The Boss of CompassRock (A Blast from the Past)

As long as the bile level has been raised with converse about Bloomberg, we may as well look at another favorite subject.

 

It seems he already knew that PCVST was on his plate. (The video was uploaded February 8th, 2012. CompassRock took over management of PCVST on September 1, 2012.) And to remind folks, CompassRock is a subsidiary of CW Financial, as is CWCapital. So a lot was in the works behind the scenes with this newly-formed, untested company. The aim for CW: to reduce management costs (by about 33%) and acquire a greater hand in leasing and marketing.  How do you think CompassRock has been handling the job?

BTW, a short while back there was a question on the TA Facebook about Woodward (the boss) being sued by his former company, Laramar. Here is that article, but I wasn't able to find if any resolution developed.

 http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/article/20120328/CRED03/120329779/laramar-sues-ex-ceo-over-loan

And let's not forget Woodward's admission that he has no solutions for PCVST's quality of life issues:

http://stuytownreport.blogspot.com/2012/08/compassrock-admits-it-has-no-solutions.html

Don't Let the Door Hit Your Ass on the Way Out

He could have done much to sustain affordable middle class housing in Manhattan and, particularly, in Stuy Town/Peter Cooper Village, but was, in reality, an advocate for big real estate concerns and his fellow wealthy buddies who want more and more pieces of the dwindling New York City pie. And, yes, he was supported in most things by a subservient City Council, which should share the blame. True, he did some good things, but he was devastating for the middle class and did considerable damage to the soul of city.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

Dog Yoga Coming to the Oval

Residents have been wondering for a while what will take the place of the amenity space that was formerly Oval Film, and then a Security Office after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.  We can now report the inside scoop: Oval Pooch will open up in the Spring of 2014.

Oval Pooch will have doggie daycare and offer the best artisanal treats for Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village dogs. But the primary focus and promotion will be on daily dog yoga classes, where adorable fidos will be able to practice various twisting and stretching poses with their owners.

Cost of membership has not been determined, but reports suggest that this amenity will be the most expensive one yet, going well beyond the rate charged parents at Oval Kids for Apple Seeds staff to amuse and take care of their children. CWCapital figures that there are enough suckers new residents with deep pockets who will want to take advantage of this very exclusive amenity.  "Residents of Stuy Town will be able to stand out from all other residents in the city with the use of this new and exciting amenity," affirmed Thaddeus Bone, head of the Department of Better Ideas at CWCapital, the special servicer that controls STPCV.

CWCapital will promote dog yoga heavily in their advertising, in the hopes of acquiring more dog owners as renters. The city's dog owners typically feel pressure from non-dog owners in the rest of Manhattan whenever they go outside with their pooches. Some STPCV dog owners feel this heat from the residents here, but a new program, "Let My Dog Pee," will begin to be enforced in a couple of months by STPCV's crackerjack safety officers, with tickets handed out to non-dog owners who harass fellow residents with dogs. "We realize that there is a problem with some residents who complain about the shit and piss all over this place," said I.M. Brown, CompassRock's Spokesman on Dog Affairs. "These residents should simply keep their comments to themselves and not bother dog-owners.  Shitting and pissing on the grounds is allowed. We welcome it, as a matter of fact, and see it as a symbol of residents using the park-like grounds as they were meant to be used."

Speaking of dog excrement, dog poop will also be collected in special bins at Oval Pooch to be layered as a compost element in the many planting beds around the complex. "It's a win-win situation, for the dog and dog owner, and the environment and the complex," stated Brown.

"CWCapital has determined to make Stuy Town/Peter Cooper Village the friendliest dog habitat in Manhattan," added Thaddeus Bone. "We realize that we have failed to make this place a welcome environment for humans, so we may as well put a focus on dogs; they are much easier to deal with and don't belong to a dog tenant association and don't have surly, old-fashioned attitudes about Stuy Town and PCV. Anyway, this place has gone to the dogs, so we may has well make the most of it."

STPCV TA Facebook Postings Exposing Troublesome Incidents

Yeah, I've been reading the posts on the TA Facebook page that are revealing, in an ever-increasing pattern, the methods that CWCapital/CompassRock may be trying to use to intimidate and ultimately oust long-term residents inhabiting non-renovated apartments (ie, truly rent-stabilized apartments with a considerably lesser rental fee): a notice of a speedy lease termination for having an extra wall put up that has already been removed, crafty apartment inspections that make note of peeling paint with potential legal problems to follow, the casual allowance of partying and noise from loud "neighbors" that make a living hell for other tenants.  Meanwhile, for over 18 months management has been incapable of removing "drug and alcohol induced squatters" in an apartment, residents who have been escorted, in handcuffs, out of their apartment several times by police. (Gee, I wonder if they reside in a renovated apartment that generates a high rental?)

Of course, all of this could be the result of the incompetence of management. After all, many tenants have been receiving faulty late payment notices of their rent.  Something is amiss. Things are not working well.  Is this an insidious, well thought out policy or just plain mismanagement?  It could be both.

Before their posts are removed, you can also find non-TA posting residents expressing their anger at managment on the official page of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village:

https://www.facebook.com/PCVST

UPDATE: Very much worth reading and pertinent to the above:

http://mamamilkandme.com/2013/12/19/my-home-in-jeopardy/

New York's Politicians Have Been Failing Us for a Long Time

 The view from Central Park will never be the same.

NY's politicians have been failing us for a long time, and that includes our city councilman, Dan Garodnick, who has received truck loads of money from real estate and who, along with his fellow city council members, still upholds "air rights," which makes possible the disasters we are seeing pop up all around Manhattan.  And who are the tenants for these high-rises? The mega rich who will not be spending much time in the city, and many of them, foreigners. Don't be surprised if the buyer of STPCV turns out to be some foreign company or a conglomerate that includes a foreign company whose interest in this property will be to bulldoze its buildings, getting rid of its middle class residents in the process, and put up similar high rises. The city may even offer up tax breaks for this screwing.

Not breaking news, but a good summary of what's been happening to this city, as affordable housing and the middle class are disappearing:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/12/new-york-high-rise-boom/4005289/

The disparity between rich and poor is underlined at the end of the article:

And at a time when more than 51,000 people — 21,000 of them children — spend the night in city homeless shelters, the contrast between penthouse opulence and street-level poverty is as dizzying as any view of Central Park.

One57, which broke ground during the recession, will receive tens of millions in tax breaks designed to encourage construction, which critics say would have occurred regardless.

"We're used to inequality in New York," says Benjamin Dulchin of the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, an advocacy group. "We're not used to it being subsidized by the taxpayers."

One player not mentioned in this article, and in other such articles, is an entity that used to have a significant hand in New York's construction business:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/mafia5.htm

I wonder if we are still paying dues.

Perhaps This Will Help Us Cope with CWCapital and Future Landlords

http://politicker.com/2013/12/pols-begin-push-to-legalize-marijuana-in-new-york-state/

...or it could make us, as tenants, simply complacent and accepting of everything, including a new candy store at the Oval.