CWCapital/CompassRock Post Thanksgiving Day Special--With Respect to Tenants

So, you've had a wonderful Thanksgiving and went to bed late, full of good cheer, turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and drink. What better way to greet the next day than being woken up by workers drilling and pounding in your building or nearby!  And if you think you'll get any peace the rest of the day--you are wrong! Remarkably, work on the new Public Safety center continues on the day after Thanksgiving. Perhaps work will continue on Saturday, too. Black Friday, indeed, for those who live within earshot.

Happy Thanksgiving, 2013!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM STUY TOWN AND PETER COOPER VILLAGE SQUIRRELS:

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM CWCAPITAL, COMPASSROCK AND FAZIO TRAINA LANDSCAPE SPECIALISTS:

And HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM STR:

Coming Soon! Celebrations around the Stuy Town Christmas Tree in which children will make a wish to Santa for a better looking Christmas Tree:

Breaking News: No MCI Rent Bill Increases this December

Both the TA and CWCapital (PCVST Living) have released brief notifications stating that residents will not see the scheduled MCI increases in their December rent bills, increases which are postponed until January. Both parties say talks are ongoing between them, with CWCapital adding that the DHCR is also involved.

The Destruction of the Oval

There is a "golden age" to everything, it seems. Regarding the Oval, it appears clear that the apex of its charm and beauty has now passed, never to return. When Stuyvesant Town was built, the Oval was bare necessities, with a promise of more luxuriant things to come, as trees and bushes would grow to fill out the plain landscape. In the decades that followed, the Oval still maintained its relative plainness, but was, at the very least, a handsome, peaceful sanctuary from the rest of Manhattan and the city's "rat-race" vibe. In prepping the complex for sale, Met Life made significant upgrades, and turned the Oval into the best it has ever looked. Garden areas at the crescents and near the Oval lawn flourished, and an impressive fountain replaced the Plain Jane that existed there before. Under the reign of Tishman-Speyer, the gardening went through several transitions, some of them positive.  More dramatically, however, four amenity buildings were carved out of Oval buildings.

Concern was raised that the amenity spaces were introducing elements into the Oval that should not be there and that, for the first time, a financial resource was being created in this green sanctuary that went against the "free for all residents" tradition of Stuy Town.  Yet, even with these four amenity spaces, the Oval still managed to retain a good measure of its sanctuary feel, in significant part because the lush landscaping hid most of these spaces from many points of the Oval.

Tishman-Speyer then introduced a new feature to the Oval: the Sunday greenmarket, which necessitated a loss of a chunk of the southern end of the Oval lawn, made permanent later by a surface of gravel. Food trucks were also introduced to the Oval, sometimes on a daily basis, effectively marring the sanctuary ideal of the Oval. Residents (who cared) made noise about both the food trucks and the greenmarket, and for a while, it seemed as if the pushback to the commercialization of the Oval was working, with the city taking a serious look at Stuy Town's zoning. Then came capitulation, with our councilman Dan Garodnick, who initially made a strong case against the commercialization of Stuyvesant Town, declaring that he was satisfied with city's requirement that commercial spaces were properly zoned if meant exclusively "for residents and their guests." Garodnick considered the matter resolved.

This capitulation meant that the new landlord, CWCapital, was now free to introduce more commercial projects into the Oval (wink-wink "for residents and their guests"), and we got the Ice Rink, a commercial venture that took away a free playground space with artificial turf for many months out of a year.

Recently, CWCapital has gone after the Oval with a vengeance. It removed and ripped out all the lush garden areas of the Oval and replaced them with low plantings placed far apart. Whatever "sanctuary" aspect of the Oval remained was now seriously debilitated and on life support.  One couldn't feel separate in the Oval space at any point. Everything, from our project-like buildings to the Oval amenity/retail spaces, was in clear view.

