Some troubling experiences are being related over at the TA Facebook page. It appears that an organization called ZogSports (listed on its website as "a co-ed social sports league for young professionals") is getting preferential treatment at Stuy Town playgrounds because, in the words of a recreation staff member, the ZogSports people "pay a lot to use this space." This pimping of the property's playgrounds, which are supposed to be for the use of "residents and their guests," is quite simply disgusting and unacceptable.
UPDATE 7/11/12: So now we learn from a posting on the TA Facebook page that the director of the Stuy Town recreation department stated that, in the words of the poster who spoke to him, "the basketball and volleyball areas are for ZogSports only on Tuesday evenings. He said that there will be teams from ZogSports using one of the Stuy Town playgrounds 5 days a week for approximately two hours and during those times, whatever area they are using will be closed to Stuy Town residents." WTF?!?! 5 days a week!!! And whatever area in use by ZogSports will be closed to residents!
In exchange (aside from money, we assume) Stuy Town will be gifted with basketballs and other such items. I didn't know we were that poor that we needed to accept basketball donations from young professionals who then take over our playgrounds!
It should be noted that Dan Garodnick, our councilman, is looking into the matter and has already contacted CWCapital about these occurrences.
46 comments:
"Lady Maya" will have a lot of explaining to do when her cloven hooves get held to the fire over this one!
REALLY?! Depriving RESIDENTS access to the playgrounds in favor of these outsiders - we know - with the hopes of turning them into renters.
Question: WHAT ABOUT THE CURRENT RENTERS? Why are we always second class citizens in our own neighborhood? We pay a LOT of money to live here and now we are being banned from our playgrounds for this http://www.zogsports.com/nyc/Home.aspx
News flash...Recreation Department soon to be headed by Jerry Sandusky. Hands on your "danger zones" everybody...
Lady Mayonaise strikes again! Did they all go to Cafe Kubrick afterwards for Chicken Sticks and Lard Smoothies?
Wow I'm just over the monkey, mgt. is unreal, the new signage will really be confusing.
The directions are to playground 3, which on PCVSTLiving is designated a playing field with a soccer ball icon. (Another neighborhood option is Peter's Field, the play area of IS 104 on Second Avenue.) I guess nobody wants to pay to go to the Y anymore. Getting back to ST, shouldn't we be checking out the activity in playground 3? In PCV last week I noticed a Rose employee seated at a table outside the basketball playground with a clipboard and what appeared to be a sign-in sheet. It was a little early on a weekday for adults to be using the playground, and everyone appeared to be a tenant.
Just scrolled down further on ZogSports. Not only does it list ST playground 3 under the category of fields, it shows playgrounds 7 (hockey and baseball icons on the PCVSTLiving map) and 11 (ping-pong, basketball, and bocce) in the category of courts.
What surprises me--no, shocks me--is that the powers that be would be willing to piss off all tenants here, from those paying under 2K to over 4K, by letting outsiders get preferential treatment in the playgrounds for the almighty dollar. What a slap in the face to residents. Clearly there is desperation going on here, in which everything is game for being squeezed dry to the last cent.
So is it a special events space? Limited to playground 3 ? This needs to be addressed by Danny G.
This management would pimp their mothers out for a dollar. They have surpasses Tissman Speyer for sleaze and greed and that is something I didn't think possible. As for Garodnick, I hope his political career goes the way of the QOL in Stuytown -- down the toilet.
Yesterday I walked my pissing and pooping persona non grata (aka dog) past PG7 and saw a pretty serious hockey game in progress. Walking on saw a few latecomers skating in from 14th street. If I used PG7 I'd be pissed. Management, what is up with all these shenanigans?
I encourage everyone to go to zogsports.com/nyc/Home.aspx to be fully disgusted by what is being foisted on us. From the site:
Sports: We find the fields, round up the refs and bring the balls.
Social: We get the party started. You take trips, hang with teammates and toast your rivals at Happy Hour.
[The site claims more than 50 married couples met through ZogSports.]
Charity: We give you lots of ways to help you get involved and give back. You pay it forward.
And the partners of ZogSports are: Miller Beer, Modell's Sporting Goods, and WePay.
I wonder if any of the ZogSports team live here. They are Rob Herzog (CEO & founder), Christie MacKinnon (vp, operations), Brandon Bitterman (general manager, NY), Andy Koleba (league manager), Mike Mortellaro (vp, strategy and expansion)
Dan Langue (league manager), Jodi Kanter (league and event manager), Ali Chanin (director of marketing), Drew Curhan (league manager), and Trevor Dombeck (league manager).
And finally, ZogSports members wear ZogSports T-shirts (at least in the pix online), so they should be easy to spot.
Don't know about last weekend, but two weekends ago, except for the ping pong tables, Zog people in their easy to spot colored t shirts, completely took over playground 11.
