Thursday, November 22, 2012

Latest, greatest update

FROM COMPASSROCK

RESIDENT NOTICE - WEEK OF NOVEMBER 19                                            

Following last week's comprehensive communication, we are writing to provide you with additional updates and a summary of progress made over the weekend and the past few days.

Since our last update we have made the following progress:
  • Restored permanent utility power to 6 Peter Cooper Road.
  • Restored gas service to a number of buildings. The remaining buildings are still on schedule for restoration by Saturday.
  • Repaired management office phone lines. You can now reach Resident Services directly at the restored (212) 420-5000 number and Security at (212) 598-5233.
  • Expanded work order repair service into the evening hours when more residents are home.
  • Restored access card readers to 13 of the impacted buildings.
  • Provided access to storage units and bikes for 12 of the 16 building basements impacted by flooding.
  • Restored dryer service in the remaining nine buildings that had outages.

Electricity: As of this morning, Con Edison's electric utility service has been restored to 6 Peter Cooper Road and the back-up generator will no longer be required for that location. We are happy to report that all 110 buildings now have normal electric power.

Gas Service: We are pleased to report that the following buildings have had gas restored ahead of schedule and in time for Thanksgiving: 285, 287, 309 Avenue C. and certain lines in the following buildings -
-          410 E20th St.: the G line
-          330 First Avenue: B, C, D, E and G lines

We expect the following building lines to have full gas restoration by the end of today:
-          315 Avenue C: lines A, B, C, F and G
-          319 Avenue C: lines A, B and C

Unfortunately, we will not have gas restored in time for Thanksgiving for the following building lines, though they are on schedule for restoration by this Saturday, November 24th:
-          315 Avenue C: lines D, E and H
-          319 Avenue C: lines D, E, F, G and H
-          321 Avenue C: ALL lines
-          400 E20th St: ALL lines
-          410 E20th St.: lines A, B, C, D, E, F and H lines
-          330 First Avenue: A, F and H lines  

We will continue to work with Con Ed through the holiday weekend to restore gas service as quickly as possible. Our staff will require access to all affected apartment homes over the next few days (except Thanksgiving) between the hours of 9AM and 7PM. If you have installed your own top lock, please remember to unlock it daily.

Heat Service: We continue to assess the damage caused to the electronic system which helps to regulate apartment temperature in PCV. The extent of the damage is substantial and it will take time to procure all necessary parts and complete repairs. We will provide a more detailed timeline as soon as possible. In the meantime, our engineers continue to monitor and manage the heat distribution process manually, which means that some apartments may continue to experience above normal temperatures.

Elevators: After having further assessed the damaged elevator cars in 7 and 8 PCR and 440 E23rd St, we have found that due to the significant damage to the cars resulting from the flooding, the restoration will take longer than initially expected. The damaged elevators will have to be rebuilt before being returned to service. We will provide a more detailed timeline as quickly as we can. In the meantime, each building has one running elevator.

Resident Services:
  • Our phone lines have been repaired and residents may now reach Resident Services representatives directly via the (212) 420-5000 number.
  • The Public Safety phone number has also been restored. Residents should call (212) 598-5233 to reach Public Safety. In case of emergency, please call 911.
  • To reach Resident Services via email, please use residentservices@pcvst.com.
  • Resident Services is now located at Oval Study Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm; and Sat-Sun, 8:30am-6pm.
  • As promised last week, we expanded evening maintenance service to accommodate work order requests during hours when more residents are at home. Masons and carpenters will remain until 8pm. We have also increased the number of electricians, plumbers and handymen working through midnight. Engineers remain available around the clock to address heat issues. The expanded evening service is a temporary measure until we are able to fully resume repairs during the day for residents who provide permission to enter when they are not at home.
  • Important email addresses to know, depending on the nature of your inquiry:
Resident Services:              residentservices@pcvst.com
Accounting:                          accounting@pcvst.com
Legal:                                     legal@pcvst.com
Leasing:                                leasing@pcvst.com