And now CWCapital is taking an aggressive step in the further destruction of the Oval. It is creating, remarkably, a new building, or building extension, at the Oval for the Public Safety department that will, I believe, destroy whatever sanctuary feeling the Oval is still holding onto. The Oval will not be an oasis in Manhattan anymore, but a part of no-space-unused, commercialized, well-trafficked Manhattan. And what will house the amenity space currently being used by Public Safety? If what I heard from a couple of CWCapital bigwigs who were standing near it gets actualized--a retail space, though it may be coated with a different, less abrasive tag.  Hmm, maybe we can see a small convenience store, meant for residents and their guests? Or a mini-beer hall that would be popular with our student population? Or, why not a 7-11? They're popping up all over Manhattan, so why not here?

It's obvious that getting the most money out of the Oval is the goal. And has been the goal for a while.

One can say, with considerable despair and regret, that once the changes to the Oval will be finished some time next year, we can declare the Oval dead or at least skeleton of what it once was, a mocking display of the avarice and insensitivity of the landlords who were supposed to be its stewards, but who turned out to be its ravagers and destroyers.

Message to Management

 Dear CWCapital/CompassRock:

Please try to clean the walkway around the Oval.  At this moment there are at least three separate clumps (that's clumps, not stains or residue) of dog crap along the western side of the Oval.  I didn't dare take a walk on the eastern side, so there may be more.

Does anyone in your employment check the state of the walkway?

Also bicycles are currently whizzing by around the Oval.  Is there anyone available to make sure these cyclists get off their bicycles?

Hello?  Management? Is anyone there?

CWCapital Intends to Stay On for at Least 2 More Years

At least that's what an article in Town & Village reveals inadvertently. The article describes CWCapital's plan of redoing all the hallways in PCVST.  New carpeting, baseboards, and a paint job for "an updated and clean look." This work is expected to be finished throughout the complex in two years.

Dear Lord.....

Another Threat

Over a week old and not concerning Stuy Town, but concerning our councilman, Dan Garodnick and sleazy real estate....  Makes for incredible reading and an understanding of the links between real estate and politicians.

Some people in the real-estate industry have a message for Manhattan councilman Dan Garodnick, in whose hands the future growth of Midtown East resides: Slowing things down will not be good for your citywide aspirations. 

Much more here:

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2013/10/8535298/real-estate-industry-links-midtown-east-garodnicks-political-future

CWCapital's "MCI Help Center"

From the TA:

Owner’s “MCI Help Center” Will Help Owner More than Tenants

CWCapital has set up an “MCI Help Center” in Peter Cooper Village. Make no mistake: this is not a tenant-friendly helping hand. The thrust of this help center is to rope in the confused, the scared, and those who may think CW’s offer is generous or worthy of serious consideration.

According to the Tenants Association’s attorney, there are powerful reasons why you should not sign CW’s offer:

• The proposed agreement is illusory, deceptive and unenforceable.

• The language of the form encourages acceptance while the Owner holds a trump card of unilateral termination.

• The agreement appears to be an attempt to intimidate those tenants who support the TA’s challenge to the MCI’s, by penalizing or diminishing their rights, in direct violation of §230 of the Real Property Law.

Furthermore:

• There is no explanation that the retroactive portion of the MCI orders is subject to the 6% annual cap, making it appear that the 35% will be an immediate windfall. (A PCV tenant has done the arithmetic on the MCI for the Security System and Video Command Center and finds that signing on to the management offer would save $1.60 a month.)

• The Owner’s offer to withdraw its appeal of $15 million of MCI costs that the DHCR did not approve is almost meaningless—it consists of sales tax, which can never be included, and other costs DHCR almost never approves.

• Roberts tenants were never served with MCI orders at all. Therefore, there is no present obligation on the part of the Roberts tenants to pay any increase, and no reason to sign.

• Tenants give up the right to file a PAR to challenge the validity and accuracy of the MCI costs.

• Tenants give up the right to challenge the Rent Orders in an Article 78 proceeding.

We need volunteers in front of 360 First Avenue starting this Monday to hand out a copy of Tim Collins’s letter and Public Membership Pledges to passersby or those who want to access the MCI Help Center at these hours:

Monday, November 11: 5 p.m.–8 p.m.Tuesday, November 12: 8:30 a.m.–11:30 a.m.Wednesday, November 13: 11 a.m.–2 p.m.Thursday, November 14: 5 p.m.–8 p.m.Friday, November 15: 8:30 a.m.–11:30 a.m.

