I lived in Penn South for a decade in the 1990s. It really was super affordable and very very nice. By New York City standards, my partner and I had a very spacious one bedroom apartment for a low monthly maintenance fee we were embarrassed to tell people about. Over the decades, residents have talked a lot about voting to go private and cash in, but so far, the co-op remains faithful to its founding ethos — affordable housing for ordinary New Yorkers.