LIVE BLOGGING: Co-op Shareholders Meet Over Property Tax Hikes

8:46 p.m.: Before we sign off, an interesting figure that drives home the impact of the so-called "glich" which led to a 101 percent year-to-year increase for Deepdale Gardens, courtesy of the cooperative's president, Marcy Stecker:

$678,000.

That's the amount more in taxes the entire Deepdale development would have to pay the city over last year. "We've never seen anything like it. It's unprecedented," Stecker said. 

8:31 p.m.: As we wrap up here at P.S. 811Q, we're going to leave the last word on tonight's meeting to 40-year Deepdale resident Marye Newfield, who will have to pay an estimated $80 in taxes a month if the original 101 percent year-to-year tax assessment increase for Deepdale was allowed to stand:

"This is a middle class community. It's always been middle class. And look what there doing to us. There used to be lots of kids here. Now there are no kids. Who's going to be able to afford to live here?" she said. 

8:15 p.m.: Bay Terrace Civic Association president Warren Schrieber invokes winning bid to overturn the so-called co-op "flip tax" earlier this year as an incentive for residents to write early and often to the mayor over the recent co-op property tax increases. "These letters do matter, so send them in," he said.

8:05 p.m.: Providing one of the more shocking moments of the evening was Friedrich, who claimed that city DOF used two commercial properties, including Giardino's Restaurant in Douglaston, to determine the value of the "typical" garden co-op unit. 

"[DOF commissioner David] Frankel is playing with our lives," Friedrich said. 

7:48 p.m.: Councilman Mark Weprin, D-Oakland Gardens, speaks after having just arrived in the auditorium: "We're going to keep putting pressure on this mayor and this Finance commission until they understand that we will not accept these increases and we are going to fight it."

7:40 p.m.: Weprin speaking now, not about co-op property taxes specifically, but about other contentious issues for area residents such as . 

Also, there's no room to sit in the P.S. 811Q auditorium. Friedrich: "I didn't expect so many people in here."

7:33 p.m.: Braunstein to applause: "We're not going to let them balance the budget on the backs of northeast Queens."

Braustein, along with Weprin, is sponsoring a version of a Senate bill introduced by Stavisky in the Assembly, which would put co-ops and condos in the as one- and two-family homes. 

Braunstein said that he discussed the issue with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan. According to Braunstein, the Speaker was "open to the concept" of treating co-ops the same as single-family homes under tax law.

7:28 p.m.: Elected officials also in attendance include Assemblyman David Weprin, D-Little Neck, and state Sen. Toby Stavisky, D-Flushing, who lives in a Queens co-op building that saw its property tax valuation rise 147 percent over last year. 

7:25 p.m.: The president of Deepdale Gardens Cooperative starts off tonight's meeting with a broadside against Mayor Michael Bloomberg: "He says he's standing up for New York families. Well, I guess he is. That is, if you live on Park Avenue."

7:16 p.m.: It's a packed house here tonight at Marathon School's auditorium. In attendance are Assemblyman Edward Braunstein, D-Bayside, and Bob Friedrich of the Presidents Co-op Council. Among those not expected to attend is city Department of Finance commissioner David Frankel — which, judging from the mood among many co-op residents, is perhaps understandable. 

Welcome to our coverage of tonight's meeting at P.S. 811Q-Marathon School in regards to the city Department of Finance's decision to dramatically increase property taxes for condo and cooperative buildings across northeast Queens. 

Before things are scheduled to get started around 7:15 p.m., we thought we'd provide a little background on an issue which has prompted no fewer than two Freedom of Information Law requests from area lawmakers, and an incident that dangled perilously close to a co-op president . 

Things should be starting shortly, folks.