I've been in the mood recently of thinking that it really is over for this community and affordable housing here. We await some kind of word from the city, but if you listen carefully, what we'll get are scraps while the big boys will get most of everything. Fact is, that some of these big boys should have been sued by the city. I'm not interested in jail time for them, but in having them pay for their mistakes and their ridiculously high expenditures, which wound up weighing down tenants and forcing the progressive removal of affordable housing in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. What's happened and is still happening here since the sale of ST/PCV is really a scandal of considerable magnitude.
Perhaps most devastating was the presence of this mayor for three terms, which should just have been two terms, but that's another scandal shared by our City Council at the time.
This is the man who changed not only this community, but New York City. Yes, some of the changes were positive, but other changes were devastating to the middle class and mom-and-pop business. New York will never be the same, and Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village will never be the same, either.
Bloomberg...a vile, little man who history will pillory as the most corrupt mayor in NYC history. No, Billionaire Mike didn't need to steal cash, rather he destroyed the fabric of neighborhood NY by selling out to the real estate interests and fat cats who will revel in the death of StuyTown and similar communities. His coup d'état grabbing a third term was outrageous. No friend of the middle class or the working man. A royal FU, Mike.
ReplyDeleteP.S. DiBlasio is pathetic. Makes me kind of wish for Bloomberg back again. At least he had a set of cujones...lol. Peace all! I say Stuy Town Reporter for Mayor!
Voters in this city had YEARS to figure this out and still they elected Bloomberg three times. I thought it was obvious that he was enriching only his already rich friends. I'm glad, even proud to say I never voted for him.
ReplyDeleteBloomberg bought his terms, especially the notorious third term. He outspent and out-manouvered any opposition.
ReplyDeleteI used to hear it said that Bloomberg was incorruptible because he had so much wealth. Problem was, he used that wealth to corrupt other people to do his bidding.
What a vile, despicable little man. FU and Go to Hell, Bloomberg. And take that Boar's Head Logo-faced Quinn with you.
Bloomberg and Schumer in 2011 raising money for REBNY to us against tenants in legal battles in Albany and NYC and PCVST on Roberts.
ReplyDeleteSenator Schumer hope we do NOT see you at the REBNY fundraiser in 2015.
http://www.masseyknakal.com/news/pdf/634345924646189282.pdf
thx masse
Actually, NYC and NYS government openly hostile to the middle class commenced with Giuliani and Pataki around 1992, then accelerated into hyper-speed during the Bloomberg era. FED government openly hostile to the middle class commenced around 1980 with Reagan.
ReplyDeleteClinton was a moderate DEM forced to govern as a liberal GOP. Obama and Cuomo are both very much wannabe moderate GOP disguised as DEM and getting away with it only because GOP leadership handed the steering wheel to its psycho extremist wing.
Bill de Blasio's campaign rhetoric raised unrealistic expectations, including his own. Now he's in the midst of a steep learning curve, discovering the limitations of his office and running into brick walls his billionaire predecessor considered mere toll booths. He found out early that Cuomo is not his ally and if crossed, will run circles around him and finesse him into political dead ends. If crime spikes, he will be a one-term NYC mayor. He has to be careful.
As I recall from the T&V voting data, PCVST voted for Bloomberg by a good majority for all of his three terms. It’s amazing how people vote against their own self interests.
ReplyDeleteI remember 90 percent of stuytown Pcv tenants thrilled about the third term for the road. Now thy can all pay for it.
ReplyDeleteChuck will be there. You can bet on it.
ReplyDelete7:00PM Unremitting noise from one of those horrible Oval "events"...can't SOMEONE do something about this?
ReplyDeleteInstead of blaming DeBlasio, who has been in office now for just 225 days, look instead to 20 straight years of Republicans in the Mayors office, another 12 if you count Koch, leaving only Mayor DInkins as the only other truly Democratic Mayor in the last 36 years. That means we have had only 4 years and 225 days of Democratic mayors in the last 36 years.
ReplyDeleteI count Ed Koch as a Republican due to his policies, which handed NYC's real estate over to the developers, and since he later admitted his true philosophy when he crossed party lines to support both Guiliani and Bloomberg, then later became a right-wing radio talk show host.
The electorate was complicit in all of this, thinking they somehow would grow richer, or that coop and condo conversion was good for everyone. Now we can clearly see what that has led to, a city that is rapidly turning into little more than a giant luxury time-share for the global millionaires and Russian billionaires that make Bloomberg wet his tight little pants.