At least there is this...

If you don't like what's happening on the ground, then it's good to look up:

HCR Grants Request for Reconsideration of MCI Increases

http://www.stpcvta.org/ta/post/hcr-grants-request-for-reconsideration-of-mci-increases-buying-tenants-vit

BREAKING: A Worried CWCapital Rushes Delivery of Offer to Tenants

According to an online article in this week's REAL ESTATE WEEKLY, CWCapital, the special servicer who is running this property (to the ground), was going to make public to tenants its offer at reducing retroactive MCI charges at the "beginning of next week."  Well, it seems the company and its accountants and lawyers have been working overtime, because tenants are getting, in the early morning hours of Friday (even before the leaf-blowers start), this offer slipped under the door. Undoubtedly this hectic activity signals the worry that CWCapital has over tenants going to court over the new MCIs and that the process could take years to work out, years that CWCapital, which wants to sell the property next year, doesn't like to have. In plain words: We have this despicable landlord by the balls.

How despicable is CWCapital?  This is the company that tries to squeeze every cent out of tenants, that fills apartments with transient students, and has tried, with some success, to rip apart this community through a variety of divide and conquer tactics. This is the company that raised rents mid-lease on "market-rate" tenants. This is the company that said of the unfortunate tenants in PCV whose buildings were affected by Hurricane Sandy, and who were not getting proper services ("basement access, laundry rooms, intercoms, trunk rooms, security, and even elevators", TA report), and who sought a temporary rent reduction, that they were “petty and mean spirited” and that “tenants seek to transform these events into an opportunity to profit.” These are same bastards who now charge you $75 to have your door opened in case you get locked out. These are also the same bastards who do not paint your hallways or clean your buildings or our exterior walkways with regular proper care, but somehow have enough money to spend on a revolving door concept of "landscaping" that has, in the Oval, ripped out beautiful trees, flowers and plants to replace them with a disheartening bare, institutionalized look. This is the same company that doesn't care if it wakes you up in the morning for construction work or leaf-blowing or whatever the hell they want to do.  This is a company that doesn't care about you, the middle class, but would be delighted if you left so they could further raise the rent of your apartment, and would celebrate any incident, death included, if it meant getting an old apartment renovated to a new one so that an extra couple of thousand dollars could be added to the rental fee.

And now this company wants to make you an offer.

 

The second page deals with the waiver, 35% of the retroactive charge, and how much that would be for your apartment.  I found this amusing, though.  CWCapital wants to "allow our community (italics mine) to move forward."

So don't forget to sign those pledges (see below). And let me repeat what I wrote in that introduction:

CWCapital is very worried about tenants getting together on this issue, which is why they will be making another sleazy offer soon to lower the temporary retroactive charges as they keep, of course, the MCI charges that will permanently burden your rent bill and, furthermore, provide a greater increase in your rent when you renew your lease. Affordable middle class housing is in serious trouble in PCVST, and we must take a united stand against the tactics that are directed toward eliminating such housing and forcing middle class tenants to move out. 

UPDATE: If you filed an appeal of the MCI orders with the TA or individually, and you accept CWCapital's offer, you will accept withdrawing from the appeal with prejudice, meaning that will be legally forbidden to refile forever.  

2nd UPDATE, from the TA:

On Friday, Nov. 8, many of you received a second offer from CWCapital to reduce your retroactive charges by 35% and withdraw their appeal to collect $15 million of MCI costs that the DHCR denied. Accepting their offer means that you would have to agree not to appeal the MCI orders, which means you would not be able to participate in the Tenants Association's own fight against the MCIs.

The TA is in consultation with its counsel and will be advising tenants what to do. In the meantime do not agree to the terms of CWCapital's letter until you hear from us.  We will get back to you as soon as we can.

To all of you with printers:  Please help the TA spread the word to residents who are not on our email list or who do not have computers.  If you can, please print this message out and slip it under the doors of others on your floor. Thank you.

