Sunday, September 9, 2012

Another Stuy Town Fixture Gone

Or going.  Radu, the supervisor/director of Stuy Town's Recreation Dept who has been around for a while, will be leaving his position, this week apparently.  A clue to this forthcoming change was a recent Craig's List ad for a "Recreation Supervisor," with a listing of these job duties:

The Recreation Supervisor contributes to the success of all PCV/ST outdoor programs by coordinating the Recreation Assistants in the daily operations and delivery of activities and special events.
Responsibilities include, but not limited to:

• Recruit, hire and train the Recreation Assistants in the delivery of "five Star Service."

• Execute all daily activities and events related to outdoor programming and special events.
• Assist in the setup and breakdown of activities and events occurring in the amenities spaces
• Provide support to activities and events, which may extend past normal operating hours.
• Schedule Recreation Assistants in adherence of monthly budgets.
• Monitor End of Day Reports and Equipment Inspection Reports for operating issues and potential improvement points with efficient and effective follow up to it.
• Communicates member and resident feedback to Management Team in an effort to consistently improve the member experience.
• Role models all operational policies and procedures, including those for safety and security to ensure safety for all employees and members.


Radu was very hands-on in the Recreation Department and always looking for ways in which to artfully save money while acquiring needed equipment for his department. This was the cause of some embarrassment in the mini-scandal of ZogSports, but the PCVST-ZogSports connection appears to have existed before Radu came on the scene.

Radu seemed the perfect employee, but word is that he was seeing the writing on the wall and aware of attempts by the Powers-That-Be to penny-pinch the Recreation Department, including salaries.

Radu even participated in Stuy Town advertising for Oval Study (see below).  Wonder if he got compensated for this?


 Best wishes to him.  I wonder who is next.

* * *

Oh, what a gift Cafe Kubrick is turning out to be!

Those arugula plants (or whatever the hell they were) have been munched on so much by either squirrels or rats that it surely is about time for management to replace them, perhaps with cabbages.



Meanwhile, someone must have been incensed that Cafe Kubrick was not serving Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches, so they took it out on the Oval Cafe sign or else a speeding bicycle rammed into it:



Considering the shape of this sign, the half-devoured patio plants, the dog urine stains along the outer patio wall, and the worn-out and chipped tables outside, Cafe Kubrick is making a really classy impression these days.

* * *

It seems as if our reportage (with photos) on the filthy shape of the Oval walkway had an effect, so that now Stuy Town's street-cleaning zamboni is being used regularly to erase, as best it can, the dog urine and turd stains that appear regularly in a walk around the Oval.... And progress is being made in cleaning out the recycling areas, with a night crew at work.

50 comments:

Anonymous said...

The dog urine stains on the outer patio wall, I believe, are especially classy and special. Truly indicative of a fully conscious group of dog owners who care about their home and surroundings. We didn't have this kind of amenity back in the day STR!

Anonymous said...

I wonder if they have increased the maintenance staff or are just hiring "day laborers?" If they are using the regular unionized staff, are they paying them overtime, taking them from their day shifts? I can't imagine they are doing this unless they are screwing the labor force.

Anonymous said...

It's not only the patio and it's not only those few dog owners. I think the loud drunks during the night and the vomit on the Ave B & 14th flagpole today were disgusting. This place is a dump. Btw the green market vendors' vehicles driving on the pedestrian walk is out of place. WTF happened here!

Anonymous said...

Oooh! The colony is cannibalizing itself! Now that Radicchio is out, will Lady Maya and her hopeless hoedowns be next??? One can hope!

Anonymous said...

I wish they would just do away with the recycling program here because nobody really knows how to do it! My recycling area is as bad as ever, even though the maintenance people pick up more frequently. Tenants still toss their stuff into any bin regardless of what the bin is clearly marked. I am quite sure that it is not the longtime tenants who do this. I guess people who were still having their botties wiped by Mommy up to a couple of weeks ago can't be expected to recycle in the Big City, let alone wash out their dirty milk jugs. Come to think of it, they were probably still on mother's milk right before they moved here.

Anonymous said...

It's not only the patio and it's not only those few dog owners. I think the loud drunks during the night and the vomit on the Ave B & 14th flagpole today were disgusting. This place is a dump. Btw the green market vendors' vehicles driving on the pedestrian walk is out of place. WTF happened here!>>

You said it! The dog owners get blamed for a lot of the shit around the project, but I've seen a guy drop his pants and take a dump right on the grass (well, dirt) under my window. The green market is anything BUT green as far as I'm concerned. They bring in all those fumes-belching trucks to set up their rickety stands with their wilted veggies and stinking cheese (which I don't think is conforming with health department rules). I refuse to buy from that thing.

