Saturday, June 23, 2012

A Backyard Where There is Always Something Going On!



Call it a slogan, motto, catch-phrase or whatever, and perhaps it's been used for a while now, but I became alerted to it the other day when I went to the official Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper website to see if there was any heat advisory info online for residents. There wasn't.  But the website did tell me about "Manhattan Living with an 80-Acre Backyard'" and that: "There is always something going on at Stuyvesant Town!"  The latter is not a surprise, as since Tishman Speyer days the goal has been to present this complex as active and fun, with a "no stopping us now" attitude.

Unfortunately, this goal and the thinking behind it is low-class when it comes to aesthetics (no real upscale residential community would tolerate the "events" and the inane amenity classes that go on around here) and stubbornly overestimates just what most residents want, which is something far more simple: a place in the city that feels like it's away from the city.  Instead, the powers that be are trying to bring the city into a residential community that was not built for such accommodations, causing disruptions to tenants (not all, admittedly; some would even want a Walmart here), excessive wear on the Oval grounds and a huge clean-up thereafter, with an increase in the rodent population who savor the food delights left over during the day.  In other words, in trying to appeal to an upscale demographic, the powers that be are cheapening this place with predictable plans that rely on whatever meme is current in the real estate market.

It's also telling that the powers that be consider the grass, trees and foliage here a "backyard."  A backyard is where you hold a barbeque and dump your junk and have your dog urinate and defecate.  So that's how upscale the thinking is here.  Bravo. What an impression!

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While surfing I caught a flash ad for Stuyvesant Town.  The features of this ad:




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And this morning I received a STPCV email blast with the subject heading, "It's Getting Hot in Here!"  I thought this was a delayed alert about the hot weather we've been having the last couple of days, but no, it was a message about today's concert!  Enjoy the noise!

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm getting rid of all my rugs and putting a call into the office pronto on Monday AM to get my free months rent!

Hey, when do they plan to install the charcoal grills?!?

Anonymous said...

The grounds are pretty nice. I take jogs around the whole complex along the main walking paths and one complete loop is almost precisely one mile long which is cool. I love that these runs are mostly free of car traffic. Haven't tired of the route yet. The trees and foliage really are enjoyable. I hate people but even I can appreciate the benches all over the place for them to have a nice sit-down. It makes for a quiet calming atmosphere. But yes calling all this your backyard is going way way overboard. Backyard is a place where you do whatever the hell you please. I would call this more like living in a park.

Anonymous said...

LOL. so true str, so true.

Anonymous said...

So it's not about the apartments anymore, their new propaganda is all about the huge "backyard" they'll have? Got news for ya, there are a LOT of people out there. Good luck finding a spot. It's like Brighton Beach out there.

Anonymous said...

Woman walking a pit bull today right passed 3 public safety officers during the concert. None of the guards so much as batted an eyelash. Also saw what may have been a Bernese Mountain Dog being walked, no lie. It must have been 100 pounds. Right around the oval. At any rate, for those wishing to purchase a dog, there is obviously no need to feel constrained in any way by the listed banned breeds.

Anonymous said...

It's only 80 acres if you knock down all the
Buildings.

Anonymous said...

8:39 p.m. You know, it's not just YOUR oval. It belongs to 26,000 other people.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

The hard reality is that the Oval belongs to the entity that owns it.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:12 PM:

Next time, snap a photo if you can. That would have made a great one (the woman walking the pit bull past three of ST's toy cops).

Anonymous said...

Alright, that's true, sadly

Anonymous said...

Way more than 26,000 people now!

Tommyboy said...

No mention of the Beer Garden?

Anonymous said...

Went to Ace Hardware on First Avenue this afternoon with a list household/kitchen/cleaning necessities. They had nothing I needed. Went across First Avenue to the Town and Village Hardware Store. Got everything I needed and treat service to boot.

BTW, what happened to the Verizon store? I see they are brining in T-Mobile. Did Verizon get evicted? Must have been RS. ;-)

Anonymous said...

from Poster at 3:33 pm - of course I meant great service. Great service is a treat these days!

Anonymous said...

Again, I really would love a beer garden!

Anonymous said...

Again, I really would love a beer garden!
>>

The whole frickin' place is a beer garden! Have you ever wondered why the homeless scour this place for the thrown away bottles and cans? Have you never gone out early in the morning and seen the "harvest" of bottles and cans liberally thrown around the grounds? The beer garden is open all night every night and has branches all over the playgrounds, Oval, etc. I wish the homeless could cash in the cigarette butts strewn all over the place because if they could, they would be able to buy condos in Trump Tower.

Anonymous said...

Ace Hardware has the WORST service! Their staff is comparable to a high school lemonade stand.

Anonymous said...

7:42 p.m.--you live in an entirely different Stuytown than me. I have encountered almost none of that. It is quite clean, quite lovely, quite delightful here.

Anonymous said...

7:42 pm

And you're also employed by Rose Associates.

Anonymous said...

I'm just resigned to the fact that from 3-6p on Saturdays during the summer I'll have to leave ST for the peace and quiet of Times Square.

Anonymous said...

Stuyvesant Town does love their stock photography! BTW nice watch tan line Nick Lachey!

Anonymous said...

Their advertisements always looks so cheap.