Access Cards & Keys: We are pleased to report that the access card system has been restored for: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 PCR; 420 530, E23rd St.; 431, 441 E20th St., 350, 360, 370, 390 First Ave. The remaining buildings will take longer to restore and include: 440, 510 East 23rd St; 511, 531, 541, 601 E20th St and 7, 8 PCR. Key locks have been installed on entrance doors to all of these buildings to allow resident access. Residents should use their carriage room keys to access their respective buildings. If you are not able to find your carriage room key, we are providing residents a copy of the key at no additional charge, at Oval Study. Security guards will remain posted at these buildings.

New key cards may be requested at the new Public Safety Office at Oval Studio. Key requests are also available through Resident Services and may be picked up at Oval Study.
Intercoms: In Stuyvesant Town, the intercom systems are operational from the lobby of the building to your apartments. We continue working to reestablish communication between the lobby intercoms and the new Public Safety Office so that residents can once again access Public Safety directly through the intercom system.  We will notify you once this has been restored. In PCV, we remain on schedule for the week of November 26th to restore intercom service within the building for: 431 and 441 E20th St; 2, 3, 4, 5 PCR; 350, 360, 370, 390 First Ave. As explained last week, a longer timeline is expected for: 420, 440, 510, 530 East 23rd St; 511, 531, 541, 601 E20th St and 6, 7, 8 PCR.      

Sanitation:   Recycling bins will be removed from the exterior of PCV buildings affected by flooding.  We have set up two temporary recycling bins on each floor, which will be emptied daily by the porters.  Please continue to place household trash in compactor chutes, which are operable in all 110 buildings. We also ask residents to refrain from parking on both sides of the loop roads so that the DSNY can remove all waste from the curbs.

Basements: We continue to dehumidify buildings which were impacted by the flood waters. You may have seen additional generators and fans which are helping with the de-humidification process. These generators will remain operational from 7AM-10PM on weekdays and from 9AM-10PM on weekends. The generators will not run on Thanksgiving.  

The basements in 16 buildings in PCV sustained significant damage. Access to those buildings is limited as noted below:
  • Limited Access:  Residents will have limited access to: 3, 4, 5, 6 PCR; 441, 541, 601, 620 E20th St; 420, 440, 510, 530 E23rd St. Residents may retrieve personal property (NTT Storage or bikes) from these basements on weekdays from 5:30PM to 9PM and weekends from 10AM-2PM through November 30th.   Any personal property not removed by November 30th will be discarded. Residents should go to the tent by PCV Playground 1 to be escorted into the basement.

  • No Access: Residents may not access basements in 511 and 531 E20th St. and 7 and 8 PCR for the foreseeable future. Bicycles from these four buildings have been removed and are now available for residents to claim at the tent inside PCV Playground 1 every day from 9am to 10pm. Please bring your resident ID and either your key or combination for your bike lock.

Trunks: Trunk retrieval remains suspended throughout the property. Salvageable trunks located in the basements of the 16 flooded basements noted above are being relocated offsite. We will update you soon regarding the process to claim those trunks. Residents will have 30 days to claim their trunks once the process is announced.

NTT Storage: NTT has already communicated directly with all customers in impacted basements. If you have a storage locker in one of the 16 limited or no access basements and have not heard from NTT, you should contact NTT directly at (212) 253-2435.

Parking Garages: While garages 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 are all open for business, customers may experience heavy delays when parking their vehicles. This is due to the large number of damaged vehicles that have yet to be towed while customers who have replaced their damaged cars are also looking to park their new cars. We remind you that all damaged cars not removed by December 15 will be towed by Quik Park at the vehicle owner's expense. To contact Quik Park, please call (212) 832-2066.  

