Wednesday, August 31, 2011

No, You Can't Look Anymore!

Remember the shocking photos of the interior of 522 East 20 St that a resident sent us recently:

Reader Photos


Well, it seems Management is reading this blog as--no, they didn't clean up the place--they placed a lock on The Dump room, so that no one could see the mess of stacked junk and furniture that's inside anymore! Our resident sent us this photo today, stating that he wanted to see what was inside because there was a "horrid stink coming from there."



Now we won't know the source of that horrid stink. Has anyone tried to do a horror film with Stuyvesant Town as the haunted madhouse?

Update 9/1. Before and after photos (click on photo to get larger one)




48 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is outrageous. It's hard to believe these incompetents can't be stopped. It's scary. And a disgrace. We know Rose is reading. Maybe CW is reading too and will fire Rose.

Anonymous said...

They sure do have their priorities straight!

Anonymous said...

Look closer at your photos, those are three different doors.

Anonymous said...

I think it's where they stash the dead bodies of RS tenants they have murdered.
Seriously, though, we need to be rid or Rose. I seem to remember that after MetLife decided to turn the place "market" and abolished the waiting list, there was a different management company (Signa?") who decided that STPCV was too "down market" for them and passed it off to the lowest management company they could find --- da ta our friends "Rose." About as low as you can go! No wonder we are having so many problems. This is the lowest, dirtiest "management" company in the city of New York. They are as bad, if not worse, than Tishman Speyer but then TS was never a residential property management company; they just tried and failed. Rose is the biggest failure of all. Worse than NYCHA and the bar doesn't go any lower!

Anonymous said...

Time to call NYFD.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>Look closer at your photos, those are three different doors.<<

? The door with the new lock is the final door, not the first one that was pictured in the other photo, near the elevators, I assume. It's that final door that was very obviously opened for a resident to look inside (or photograph inside). Now this door is shut with the new lock.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

I contacted the resident and he tells me that the door was painted also, but not the wall near the door, as can be seen in the photo. He'll try to send another photo.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Okay, resident sent me two photos (before and after), which I uploaded on the front page. If you look to the right you will see the same markings on the wall. Same doorway, but the door appears to have been painted over or replaced, with now a shiny new lock on it.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Perhaps they weren't able to close the door in the "before" photo because of all the junk inside and outside the room! LOL.

Anonymous said...

Even Tony Dasilva doesn't get preferential treatment! His office is a mess!!!

Anonymous said...

They did the same thing when I complained about debris in the side room of my laundry room. I'm sure all the fire hazardous material is still behind the locked door.

Anonymous said...

Did anybody notice that the much-maligned TA has put a crimp in CWCap/Rose's nefarious plan to abolish tenants' rights to the trunk rooms by threatening to file for rent roll-backs for diminution of services? Go check the LL blog. Good for the TA! I've always thought they worked quietly behind the scenes and approach things from a legal aspect. I wish they could file for a rent roll-back and diminution of services for turning this once-livable community into a dirty, squalid dorm.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

There's been a diminution of services, that's clear. Money is being spent on the Oval Essentials, but many buildings need painting, plastering, etc. And security is just about completely worthless when it comes to quality of life issues. This place is a mess in many areas, but because this change happened incrementally, it becomes hard to notice. The transients, though, would never notice, as they are not here long enough.

Though I only used the trunk room in the distant past, it was being used by long-standing tenants, and so taking it away is an obvious diminution of service. Good for the TA.

Anonymous said...

To September 3, 2011 3:20 PM

The inept TA hasn't done anything but delay the inevitable. CW Capital and Rose ASSociates will win this case in a heartbeat. The TA would be foolish to pursue it beyond sending applications for rent reduction to the DHCR, which the DHCR will file in a cylindrical file system also known as the garbage can. Any further attempt to stop it by going to court would be a colossal waste of money.

Anonymous said...

I really don't know what people expect from the TA. They are, after all, a volunteer group of tenants who suffer under this inept, greedy landlord/management the same as the rest of us. They're not paid advocates (like our elected representatives) and can only do so much. At least they're trying to do something to help us.

Anonymous said...

