In a dramatic Friday morning announcement, Adam Rose of Rose Associates and manager-in-chief of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village, announced that he has requested the City Council and the Mayor, the Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg, to fast track the legal conversion of the Oval in Stuyvesant Town, hitherto private property, into a city park and the Oval Fountain into a city pool.
"We've been heading in this direction anyway," stated Rose, "and I think this will balance the needs of the community and also give CW Capital, holders of the 3 billion dollar senior mortgage, a financial break and me some breathing room to deal more effectively with all the furniture dumping that's happening here."
According to the plan, the city will take over the entire Oval area, including its upkeep, dramatically alleviating the financial burden and administrative strains placed on CW Capital and Rose Associates, respectively.
Lady Maya Autret, Director of Programing for the complex and the person whose motto is "let no space be unused," had already set in motion the conversion of the fountain into a pool, irregardless of the outcome in the requested city park status of the Oval grounds and pool. "The fountain was a useless, completely underused space. By converting it into a pool, both residents and now hopefully all New Yorkers, will be able to refresh themselves in the hot summer months. Oval Essential members will be able to participate in special swimming classes and the occasional game of water bocci, a sophisticated non-rough sport that is played by Parisians in the know."
Of course, like anything else in Stuyvesant Town, the plan is sure to be opposed by certain residents, who have noticed more and more an influx of outsiders to the Oval grounds and for Oval events and concerts. But Lady Autret says that the time has come to keep up with the times. "There has been a great demand among PCV/ST residents for an outdoor pool, and so this conversion was a no-brainer. The water and plumbing were already there, after all. We are, however, trying to balance everybody's needs, so we will add one more small geyser to the mini-fountain in Peter Cooper Village to satisfy PCV/ST fountain fans."
While Rose Associates waits for a positive response from the City Council and the Mayor, work on the Oval fountain will begin in the fall, as well as on the installation of ATM machines at four corners of the Oval to meet the increasing demand for change needed for the twelve food trucks that have descended on the Oval grounds since the summer, day and night.
Note: This is a parody, but at times it doesn't seem like one.
OMG! You got me for a few moments! I thought it was for real and was reaching for my heart meds; as I continued to read I changed my mind about the heart meds and reached for a paring knife to slit my wrists. Too bad that by the time I got to the end ....... I'm bleeding all over the computer. bury me in oval grave goodb.....................
ReplyDeleteI thought this was real too! Thanks for the laugh!
ReplyDeleteVery funny!
ReplyDeleteLess funny is Management's plan to convert the lobby access doors to "pay per use" from "unlimited use." They are going to give each tenant 1.5 complimentary access swipes per day via key card or about 45 per month. After that it is going to cost. The additional charges are to be added to the monthly rent bill.
Small coin operated access machines are going to be installed at both entry points for each building so that messengers can pay to get in to drop off parcels and deliver food. Alternately, tenants will be able to come to the lobby to let in visitors and delivery people. Intercom use will now cost a dime per call (though most will still not function properly).
As always, leaving is free. Adam Rose added: "And don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out."
You know, I think we're giving Rose ideas!
ReplyDeleteThat DID occur to me.
ReplyDeleteHad to do it anyway!
And, let's face it, the Oval fountain is practically a swimming pool already.
Ever consider dumping a box of Tide in there just before the start of the "swimming" season?!?
I actually can see a time when PCV/ST gets parceled and given to this entity and that one, including the city. I don't have great faith in the future for this place. But maybe it's the hot, humid weather that's making me think this way.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the heat.
ReplyDeleteAllow me to paraphrase Judge Judy, once again:
"If it doesn't make sense, it's not true."
What doesn't make sense is the economics of the place--not the place itself. It worked for Met because they didn't pay too much to build it so they could afford to run it. Even at RS rates--it made sense.
Now all of these "brilliant" real estate moguls have broken the cardinal rule of investing: don't pay too much for an asset--no matter how good it might be.
Now the real estate geniuses are trying to get their foolishly invested funds back and it just won't work. They just can't squeeze enough blood out of this stone. And that doesn't change if the tenants buy it, either. We just become the ones getting squeezed directly (instead of indirectly).
What's not "true" is that these guys can make a go of this place under current conditions. If we can wait out CW and they go bust (and I think they will), then maybe we can turn back the clock and pick up where we left off in 2006. Otherwise, your guess is as good as mine.
>>Now the real estate geniuses are trying to get their foolishly invested funds back and it just won't work.<<
ReplyDeleteThey are trying to get it back from us, the tenants and future tenants. They made the foolish mistake, but we pay for it.
