This week's Town & Village reported that we have a new general manager, Sean Sullivan, replacing Jim Yasser, who will stay on as a consultant. Sullivan is "a former Marine and 20-year real estate veteran who previously worked for Avalon Bay Communities, Inc. as well as Tishman Speyer." Yes, Tishman Speyer, but not to worry, Sullivan wasn't working for TS during that company's reign here. Still, a small world, at least in Manhattan. Sullivan is quoted in the article, from an official CW Capital/Rose Associates statement: "Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town is celebrated for its strong sense of community within this city. I am proud and honored to join the effort to make PCVST a place that this community is happy to call home." I'm not sure about our current "strong sense of community." Nowadays, this complex seems made up of various differing and at times mutually combative communities. It's not the homogeneous one it was years ago. The internet tells us that "Mr. Sullivan received a
Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and English Literature
from Iona College, graduating summa cum laude and ranking first in his
class. He went on to receive his Master of Science degree in Real Estate
Finance at New York University." Yes, a small world in Manhattan! This blog wishes Sean Sullivan success in ensuring that this community, or these communities, are happy to call this place home.
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The official word finally arrived about the landscaping that's already started about the complex and which this blog previewed in past entries. Here's some of the work:
Temporary fencing will be installed around newly seeded areas until the turf is well-rooted and dense (approximately 4 months).
New planting beds will receive 28” black, PVC-coated, welded wire fence for about two years until the plantings are well-rooted and established enough to withstand the abuse from dogs and foot traffic.
Approximate total number of new plants added as part of Phase 1: 1,500 Trees, Shrubs, Grasses, and Perennials and over 100,000 groundcovers.
Approximate number of plants to be transferred within the property and off-site. Approximate number to be transferred within:
Trees – 25
Shrubs – 482
Perennials – 700
Total number of plants/species on the Property:
Total existing species on the property (both PCV & ST): 223
Tree Species – 70
Shrub Species – 96
Perennial Species – 57
Normal landscaping activities: Weeding, Mulching, Grass cutting, Trimming, Plant relocation, Annual planting, Tree pruning, etc.
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Town & Village speculates at the transformation occurring to the former Oval Lounge. For some reason this is a semi-official secret, but various clues point to a new entity: Oval Cafe. (The official PCVST website mentioned an "Oval Cafe" a while ago.) T&V notes that "an employee at Oval Amenities said this week that whatever the space winds up being used for, it will be open to all residents." While this is a smart idea, it will mark, if true, the first time that a commercial enterprise will be open permanently and daily inside Stuy Town. So the slippery slope that some warned about with the introduction of temporary commercial enterprises (the greenmarket, the ice-rink) may now come to pass.
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Boy, the powers that be love their students (and want to fill up Oval Fitness)! The push is on to give students discounts for membership at Oval Fitness....
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The Oval Lawn is now open, as is Playground 10 (with new astro turf). Enjoy, though beware that starting Wednesday, June 6th, the Oval will be periodically taken over by movie showings, an outdoor screening of a baseball game, and, yes, concerts. Residents may wish to plan ahead, either for attending these events or, if they live around the Oval, leaving the complex for some peace and quiet. Rumor is that some residents are planning rain dances early morning on the day a concert is scheduled.
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The other day I did spot Public Safety talking to two dog owners who may have been disobeying a dog rule near the fountain area, or about to disobey one. So the stepped-up effort is appreciated.
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I had to laugh at this one. In a previous post I remarked how the "For Residents and Their Guests" tag on the greenmarket promo banners could be hidden if the plantings in front grew high enough. I was kinda joking.... Well, the plantings in front of the banner near the Peter Cooper Village guardbooth, already hide the information! The tag is clearly visible on all other banners, btw.
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This Saturday morning TA president Al Doyle and our councilman Dan Garodnick turned up at the Oval Fountain to have their picture taken. What, no photos at Garodnick Boulevard? (Garodnick Boulevard is the lengthy patch of newly-placed gravel on which sits the greenmarket every Sunday and which has been named in honor of our councilman, soon to be city comptroller.)