Gracie said...

I've seen young men both urinate and deficate in the bushes by the M level of my building. I've called PS a few times but really, what are they going to do? It pains me to see our community in decline thanks to these young kids. All the landscaping and events can't mask the fact we live amongst animals.

Anonymous said...

Gracie, I agree with you except for the "animals" part, unless you are referring exclusively to the two-legged variety. The four-legged variety are much, much better behaved.

Anonymous said...

Good riddance to Radu, a total corporate toady.

Anonymous said...

Re Sept. 9-9:58. Our bins are not marked at all now. Apparently this is being done all over. It makes life difficult for the maintenance staff if they have to totally go through them.

What's up with all the bikes riding around the Oval. It used to be just delivery people, but I guess bike riders saw them and thought it was okay. Yesterday it was really dangerous-particularly for older people and kids, who had to keep darting out of the way of the cyclists.

Anonymous said...

What landscaping???? Has anybody walked around PCV recently?? Bare dirt which turns into mud which runs on the walkways when it rains is all that passes for landscaping in most of PCV

Anonymous said...

The events are cheesy and poorly attended. How can they justify Lady Maya's paycheck... one she spends at Starbucks are not the Cafe of her own doing?

Chris said...

Yes, 6:46, landscaping in PCV is a disaster. The grounds looked lovely last year, and now there's not even grass.

What really killed me is all the roses that were planted st the 22nd Street entrance, allowed to almost die because they weren't pruned or watered, and then yanked out; I've seen a few replanted elsewhere.

We're talking about at least $500 worth of plants and substantial labor costs here. Meanwhile the grass and evergreens around the lawn at 22nd Street are pitiful.

In addition there were many new perennials being planted in late July throughout PCV, and not surprisingly they're struggling now.

STR, the little flowerbed at the cafe is the least of our problems when it comes to landscaping!

Anonymous said...

The Oval got special attention as a sales piece. Other parts of ST (small areas) are easier to landscape than PCV. But PCV has large grassy areas. They present a problem. Right now these are filled with weeds and are wore bare at the edges mostly from dog urine. If they cord these areas off, dog owners will not be happy. These are where fido likes to go. A big problem from a sales perspective. The areas are too big to have anything but grass. People will object if they treat with chemicals to kill the weeds. But even if they manage to get rid of the weeds somehow & re-plant, it's just a matter of time before the dogs destroy again & more weeds come back. In addition much of T-S's rotten landscaping is still in place here. Anyway, there's no doubt...most of PCV grounds do not look good.

Chris said...

10:28, it's facile to blame the bad grass at PCV on dogs, but that's too easy. We had a warm, virtually snow-free winter, which left the grounds not only parched come Spring, but without months of cold weather that kill weeds. And then planting started when it was already too hot so things died.

It's mostly about bad landscaping, not dogs. Whoever is in charge dropped the ball.

Anonymous said...

"What's up with all the bikes riding around the Oval. It used to be just delivery people, but I guess bike riders saw them and thought it was okay. Yesterday it was really dangerous-particularly for older people and kids, who had to keep darting out of the way of the cyclists."

Where have you been? Bikes - delivery or otherwise - are allowed here now. And, FYI - people - delivery or otherwise - have always ridden bikes here. Almost no one ever walked/walks a bike through the property because it is not time efficent, which is one of the many reasons that people ride bikes in the first place. Of course, all bikes should be traveling at a reasonable speed, but all pedestrians are also responsible for being aware of what is going on around them. No noses in your cellphones unless you stand to the side or sit down. Sorry but you can't be oblivious when walking around here any longer; that's just the reality now. And if you are, you might also find yourself tripping over a dog's leash because a lot of dog owners/walkers don't pay good enough attention to their dogs' ramblings - often because their noses are in their cellphones! - and also have those illegal leashes that are over 6' long so their dogs wander further away from them than they should.

Anonymous said...

We also have new young neighbors that just go at in the building right across the way without pulling down the shades or turning off the lights...

I can't tell you how completely disgusted I am...as I reach for the binoculars...!

And, oh yeah, they have a wall up in the living room...

It's just disgusting what goes on over there...usually between 10:24 and 11:36...every other night...and twice on Saturdays!

Anonymous said...

Bicycles should be banned. They are a total hazard to all, especially the very young and the elderly. Ride you bikes on the streets, not on the pedestrian walkways in Stuyvesant Town or the sidewalks. Entitled, self-absorbed jerks.

Anonymous said...

"Chris said...