And how are Tishman-Speyer doing these days? Walked away with barely their suits ruffled, though their egos slightly, and temporarily, deflated.
I hear ya. But I think, despite their ill-conceived, penny-pinching, life-disrupting, fancy-pants and dumb-ass ways, they are still losing ground.
ReplyDeleteThere is probably someone out there more well versed in their P&L than I but I believe they are still losing money despite wiping out billions of dollars of investors interests. You've got that little counter on your home page "was worth...now worth." Well, they're holding a $3 billion note and have not been fully paid on it to date. Their interest has been "capitalized" as they say. Means they didn't get it so they just wrote down on a piece of paper that they want to get it back before they leave. Unfortunately, there's a lot of it and, I suspect, it continues to grow. I'm guessing they're now losing about $150 million/yr here--give or take.
And this has been going on for a couple of years now and before CW took over. Pile on top of that, they are renovating 500 apartments. Apartments they still haven't rented and, when they do, they will be trying to fill vacancies at 500 others.
I think they're going to pay plenty before this is all said and done. Our job is to regain control WITHOUT helping to bail them out of the disingenuous hole they have dug for themselves.
We have to wait them out.
The mandatory power reduction from 12noon-6PM is in affect for today.
ReplyDeleteDoes this apply to the electric energy guzzling food trucks around the oval? (Free electric for them too!)
Joy Ride was using electricity yesterday at the Oval. So I'm assuming that they and any other commercial enterprise that is asked by Rose to come here get a dispensation from the power reduction.
ReplyDeleteSo long as they have those energy guzzling trucks in the Oval, I will blaze every light and have both my air conditioners going full blast! Lead by example Mr. Rose. So far, you have shown only a very bad example. We don't need or want those crappy food vendors in the Oval, but we do need some good management practices. So far have not seen any of the latter. I wouldn't buy from those trucks or the so-called farmers market if every store in the neighborhood was closed and I was starving! Wouldn't use them if they were giving their shit away free! Not that they'll ever do that because the whole objective is to rake in every penny, though I wonder how much of it goes to Rose or to running this dump? Seems to me the trucks create more cost for management.
ReplyDeleteToday both Joy Ride and Mud are at the Oval. Mud must have arrived first because they are occupying the space were the electricity is, leaving Joy Ride on the other side of the playground, belching out both noise and fumes. Thanks, Adam Rose and Maya Autret.
ReplyDeleteI edited the top description on the blog to reflect more the current reality of Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Vilage's situation.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way that Rose is letting these trucks on their property without either explicit or implicit compensation. They are either being payed outright or they somehow think that it benefits them in attracting more fountain-pukers. As much as I would like to believe it is the former, I suspect it is the latter.
ReplyDeleteDid you add the "downward spiral" language? If so, I will have to respectfully disagree.
ReplyDelete"Spiral" implies a more gradual, graceful degradation. In my opinion, it is has been more of a "nosedive"...
I went over to the farmer's market today and I saw that the vegetables were even more dismal and fly-blown than those in Associated. I also noticed that they are selling their Artisinal* cheese though I thought that there was a law about selling cheese out in the open.
ReplyDelete*Where's Hipster Beater when we need him?
*hint*
ReplyDeleteThey buy their produce at the Associated on 14th St. and, if it doesn't sell, they bring it back.
You can buy it there the next day...
The farmers? You are criticizing local farmers? Greenmarket has very strict standards on the farmers who can sell in their markets--local, organic or sustainable, fresh, etc. Please don't destroy the credibility of this page with an attack on the farmers markets, it's one of the few sources of local, organic/sustainable food and obviously there is a huge demand or the Greenmarket wouldn't have created a separate Stuytown farmers market. The cheesemakers are truly artisanal and organic--they use fresh milk, from pasture-raised and grass-fed animals, without hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, etc. The farmers market is one of the best features of a Sunday--particularly if you couldn't get to the Union Square one on Saturday. This is really putting the credibility of legitimate complaints under a cloud when you are attacking the farmers market farmers, who work hard in the fields and then come here to provide healthy, fresh produce to feed our families.
ReplyDeleteSounds like somebody stepped on your Clif Bar...
