The scientific nature of our polling methodology will be put to the test this week when we all find out how many people are really running for the Board of Directors. Because over 30% of cooperators who responded to our Question of the Month — “So is this the year you finally run … ?” — answered “I am in!”

If our polling data is accurate, we’ll have one heck of a race this fall, with close to 500 cooperators running for four open spots. Wouldn’t that be something?

More likely, the accuracy of our polling will be heavily criticized.

In the meantime, please help us finish our Candidate Questionnaire. Since not all cooperators can make it to the candidates forum (scheduled for Monday, November 19), we’d like to ask the candidates to go on record about some of the challenges facing the coop. What should we ask them?

A plurality of cooperators responding to this summer’s question of the month said that yes, they do feel safe in our neighborhood. And a clear majority felt either safe or “safe enough”. This despite an uptick in reports of crimes, from muggings to arson.

How would you categorize the security of our neighborhood? Why do you think most cooperators feel insulated against the criminal activity around us?

There’s no cooperative composting program in the works — but maybe based on our results from last month’s cooperative question there should be. Seventy-eight percent of our respondents indicated interest in participating, while 22% said “No way.”

Hillman has had a successful composting program in their garden for several years, but there’s never been a major push to compost here at East River. Maybe after our garden establishes itself (and with these survey results as encouragement) more cooperators will start making plans to reduce our waste and cut down on some landscaping costs by starting a serious composting initiative?

Last month we inaugurated our Cooperative Question of the Month with (it turned out) a gimme. Following the announcement from the Board of Directors of a new no-smoking policy in the common areas outside our buildings, we asked whether cooperators thought the new rules were appropriate or too harsh. Over 90% of you agreed with the new rules, with just a few people thinking they had gone too far.

The final tally was 29 in favor, 3 against. That’s not exactly a huge sample size, and may not hold up to the standards of professional pollsters; but considering it was our first time soliciting opinions, it’s encouraging that we were able to get any sense at all of how cooperators feel about life at East River Coop.

We’ll have a new question posted soon in the laundry rooms and right on the front page of this site. Spread the word and come back to vote!