We now have the highest percentage of the polulation living in unaffordable housing in history. When the bubble bursts and the Asians, Europeans and Russians get cleaned out, it will be New Yorkers once again left to clean up the mess. If we haven't learned our lesson yet, I doubt we ever will.
All of us Roberts victims who were robbed of our court victory should join with Guterman. Has Guterman contacted tenants by USPS yet? And how is he reaching those who are Roberts settlement victims who no longer live in PCV ST since we were priced out of our homes?
ReplyDeleteI dig Chuck’s niece. Him, not so much.
ReplyDelete"7:00PM Unremitting noise from one of those horrible Oval "events"...can't SOMEONE do something about this?"
ReplyDeleteWith the lights out, it's less dangerous,Here we are now, entertain us,I feel stupid and contagious,Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido
Yay! [x3]
I must say that I'll never understand all of the Bloomberg hating. See below for a October, 2009 NY Times Editorial endorsing Bloomberg:
ReplyDelete"The real test of any mayor is how well the city works. In his eight years in office, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has managed to make the unpredictable city of New York work astonishingly well.
Mr. Bloomberg has been a first-rate steady hand during unsteady times. He guided the city out of the post-9/11 recession, then tucked away money during the boom years that followed. That foresight has helped New Yorkers weather one of the worst economic downturns in 80 years. Mayor Bloomberg has easily earned another four years."
Of course he was not perfect, but the City had done exceedingly well under Bloomberg and Giuliani before him. I don't expect folks to agree with the NY Times (I rarely do), but if we judge purely on positive accomplishments for NY, Bloomberg needs to be viewed favorably. One of the commenters actually mentioned Dinkins! Please compare the Bloomberg record with Dinkins. Bloomie even took on the teachers union with some success and supported Charter schools that actually give low income families a chance at a decent education. Something that DeBlasio is trying to reverse.
Many commenters lament the loss of affordable housing and perhaps NY is the victim of its own success in this regard. People want to be here because of the Giuliani/Bloomberg accomplishments and the laws of supply/demand dictate. Many entrenched and native NYers were not able to participate in this bounty because of rent stabilization. Subjected to a lifetime of renting because of a heavily flawed ill conceived government program, residents did not participate in the improvements to their neighborhoods and are now finding themselves priced out. Sorry folks, these programs don't work and the proof is in the pudding.
Dump Verizon
ReplyDeleteDump Hoylman and Garodnick
Take back the Oval!
"Many commenters lament the loss of affordable housing and perhaps NY is the victim of its own success in this regard. People want to be here because of the Giuliani/Bloomberg accomplishments and the laws of supply/demand dictate. "
ReplyDeleteWake up and smell the history lesson. People have always wanted to be here because this is where all sorts of action is--no matter how grubby the city gets or what the crime rate is or how bad public education has become. Because this is where there's artistic ferment--there was once an artist-occupied building on 14th Street east of First. This is the fashion capital of the country, the dance capital of the country, the book publishing capital of the country. Wall Street is here. Most of the greatest restaurants are here. People have always come here to explore and experiment--and that has never had anything to do with that bore Giuliani or the equally boring Bloomberg. Some might even say they were a deterrent. I stand with Fran Lebowitz, who, deploring the cleanup of Times Square, said, "There should be some places tourists are afraid to go."
@5:19 pm: well said! Very well said!
ReplyDeleteHas anyone been to Times Square lately? It's a disaster, with tourists pushing each other off the sidewalks and into the streets since there is no room to walk. It is a model of lack of urban planning, and a model for what Bloomberg has created and where New York is headed if Mayor DeBlasio does not change it's direction.
ReplyDeleteWho said they cleaned up Times Square? There are gross naked Cowgirls and topless Statuettes of Liberty in bodypaint with ogling perverts on their camera phones snapping pictures of their naked asses while trying to cop a feel. For the kiddies there are dozens of aggressive Elmos and Spidermans and Batmans grabbing tourists to pose for pictures for money, and hawkers selling expensive bus tours.
The stores are mostly boring chains which you can find in any mall, and there are no affordable restaurants unless you count McDonald's. They closed down many lanes to traffic to create the pedestrian mall, but there are only cheap metal chairs with not enough places to sit and fewer places to walk.
Bloomberg never finished the job, he never created a nice space for tourists to be in, just a big open air asphalt slab for people to gawk at all the flashing signs and big screen TVs with ads on them.