ReplyDeleteAnon 2:02pm... Yes, there are people against the Farmer's Market--not the farmers or their farms, but the location. The southern area of the Oval lawn is a disaster because of the Farmer's Market being there and only for that reason. The Market could be moved to a better location, even inside Stuy Town.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they use one of the playgrounds for this market instead of destroying a large piece of what is left of the Oval? Rose trashed the Oval during its first go-round, then TS totally trashed it. Rose, on its second go-round, is making sure it stays trashed. That scruffy farmers' market could sell their crap just as easily in a playground and give that piece of the Oval a chance to grow some grass.
ReplyDeleteLocation, that's a different issue. I happen like it because it's convenient for me and we can also spend time at the oval at the same time. I affirmatively like the ambiance and "green-ness" it creates, the pretty produce, socializing, etc. and I'm obviously not alone in that. So I personally don't see the disaster part of that. But if there are problems and there's a better place to put them, that's a different issue altogether, and someone with some "vision" and enterprise could work on a solution if it was that important to them. But criticizing their mere existence and pretending our local/sustainable farmers are merchants of death selling poison, just to make a point--that starts to get downright petty and irrational.
ReplyDeleteThe disaster part are the grounds when the Farmers Market leaves. Have you seen that area when the Farmers Market isn't there? It is, for sure, the ugliest area in the Oval, a streaked mud pit. Actually, as I think about it, that area is probably the ugliest area in all of Stuy Town. And this for a Sunday Farmers Market?
ReplyDeleteBathing beauties, corn huskers, iPad shufflers and hotel guests from around the world...
ReplyDeleteGET YOUR ASS OFF THE GRASS!
To me, it's not ugly. It's less grass filled, but it's where the farmers market is, so it's the best spot in the oval next to the fountain...but if it were in a playground, that would be lovely also.
ReplyDeleteThat southern area is not ugly to you when the Farmers Market is not present? Unbelievable. Truly. But perhaps you don't go by there except on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteThat's the mud pit across from the ice cream truck--or the truck du jour.
ReplyDeleteLooks like total crap to me.
Wait a minute...no one has to see the mud if we park more trucks on it! Yeah! That's the ticket...
I don't really inspect it daily so no, but I do walk around the oval and enjoy the fountain. And YES, I get some sun sometimes. I'm still relatively young and enjoy the Oval for more than wheeled around by my home health care worker to get some air. And I husk some corn at farmers markets, which in most people's lives are very desirable, and I shuffle my Ipod. It is 2011 after all. That's kinda what life is like now all over. And there are many many others like me and we're here to stay, sorry. It's our home too and you'll need to adapt to new times and new energy from those of us who have only lived here for say, 5-10 years. But perhaps in 25 years, folks my age will have some sort of futuristic blog-like venue, and we'll all rail angrily, e.g, "I remember the days before those ugly personal flying machines and now, we have all these Venusians landing in the Loop as if they were born here! It's an atrocity!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter was attacked by mudskippers or water moccasins living in that mud! Five stitches!
ReplyDeleteIf you don't "inspect it daily," that means you are not around the Oval on a daily basis, so no wonder you don't really give a flying-you-know-what. I either pass by or use the Oval on a daily basis. I see the terrible condition of that southern area every day. And it bothers me, and bothers other people, too.
ReplyDeleteAs for there being more and more residents like you and we all have to get use to it. No way. Not where quality of life is concerned.
I don't even mean this in a snarky way, but you're going to have to move then. Because we really are here to stay. 3/4 of the population you are used to having here are now dead. There is a whole new generation with new values and new interests and ideas of how we want to live. We will be sunbathing, listening to our Ipods and enjoying the farmers' market. We are the new Stuytown. The one from the 50s is way gone and will never return (btw, I read this great article on Lux Living by the former resident who called Stuytown a middle class prison back then, so it wasn't so hunky-dory to some). The hope is that we can keep it relatively affordable and diverse so we don't just have investment bankers and such living here.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I'm not moving.
ReplyDeleteSo you think that it's only 1/4 of a 3/4 already dead population that wants to have the Oval as an oasis park-like setting? LOL. Where do you get your delusions?
And I certainly know enough about what you call your generation to know that not all of them are as self-centered as you. You must be proud to wear the Yunnie badge. (Young Urban Narcissist). If Yunnies like you become the norm here, then it certainly is over, but the rest of us are going to fight your type of narcissism and need for immediate gratification here of whatever you want. And life in general is going to kick you in the ass, anyway. I predict it.
I don't think there's any fear of investment bankers coming to live here! I doubt they want to live among self-centered dormies crammed 8 to a unit! That's the only demographic moving in here now.
