Co-op President Bitter Over His Ouster

 by Barry Owens

Kyle Wittels boasts an admirable stewardship of his co-op at 35 White Street.

During his brief tenure as its president, he said he saved the residents of the five-unit building money by changing to a local management company. He tweaked the boiler maintenance program, reducing the building's insurance costs by nearly half. And, he says, he once even took it upon himself to fix a tenant's ill-fitting door.

Kyle Wittels at the worktable in his loft, where he designs men's clothing. Photo: Carl Glassman

But in a special election last month, after only three months of service, Wittels' neighbors dumped him for the previous president and he claims to know why.

"The only reason I can think of is because of my age," said Wittels, who is 21.

"As a business, the building just wasn't being run properly," Wittels said, seated at a long dining table in the center of his otherwise sparsely furnished loft, with its sweeping corner view of Church and White streets. "For a 21-year-old to be the one to point that out, I think that made some people uncomfortable."

But the co-op building's sponsor said age had little to do with the board's decision.

"It was more a question of style," said Bob Whitman, a video artist who now lives upstate but retains two units in the building.

It was Whitman, 72, who intervened to help Wittels get an interview with the board after his application was initially rejected. It was also Whitman's two votes on the five-member board that helped give Wittels the co-op presidency in January.

"He is a very bright young man and he has a lot of energy, but I think the consensus was that we needed a slightly different approach," Whitman said. "I think the board wanted to be led more by consensus than by autonomy."

Telephone messages left by the Trib seeking comment from two other neighbors in the building were not returned.

Bounding up the building's six flights of stairs, Wittels pointed out renovations the building had undergone since he'd moved in-some of them under his watch as president.

"I'm just upset," Wittels said. "I was doing my job. I'm not trying to win a popularity contest here. I don't think I would succeed at that if I was trying to anyway."

Wittels admits he took a "hands-on" approach to overseeing the building's business affairs and he acknowledges that he may have irritated his neighbors when he told them that they were loosely interpreting the co-op's bylaws.

Last year, Wittels launched a men's casual clothing line but otherwise relies on his parents to help him meet the mortgage. He said that privilege has made him want to watch the bottom line.

"I fully realize that I've been afforded an opportunity that a lot of people my age don't have," he said. "I think that's why I'm so concerned with how much thing's cost, because I realize it's not my money. There's nothing worse than a rich kid who doesn't give a damn."

Wittels said he's "disappointed" but has no plans to leave the 1,800- square-foot loft that he shares with his girlfriend, Ruby Katilius, 23, whom he met while studying photography at New York University. He hopes to remain active in "setting a future course" for the building, which in recent months has seen the addition of an elevator, a new cornice and a repaired rooftop.

"I'm not a hell-raiser," Wittels said. "I didn't come in here with guns blazing. I just wanted to live here. And to run a tight ship."