There is no more grit, no Fascination arcade where local kids would spend hours playing video games and pinball and Skee Ball, no Howard Johnson's or old-style diners or bars or lounges with any class, no place for people without A.D.D. to relax.
What killed Times Square? Too many tourists with nothing to do. The crowds of gawking tourists has to be a turnoff to anyone who has travelled the world.
None of the old adult theaters had anything nearly as grotesque or pornographic as what Times Square has to offer today. This is Bloomberg and Guiliani's legacy, but then they were basically just tourists as well who never really understood New York. Does either of them even live here anymore?
Shortly after leaving office. Bloomberg was quoted saying he really doesn't think much about New York anymore. Thats Ok Mr. Bloomberg, we never thought much of you either.
All that's missing is a few bankrupt Atlantic City style casinos, But I'm sure that will happen under the next Mayor if it's someone with business experience like Joe Lhota or Jabba the Hutt Castamtides.
With leadership like this, who needs enemies?
@5:19pm,,sorry to ruin your history lesson with facts. If you take a look at demographic data, you will see that people didn't want to be here so much during NYC's grubbiest period. For example, between 1970-1980, NYC population DECLINED by 10.4%. That is by far the largest 10 year decrease in population in recorded NYC history. I don't need stats to tell me that as I remember to time well. As crime rates declined during the 1990's and the economy improved, NYC population increased 9.4% between 1990 and 2000. After 2001 and 9/11, net population increases were smaller (2.1% between 2000-2010, with another 2.8% increase between 2010-2013. During the Bloomberg administration (in 2012) though, more people moved into NYC than moved out for the first time in 60 years. Learn anything?
ReplyDeleteTimes Square doesn't really exist any more. It's just a chintzy open air mall.
ReplyDelete"During the Bloomberg administration (in 2012) though, more people moved into NYC than moved out for the first time in 60 years. Learn anything?"
ReplyDeleteMillennial baby boom coming of age. Insane NYU expansion under the bastard Sexton. Friends, SITC, Gossip Girl. Now Friends. Would have happened with or without Bloomturd. Are you actually a fan of this Boston prick?
"Now Friends"
ReplyDeleteSorry, meant "Girls". Like Yah!
As much as I despise the Little Emperor, the root of the problem is vacancy decontrol, and for that the blame lies in Albany. If not for Pataki and Bruno's 1997 gift to the real estate industry, all of PCVST would still be affordable.
ReplyDeleteThis should have been repealed as soon as the Democrats took control of the state senate, but years later, no one's even talking about it. And what about reversing Urstadt, putting NYC rent regulations in the hands of OUR local elected officials, instead of easily bought politicians from rural upstate districts?
Seems like our "pro tenant" governor is moving a little slow on this. All that REBNY coin in his pockets slowing him down?
Vacancy decontrol was a step in the right direction but a full repeal of the current rent stabilization laws would do more to create real middle class housing opportunities. We should also target the terrible public housing stock for reform and begin unfreezing and renovating/rebuilding those developments. Create an income based voucher program for those really in need and simplify residential zoning laws and expedite and reduce the cost of permits and approvals and increased development targeted to the middle class will come. Doubling down on government subsidies is not the answer.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at August 26, 2014 at 9:18 AM said...
ReplyDelete"Vacancy decontrol was a step in the right direction but a full repeal of the current rent stabilization laws would do more to create real middle class housing opportunities."
Wrong Forum
It was only Vacancy Decontrol that enabled Jerry Speyer and his idiot son to buy ST-PCV for $5.4 billion and sucker in foolish investors 100% wiped out by Speyer's greed fueled, doomed-at-birth business plan that could only succeed by booting all middle class ST-PCV residents out of their homes and replace them with ripped off, market rent paying tenants who, because they had no Rent Stabilization protections, could be ripped off more every time their lease expired or get priced out.
It was only Rent Stabilization that bankrupted and killed Speyer's assault against middle class ST-PCV residents in less than four years.
I disagree 3:07am. Without rent stabilization laws, Stuyvesant Town could have been appropriately valued and the acquisition structured based on actual property performance. I don't agree with the deal that the Speyer's put together and the play that they tried to make, but rent stabilization is exactly what gave them conditions to try it. Because the system is so heavily flawed, it lends itself to constant landlord/tenant group bickering, lawsuits and political maneuvering. The Speyer's are business people and tried to take advantage of that. With a very strong track record of commercial real estate investment in NY, they were able to sell the plan to investors. The current rent stabilization system simply can't be defended and that is why it is slowly withering away.
ReplyDelete