ReplyDeleteIt is an urban oasis for me. That's why we live here. Maybe not compared to Central Park, but generally, it is so the urban oasis. I don't even know how you think it's not? We just may differ on what we constitutes an oasis. We have to share the oval and that means you will have to look at people spread out on blankets getting some sun and we have to see older people in wheelchairs getting pushed around by home health care workers. What skin off your nose is it if they are listening to their Ipods? It used to be transisters, then sony walkmans, now Ipods? Surely you don't have a problem with that?
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't want you to move--I just want you to be more tolerant of the changes and be happy. You should just enjoy it more and maybe stop complaining so much. I mean, it's your right, of course, but if you just accepted the changes for a while, you might find yourself actually enjoying them, rather than just automatically putting everything down. I know it's part of the raisin d'etre of this site, but you can celebrate things here too. It doesn't have to be all snark and rants to be a valuable web site.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that long time residents have a problem with newer people moving in here, we have a problem with the self-entitlement some bring with them. Maybe in mommy and daddy's house the world revolved around you but it sure as hell doesn't here in the city.
ReplyDeleteIf the Lux Living blog proved anything it's that there are still plenty of LIVING people who are not in wheelchairs or toting around oxygen who are not going to tolerate or accpet the mallification of our homes to pander to people like you who will be gone in a year. That Tishman Speyer is no longer in the picture is evidence we are organized and not going to tolerate this crap.
If we left it up to Generation iPod, we'd be stepping over heaps of furniture to buy a $10 ear of corn. What a utopia!
Anon 12:23pm. Perhaps you are not reading everything here in these comments, but I've already stated that I use the Oval Lawn on a regular basis, so I'm out there with you. (Although you are probably the obnoxious Yunnie who gets up every five minutes to show off your bod as you answer your cellphone.)
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with some of the newer features put in place on the Oval. I just don't like it if it's excessive and panders to the whoring of this place for non-residents. But the food truck idea is horrible. Crass and low-class, and, yes, those trucks do ruin the oasis that is here.
Can't you make your own snack and coffee at home or buy them from one of the surrounding stores? Or is that just too much effort for you?
LOL--I am married and live here with my husband. I do NOT have a hot bod, much to my poor hubby's chagrin, lol, but I do like to sit on a blanket in shorts/T shirt and get sun once in a while. I like music on my Ipod and occasionally, have my bookclub meeting, with eek, outsiders, and a couple have eaten from the food truck. We are highly educated, relatively successful, though certainly not in the investment banker category and the rents are starting to push our limit of affordability. I do resent the constant parading of students and their parents in packs of 50 to see apartments mostly because as a lawyer, I understand this means management is trying to increase turnover to get vacancy increases. But students living here per se, as a regular percentage of the population, don't bother me. Quite the opposite, I don't particular enjoy the relatively high percentage of the really depressing old people in their wheelchairs and home health aides and similarly hope this doesn't turn into an old folks home. THAT would be more depressing to me than a food truck and some sunbathers.
ReplyDeleteWe are here to stay--get used to it. It's our oval too and we're not leaving. Music, films, food, dogs, frisbee, enjoying the sun, farmers market, all make this my permanent and happy home. Once the old people from the 50s and 60s are buried and gone, then the rest of us will eventually age into becoming the grumpy curmudgeons I guess, railing in 2050 against those disrespectful young people who move in and destroy our oasis.
ReplyDeleteAnon 12:20,
ReplyDelete"...we have to see older people in wheelchairs getting pushed around by home health care workers."
I'm sure that, if they knew you felt that way, they would apologize to you for having so inconsiderately compromised your Oval Experience.
Wow.
Yeah, I can just see the level of the one (?) commentator who continually brings up old people in wheelchairs and old people dying. The fact that you enjoy the food trucks is not surprising now. Your compass is way off.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Adam, for the new type of tenant we have in Stuy Town.
To Poster at 1:50 pm: You don't seriously think that Stuyvesant Town will still be here in 2050 do you? I doubt it will still be here in 2020. Seriously. It's losing money, falling apart and nobody wants to buy it (except maybe the Tenants' Association, and they're welcome to it). Enjoy your overpriced slum while you have it. I'm glad I'm an RS tenant (though not a senior and not in wheelchair)and you narcisistic smuggies are subsidizing my rent. It enables me to save more money for the place I'll buy when this dump is finally and literally driven into the ground.
ReplyDeleteSTR, don't blame this obese hater. She probably doesn't know any better.
