A Good Neighbor, and a Great Building Manager

Gerald Cremin grew up in the Upper East Side apartment building where he now works as a resident manager. Growing up, his parents both worked in the complex too. “My mother would run the day-to-days during the morning, and my dad would come in the evening and make the repairs,” he said.

“As much as this is my job, this is also my home,” he explained. He cares for the building deeply, and sees it as a tight, close-knit neighborhood.

The repairs and the security are all part of the job, but it’s also about the “people that you are living your life with.”

He takes pride in the connections he’s made.

“In this day and age, with the way the city is, at least someone being there, like: ‘That’s John’s kid,’ ‘Oh, hey, that’s Michelle the door worker — hey, Michelle, you all right? Everything OK?’ that means something,” Cremin said.

“It’s not who you are or where you’re from or what it was, it’s the fact of being like: you’re in my area, and in my area, I want everything to be like the neighborhood.”

Cremin is always ready to jump in when his community needs help. For instance, when not working as a resident manager, Cremin is a CYO and Boys & Girls Club basketball coach — a role he has held for roughly a decade.

“All my years with coaching, a lot of my kids use my building as a base if they’re, you know, forgetting something, or if they need somewhere just to do homework for 20 minutes,” Cremin said. He says he feels like he’s “giving back” and “watching someone develop, and taking the time to do that..”

Taking the time to get to know everyone, and learn what each person needs whether they are in the building or in his life, enhances the work he does.

Cremin said his “neighborhood philosophy” underlies all that he does to provide the highest level of service. “I know my neighbor’s kids. I know the kids from up the block. I know the teachers from the school around the corner, because I take that time, because I want to be a part of it.”