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Speaking of that area, I do like the bamboo sticks and string that have been placed on the other side of the fence along Garodnick Boulevard. (Don't laugh, I'm serious.) They partition off the area in a pleasing rustic way. I almost expect to see sheep nearby. I'll try to get a better picture. Or maybe not.
27 comments:
You describe Garodnicj as "soon tobeController" thereby assuming he will get enough votes. I won't be voting for him and I know many of my neighbors who won't vote for him. He does not deserve our votes.
He doesn't deserve your votes???? What? He's a neighbor, he's advocated for us, he's qualified...why are you being so spiteful and petty?
1,500 new trees? Are we about to see a return of the rape forests?!?
1,500 Trees, Shrubs, Grasses, and Perennials.... So, not all trees, it seems.
Being an attorney, a neighbor and a City Council member does not automatically qualify one for Comptroller. The proposed Garodnick trajectory is obvious. He will do 8 years, if necessary, as Comptroller and then on to running for Mayor or other higher office.
Mr. Garodnick has advocated for the community on many issues but he has also demonstrated a notable lack of firmness in his backbone on other issues, particularly the greenmarket and, to some extent, the Oval rink where, for the first time ever, residents are charged for use of playground space.
Assuming he gets the nomination, I don't know yet if he will get my vote for Comptroller. But his actions regarding the greenmarket will weigh heavily on that decision. After all, if he can't maintain a principled position and stand up to the likes of TS, CW and Rose, how can you expect him to be principled and stand up to the really big guys that the Comptroller deals with?
"He doesn't deserve your votes???? What? He's a neighbor, he's advocated for us, he's qualified...why are you being so spiteful and petty?"
So you vote for him. I happen to think he has done very little for this community. He's too interested in a conversion to really take on Rose and CW over QOL issues. Fat lot of good he did as an advocate over the illegal greenmarket and illegal ice skating rink.
I think that Garodnick is a nice guy and certainly personable. That doesn't mean that he's the right person to hold a higher position in NY politics, where you have to be a bit a of bastard, if not more than that, to deal with monied interests.
But I do look askew at Garodnick for other things not yet mentioned here, and they have to do with Manhattan in general, not Stuy Town. His strong advocacy for the 2nd Ave subway has been a concern, as the subway has not been planned out well, and is already years late in the making, over-budget and a disaster to the communities it's being built through. Then there's his vote to let a real estate giant (that's now contributed heavily to his campaign) build a mammoth skyscraper in the center of midtown, a building that will block out one view of the iconic Empire State Building and alter the picture postcard look of Manhattan forever. Just on that issue, I will not vote for him for any office.
I like the farmers market, so I certainly DON'T want him advocating against it. It's not illegal, so stop complaining.
I also am very psyched about the 2nd ave subway.
It's not his fault that the MTA's execution of the subway is less than superior. We wanted and needed the subway and we're getting it.
Who is "we"? I don't want, don't need, the 2nd Ave subway. Its building has been a terrible experience for businesses along 2nd Ave and those who live in the neighborhood.
Why is it that I have the feeling that poster 1:13 and poster 1:14 are one and the same? And let's throw in poster 1:11 to the same mix.
Bloomberg is determined to crush all small businesses in New York. They are going the way of the dinosaur and the 2nd Ave subway work is a way of destroying a whole bunch of them all in the same neighborhood.
Just in fairness, the 2nd Ave Subway had little to do with Garodnick save for the fact that he represented the district during it's construction. Remember, they started digging the tunnel when ? 1970's ? It's been forever. And BTW, I think it should have been built to run the whole length of the island. The Lex is far too overcrowded. They should have found the money to do it all at once. Yes, it would have been a major disruption, but would have been a serious benefit to the island, way more than the bike lanes.
But I think everyone should be careful about supporting a politician who seems to mostly provide lip service to the community and certainly seems more interested in self aggrandizement before our interests at large. He sold out Stuy on pressure walls, Greenmarket and almost every other QOL issue that's been brought to his office, and I'm now supposed to assume that he has the best interests of the community as a whole going forward ??? And he and his family live in Cooper, so why does he give a crap what happens in the Oval ?
No mention of the fire ants and deer ticks.
I will not vote for Dan G for any office.
He helped undermine the quality of life in ST.
