The Housing Conference, CYNC’s largest annual event, provides an educational forum for the organization’s membership of 2300 cooperative and condominium shareholders and boards of directors.

Philip Kraus will participate in the educational seminar – “Myth or Truth?” – sponsored by Lawrence Properties. This seminar is designed to dispel common myths about a multitude of issues surrounding the challenges of property management and building maintenance.

Mr. Joseph Bulfamante, Director of Management of Lawrence Properties will moderate a small panel of experts: Anton Cirulli, Director of Operators – Lawrence Properties; Howard Steinhardt, Architect; Philip Kraus, President – Fred Smith Plumbing & Heating; and Richard Klein – Richard Klein Law Office. Each participating expert will be provided with a list of statements and asked to explain whether the statements are myths or truths.

For more information about the Housing Conference you may view the New York Times Posting here . For a context of the CNYC Housing Conference, you may want to read the Mary K. Fons article – A Tree With Many Branches –, published in the Cooperator. Fred Smith invites you to attend the “Myth or Truth?” seminar.

To qualify for this award, Culligan International’s Office of the President allows a maximum of one escalated complaint from our consumers in each calendar year for five consecutive years. The President’s Office said of Culligan of New York City, “Your ongoing commitment to providing customers with such a high level of service is truly appreciated throughout the organization…and deserves special recognition”. Fred Smith’s CEO, Philip Kraus, says “this award reflects Fred Smith’s long held value of putting the customer first and is a measure of our employees’ dedication and cooperative spirit each day as the Fred Smith team strives to exceed customer expectations”. Less than 15% of the 800 Culligan dealers nationwide received this award.

Ethlind Coblin of Ethelind Coblin Arcitect P.C. ( Principal of Ethelind Coblin Architect), Ivan Pollack of I.P. Group Consulting Engineers , Philip Kraus (CEO of Fred Smith) and David London (Vice President of Fred Smith) will address design considerations, taking into account the New York City building types and how they impact plumbing options. The panel will go through the Coop/Condo’s review process and look at specific plumbing issues using actual site photos. The focus of the seminar will be on general building concerns, bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms.

Fred Smith is expected to address questions about Department of Building filing requirements, issues related to water pressure, hot water temperature, riser piping replacement, gas meters and gas piping replacements, washing machine installation in apartments, and solutions to “dirty” – brown water problems, among other topics.

Registration for the “Cooperative Plumbing” seminar begins at 6:00 p.m. with a cocktails and hors d’oeuvres reception followed by the panel presentation at 6:30 p.m. at the Hafele America NYC Showroom (25 East 26th Street). For further information on the “Cooperative Plumbing” seminar please give us a call.

Since 1909, this distinction has been a recognized statement of the magazine’s renowned Consumers’ Policy, which states that if a product bearing the Seal proves to be defective within two years of purchase, Good Housekeeping will replace the product or refund the purchase price. All products receiving the Seal have been independently tested by the Good Housekeeping Research Institute, which is the consumer product evaluation laboratory of Good Housekeeping.

Fred Smith’s Culligan products which have been tested by The Good Housekeeping Research Institute and are covered by The Good Housekeeping Seal include the Drinking Water Systems (Culligan Good Water Machine and Culligan Preferred Series) among others.

“We are pleased that so many of Culligan’s innovative solutions across all facets of our business continue to be recognized with this distinction from Good Housekeeping. Receiving this honor for four years in a row is a testament to our commitment to improve the lives of consumers through better water,” said Mark Seals, Culligan’s chief executive officer.

For more that 70 years, Culligan has been recognized as the world leading innovator and provider of filtration systems to improve general and drinking water in the home and workplace. Culligan offers an extensive water treatment product line.

Fred Smith’s President, Phil Kraus said, “the consistently superior products that Culligan offers are well suited for our NY clients who are among some of the most discriminating in the country. Fred Smith has worked on NY’s residential buildings’ water distribution systems for 100 years and we’ve earned our expertise. Couple this knowledge with Culligan’s superior products and you get a water purification service supreme.”

For more information on the Good Housekeeping Seal, click here.