OK, Dan, where do we go from here?
"Fact Sheet #14 - Rent Reductions For Decreased Services"
http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/dhcr/dhcr14.html
"Supplement to Application for a Rent Reduction Based Upon Decreased Building-Wide Service(s)
Laundry, Doorman, Security, Storage and/or Playgrounds"
http://www.nyshcr.org/Forms/Rent/ra842.pdf
They took over Playground 7 the other night too. Bright orange shirts. Possibly playing Lacrosse?
Suggestions for action:
1. Email Adam Rose to express your displeasure (adam@rosenyc.com).
2. Email the TA to ask them to take action.
3. Go to the playgrounds in question (with or without kids, with or without equipment) and demand to use the playground.
4. Go to the playgrounds in question and find other ways to disrupt the ZogSportsters.
5. Tell ZogSportsters that Oval Cafe is giving away free food and drink that very second--offer about to expire.
6. Tell ZogSportsters that organ grinder monkey is being abused and they must help rescue (pay it forward).
7. Sure, go ahead and complain to Dan Garodnick, but do you really expect him to solve every single problem singlehandedly?
This morning as I was walking my dog (and yes, cleaned up after him) I passed the playground on Avenue C with the water sprinkler. This playground had hundreds of broken water balloons,plastic cups and juice boxes all over the ground, garbage and left behind broken toys. It was a mess. Don't parents clean up after themeselves and their children? I'm not sure if pimping out the playgrounds will make this situation better or worse but this was pretty bad this morning. I didn't have a phone to take pics with me.
Isn't this latest outrage by management reason enough for a class action lawsuit against Rose by the tenants and/or rent strike?
Great suggestion to check out ZogSports site. Just emailed them:
I understand that you are a social organization that gives people an opportunity to be active and interactive. Your core values are admirable. What I would like you to understand about the games you run in Stuyvesant Town is that residents there are turned away from their own playgrounds to accommodate your needs. Recently, families with children were not allowed to play on turf fields and basketball courts in their own community because of Zog Sports games. Please keep this mind when scheduling future events, and consider the impact your organization is having on residents of the areas you are using. Thank you.
Sure, go ahead and complain to Dan Garodnick, but do you really expect him to solve every single problem singlehandedly? <<<<
I don't think he's solved ANY problem, not single-handedly or with the backing of the TA and tenants. He's useless.
I bet the Zogsters are the cause of the mysterious mounds of heaping garbage found in Stuy Town earlier reported in the blog. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, welcome to your private, guarded, safe community. I am ashamed for them.
This is Lady Mayonnaise's way of staging photo ops for their leasing propaganda. Other parents I know are sick of having their kids filmed in the oval during the events and this is their way around it.
On the TA's Facebook page Councilman Dan Garodnick said:
"Interim report: I spoke to CW Capital to raise my concerns about this, and they are presently looking into it."
Garodnick? After what he's done with Brookfield, the greenmarket, etc, when he runs for office again - any office - suggest you think in these terms: Anybody but Garodnick.
I wonder if they will try to come in and take over our laundry rooms? :-)
Everything Stuy Town does is for a photo or video op. I avoid the oval on the weekends because my sister showed up in one of their YouTube videos. She had no idea she was being filmed. Guess I'll have to avoid the playgrounds too.
I don't want to get into a pissing contest about Dan, but remember that he's the one who got the lawyers to advise market-rate tenants about their situation vis-a-vis the Roberts case FOR FREE. And he does have other constituents to attend to.
This was posted today on the STPCV TA FB page. It was posted by the person who bought this issue to our attention.
“I was told by Radu (the director) today that we should have been allowed in to play ping pong, but that the basketball and volleyball areas are for ZogSports only on Tuesday evenings. He said that there will be teams from ZogSports using one of the Stuy Town playgrounds 5 days a week for approximately two hours and during those times, whatever area they are using will be closed to Stuy Town residents. Radu told me that ZogSports donates equipment (he mentioned basketballs) in exchange for use of our playgrounds.”
As far as I am concerned, I could not give shit about what a Rose Rec director says on this issue. This post is in no way a dis to that TA FB poster who was brave enough to bring this issue to our intention and then get a response from someone in Rose Associates. We will see how CW Capital responds to Dan’s inquiry. This is a reduction of services, end of story. If this is not stopped by the TA and Dan, then this community has truly gone over the precipice and will be in free fall.
"As far as I am concerned, I could not give shit about what a Rose Rec director says on this issue. This post is in no way a dis to that TA FB poster who was brave enough to bring this issue to our intention and then get a response from someone in Rose Associates. We will see how CW Capital responds to Dan’s inquiry. This is a reduction of services, end of story. If this is not stopped by the TA and Dan, then this community has truly gone over the precipice and will be in free fall."