To September 6, 2011 8:17 PM

I dont speak for anyone else but I expected the TA to stand up to Tishman Speyer when they trashed ST and PCV. Instead they tried to position themselves as leaders of a new co-op in ST/PCV and let Tishman destroy the community. Not once did they stand up and fight for the community. They were silent as TS brought in dogs, college kids, carved up apartments etc all because they were greedy and wanted to be the leaders of a ST purchase. As if anyone would vote for them if we were to have a co-op board. They (along with Dan Garodnick) showed their true colors and are paying the price now. They have rendered themselves useless and are nothing more than the butt end of a joke (along with Dan Garodnick). Lux of Lux Living said it best when he said that the TA couldnt manage a bake sale not to mention ST/PCV. I'm paraphrasing. but I think you get the point.

Anonymous said...

bravo 817P

there's absolutely NO viable Tenant's Association here.

PS...Rose showed a movie in the rain tonight.

Anonymous said...

How quickly they forget. The TA did not stand by idly while TS sliced up apartments. In fact, the TA wrote to the NYFD and the Buildings Department offering its view that this subdividing of apartments was being done illegally, without permits and was a danger not only to tenants but also to firefighters. While it took about six months, the NYFD responded to the TA's complaint and agreed that what TS was doing was, in fact, a violation of the building code. Those with any memory at all will recall that TS was ordered to stop and it took months for them to recover and start filing for permits etc.

The fact is that the TA did all that it could in that situation and was successful in slowing TS down and forcing it to comply with the law.

Also, without the TA, there would never have been a Roberts lawsuit which, thanks to the magnificent efforts of the plaintiffs' lawyers, resulted in the biggest tenant victory against landlords in the history of NYC.

The TA pushes for a coop or condo deal because it want all of the tenants to be in a position to control the destiny of this community so it does not have to be at the mercy of scum like CW and Rose. Maybe its a pipe dream but certainly better that sitting on one's butt whining like September 7. Anyway, time will tell.

Lastly, I fear Luxie has lost his edge and sold out to Rose.

Anonymous said...

Quite off topic, I know, but right now I am listening to what sounds like a herd of buffalo running around in the NYU apartment over me. I seem to remember signing a lease agreeing to carpet 80% of my walking areas. I have done just that. My upstairs neighbors obviously did not sign such a lease. Can I get a rent rollback for diminution of services? Can I get a waiver that will allow me to take up all my (expensive) carpets and have a bunch of my friends come over and do a clog dance? Where do RS tenants' rights end and dorm tenants' rights start? Just wondering because I haven't paid my September rent yet and I am strongly tempted to hold onto my check until it is clarified to me as to who's lease overrides the other. Get my drift? So far, I have been in compliance of my lease in every respect (for the past 30+ years), but now I'm beginning to wonder if the requirements have changed and either I can make as much noise as my neighbors in the upstairs dorm or get a rebate because the terms of living here have changed.

Lux Living said...

"Lastly, I fear Luxie has lost his edge and sold out to Rose."

Says the Tenants Association. Do I not continue to post and distribute your information on my website and social media accounts?

How much more of my time and energy do you feel entitled to?

Anonymous said...

What a nasty, sour grapes close to a TA rant. WTG LL!

Anonymous said...

Anony 11.14Pm. You also could have added for a plus TA comment the MCI process that they have done a major investment in. As per the TA:

“There are currently approximately $30 million MCIs pending. unchallenged and the HCR approves these MCIs, additional charges averaging $35 per room per month will be added to the rent. For a 1 bedroom, this equates to $105 per month in perpetuity. We continue to fight the MCIs but the issue of “standing” comes up time and again.The owner’s attorney always challenges the TA attorneys based on“standing” .We need at least 1 rent stabilized tenant from each building to step forward to be the MCI representative for the building and available to sign documents. (3 would be preferable in case of vacations, emergencies etc.).This will give the TA attorneys the ability to speak for each building that has a representative. The representative must be a tenant who has always been rent stabilized tenant since former market rate tenants do not receive MCIs at this time. All paper work will be prepared by the attorneys and will just require a signature to represent the building.T here is no risk of retaliation to this tenant – they will be protected by the Rent Stabilization Laws. The question has come up if they have to be a TA member. All tenants are technically TA members. This affects only MCIs which have not yet been ruled upon.”