Tangential Update: Not part of the above, but just a note that we are still losing this city to monied real estate and housing for the mega-rich. How did this monstrosity get approval?...

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/narrow-tall-approved-city-article-1.1486771

And more dispiriting info:

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20131016/BLOGS03/131019925

I hope these are the final F.U.s from the Bloomberg era, but I fear it may not be so.

SIGN THOSE PLEDGES - LAST COUPLE OF DAYS!!!

It is important for tenants who care about their own affordable housing to sign the Public Member Pledge for the TA to represent you in the fight against the avalanche of MCIs and retroactive charges we have received. Time is of the essence now, as the TA has to file on Tuesday. (Don't forget that Monday is a holiday, Veteran's Day.) CWCapital is very worried about tenants getting together on this issue, which is why they will be making another sleazy offer soon to lower the temporary retroactive charges as they keep, of course, the MCI charges that will permanently burden your rent bill and, furthermore, provide a greater increase in your rent when you renew your lease. Affordable middle class housing is in serious trouble in PCVST, and we must take a united stand against the tactics that are directed toward eliminating such housing and forcing middle class tenants to move out. Please read the following that was posted on the TA website to understand the current situation:

Next Steps for MCI Rent Increase Orders and Summary of 11/2 Meeting

Links to forms and where they go can be found at the end of this post.
On Saturday, November 2nd, More than 500 tenants packed the IS 104 auditorium for a briefing on the TA’s pushback against the MCIs, a caution about CWCapital’s “Trojan Horse” offer to tenants, an update on where SCRIE/DRIE tenants stand, and how signing the Public Member Pledge and joining the Tenants Association can strengthen our challenge of the DHCR orders. Read on for details.


Request for Reconsideration
At the November 2 standing-room-only meeting at IS 104,  the Tenants Association’s attorney, Tim Collins of Collins, Dobkins & Miller, arrived carrying a 15-pound stack of papers. They represent our Request for Reconsideration, which challenges DHCR’s failure to acknowledge or give consideration to Mr. Collins’s general and specific objections to the MCI application, which were served on DHCR on May 14, 2012. He also reviewed general MCI procedures. A complete set of the handouts given out at the meeting included a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) covering the MCI process, which may be found in the list of links at the end of this posting.


CWCapital’s “Offer” to Tenants
Referring to the letter from CWCapital that was slipped under all residents’ doors the evening before Saturday’s meeting, Mr.Collins pointed out a major catch in management’s “offer” to reduce the amount of retroactive charges to monthly bills for residents. By agreeing to such an arrangement, he noted, an individual tenant would also be agreeing to forgo all rights to challenge any of the MCI orders. He emphasized the need for solidarity among tenants and urged everyone to join the Tenants Association (if you are not already a member) and to sign the Public Member Pledge (PMP or pledge) (if you have not already done so).
Joining the TA and signing the pledge authorizes the Tenants Association and its Board of Directors to represent signees in responding to the DHCR claims and stay the collection of retroactive charges. Again, residents who were not at the meeting can find these documents in the list of links at the end of this posting.
The need for tenants to work together as a unit in order to fight the MCIs effectively was echoed by Council Member Dan Garodnick in discussing CWCapital’s Friday letter. He reviewed the history of the five MCIs that have hit Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in quick succession and spoke of the previous attempt by the TA to mediate them via a three-way meeting it arranged with CWCapital, DHCR, and TA leadership.


SCRIE/DRIE Exemption from MCIs Is Not Automatic: A Special Form Is Required
State Senator Brad Hoylman addressed the need for tenants eligible for the Senior Citizens Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) program or Disabled Rent Increase Exemption program (DRIE)  to file an Adjustment to Abatement Form in order to ensure they are exempt from MCI increases. These forms should be filed with the SCRIE Unit at the NYC Dept. of Finance. The SCRIE and DRIE forms can be found by clicking the link below, visiting the NYC Department of Finance website, or by phoning them (see the list of links below).