ReplyDeleteIf her elders never made it to the age where they could collect Social Security and she truly sees the benefit of being able smoke while on line to buy her Oval Funnel Cake, then so be it.
The good news: Darwin has taught us that natural selection will solve this problem over time.
The bad news: there's big dent in the Oval grass--but at least now we know why...
I am echoing the resentment you have for young people. You have as much right to use the Oval in a wheelchair as a student on a blanket listening to the Ipod. You are criticizing the young people, so I wanted to see how you looked when someone criticizes you. Of course I have no "problem" with older people in wheelchairs. It's a COMMUNITY--we share. But that's how you sound when you are constantly insulting anyone who likes something you don't. I am giving you the ugly flip side of how you sound. And again, not new neighbor and certainly not transient, if this place stays relatively affordable. Just not from the day this place opened. From what I heard back in the 90s, this place was turning into a dangerous run-down hovel, so something had to happen to revitalize it. I'd like to see it go coop and have the residents pay a reasonable price to own their units, while retaining an affordable rental feature as well.
ReplyDeleteI never stated that I had a resentment against young people. I even wrote somewhere that I think most of the NYU students in ST (just a portion of the young people here) are probably good kids.
ReplyDeleteMy resentment is against the Yunnies who believe everything is owed to them and who have no manners and no rules on how to behave with people in a community.
But even if I did have a resentment against young people, I would never stoop so low as to make a point on their possible illnesses that may make them wheelchair bound or whistle a happy tune as they would theoretically be dying.
Obese?? WTF--I'm not (just because I joked I don't have a bikini-ready bod doesn't make me obese) and what's with the mean insults? You're really a terrible person and it's you, not the young people, who make this place worse? You're calling people who don't agree with you FAT? What kind of person are you?
ReplyDeleteAnd I certainly don't smoke, god. You're awful. I mean truly an awful person. You've gotten so used to complaining and attacking people who disagree with you that you no longer have boundaries. I am your NEIGHBOR and you're calling me fat and stupid and a Darwin experiment? When, if you actually met me and spoke to me, you'd so clearly take that back in a heartbeat. You really don't have any idea who you are talking to on an anonymous page. I am your NEIGHBOR. You have to start having some boundaries.
I also have some resentment against the people that have been here for a long time, but don't give a damn about anything. There's bunches of them, too. For them, the food trucks are heaven because they don't have to walk a block to get what they want. They wouldn't mind Walmart being in the center of the Oval, either.
ReplyDeleteThe level of troll narcissism troll has reached the extreme on this tread. @Anony 1.50, can you please go back to your fly over suburban mail shit hole that you came from? @Anony 1.43, I am not even going to copy your truly vulgar, bigoted age text . However, this BS of yours caught my fancy: ”We are highly educated, relatively successful, though certainly not in the investment banker category” You do realize that you sound that MTA commuter bitch rant from hell that went viral on You Tube? Do any of you know the history of this place, never mind the city in general? As I posted on the other tread, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux would be rolling over in their graves. Nobody of sane mind is against Oval sun bathing, throwing around a Frisbee , listening to one’s own MP3 player or even having low key Oval events that are truly programmed for the residents and guests of this complex.
ReplyDeleteWho's whistling a happy tune? Old people will die and the community constantly evolves. Most of the people who want it back the way it "use to be" are aging and are only getting closer, not farther away from, death and so there aren't as many of you original residents left, there just isn't. But still, there really is a significant older population--which is good--I want diversity. But they can't complain that there are younger people coming in and changing the atmosphere. Their presence is no more or less important than anyone else's. Period. I will age (hopefully here) and probably start complaining about the young people in a [few] years. But that's my problem, not the future young people's fault.
ReplyDeleteRe the 3:31, that's fair enough--at least it's not just newcomers v. we were here firsters.
ReplyDeleteWho smokes on line to buy Oval funnel cake and had elders who didn't live to see Social Security? I missed the post that inspired that one!
ReplyDeletePoster at 3:02 pm: what are you talking about? Are you on the wrong thread because I didn't see anyone referring to smoking and funnel cakes?
ReplyDelete"Nobody of sane mind is against Oval sun bathing, throwing around a Frisbee , listening to one’s own MP3 player or even having low key Oval events that are truly programmed for the residents and guests of this complex."
ReplyDeleteHAHAHA! What are you kidding? That's all you people bitch about here! And then label anyone who disagrees as "suburban" or "yunnie" or such. I am describing who we are demographically, not young students, but a real couple, with real education, careers, values, etc. Not dumb losers who you bitterly seem to think everyone but you are. We could be saying hello to you in the elevator for all you know. Why do you have such animosity towards your neighbors?