I don't understand what you want. You don't want a subway, you don't want a farmers market, you don't want your own neighbor as your comptroller. Do you like anything? Seriously, do you like ANYTHING about this place?
BTW, how do you think subways get built??? They don't magically happen. My italian descendants help build the subway. My grandfather used to bring his father his lunch in the tunnels. It does take some serious infrastructure disturbance for a while to create a better city.
MOVE away if you don't want it. You're only going to get more miserable. It's done, it's here and you really need to face reality. Your old world is over. Seriously, you all are acting so bitter and malcontent. Just enjoy life, it's rally not that bad.
Anon 5:32... You must not read this blog well if you think I don't like living here. Even in the post that these comments are responding to, I've stated positive things about the complex. And, yes, I like those bamboo posts with a string running through them. So there! You also should note the photographs that I've taken throughout the years of the foliage and flowers here, and my outspokenness about keeping the natural, non-commercial elements of this complex in place, so that residents can find this a true oasis in Manhattan.
But you want to spin this in one way, to the extreme, and so you invalidate whatever points you wish to make. You also seem to be unaware of the fight that goes on in New York over affordable housing and keeping a New York spirit alive, a spirit which I suspect is a little too gritty and unclean for your tastes. Either that, or you are a shill, and the same one (a single one) that's been making similar extreme comments on this blog. Considering how distasteful it must be for you to read the blog and many of its comments, why do you persist in wasting your time this way, in obvious pain?
The farmers market in the Oval is illegal. Period.
"My italian descendants help build the subway."
That would be your children or their children. I think you mean "ancestors."
STR--I have interpreted your photos to show petty complaints like, "look--the fence is crooked," or "see the color of that gravel, it should be brown, not white!" or posting photos of other residents sunbathing, without getting their permission first.
If you meant them as paeons to Stuytown, I take it back, but I don't read a lot of love from the people here. Just complaints.
You are right though, why do I keep reading? Maybe I am an optimist and am hoping I can get you all to see some sort of positive in your life and our home? Or just a masochist, lol.
The farmers market is not illegal, period.
>>STR--I have interpreted your photos to show petty complaints like, "look--the fence is crooked," or "see the color of that gravel, it should be brown, not white!" or posting photos of other residents sunbathing, without getting their permission first.<<
I'm not aware of posting photos of just residents sunbathing, unless they are in the background to the photo I want.
Regarding crooked fence posts, etc, surely these are nuanced comments and should be taken as such. I don't believe in the darkest black or the brightest white. The fencing needs to be there (a regrettable positive), but some of the posts have been sloppily positioned (an unfortunate negative). Same with the gravel at the farmers market. Something needed to be done to that space, which looked ugly and low-class, and something was done (a positive), but it did mandate a permanent and unfortunate change in the history of the Oval Lawn (a negative). I'm trying to advance my opinions with both the good and the bad, if possible.
I, for one, think anyone who's against mass transit is a total idiot. The 2nd Ave subway might cost too much, might take too long, and might be disruptive while its being built, but will make this neighborhood vastly more livable for all residents.
It will make this neighborhood more livable for ALL residents how? Get your ass walking to the Lex line or the L line if you have to use a subway. Or take a bus. Or bike around.
You are also unaware of the dynamics in regard to mom-and-pop stores and tenant rents once a neighborhood goes "upscale" with a new subway line. First, mom-and-pop stores and small restaurants along 2nd Ave have great difficulty in staying alive during this massive and long disruption while the 2nd Ave subway is being built. Some are closing down. Once they close down, the entity who owns that store/building goes "upscale," perhaps even bulldozing the building and putting in a sliver monstrosity with a Starbucks, Duane Reade and Citibank/Chase on the ground floor. This is what Manhattan is turning into, if you haven't noticed.
Hey, STR, I'm with you. That subway is a disaster. I spend a good piece of time on the ues and it has destroyed lives and businesses.
To your other point, after spending the last 25 years of my life as a pedestrian, I just bought a bike and i love it. I feel like a kid again. More people should do it and maybe they will now that lord Bloomberg has annointed the new citibike program. But that's another issue.....
The Bloombergization off Manhattan. No thought to the detrimental long term affects.
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