At 1pm, Mason Hall in Baruch College (Lex. Ave and 23 St.), the TA will hold meeting. Speakers include TA President John Marsh, Councilman Dan Garodnick, TA attorney Tim Collins. Hurricane Sandy related issues will be discussed, MCIs--and, of course, conversion! Registration is suggested via the internet: stpcvta.org/jan2013mtg or by phone: 1-917-338-7860.
Seriously, I just don't have the spirit to go and listen to the same BS that I've been hearing each year. It's over. Affordable housing in this complex, that is. And we have to adjust to that reality. Those of us who are truly rent-stabilized (and not the nonsense RS crafted from the Roberts case) should just enjoy our advantage while we can, but for those who came to live here after us paying market rate, and those who will be coming, they will never have affordable middle class housing. The politicians have been useless, and the TA, while having some minor success (and I commend them for their selfless service), just hasn't been aggressive enough in dealing with the overwhelming forces of greed and slimy maneuvers coming from whichever landlord rules this place. People should be going to jail or heavily fined for what has been happening here since Met Life decided to sell this place, but no one in power will ever go to jail or be fined. The burden was and will be placed on the tenants who live here.
More on this in a future post.
76 comments:
Not to hijack the thread, but wanted to ask about something. There was a sign in the elevator at 531 E. 20th about an infestation of small black flies on the 8th and other floors. Residents have called in exterminators who told them these flies are a direct result of Sandy, and are spreading through the plumbing/drainage systems. Apparently management is refusing to deal with this as a Sandy issue, and is putting the onus on residents to source and pay for resolution. According to the sign in the elevator, other buildings in PCVST have also had these infestations of small black flies post-Sandy. Does anyone have more information on this? I don't think the sign will be up very long...
STR- I believe TA meeting is a week from tomorrow, not tomorrow. Your post was unclear
Have you posted about the flies on the TA page? It might be worth trying to get through their strict content filter.
Future quote from the upcoming meeting: "Harumph, Harumph, Harumpf!"
Now you can save yourself the schlep over to Baruch.
I really don't see what the TA is doing. All I know is that John Marsh wants to thank people who do nothing and he wants to own his apartment.
That report of small black flies is scary. Marsh, you can have this swamp. ;)
That's MacArthur Swamp to you!
The meeting will be a waste of time. It's just another excuse for Garodnick and the Tenants Association to pretend like they give a shit. Anyone interested in buying into this place should get their head checked. It's old, the apartments are noisy and the next storm will wash it away. Good riddance!
STR probably forgot to include the date because its not important. The meeting is not important. We're all getting the shaft.
LOLLL. Remember that chilly day way back in... March was it, what year? The TA and DG stood outside telling us all and the media of the buyout and the serious interest from CW Capital.
That was a loongg time ago. Since then, no updates. They must be beyond embarrassed.
Who cares.
I don't really get it. What is there to talk about? Everyone knows the issues surrounding this project: The filth, the dorm apartments, the dog shit, piss, and barking. The response is always the same: "we can't do anything until we own the place." Well unless there was a bid by Brookfield which was accepted without the public being aware, I reiterate, WHAT IS THERE TO TALK ABOUT? Please don't tell me MCI'S which could be communicated very easily though a flyer.
A reminder: the Tenants Association is us. If there's something you want done, nobody is stopping you from volunteering and doing it. If you have time to read this blog and comment, you have time to do something constructive. John Marsh etal. are all volunteers. They have day jobs. They don't get paid by the TA--they freely give their time, and they don't get any glory. This blog is great for sharing information, but complaining here won't solve any problems or remedy any situations.
STR, you said it so well! There are so many egregious violations here - from Fire Code violations to zoning laws and noise violations - that are known to the politicians (including Dan G) and are totally ignored because it is in their best, self-serving interests to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear. I know I won't be voting for any of the current crew no matter what. I also won't be renewing my membership in the TA. Not much else we can do except bend over and take it.