Where you lost me, big time, was that LUX sell out comment. You were WAY out of line.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

That Lux has sold out to Rose is absurd. Some people may miss the old Lux blog that took a riotously funny, brilliant and critical approach to management, but people have to realize that, as creator of that blog and the guy who made it live and breathe, he has every right to change the angle of his current site/facebook. Lux made a choice to try to be a positive element between tenants and management. While doing so, he has not stepped back from pointing out when management is not doing things right or is doing them absurdly.

Anonymous said...

You are being "sold out", right under your nose. You are being used and you can not see the forest through the trees. Management knows more about you then you know about you. Someone that you trust is selling you out.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the TA is just jealous or bitter that Rose listens to Lux and his readers but not to them so much.

Lux Living said...

"Management knows more about you then you know about you"

What does that even mean? I'm not being sold out OR used.

After three years of writing daily, responding to emails, shooting photos, visiting tenant’s apartments, connecting tenants with reporters, getting our stories picked up by other blogs and local news media, being threatened, etc., I was exhausted. I’m not complaining because it needed to be done but it was incredibly draining. I’m not a politician with a team of people working beneath me, I am not an association with volunteers and donations and I am not a management company getting paid to run a property. I am me. One guy. Lux.

I still do these things but I am very aware of how much of my time I donate because I need to have a life of my own that doesn’t involve this property. I am quite proud of the fact that I am able to work with management in the sense that I can go to them with the problems tenants bring to me after getting unsatisfactory results via the proper channels.

After the hurricane Irene I put together a report for Rose on what I thought worked, what I thought didn’t work and how things could be improved the next time. Not only was it welcomed, they made changes to their email system the VERY NEXT DAY and are continuing to make changes. This is a much more productive use of my time than ripping them a new one on my blog.

I’ve also had more conversations with management about the stupid transient trash than I’d care to admit. The reality is Tishman Speyer did away with the staff that handled the trash and changed the garbage rules, not Rose. People forget we are a defaulted property and Rose does not have a blank check to wave as a magic wand.

And if you think for a second that I am always popular with management, you’re insane. Nobody loves the guy who brings up the problems. I find it incredibly challenging at times because in my industry, things move quick, quick, quick. Not so much in the world of property management. But I am up for the challenge because it benefits us all in the long run.

At the end of the day, being able to help people makes me feel good and I’d rather fall asleep knowing I did something positive with my day than thinking about the war I have to fight in the morning when I wake up.

But no matter how much time I donate, there are still a few people who think I need to do even more for them, for free. Sorry, but you don’t have a blank check either.

Anonymous said...

Can we ask LL--are you getting any $$ from Rose, or a rent break, or any other promise/consideration? People really are suspicious of your new intentions and what your arrangement with LL is...please clear up any misconceptions or at least disclose in the name of journalistic integrity. Not an accusation, just a chance to disclose any arrangements that may exist or dispose of any wrong impression.

Anonymous said...

Well said, Lux and thank you. I love to check out the Facebook blog although I don't participate because I'm not a FB or internet savvy person (takes me all my time to figure out how to turn a new tab on without closing Safari), but I enjoy the topics and the hilarious comments. Especially from Lo Rhent! It's good that you have a relationship with Rose that you can bring up problems to them without being stonewalled or blacklisted. MetLife instilled fear into tenants over the years and TS was totally indifferent. At least Rose listens. Maybe sometimes they let it go in one ear and out the other, but then there are the times when it actually produces positive results. Keep up the good work LL. As they say in the West Indies: Keep the faith and spread it gently.

Not Anonymous said...

An anonymous commenter wants to discuss journalistic integrity??? That's a good one!

Anonymous said...

>>>"you have a relationship with Rose that you can bring up problems to them"<<<
LL, Since you have a "special relationship" with Rose, would you be so kind to tell them that the lights in front of 19 & 21 Stuyvesant Oval have been out for three weeks. And there are some very BIG RATS running around here.
Thanks very much.

Anonymous said...

The TA's forum couldn't compete once LL took off. Now, because they can't do what LL can do, they have to attack LL for taking a new direction. That's because they still can't compete. Get off your monkey butts and do something, TA. LL doesn't owe anyone anything, and especially doesn't have to answer ridiculous accusations, no matter what you call them. Journalistic integrity? Are you nuts?

Anonymous said...