10:28, it's facile to blame the bad grass at PCV on dogs, but that's too easy. We had a warm, virtually snow-free winter, which left the grounds not only parched come Spring, but without months of cold weather that kill weeds. And then planting started when it was already too hot so things died.

It's mostly about bad landscaping, not dogs. Whoever is in charge dropped the ball."

Chris, sad to say but you are correct. The lawns and shrubbery have been sorely neglected in PCV for several years now. It is not the dogs. Dog antagonists, you have your arguments, but the general decay of the greenery in PCV is due to poor management. For Christ's sake there are mud pits behind my building! It's due to neglect and improper drainage. All of the seed and grass just washes away.

Funny thing. The dogs won't even go there because it is so disgusting!

Anonymous said...

Entitled, self-absorbed jerks? Because we chose to ride bikes to get around and for exercise to help us stay healthy? Riding carefully is incumbent on all bike riders. Some riders do; some riders don't. Please don't paint us all with the same brush, however. I am very careful and aware of pedestrians when I ride around here, which is only for a short distance and only until I can get to the nearest street or loop road. I don't expect to change anyone's mind about bike riders, but I would like you to at least notice that there are some responsible bike riders around here. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Radu was a very nice man. Sorry to see him go.

Anonymous said...

I'm the blogger who initially wrote about dangerous cyclists. To the blogger at 4:14PM-Sept. 11, of course there are many careful considerate bikers. My husband is one, who just like you rides slowly until he gets to a street or loop rode. Thank you. I was appalled by the nastiness of the responders-Sept 11th 9:01 "Where have you been" and his or her conclusion that pedestrians walk arount with their noses in a cell phone so we can't watch out for the cyclists. That's not me, nor is it okay to demonize pedestrians. I was also appalled by the blogger on the other side-9/11-11:37 and his or her "entitled self-absorbed jerks" remark. I have often been grateful for this blog and the opinions of the bloggers and as well for the information often provided by the STR, but it seems to have deteriorated into a bunch of mean-spirited vents. What's the point?

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:53
In much of PCV NO seeding was done in 2012.It is not the birds eating the seeds or the dogs destroying the grass , it is just that it most of PCV management didn't even bother to seed this year.
BTW I have been told that landscaping issues like this can be grounds for a claim to the DHCR for diminution of services and a rent reduction.
Yet I have heard nothing from our tenant leaders about this course of action

Anonymous said...

To ANON 4:14PM

That is exactly how us dog owners feel that do the right thing and pick up after our pets, don't let them pee on the walls. Yet they come after us all aggressively as a group.

There are good and bad in every bunch.

There is a mud slide that will go down in the next rain storm on the 20th street loop that should be addressed by management.

Anonymous said...

About PCV...you're right. Bad landscaping, neglect and too many trees actually. Some places not enough sunlight gets through. But the dogs are a factor, too. Grass doesn't like what the dogs leave behind. A lot of dog people like PCV in particular for its nice flat grassy areas. People also come in from bet 1st & 2nd Avenue.

Anonymous said...

"Entitled, self-absorbed jerks? Because we chose to ride bikes to get around and for exercise to help us stay healthy?"

Because you ride on sidewalks and along the walkways in Stuyvesant Town which are the ONLY places where pedestrians are allowed to walk and should be able to do so safely. Some of us walk to exercise and to help us stay healthy. Bicycles on pedestrian paths are hazardous and nerve-racking. I would like to see bicycles restricted to the streets only and heavy penalties for those who ride on pedestrian paths.

Anonymous said...

Um hello, is this thing on? I don't think anyone gives a rats a**e about Radu.
Anyone riding a bike at top speed in STPCV should be fined. So should anyone not picking up after there dogs. Or anyone making a racket at 4am on there drunken walk home.
CW are spending so much money on planting trees and then ripping them out and leaving the area with bare dirt, when all they needed to do in the first place was plant grass. Plus those weekend shows cost a fortune to stage, and they must of spent over a $100,000.00 on the Kubrick Cafe.
As tenants we have very little control, but if we go Condo or Co Op, our Co Op board, could vote not to spend anymore money on skating Rinks, or weekend concerts, or tuning anymore of the oval atrocities into commercial spaces, instead we could use that money to hire more security guards, to help make this a nice place to live again, and not allow NYU to rent any more apartments, and not renew anymore of there leases when they expire.
It now is late Summer, this is the updated time when the TA told us they were going to place a bid to buy (and yes we all know that they told us at a press conference in Nov that they were going to place a bid to buy in the 2nd quarter of 2012 but did not)
We need to find out from them what is going on with there bid. And we should be putting pressure on the powers that be to have Roberts resolved.
Becoming owners is the only way we are going to get our community back again.