What do the TA do anyway? Once in a while they pop up to wag their finger at some fire doors and then go dormant for months. And Dan Garodnick? Three words for him: Dan Garodnick Boulevard. He really stopped the commercialization of the Oval! How many tenant IDs have they checked at the Winter Wasteland I wonder? What a whiz! And the electric bikes? Another victory for Garodnick! But let's be sure to thank him! And thank Sean Sullivan for hanging a paper sign. The truth is the Tenants Association haven't bought the property yet so stop wasting time with the pipe dream and take care of these quality of life issues.
"John Marsh etal. are all volunteers. They have day jobs."
And, based on their stellar performance on all of our behalves, they would be well advised not to quit those jobs.
See you at the meeting...NOT!
My husband and I are moving out when our lease is up. Our friends in other parts of the city resumed their normal lives days after the hurricane. We are still without laundry and our heat is blasting all day and night. Buying here? No thank you.
I still thank the people behind the Tenants Association for the work they do. It is the only group that can speak for tenants and stand up to the landlord on tenant issues. I believe conversion is misguided goal, however, which, if ever realized, will impact "affordability" in a negative way even more and reduce the will power for rent stabilization.
Not too long ago, Roy Goodman and Steven Saunders and Alvin Doyle fought for the tenants. Now the tenants association and some politicians are just scrambling for--condos (association) and higher office (politicos). Shame on you!
I also thank the TA, at least they try. The ship has sailed though and NYU has taken over. Let them have it, they're going to take it anyway.
This city USED to be so great.for.all.of.us. Also moving out.
John Marsh effectively blocked and censored the only tenants who were actively fighting (and succeeding) in making STPCV a better place. What does John Marsh do to show his appreciation? He kicks the activists off the FB page and brown-noses those market rate tenants who do nothing more than use the TA FB page as their personal bulletin boards for selling flat screen TVs and their Manolo Blahnik shoes.
Nothing will be accomplished so long as JM runs the TA. He needs to go.
I think Marsh has been more proactive than Doyle, but maybe I'm not paying attention. Marsh has pruned the TA page, though.
I remember how Saunders, Goodman and Doyle fought for the tenants. I wish we had a real TA again. Somehow, the current TA seems to be an opportunistic politician's best friend and ally. No conversion will ever happen and they should focus on the reality of what it is and not what it will never be. I'll be glad when Garodnick has finished up his term and slithered back to his law firm.
Dan is going to be for a third term, so you will have to wait longer.
I want to completely separate the TA's performance on the conversion from all other things. For all other issues, in the past the TA has been of help although it does seem as if it was more effective in years past. With respect to the conversion, however, the TA has done a worse than awful job. I can see no benefit they have provided for us. If anything the TA has misled tenants & actually hurt any real leverage the tenants might have had. I hope more people here continue to decry & discredit the TA's involvement in the conversion effort. In this, the TA has really been a disgrace.
STR, is Dan going to be in for a third term as councilman?
Marsh can't run the TA or a Facebook page and he can't do gardening either. His "pruning" was way off with mistakes that he can't undo.
Who is Saunders? Get him, Doyle and Goodman back!
OK, I've seen "Saunders" too many times on this page.
He may be worthless but his name is "Sanders."
If you're gonna call him out or praise him, at least spell his name right.
Dan is seeking to succeed Chris Quinn as Speaker.
Speaking of Saunders, I hear he is maybe running in '14 for Congress from Albany/Troy.
I think the Oval should be named renamed Ecker Oval, for the visionary Met Life planner who was committed to an affordable park-like rental community.
I left the TA page because of all the bickering and those horrible trio of witches (who clogged up the page with their vicious tripe, and who I hear from others are still making fun of people left and right on their own pages like 7th graders).
But I do agree that John Marsh is not effective at all or particularly trustworthy, though for different reasons than some here have.
>>STR, is Dan going to be in for a third term as councilman?<<
Yes, despite being for term limits.