Legislative Options
State Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh discussed legislative options available to ameliorate the effect of the unjust MCI law.Part of a larger rent regulation law, they have been the subject of a political battle between landlords and their allies on one side and tenant advocates and your elected officials on the other. Assemblymember Kavanagh and Senator Hoylman, with the support of your city and federal elected representatives and the Tenants Association, have fought to strengthen the rent laws in a variety of ways. Some of these changes deal specifically with making the MCI system fairer to tenants. These include: mandating that MCI rent increases end as soon as the landlord has collected the amount spent on work actually done, listing MCIs separately on the monthly rent bill and ensuring that annual increases in the base rent are not also applied to the MCI charges, prohibiting any MCI charges if a landlord has outstanding hazardous violations, and better defining and limiting what work can qualify for MCI increases so they only cover the cost of actual enhancements or upgrades, not merely repairs or replacement of existing services.


Why It Is Important for Tenants to Sign a Public Membership Pledge
Mr. Collins, emphasizing the connection between the pledge and the filing of a Petition for Administrative Review (PAR), explained that the Rent Stabilization Code (RSC) provides that the filing of a PAR stays the collection of retroactive MCIs (although not the prospective charges) until the PAR is decided. The signed pledges will be used in a consolidated PAR.
If the DHCR fails to rescind the recent rent increase orders as requested by Mr. Collins, tenants who sign the pledge will be protected from retroactive charges while the PAR is being reviewed. Tenants who do not sign a pledge will be exposed to the retroactive portion when it begins to be collected. PARs can sometimes take years to decide, so it is likely that people who do not sign up will be paying the retroactive portion unnecessarily while the PARs are pending.


Special Cases Calling for Individuals to File Their Own PARs
While individual tenants can file their own PARs, there is strength in filing as a group.  However, there are tenants who may have a special case and should file an individual PAR.
For example, one tenant in Peter Cooper Village received two Orders, one showing her apartment as having four rooms and the other showing her apartment as having three rooms. This contradiction can be raised in a PAR challenging the assignment of increases where four rooms were claimed if, in fact, the tenant has only three.
Other tenants who took occupancy after the MCI applications were filed in 2009, but were not informed of a specific pending MCI application in their initial leases, will want to file individual PARs. They will have to attach a copy of their initial lease showing that the date of the lease postdates the application date of the MCI and that it does not reference that the MCI is pending and notify the tenant that it will be applied to increase the rent when decided. 
None of these PARs needs to be elaborate. Just follow the instructions carefully and attach a brief but clear explanation of your objection with evidence demonstrating the error. A copy of the PAR form can be found in the group of links below. 
Note again, however, that we do not advise filing individual PARs unless you have special circumstances. Such PARs could hinder the ability of the Tenants Association to achieve effective results for everyone.


List of Links to Forms (Where they Go) and Phone Numbers

The following resources below can all be found here in this (PDF) file:
Agenda for the 11/2 Emergency Meeting
TA Membership Application
Public Membership Pledge (PMP or pledge) [Page 3]
Letter from local electeds to DHCR Commissioner
MCI Frequently Asked Questions from our local electeds
The MCI Application Process Explained (this item prints on 8.5” x 14” paper)
SCRIE and DRIE Adjustment to Abatement Forms are available here:

SCRIE Adjustment to Abatement
DRIE Adjustment to Abatement

Those without computer access may phone the NYC Department of Finance at 311 to have the Adjustment to Abatement Forms mailed to them. Or you may visit the SCRIE/DRIE walk-in office, 8:30am - 4:30pm, at 66 John Street, 3rd floor, in Manhattan.  Alternatively, tenants without computers and printers may visit Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh’s office, weekdays from 10am to 6 pm to pick up the SCRIE/DRIE forms.  His district office is located at 237 1st Ave at 14th Street in Room 407 and the office phone is 212-979-9696.

[NOTE: Due to time constraints, membership pledges should now be dropped off at the drop boxes at Zeichner Liquors at 16th & 1st, Adriatic Pizzeria between 18 & 19 on 1st or Rite Way Pharmacy bet 21 & 22 on First.]