Anonymous said...

"A Backyard Where There is Always Something Going On!"

Like a pitt bull parade or an illegal hotel convention!!!

Anonymous said...

Speaking of the "Free Month Rent" scam, in case anyone missed this:

RESPONDING TO STUY TOWN SPOTS ON SPOTIFY

Anonymous said...

There's something going on in Stuy Town all right. MISERY!

Anonymous said...

Can't they just cut the lies and bullshit about this place and spend their time, money and energy on cleaning up the filthy fucking recycling areas, cleaning the filthy carpets and getting rid of the disgusting, cholera/typhoid/listeria/e-coli bearing poor apologies for washing machines? Sheesh! Is Rose Associates so bad, so incompetent and so desperate that they can't see the wood for the trees? What a bunch of losers are running this overpriced, over-populated, stinking dorm! Rose Associates has to be the very, very bottom of the barrel scrapings when it comes to "management" and selective deafness and blindness to reality. I would have thought they could do a lot better, but obviously not.

Anonymous said...

The washers do suck! (But the dryers seem better actually).

I still love it here! It's really not nearly as bad as you describe.

Anonymous said...

i must say june 26 10:49 is quite right. The maintenance is indeed deplorable and it's difficult to understand. There are issues that wouldn't be that expensive to rectify but they simply don't, yet they pour money into saturday concerts. All I can say is Rose Associates is the manager, let's remember that when we have some autonomy in the running of this place.

Anonymous said...

I agree with anon 10:49. Enough with the damn plants and do something, ANYTHING, about the laundry rooms and recycling areas! It's like the Amityville Horror down there. The flies all but do the wash for me!

Anonymous said...

"Can't they just cut the lies and bullshit about this place and spend their time, money and energy on cleaning up the filthy fucking recycling areas, cleaning the filthy carpets and getting rid of the disgusting, cholera/typhoid/listeria/e-coli bearing poor apologies for washing machines?"

So...are you ready to BUY?!?

Anonymous said...

I see Baby Steps Rose is taking their sweet time "refreshing" Oval Lounge. It doesn't look like the project is making any progress other than being the newest eyesore.

Anonymous said...

80-Acre dog run available 24/7/365 for unrestricted use by resident and non-resident dogs accompanying their human walkers holding a leash.

During inclement weather building stairwells available for exclusive use by resident dogs accompanying their human walkers with or without a leash.

Tommyboy said...

Lux living regarding the washers, of course the dryers work better, it's hot out! There are other options, 1st Ave & 14th streets are littered with laundromats. I know leaving your buildings are a hassle. But only a economic impact will affect the laundry room situation.

Anonymous said...

"So...are you ready to BUY?!?"

That's been exactly my point too. Only when we have some say around here will things improve!

Anonymous said...

"only a economic impact will affect the laundry room situation."

People complained that the dryers weren't hot enough, so what did Rose do? They increased the drying time (more than many of us need) and upped the price. They could have made it so we could buy additional time in 15-minute increments (or some other amount), but no-o-o-o. They basically gave us the finger and charged us for the privilege.

Still waiting for some beautification here in PCV. Long-dead yew bushes bordering a lawn were finally removed but are yet to be replaced. A large patch of rose bushes has been uprooted. The landscaping design, if it can be called that, is amateurish at best. The concept of an esthetically pleasing arrangement of plants that can be easily maintained seems never to have occurred to anyone associated with Rose. You'd think they would have learned from the Speyer debacle.

Anonymous said...

So...are you ready to BUY?!?


Hell, No!

Anonymous said...

"I still love it here! It's really not nearly as bad as you describe."

June 27, 2012 7:47 AM

Look, it's still bad enough. Fight for change or consider yourself part of the problem.

Anonymous said...

"That's been exactly my point too. Only when we have some say around here will things improve!"

Not! You will never have any meaningful input and that was not the point of my comment. This place is in a cost/debt spiral. Feel free to throw your money into that toilet. I won't be throwing mine in...

Anonymous said...

I've been getting emails from my friends about Saturday's show. I didn't tell them about it (nor do I plan to attend) but they all seem to know about it.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence...

Anonymous said...

"Not! You will never have any meaningful input and that was not the point of my comment. This place is in a cost/debt spiral. Feel free to throw your money into that toilet. I won't be throwing mine in..."

First, exactly why wouldn't we have any meaningful input if we own this place?

Second, this cost/debt spiral (as you call it) is based on the prior sales price, we're not going to pay 5.4 billion for the property.

Third, well......yeah, you will be buying your place, you'll see.

Anonymous said...

I actually can't WAIT for Saturday's show. It's really incredible to have such talent here.

Anonymous said...

I actually can't WAIT for Saturday's show. It's really incredible to have such talent here.

Go down to the L train platform at Union Square and you will see talent so great you will pee your panties. Actually, that's where most of the "talent" here is recruited from. (I hope it piddles down on Saturday so we who live on the Oval don't have to be forced to listen to that SHYTE!!)

Anonymous said...

Too bad, they are playing here and I get to see them whether you like it or not. Yay! And Garland Jeffries is a neighbor, so I'm happy to support him.

Anonymous said...

It's a beautiful day today which means Lady Maya will soon ruin it with a GWAR concert in the Oval.