I wonder if the witches ' grandchildren are school bullies? They sure have excellent role models.
I'll take witches over the stroller mafia any day. You "hear from others" lol. Can't get enough of them can you!
I left the TA page because of all the narcissistic and bullying mom Zombies who turned it into Angie's List rather than a venue to improve quality of life issues. I pity their poor children with such self-centered parents.
What's wrong, Anonymous 9;52? You believe John Marsh is not "particularly trustworthy." Did he promise you parade tickets and didn't deliver?
To :I think the Oval should be named renamed Ecker Oval,."
January 20, 2013 at 5:56 PM
You have to be joking!
"In the years after it opened (stuy-pcv), blacks were barred from living in the complex, with Metropolitan Life's president, Frederick H. Ecker, stating that "Negroes and whites do not mix."[14] Lee Lorch, a City College of New York professor, petitioned to allow African Americans into the development and was fired from his teaching position as a result of pressure from Metropolitan Life."
If we re-name the Oval to "Ecker Oval", we might as wll rename the playground to "Micahel jackson Playground".
What a bunch of Dummies!
Anon 12:46AM
Can I borrow your VCR? Can I buy your TV? My scooter's gone! Can you bring me diapers? I need ice skates!
What will children learn from the stroller mafia beggars? OMG
No way in this world will I vote for Garodnick, Quinn, lhota or stringer. Maybe I just won't vote. I would vote for Charles Baron rather than any of the aforementioned.
January 21, 2013 at 9:42 AM
You must be new around here, huh ?
Without Fredrick Ecker, there wouldn't have been a Stuyvesant Town or PCV. His views on racial segregation were reflective of our country AT THAT TIME. It was 1947, not 2013. Please attempt to have a sense of history.
Why be so extreme? You can have a discussion board like the FB page that does both. Why can't you have posts asking for advice, etc. and expressing concern/call for action? Why are you so black and white extreme? It's why you were all banned because you wouldn't let anyone talk about anything you didn't want them to talk about.
to: Without Fredrick Ecker, there wouldn't have been a Stuyvesant Town or PCV. His views on racial segregation were reflective of our country AT THAT TIME. It was 1947, not 2013. Please attempt to have a sense of history."
The man was a racist and bigot and his views were only acceptable and reflective of other racists and bigots.
I may not be a student of history,
But your idea to honor him or anyone else who held or holds such views is sickening and vile.
To: "January 21, 2013 at 9:42 AM
You must be new around here, huh ?
Without Fredrick Ecker, there wouldn't have been a Stuyvesant Town or PCV."
Am I to understand you correctly, that since it was 1947 and bigotry and racism were more common, it gives Ecker a free pass.
His views on Blacks, Jews and other minorities were disgusting. Is this the man you really want to honor, by naming the Oval after him.
They already have a bulletin board page, it's called Oval Families. The TA page, allegedly, is to support the goals of the TA. It's not meant to sell broken TVs, beg for diapers, or borrow VHS players to watch "Marriage" tapes.
The old timers liked to mock and ridicule the younger posters, no matter what they said. They would pick an argument just for the sake of it. I'm glad they are gone and hope they stay gone.
The lawsuit is settled...time to S__t or get off the pot.
If CW has a buyer, then go ahead and sell and I'll take my $3/month somewhere else...if they are converting it's time to present the plan.
No more 2 year delays stringing along tenants forever in this overpriced dorm. Sorry, but no sale means no more rent from me.
Hallelujah! A forum for free speech!
Anon 3:54 PM:
Many of the members of the TA FB page weren't "banned" as you claim, but left because of the non-stop bullying by you and your BFFs.
"His views on Blacks, Jews and other minorities were disgusting. Is this the man you really want to honor, by naming the Oval after him."