For more about file PARs (although we want to do this with a single master PAR for most):
DHCR Fact sheet #18 here: http://www.nyshcr.org/Rent/factsheets/orafac18.htm
PAR form here: http://www.nyshcr.org/Forms/Rent/rar2.pdf

The Saturday Tenant Association Meeting Concerning MCIs

The crucial summary from the TA meeting:

The TA lawyer, Tim Collins, believes the MCIs will be rescinded because the DHCR seems to have mistakenly not taken into account the objections already filed by the TA's lawyers. This doesn't mean we still won't get hit by the MCIs at a later date, so that battle still continues.

The retroactive charges, if they stand, will only be collected in percentages at the end of the payment for the regular MCI charges.  I'm assuming this means after the initial costs are met, as these charges, if they stand, become part of one's rent in perpetuity.  But the message one should take away is that no one will be compelled to pay a lump sum now or in the future of these retroactive charges.

Those seniors who are under the SCRIE program or disabled tenants who are under the DRIE have 90 days to apply for a waiver from the MCIs. Contact the TA to help you fill out this waiver.

Everyone who has received a MCI is strongly urged to sign a Public Membership Pledge, which gives the TA the right to represent you in its fillings.  You can opt out whenever you like.  Form below.  Click on it to make it larger:

From Edmund John Dunn's post on the TA: >>The form can be sent via snail mail to ST/PCV-TA, P.O. Box 1202, New York, NY 10009-1202. Alternatively you may fax to (866) 290-9036 or drop a copy off at any of the TA’s drop boxes located on First Ave at Zeichner's Liquors, Adriatic Restaurant, TD Bank or Rite-Way Pharmacy. Please put on the envelope or fax over sheet, Attention Public Membership Pledge Form”. Please download the form and the sending instructions and forward to people not on FB or to those who do not have internet access."<<

The TA meeting will be available as an audio download soon.

My comments: The meeting had an overflowing of capacity, a splendid sign that tenants are up in arms over these MCIs and the insulting and threatening letter CWCapital slipped under everyone's door on Friday. The TA lawyer made a good point about the possible impetus for CWCapital to engage with the TA on these MCIs, as, if this matter gets taken to court, the length of the legal process will disrupt the ability of CWCapital to sell off PCVST.  The reason these MCIs have arrived now appears to be due to the long time it took to settle the Roberts case.  That case needed to be resolved first.

I had to wonder if the current lawyers for the TA are the same ones who dealt with the Roberts case, as that case did not go so well for affected tenants in certain areas.  I was amused by the slams against big business and real estate while Dan Garodnick, who has accepted significant donations from both, was sitting right there without batting an eye.  Truthfully, Bill de Blasio has also accepted such contributions.  Hopefully both politicians will not favor "The Man" too much in their future decisions and be stridently aggressive in saving the middle class in New York.

Worse. Speaker. Ever.  Congressmember Carolyn Maloney who popped in at the end and didn't seem to be aware of what the meeting was about, but who managed to, once again as she always does, talk about something else, this time the Tea Party (!), the recent government shutdown, and cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program.  Thankfully, her remarks were very brief.

BASTARDS

 

click to make larger

As I began to read this, I thought that finally CWCapital is beginning to show some humanity and that this was an important step at reconciliation with the community the company has been ravaging.  When I finished reading, blood was shooting out of my eyeballs, and I could only think: "BASTARDS, BASTARDS, BASTARDS."  What evil, loathsome, manipulative people these are.  I didn't think it was possible for CWCapital to stoop much lower than it has in tenant relations, but it seems to be able to plummet, very easily, to lower and lower depths. The outrageousness of CWCapital threatening tenants if tenants decide to appeal the MCIs. And, yes, this was pushed under everyone's door in anticipation of the TA meeting tomorrow. What BASTARDS.

To repeat a posting below: The Tenants Association will hold a meeting this Saturday, November 2, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM, in the auditorium of Simon Baruch Intermediate School 104, East 20th Street between First and Second Avenues. Topic of discussion: the MCIs, of course. [And, now, the above letter, for sure.] TA lawyer Tim Collins, our councilman Dan Garodnick, our state assemblyman Brian Kavanagh and State Senator Brad Hoylman should be present.