Not Everyone Is Jolly About Christmas Trees in the Lobby

Q. We live in a large Upper West Side co-op built in the 1960s as middle-income housing. However, newer residents are typically much wealthier than longtime ones. Over the last few years, there has been a marked increase in Christmas decorations in the lobby — large Christmas trees, poinsettias and other items. But half of the residents are Jewish, and some tenants feel unwelcome by the extensive and opulent Christmas display.

A. With the holiday season at a fever pitch, pretty much every storefront, streetlamp and building lobby is swathed in tinsel and pine. Some co-ops and condominiums spend as much as $5,000 on holiday displays, according to Jacob Sirotkin, the vice president of Century, a property management company in Manhattan. “We consider the holiday decorations part of the festive feel” of the season, he said.

Does everyone enjoy all the holiday flare? No. “There is always someone who feels that his or her religion is being slighted,” said Slava Hazin, a Manhattan real estate lawyer and the president of his building’s co-op board. “There is no pleasing everyone all the time.”

Buildings should select secular decorations and try to at least give a nod to the various holidays of the season, a topic I’ve grappled with before.

Regardless, the board has the authority to douse the lobby with fairy lights and bobbles as it sees fit. Just because the display is more lavish than you would choose does not mean that the board is trying to say you are unwelcome. Instead, it may simply reflect the reality of the times: Upper West Side real estate values are extraordinarily high.

If you would prefer to see the co-op’s money spent in other ways or have strong ideas about how the common areas should be decorated, run for a seat on the board. “If you want that eight-foot-high menorah, then find other people who want it and get them on the board,” said Steven D. Sladkus, a Manhattan real estate lawyer.

You could also request that the co-op establish a decorating committee so that the décor feels more inclusive.