Clearly, 3:02 has some issues...
ReplyDeleteLet me also add the following. Youth will ALWAYS be served. That’s a fact of life. And as STR noted, long term tenants can also be a major issue in this complex. I personally know of two major bed bug infestations that were caused by long term tenants. The issue is not youth versus baby boomers and the elderly but narcissism And narcissism can be found at any age (see below).
ReplyDelete@Anony 5.33. Let me copy your prior indefensible text:
“I don't particular enjoy the relatively high percentage of the really depressing old people in their wheelchairs and home health aides and similarly hope this doesn't turn into an old folks home.”
You write this vile carp and you ask me “Why do you have such animosity towards your neighbors?”. If you are not the poster of this, then you have my apology.
Sorry, Freudian slip, meant crap, not carp.
ReplyDeleteDid you read my post saying that I was reflecting your attitude back at you? THAT is what you sound like. I just used my age to justify an attack on old people, just to show you how ugly your attack on young people is. And you obviously agree it is ugly. So that's your reflection you are seeing.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that there was any attack on young people that could parallel, even as "making a point," a comment about "depressing old people in wheelchairs" and that "old people will die," etc. But maybe you're under the influence of Mud Coffee and Korilla BBQ artisanal delights.
ReplyDeleteWhat's funny is this chick is trying to be the voice of reason for the newer people - god help them - but she sounds even MORE insane than even the seasoned kooks we have.
ReplyDeleteThough it's highly entertaining to read, I really feel for Public Safety who will no doubt have to pick up her pieces later after she jumps.
In the immortal words of Rodney King: Can't we all get on? I, like many long term tenants of Stuyvesant Town, miss the sweet days when the Oval was an oasis in the City, but we know that time marches on. Youngsters, please enjoy the Oval with your sunbathing, frisbies, etc., but please also don't have such disparaging and cruel attitudes to those of us who knew the Oval when it was a green and pleasant place. We know you are not horrible people and we have children and grandchildren and we are not so dumb and so stuck in the rut that we don't realize that time marches on and things change. I remember when a ride on the subway was only 35 cents, bet you don't! We all want to live together in this unique part of Manhattan so please let's be friends and compromise a little bit. I won't ask for the Oval to be chained off and the subway fare to be 35 cents if you will give us a little respect and remember that our husbands and fathers fought in the wars that brought Stuyvesant Town into being in the first place. In fact, my grandfather was dumped out of the only place he knew as home (a gashouse tenament on 19th Street) in order for Stuyvesant Town to be built. Let's give a little and take a little and be nice to each other. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully stated, 10:58. Much more ecumenical. There is so much bitterness and name-calling on this site most of the time, but you said it so well and did it without insulting anyone!
ReplyDeleteMay I add one more thing to the 10.58 pm post from last night: back in the days when the Oval was lush and green and filled with trees, we had no air conditioning and sitting outside trying to keep in the shade was our only respite (apart from going to a movie theater). We longed to get on the grass and sit under the trees! We tried to get as close as possible to the fountain to catch some of the cool spray, but were always chased away by Security. I'd love for the Oval to be a bit of the best of both worlds: a place to relax without being chased off the grass, but also a verdant place where no food trucks are allowed to pollute the air and no vendors are allowed to destroy any part of it. I'm sure we could share it harmoniously with a little positive encouragement from Management (as in keep it nice) and a little mutual respect for each other and for the Oval itself. Thanks for letting me have my say.
ReplyDeleteI wish there were a FB-type "like" button so I could click 10:58's two posts! I disagree with some finer points, but that's the way to state an opinion without polarizing or insulting others.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me that many (not all) of the newer tenants really have no objection to the "douchebagging" of this community.
ReplyDeleteNo roots planted. No financial incentive to stay. More about "what works for me right now." When it ceases to work for them (or they just run out of funds to afford this urban "oasis"), they just move on--leaving behind the mess they advocated, albeit temporarily.
Longer-term residents that raised families, invested time and sweat equity in the community clearly don't think quite the same way. In part they (we, me...) had financial incentives to put down roots here and we did. Old-schoolers, original tenants, the "unsightly elderly" and the like. How repulsive.
It is a shame when the character of the community is shaped by "works for me right now" instead of "works for the community" longer-term.
Again, what you think works for the community. Just like what I think works for the community.
ReplyDelete