If you read on the TA page, John Marsh tips his hat to the rec director for being creative and mentions there was a "mix-up". As far as I can tell, this "mix-up" was just that the poster should have been allowed to use a section of the park not being used by ZogSports--the ZogSports intrusion, and the take-over of the playgrounds, is no mix-up. It's an intentional relationship, entered into for what??? Some equipment? What equipment? ZogSportsters pay fees to join the league. This is unbelievable yet completely believable given what has happened in recent years. Unfortunately, I have no faith that anything will be done about it.
Under Radu's tenure we've recently seen at least 2 very senior members of the Rec staff terminated. My contacts with him have always left a bad taste in my mouth. His politics are far right, and from what I've heard from him, he doesn't seem very sympathetic to the rest of the RS tenants here... just IMHO.
What playgrounds specifically are affected?
And what times?
This should be be duly noted in the tenants upcoming class action suit.
Speaking of Rec Dept terminations, whatever happened to that guy (was his name Paul?) who used to play the guitar and sing songs for kids when activities for PCVST were FREE? He was around for the longest time, a real fixture in PCVST, and then, I believe, he was severed from the Rec Dept. I still see him once in a while, as I believe he lives in PCV.
Paul the guitar player was great with the kids. And yes, his services were FREE. There also used to be free soccer clinics for kids, led by rec staff. Now there is Super Soccer Stars, a pricey, for-profit group, that runs classes (for a fee) on our playgrounds. The general consensus that I have heard from neighbors and parents is that Radu can be rude and self-important. The senior staff that was let go were well liked.
If I donate some ashtrays can they be used?
I would bet that everyone complaining doesn't even use the facilities and just wants to complain for the sake of it. I live in Stuytown and play in ZogSports. I think it's nice that we get to play in a well organized charity based league right in our own backyard rather than the terribly run 3-on-3 tournament that Stuytown puts on each summer.
I find it disgusting that everyone needs to complain about every little thing that comes to mind. Maybe Stuytown should stop the green market on Sundays because they too are impeding on your ability to walk in complete silence around the oval. And while we're at it, cancel the movie series because it's too loud and everyone looks like they are enjoying themselves too much.
Quit complaining, please.
Everything around here is "for profit." This new trend of young, affluent white people coming in and doing what they want in our cities under the guise they are "giving back" is disgusting. There was never a need to "give back" until THEY came and TOOK!
Paul Lattimer is a lifelong StuyTown resident who proudly carried on the traditions of the Recreation Department for years. His responsibilities changed under Rose mgmt. It appears to me that he was pushed out of his employment, a forced retirement (if you will). He still lives in the community, as does Lorainne Guttfleish, a very senior Rec staffer who managed the Community Center for the past number of years and was recently terminated for very flimsy reasons of cutbacks, blah, blah, blah. The service (even though paid) that these 2 individuals gave to the community was considerable, and their ignominious dismissal points to the ineptness and callousness of Rose Associates management.
LOL at everyone blaming Zog. They're just trying to find fields to play at. Blame your terrible management company for allowing them in in the first place. Here is how the conversation could have gone:
ZOG: Hey guys, we're looking for places to hold our games, and it looks like you've got some space. Is it available to rent out?
ST: No.
ZOG: Okay thanks. Later guys.
>>Maybe Stuytown should stop the green market on Sundays because they too are impeding on your ability to walk in complete silence around the oval. And while we're at it, cancel the movie series because it's too loud<<
Where do I sign the petition?
>>LOL at everyone blaming Zog.<<
Not really. We're blaming the powers that be who allowed this to happen.
Hey 2:58 pm.... Please do us all a favor and move back to wherever it is you came from.
You obviously only give a shit about yourself.
So Anony 2.58 PM, I bring my kids/nephews/nieces to playgrounds 3, 11 etc. or if I just want to practice some shots and your Yunnie, so full of yourselves, ZogSport DBs (yes, all of them residents-sure), you and your cronies, you tell me to drop dead? That I can't use MY playground? Let’s see you try this crap at West 4th street.
Radu always tries to beat everyone in the ping pong tournament. Even over kids.... He loves winning.
And he does act smug and self-important. A perfect Rose/TS employee.
Maybe Stuytown should stop the green market on Sundays because they too are impeding on your ability to walk in complete silence around the oval. And while we're at it, cancel the movie series because it's too loud<<
Where do I sign the petition?
I'd sign too. Please add throw out the dogs and their owners to make it an even better petition!
Bye bye
"I'd sign too. Please add throw out the dogs and their owners to make it an even better petition!"
I'd sign that too! If only to not have to navigate all the flattened shit and shit stains all over the walking areas of the complex.
I don't mind a good game of basketball in the courts, but the referee whistles have got to go!!!!
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