Laundry Service: We will provide a timetable for the restoration of full laundry service in buildings impacted by the flood as soon as we can. In the meantime, dryers in the following buildings have been restored: 285, 287, 309, 315, 319, 321 Avenue C; 400 and 410 E20th Street; and 330 First Avenue. For additional information, please call 1-800-MAC-GRAY. For a list of Laundromats in the area, please visit pcvst.com. For your convenience we have provided access to the laundry room in 2 PCR, accessible via the basement entrance, for residents in buildings without functioning laundry machines.

Oval Fitness: As we mentioned in our last communication, we hope to reopen the Oval Fitness facility within six months, if not sooner.
  • Billing has been suspended indefinitely. Fitness Members will receive refunds within the next 2-3 weeks via credit card or check mailed to the address American Leisure has on file.
  • Refunds will include: paid-in-full memberships, pre-purchased but not fully used training packages and pre-purchased guest pass packages. For inquiries please email living@pcvst.com 
In the meantime, we are partnering with New York Health & Racquet Club, which is offering PCVST residents a month to month membership of $99 per month (min. 2 month required), $0 initiation fee and access to all locations. Membership can be canceled with 30 days advance notice from billing date. Once Oval Fitness reopens NYHRC will automatically cancel your membership at the end of your current billing cycle. To contact NYHRC, please call (212) 220-0758 or email pledesma@nyhrc.com.

Message from Manhattan's Kid's Club II: The school is scheduled to reopen Monday, November 26th. For additional information, please contact Beth Garcia at (212) 677-0608.

We will continue to provide you with updates and post information on pcvst.com. Thank you again for your patience and we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. We also hope that you have had a chance to stop by or skate at the ice rink which reopened last Saturday and we look forward to seeing you at next week's Tree Lighting Ceremony on November 29th followed by the ice sculpting performance with brass band on December 1st.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

This latest missive makes no mention of what is being done regarding mold issues in buildings where basements were flooded. Huge drying machines are operating in PCV. Workers are wearing protective suits and masks. CW has not provided independent evidence that our apartments are safe to occupy today or in the long term. Does anyone know if CW is permitting tenants to break leases due to this frightening health hazard?

Anonymous said...

"This latest missive makes no mention of what is being done regarding mold issues in buildings where basements were flooded. Huge drying machines are operating in PCV. Workers are wearing protective suits and masks. CW has not provided independent evidence that our apartments are safe to occupy today or in the long term. Does anyone know if CW is permitting tenants to break leases due to this frightening health hazard?"

You bring up a very good point. No one should have to live in apartment infested with mold. Unless they can remedy the problem, they should let you break your lease without penalty. Also, they should rebate your rent for not being to live in the apartment. They have insurance (or should have) to cover their costs for that.

Anonymous said...

Please note TA email blast published tonight on the TA website - www.stpcvta.org

Management has shown its true colors by telling you you can retrieve your property but not telling you that you will have to sign a release absolving them, NTT and others of any responsibility for harm to you or loss of your property and that, if you don't sign the release they will simply discard your property by the end of next week.

These people have no shame. Don't sign the release!!

Anonymous said...

OP here. I've been unable to get anyone in the mgmt. office to return my calls about the air quality in our apt. I'm very anxious about what is in the air (mold, asbestos?) flowing up from the flooded basement through our vents and heating system. We've been experiencing headaches, coughing and very itchy eyes. We want to flee this exposure to whatever the toxins are ASAP, but are concerned about breaking our lease before it expires next spring.

Anonymous said...

Actually, in an earlier report CW said there is not shared ventilation between the basement and apartments; the basement is sealed off. So there isn't a way for mold to spread easily.

Anonymous said...

OP, our heating system is Con Ed steam; it doesn't originate from the basement.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Anon. 1:03. We, and many of our neighbors in flooded PCV buildings, have deep coughs, severe headaches and irritated eyes. We read CW's statement that there isn't shared ventilation, but wonder why we feel so badly when in our apts., but symptoms subside when off the property. We'd like to have independent health inspectors confirm that there is no health risk here. If this can't be provided, our family would like the option to break our lease without penalty. Several neighbors have asked mgmt. to provide answers, but no one has heard back yet.