Lo Rhent said...

I panic when I read your headline! I think they come to take kitchin sink fixture! Was bad enuf when they come to take out toilet. Good thing we have starbuck nearby!

Glad its just playground guy. Lo don't want to have to go out to wash dishes at hydrant, too.

Anonymous said...

"I'm the blogger who initially wrote about dangerous cyclists"

You are a commenter, not a blogger. A blogger writes the posts, commenters comment on them. Also, comments are not posts.

Sorry to nit pick, but people seem to make up their own definitions for things and it makes it difficult to understand what people are talking about.

Anonymous said...

Re: Landscaping in PCV. Before the changeover to CW as manager (ROFLMAO), a Brooklyn landscape designer was hired to redo the landscaping. Work began starting from the south. The contractor who was going to execute the new plan told me that the big lawn near First Avenue between 22nd and 23rd Streets would be done this fall or spring 2013. I don't know if this plan is still in effect because I haven't walked around to see if the work is continuing. The contractor told me that this lawn, which has a swampy area when it rains, was never properly graded and had to be completely redone. I posted this info a while ago on another thread. If anyone has new info, please share.

Anonymous said...

There is no place in ST or PCV that is more than a block or so from where one can legally and safely ride a bicycle, e.g. the loop roads which lead to the service road and the other public streets. So those folks who bicycle across ST from east to west or north to south (or the reverse) would be able to get to a loop road with about a minute of effort walking and then get their bicycle exercise by using the perimeter roads to get where they are going.

Likewise the delivery guys could do the same and management could, if they choose to devote the resources, could require the delivery people to dismount and chain their bicycles (including the illegal ones with electric motors) somewhere in the loop.

The same could be said for the golf carts and other large utility vehicles that regularly ply the pedestrian pathways in the interior and illegally travel the sidewalks to the imperiling community residents every day.

Unfortunately, as we have all know for a number of years, marketing events such as the continuing oval bread and circuses rather than safety (e.g., fire doors) is the highest priority here

HAL 9000 said...

I just came home to hear the stupid “Movies on the Oval” crap. Because of the nice weather lately, I had left my windows open. I just closed them and turned on the AC. Like a certain dumb national political campaign, CW Capital is doubling down lately on these resource sucking Oval rube events, horrible uneven landscaping and making sure that every new tenant is some clueless NYU or just post college transient. Meanwhile, no news on the resolution of the fire code door violations and gross management incompetence on the bed big infestations as illustrated at the TA FB page regarding 280 First Avenue. While waiting forever for the Roberts resolution and then a conversion to condo or co-op, we still need to address the QOL issues here. "Escape from New York"? As posted recently on the Jeremiah Vanishing NY blog:

"Our city suffered two tragedies a decade ago: the 9/11 attacks and the election of Mayor Bloomberg. The former tried to destroy New York City; the latter succeeded."

"Entitled, self-absorbed jerks? Because we chose to ride bikes to get around and for exercise to help us stay healthy?”

Where does one begin to reply to this kind of statement? I am an avid bike rider and I never ride inside the project, I always walk my bike to the appropriate loop road because I am a considerate human being who is not surrounded by a narcissistic bubble of self-absorption. By the way, bike riding is forbidden in Central Park on the pedestrian paths. And it should be prohibited here as well AS IT ALWAYS WAS until, as per the usual management SOP of QOL enforcement here, either the rules are changed to accommodate reckless behavior or they are simply ignored.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of QOL issues, today the City Council voted on legislation cracking down on illegal hotels. Fines would be between $1,000 and $25,000.

These were some of the comments in the NY1 report (http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/168866/city-council-cracks-down-on-illegal-hotels):

"It would be a shame for the city to stifle this new form of economic activity that New Yorkers have helped pioneer," a spokesperson for Airbnb said in a statement.

"This is an industry we should be embracing," said City Councilman James Oddo. "We talk about jobs. We talk about the economy."

[Christine] Quinn isn't ruling out working with businesses like Airbnb to find a way to make their activity legitimate. [Earlier in the report she said, "Permanent residential apartments cannot be used as transient hotel apartments."]

Tommyboy said...

How do you enforce biking on the sidewalks when management is the biggest offender?

Anonymous said...

Radu was not a fixture. Lorraine G., who they cut several months earlier was a fixtute and more of an asset to the community that Radu ever was. I will bet you that she had 50 years of service and she served the community as an Auxiiary Police Officer as well.

Anonymous said...

Sept 27th is the next time the Roberts lawyers meet with the Judge, if CW want to settle Roberts and sell the complex then the 27th of Sept is when things might finally starting happening!

