Rain Dance

Play it today. And you know why.

Yes, Another Post About Dogs

This week I had the experience of walking out of the M entrance of my building and passing by a young male tenant going in with a pit-bull mix, a breed not allowed in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. The dog didn't have the blue ST/PCV tag on him (or her), either.

Is is just me or has there been a growing influx of banned breeds in our community? Some are being walked in from outside, some are here as the dogs of tenants, and of those, some have no ST/PCV tags while others, remarkably, have them, even though the dogs are banned in the complex!

It's been my experience that Public Safety is now completely ignoring the dog issue. I've seen banned dogs walked right into Peter Cooper, past the guard booth, with zero interference or comment from the Public Safety office inside. And, by now, I've seen dozens of banned dogs being walked around the Oval, right in front of that amazing, glowing new Public Safety office, with almost zero interference or comment from any Public Safety officer there or at the Oval guard booth. (Just once did I see a PS officer talk to such a dog walker, though I don't know what was the outcome. I guess not much because I saw the same dog walker still on the property at a later day.)

And talk about the balls of a male pit bull!  Here is a dog trainer who not only uses the grounds for his work (with banned breeds, among others), but who lives in Peter Cooper and runs his business out of there!

This is one of the photos he presents on his own Facebook.  In your face with your dog rules, ST/PCV!  But then again, perhaps he gets a special dispensation from the powers that be, who at this point, don't seem to care at all about banned breeds in the complex.

Gerald Guterman to the Tenants of ST/PCV

Gerald Guterman made the following comment today on the blog in response to a query about what can be done to help the tenants of this community. I'm placing this response here also, front and center on the blog. If you wish to comment on this, please make your comment pertinent to the matter at hand. And no personal attacks, please, if you disagree. Thanks.

To the residents at STPCV:

It is painfully obvious, that the only way to achieve any sort of economic stability for the community or its residents, is to use the enormous, insurmountable, economic and political power of the 11,232 families currently living in the community. There is no private owner, mortgage lender or manager in New York, that can withstand the full force of a monetary, legal and political attack by the organized and combined economic might of the STPCV community.

I have stated before, that the changes necessary to bring about stability in the community as well as economic protection for it residents, will only happen when you, the residents, properly organize yourselves into one laser focused force and use that force, with very experienced legal representation who has a long history of landlord tenant success.

Additionally, there are several other large communities in New York, that are undergoing similar, if not identical problems with the same management company.

I would suggest that combining the power of these very large residential communities into a single negotiating force, will help to draw and maintain the attention of these insufferable, egotistical and know-it-all managers, who believe that enjoying a reasonable "quality of life", is restricted only to them and their families. These same managers, believe that their only responsible to STPCV, its residents and the resident's quality of life, is when a court rules that it is their responsible.

I have written before, that with strong enough economic force and laser focused litigation, this community can be stabilized and the quality of life made better for all of the residents.

The following matters must be concluded:

• The Roberts litigation must be re-settled,
• Prior MCI increases must be re-settled, with further increases moderated,
• conversion of STPCV apartments to dormitory housing must be immediately stopped and reversed,
• The Oval must be restored,
• all open spaces in the communities must be kept permanently open, without construction of any type or manner.
• Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper village must be combined into one distinct community,
• the STPCV community must be converted to "ownership" housing, with the purchase price to tenants in occupancy, not more than 60% of the market price for the same or similar apartments,
• Financing for all tenants in possession who purchase, loans must be pre-approved for 85% to 95% of the purchase price,
• All tenants who purchase their apartments, must be free to resell those apartments at the market price, beginning the earlier of one year after the sponsor has sold all the apartments or forty-eight months from the date of conversion,
• A capital reserve fund in the amount of: the lesser of 1% of the gross sales price of the residential units or $50million must be established for the community's use after conversion,
• A pre-arranged contract to sell the "un-sold" apartments to a non-profit organization with an agreement that specifies that said apartments will remain as rent stabilized, rental apartments for approximately twenty years must be accomplished.

Gerald Guterman

De Blasio and Other Politicians Meet at Garodnick's PCV Apartment

This could be very significant.  I do note, however, the line which states: "...keep rents low on some of the apartments..." [Italics mine.]  My impression from reading the article is that MR-paying tenants are going to be out of the loop on any plan for maintaining affordable housing in ST/PCV.  As for the apartments that are still affordable, let's hope all of them are secured for the future as affordable.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/real-estate/2014/07/8549000/mayor-meets-stuy-town-tenant-leaders

UPDATE. More info here:

http://town-village.com/2014/07/16/de-blasio-meets-with-pols-tenants-association-on-the-affordability-of-stuy-town/

Approximately 5,000 More People Live in ST/PCV Than Ten Years Ago

And our landlords admit it!

Here's what Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village's official website stated back in 2003. (Try not to laugh too hard at the sentence that follows, which I have not edited out due to comedic value.)

Today over 25,000 people call Peter Cooper Village/ Stuyvesant Town home, as countless others have done throughout the past 50 years. The values that built this complex - family, friends, cooperation and community pride - continue to make PCV/ST a unique and wonderful place to live. (Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20030207122650/http://pcvst.com/History.html)

 And now?

PCVST encompasses 110 buildings, 11,250 no-fee rental apartments, and is home to approximately 30,000 people.  (Source: http://www.pcvstliving.com/about-nyc-apartments .... Note: no mention of "the values that built this complex....")
   

Is this a story of partitions and the ever-growing student body in these apartments? 

Here is a photo that has been judged to picture 5,000 people:

 

Now, ask yourselves, if the landlord increases a property's population by 5,000, doesn't that take a toll on the infrastructure and the resources available? If it does, how is it possible that the landlord can request and get an MCI for replacing something that has outlived its "useful life" if the landlord, by his own policy of increasing the tenant base, has degraded such "useful life" more expeditiously than it would have been degraded otherwise?

The Complaint

Not sure if a link to this has been posted on pertinent Facebooks, but here's the complaint against CW (and others) from the property's Junior Lenders.

https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=UNTjtbjCpgs6qRmDRA36HQ==&system=prod

Do you know what a ST/PCV apartment looks like?

Not sure if this is one.... the bottom photo....

Doesn't resemble my apartment exactly.  Beams are there, but the hallway is way too small.