Outrageous Lying NY Daily News Article on Stuy Town

NY Daily News real estate correspondent Jason Sheftell standing in front of a door that's a little more high class than the ones found in Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village.

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If you live in Stuyvesant Town or Peter Cooper Village, you may be surprised to learn that we have 1) rent-controlled tenants and 2) that these tenants--or their rent-stabilized brothers and sisters--rent some apartments starting at $300 and up. Yes, $300. If you walk around the Oval, you also may be surprised to find out that it has "perfectly manicured lawns," and you also may be surprised that landlord Tishman Speyer has "improved community partnerships" and "upgraded playgrounds" (which were upgraded, but by previous owner, Met Life).

These fantasies and outright lies were put forth in today's Daily News by Jason Sheftell, the paper's real estate correspondent, in a shocking piece of puff that, while it gives nods to some of the complex's problems, manages to appear nothing less than a PR piece written by someone working for Tishman Speyer. Who knows? Perhaps Jason Sheftell is pals with Rob Speyer, or perhaps his friend is George Hatzmann, Tishman Speyer's Managing Director of NY Development, who is pictured in the article beaming in front of the Oval fountain, perhaps Sheftell wants some future job with Tishman Speyer, or just perhaps he doesn't know how to write a factual and accurate article on a community he is not a part of.

Whatever the story, shame on him, and shame on the NY Daily News for publishing something like this.

This pseudo-idyllic picture is particularly odious:

"Amid the controversy, children's laughter was all you could hear last Sunday at Stuyvesant Town's main square, called the Oval. Residents old and young sunbathed, played catch on perfectly manicured lawns, dipped their feet in one of New York's only large-scale fountains, shopped at an outdoor produce market, kibitzed on park benches and soaked in life at the greenest 80 acres of residences in all of New York City. You couldn't find disenchantment out there if you tried."

Who calls the Oval a "main square"? How many old residents does one ever see sunbathing? (I can think of only, at most, four, amid dozens upon dozens of young people.) Oh, and playing catch in the Oval, which is clearly not a perfectly manicured lawn (perhaps Sheftell was thinking of the artificial grass in the north playground?), is against Stuy Town rules, as is soaking one's feet in the fountain.

As for not finding disenchantment in Stuy Town out there (even if you tried)--did you actually try?

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Sheftell's article also appears online at:

http://www.nydailynews.com/real_estate/2008/09/25/2008-09-25_longtime_stuyvesant_town_peter_cooper_re.html

Contact for NY Daily News to voice your displeasure at the article and Mr. Sheftell:

Phone: (212) 210-2100
Letters to the editor: voicers@edit.nydailynews.com