Anonymous said...

Honestly I want to hire Lo. This place needs some humor. Made my day. AGAIN.

thank you STR.

Anonymous said...

Actually, a lot of people care about Radu. He worked hard on this property. Any time anyone had an issue, he tried to help them even if it was outside his domain. He's a good person and PCVST will miss him.

Anonymous said...

We wish Radu the very best! He has always been kiind and very helpful.....He was the one person who knew Stuytown!

Anonymous said...

Prior to T-S taking over, there was a policy of no bike riding in STPCV. I don't recall many problems with bikes back then although occasionally there were complaints against delivery guys. Riding on pedestrian walkways in against the law. Remember Andrew Eristoff getting punched in front of Gristedes when he told a biker not to ride on sidewalks?
Security only does 2 things. On PC Road, they check on how long you've been parking there & will get you towed. And they respond to noise complaints although they may have no effect at all on actually quieting anyone down. As far as CW is concerned, they are in the very same mode as T-S. Just coming at things a bit differently. Make no mistake. What T-S started is far from over.

tommyboy said...

Huh!

With over 35 years of experience, American Leisure, a national lifestyle management company. American Leisure is a dedicated team of the finest specialists in the lifestyle industry. We provide our clients with expert advice and services in the management of residential, hotel and spa facilities. From feasibility to concept through completion and actual day-to-day operations, American Leisure is there every step of the way.

Edmund Dunn said...

I posted this on the PCVST TA FB page. Enjoy everyone.

A friend of mine posted this vid on my wall that was shared from the EV Grieve FB page. Nice playground 9 and Con Ed shots. And the song is pretty cool as well. Nice job, Garland Jeffreys.

“The video was shot around his Stuy Town home... with 14th Street and Avenue C (and the ConEd plant) taking a co-starring role. And it's a great new song.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lof4aVFy0Ow&feature=player_embedded

Anonymous said...

I believe there's only one person who knows Stuy Town, it shows!

Anonymous said...

The old guard has fallen -Paul, Lorraine, Radu, and The Frenchman. Santa next?

Anonymous said...

They removed the romaine lettuce from the gutter at Kubrick Cafe and replaced it with these sad little weeds. Walked by there tonight and it's nothing more than a place for bored young women to go to escape their roommates, eat fro yo, and text. It's such a waste of money.

Anonymous said...

On Sept 27th, the lawyers from both sides in the Roberts case are meeting with the judge. It seems like now we have a better chance of them settling the case, than we ever had before.
The only reason CW would settle now is if they want to sell, and all indications are that they do want to sell, which is why over the last 6 months they have fixed up all the stores along 1st Ave, opened the Oval Cafe, had non stop oval events, poured so much money into the gardens, fired Rose and Impark, etc, etc. 
They originally thought if they strung out Roberts for long enough, STPCV would go back up in value to be worth around $5.4Billion again, but as nearly all leading world economists say, both the U.S and world economies are in steep decline, so the chance of STPCV being worth anything like $5.4Billion again anytime soon, does not look likely.
So now the companies that CW are holding the $3Billion in Debt for, just want there money back, and if you think it is to quick for CW to sell, they have had 3 years to get ready for the sale, they knew from day one it was going to happen, they are not landlords they are a special servicing debt company, how much time do you really think they need?
If Roberts is settled in the tenants favor, this will clear the way for the TA/Brookfield to place their bid to buy, if the bid is accepted and approved by the AG, then we may finally be able to take control of STPCV, by forming a Condo Board and get it back to the way it was 7 years ago, we could hire more security guards, to stop people riding their bikes fast on the walkways, and to clamp down on the dog problem. We could vote to stop leasing to NYU, stop all commercialism of the Oval, stop the Oval events, etc etc.

Anonymous said...

Quote:
"Sept 27th is the next time the Roberts lawyers meet with the Judge, if CW want to settle Roberts and sell the complex then the 27th of Sept is when things might finally starting happening!"

What happened to the letters they sent out saying they would be selling the apts to us. Sorry i havent been following in detail so any links/info would be appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Radu? Please.

I think we have bigger problems to deal with than the departure of the latest member of the recreation staff.

I'm sure he can be replaced...with a vending machine--if past is prologue.

Hippo said...

Best wishes to Radu in all his future endeavors. He is a classy individual.
Radu is a gentleman and a long-suffering Mets fan!
He will be missed!

Anonymous said...

Did Radu resign or was he "downsized?" This new company is all into outsourcing and having contract labor. Don't be surprised if we have our rent bills dealt with in India, TS style.