OK, first of all, I'm not the poster who suggested honoring him by naming the Oval after him, and I won't be drawn into an argument defending the court upheld racism of the time, but MY point was that Ecker (and Robert Moses) were responsible for the creation of ST/PCV as a middle class haven for returning (white) veterans, and a MONUMENT stood in both Stuyvesant Oval and Peter Cooper dedicated to him and his legacy. You can view the commemorative plaque on the front page of this blog. The issue of institutionalized racism is not the topic of this blog, and my point is that you cannot compare two different points in history using the current mores. We all know what Ecker's view on race mixing was. BTW, Met Life fought the integration of ST/PCV well into the 1980's, and preferred to rent apartments to Asian minorities instead of black's in order to meet the standards of fair housing laws. And I'd be interested if you could point me to any documentation about Ecker's discrimination against Jews and "other" minorities, as I've never seen any thing written about that.
"...and who I hear from others are still making fun of people left and right on their own pages like 7th graders."
And you're still acting like the school teacher nobody likes. Stop obsessing over them. Get a life already!
Dear January 21, 2013 at 9:33 PM,
Before you get your knickers in a knot about Mr. Ecker, take a look at the Dutch Colonial Governor of New York, Peter Stuyvesant and his dealings with the Jewish immigrants of Recife. There's a reason that the name Asser Levy appears in several places around our neighborhood. You might want to look up the Levitt family as well in order to round out your woeful ignorance of history.
At least the old timers weren't raising their children in the closet. You can't make this stuff up! Read all about it on Escape Stuy Town. Another generation of future gun toting teenagers on the way!
You people are ridiculous. Lots of NYers use an extra OPEN closet as a nook for a crib and/or baby dresser. It's the same as the "L" of some rooms and is particularly suited for the early months when a baby is still in the room with the parents. This is completely contrived and just an excuse to make fun of people. All you ever do is sit around and post stupid pictures on their FB pages about others residents so you really don't know any other ways of living at this point. You wouldn't know good from bad or normal from abnormal anymore.
I'm glad I don't know any sick people who think raising babies in a closet is ok. It's not a nook it's a CLOSET! I hope social services comes knocking soon.
Unless the TA is going to address the Quality of Life issues concerning the filthy, noisy, slobs in the dorm apartments, then I don't think they should even bother having a meeting.
Can someone tell me what the stroller mafia adds to the TA page other than complaints and requests for free junk? Oh that's right, nothing!
I can't attend the meeting but I hope someone speaks up about the noise from the unruly neighbors who BANG BOOM and VIBRATE the apartments surrounding them. I can see it now....1 person will speak up and then another will say, hey, that's happening to me to. Another 1 gets up...hey me too. Im sure this BANG BANG VIBRATION noise is going on in every building with the 6-8 college kids in a 2 bedroom apartmet and something has to be done. I can't concentrate and I haven't had a decent nights sleep in about a year.
12:21 am, you are not alone! Those of us who live upstairs, downstairs or next door to these dorm apartments are suffering from lack of sleep and frayed nerves. It's like they have declared war on us longtime tenants and are trying to force us out or kill us.
At the TA meeting yesterday, it was stated by one of the speakers that NYU was willing to get involved here if someone let's them know when their students are causing problems. I would first make certain that your noisy, inconsiderate neighbors actually are NYU students and then I would go to NYU with the information and ask them to take action.
I have lived here for decades and we NEVER had this many noise problems before. How in heavens' name are kids raised today? Very sad state of affairs.
Will Nyu accept a phone call? The noise is horrible but I don't have the time to go to NYU about a problem in the building.
We have nasty art students who blast music late at night before they go out. Then they come home wasted at about 2:00 am, falling all over the place, dropping things and stamping around in high heels and sometimes singing their drunken heads off. They are females and its hard to tell how many actually live in the unit. They smoke pot and burn incense and chuck the "butts" and sticks out the window. I don't know which school they go to. Does NYU have art students?
Try their website - www.nyu.edu or this email adress - housing@nyu.edu.