Yeah Lux! I'm not satisfied with your rational explanation either! Let's see those bank statements and tax returns! I call for wire taps and drones to keep an eye on you! Your life is OUR life!!!

Anonymous said...

Lux, can you get me a dishwasher? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like some of the anonymouses and nonanonymous are actually Rose employees. A bit to quick to deflect any scrutiny.

Anonymous said...

Some of these comments are really childish and make our community look like it's chock full of idiots. It's no wonder he doesn't want to deal with you disturbed people all day long. Who would. Grow up.

Lux Living said...

@10:17

Who the hell do you think you are to demand I share any financial information with you, you absurd piece of shit?

For the record, Rose does not pay me to blog. Rose does not pay me to not blog. In fact, it's people like you who played the biggest role in my decision to stop publishing Lux Living. You have nobody but your wretched, ungrateful self to thank.

I also want to clear up something. These comments are NOT coming from someone on the Tenants Association. They are coming from an LL crank who won't stop beating a dead horse. Someone who, even on 9/11 as I mourn the loss of a friend, STILL demands my attention.

Consider this conspiracy theory put to rest.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

And let's move on now. That's it with questioning motives.

Anonymous said...

Hello to mister 12:24! Lo in the house! I keeping it all real all the time for the naybor peeps! Many thank to you for shout out.

Anonymous said...

I too wondered whether you went on the Rose payroll, but I do believe you when you say you aren't. Let's leave poor LL alone.

Anonymous said...

12:47 here. I'm Missie, not Mister and I love you Lo Rhent. Keep on keeping it real for the peeps!

Anonymous said...

I meant 12:24, Lo. It gets so confusing on here because almost everyone is named Anonymous!

Anonymous said...

Go Lux! In whatever forum, whatever medium, this community is lucky to have you! Your tireless & selfless devotion to US, this community, and your uncanny sense of fairness, should NEVER be doubted. The fact that you retained your sense of humor (on the LL blog) for as long as you did (considering the cast of blowhard commenters) is nearly miraculous. Live long, prosper, and f*ck 'em if they can't take a joke!

Anonymous said...

I have a hypothetical question that maybe someone can help me with.
Lets say I have a Blog site, and lets say I have ads that are ebedded on my web site say....using "Google's AdSense", (hypothetically speaking of course). Can I make any money off of it?

Anonymous said...

YAY! I second 2:22 pm! Thanks Lux. If you were on their payroll, they would soon kick you to the curb because you tell the truth about this place (as does STR)! More power to ya both!

Anonymous said...

I really, very seriously, believe that we rent stabilized (pre-Roberts version) tenants have a right to file for a rent roll-back for diminution of services. In my building we have had a fire that caused considerable damage and stress and was caused by a bunch of half-ass students carelessly smoking, boinging or whatever they do; the hallways haven't been vacuumed in months, and I mean MONTHS! We have rodents and roaches in the so-called recycling area and our laundry facilities have been just about taken away because the laundry rooms are so filthy and the machines so inferior and malfunctioning Stuff comes out dirtier than it went in! On top of all that, we have to listen to renovations at all hours of the night and day, kids in wedge shoes stomping around on uncarpeted floors as well as the loud music and whoo-hooing at all hours as these kids come and go from the clubs. We abide by our leases, but the new tenants do not. We really need some intervention by the TA. I would gladly throw my wallet at the TA if they would start a class action lawsuit on our behalf to rid the property of this vermin called Rose and the undesirables they are renting to. At least the TA could start a fucking rent strike! That would show that they really care and feel as incensed about it as I and a lot of others do!

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Anon 8:59pm... Yes, a blogger can make money from AdSense, but usually it's pennies you are making, not hundred dollar bills.

Deep Thoughts said...

I have a hypothetical question as well that maybe someone can help me with.

Let's say I am a troll, and lets say I sit in front of my computer all day long filling up the comment sections of blogs with my bile. Hypothetically speaking of course, is my life a failure?

Anonymous said...

If you want to see change made here then people are going to have to step up and organize to achieve change. It's obvious that the TA can't be effective in dealing with all of these quality of life issues, and it will take an organized group to work on change.

There needs to be a group of people to come together and then stand on the corners to enlist more tenant support.

The constant complaining on these blogs might be comforting to the soul, but in the end, achieves very little because Rose knows that nothing will happen to them if they don't address the problems.

Good luck.