclandlord800@yahoo.com
Board Members
Carol Schmitt
CFSchmitt@aol.com
Mark Goldfarb
drydenapartments@aol.com

Reach Us By Email
latc@LandlordsAssociation.com

Brian Grout
BHGrout@aol.com

LATC Message Board

LandlordsAssociation@googlegr
oups.com
In order to access the listserv
you must send a request to
latc@LandlordsAssociation.com
to be added to the membership
list.

Monica Moll
mollprop@gmail.com
Russ Maines
remaines@yahoo.com
Wayne Woodward
Woodward64@hotmail.com
The Landlords Association
of Tompkins County meets
regularly at 4:30 on the 4th
Monday of each month at the
Ramada Inn on North
Triphammer Rd.
Executive meetings are held
on the 2nd Monday of each
month.

David Gersh
Gersh_1@msn.com
Gary Lindenbaum
livingspaces@msn.com
David Hall
mail@nationalbookauctions.com
James McCullum
jamesmccollum607@gmail.com
Peggy Sue Thorpe alternate
psthorpe@hotmail.com

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25th Anniversary Edition

LATC

Dryer Vent Dudes

607-227-3656
DryerVentDudes.com

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