Management should be addressing the student problem, which is a major problem throughout the complex. It is negatively impacting the lives of so many people; in fact, it is making life absolutely unbearable for some of us. It is at a level now that it is nothing short of harassment, especially as management is cognizant of the problem and refuses to remedy it by forcing us to deal with their bad joke of a "tenant relations" employee, Donalda Habersham. I really think that something concrete needs to be done to address this problem. No more lip service from management such as telling us to call PS. PS is useless when it comes to this problem. And why should they have to work as campus cops? We should definitely be getting up a class action lawsuit for harassment to the level of which our units are just about unlivable because of the constant overnight noise.
>>Does NYU have art students?<<
There's a famous art school on 23rd St, between 2nd and 3rd. The name escapes me at the moment.
The school on 23rd Street is The School of Visual Arts.
Regarding art students, it could be the School of Visual Arts (SVA) on 23rd, or Parsons, which is part of The New School. SVA had been mostly a commuter school, but they are now trying to attract more full-time students from outside NYC.
I left an email (housing@nyu.edu) with the building number and the apartment number in question. I'm not 100% sure they're NYU students since I never asked.
Hopefully they are and something will get done. I can hear/feel them coming from the kitchen all the way to the master bedroom because the boom boom BOOM gets louder and louder. I don't live like this.
So, no earth-shaking news arising from this tenants meeting? The TA Facebook page is virtually ignoring the results of the meeting, being more interested in the best places to eat in the neighborhood.
Emailed NYC and got this response. Dear Sir,
Thank you for contacting our office. If you have any complaints about tenants, please direct your inquiries to your building staff. Unfortunately, we are unable to assist you with this matter because we cannot release personal information or apartment numbers of our students.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reply to this message or contact our office at 212-998-4600.
Regards,
Bianca
So the run around has begun.
Hmm. Not a surprise, is it, though certainly discouraging.
I think ALL the tenants should get together and organize a huge mass protest about the students destroying the quality of life here -- and gain media attention. At this point, aggressive action by the tenants as a united front against management is the only way to change these deplorable living conditions. People are becoming ill as a result of he constant noise and inability to sleep.
I'm not surprised that NYU isn't willing to step in here to help. After all, the leases are between the student (more likely his/her parent) and Management, not between NYU and Management.
There are NYU students living in apartments all over the city. NYU can't be expected to be the hall monitor for each and every building in which some noisy, numbskull student lives. That's the problem with urban schools that don't house students in their own dorms where they can be disciplined. With NYU, it's particularly egregious because although they are, in fact, an urban school, they seem to treat all of NYC as if it were their own private, suburban campus.
The problem here is quite simple. Compass Rock and CW Capital are unwilling to do anything about the noise that the students here make. If they and their parents were told BEFORE THEY SIGNED THEIR LEASES that noise has been an issue here in the past and would not be tolerated in the future, that would at least make it clear UPFRONT that they are expected to behave themselves or face the consequences. If the old MetLife were still in charge here, none of this nonsense would be going on. Students would be forced to cover their floors and adhere to the noise and other rules. Or else.
Compass Rock and CW Capital couldn't care less about the noise and other quality of life issues here and they prove it everyday by their arrogant behavior. Can't wait for them to exit our property. They are the worst managers - and that's saying something given Tishman Speyer's shenanigans - that we have had here.
STR, you're wrong. Someone posted on the TA Facebook page that the TA is filing with DHCR for rent reductions for diminution of services as a result of ongoing problems in STPCV related to Hurricane Sandy. That's pretty big - and welcome - news for all the people in affected buildings, don't you think?!
It was announced at the TA's general meeting on Saturday that they now have a bed bug registry on their website and someone posted about that on the TA's Facebook page. Here's a link to the registry:
http://stpcvta.org/bedbug_registry
STR - Give the TA chance. They will be putting up a recap of Saturday's meeting just as soon as possible. They are working on it.
If you feel tenants should protest, organize one.
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