Wednesday, September 3, 2014

A New Letter from Guterman



GUTERMAN PARTNERS, LLC

Gerald Guterman
stpcv@gutermanpartners.com\

September 3, 2014

To the STPCV Tenants:

It has now been several weeks since I made my Consulting proposal to everyone on this blog. I have explained what my partners and I will do several times and have answered questions both on this blog and in private emails.

While I didn't expect 5,000 signatures just from this blog, I did expect several hundred of you to take the time and make the specific effort, to print and sign the Agreement and send it back to me.

I even gave you all a separate email address, to maintain confidentiality.

The result of all of your talk, your condescending remarks and your know-it-all attitude, is exactly one signed Agreement. One signed Agreement.

Tonight, I read on this blog that I am expecting too much from too many of you. Nonsense....it is you that reads this blog night after night and continues to just "blubber" about the injustice that has befallen you, that is to blame for the ongoing, negative changes to your community.

My partners and I have offered our services for "nothing" and the services of a special group of professionals, each of whom has agreed to accept a small on-account "retainer" from my firm, with the balance paid only from a success based, conditional fee. The fee is payable only from a Court award or Settlement Agreement. Still, a number of you continue to make condescending, anonymous  remarks.

The next comment I expect to read, is that my firm is not working for nothing, but is being rewarded with the handsome, substantial fee of $10.00 per participant per quarter....$40.00 per year. Even with 5,000 participants paying, it doesn't cover the retainers to be paid out to the professionals and a small amount for my firm's overhead costs for this matter. 

If you want to realize changes for the better in this Community, all of you will have to come together and force those changes. You will have to physically copy the Consulting Agreement, sign it for yourself and bring one to your neighbor. You are all intelligent people. You can explain what we are doing and what your neighbor can do to help.

Absent this effort from all of you, we will withdraw.

Gerald Guterman                

62 comments:

Stuy Town Reporter said...

BTW, I just may, just may have a response to all of this after the time limit is up on signing the Guterman agreement.

Anonymous said...

Damnit.
Mr Guterman is the only one offering to help us help ourselves, to show us how to use the city system to benefit ourselves, and with his expertise on the system his advice is the best thing that could happen to this community.
Wake up people and just try! Try it just for the sake of trying it. We are kept in the dark by everyone else and he is offering to show us the ins and outs of RE. The more we know how to use the system the better we can protect ourselves from mci's, bad leasing practices, quality of life issues,
What does it hurt to just learn about it. Even if you dont take action. Or maybe do. But let's at least all get smarter on how RE works the system and let's work it too!

Anonymous said...

Mr. Guterman, I am always open to other voices re the future of PCVST. Why don't you rent a space, have a meeting, show us your team and answer questions live? I will be there. I think you will get a lot more positive interest if you follow my suggestion. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Mr Guterman please consider what 9:51 says. Don't give up. Most of the negative comments and criticisms are probably from TA or team Dan who have a vested interest in PCVST as a commercialized profit center and are trying to stop tenants from standing up for ourselves. They are just a few passive aggressive comments from just a few people trying to discourage tenants and instill hopelessness.
PCVST is not hopeless.

Anonymous said...

100% agree with 9:51 pm. Or you can even have /call a meeting at our local schools or the oval. ?

Anonymous said...

Gerry, I'm surprised you got any signatures. Then again, there's always one I suppose. Last I heard 2014 RC is still slated to miss earth
by about 25000 miles. Oh well.....maybe next time.

Anonymous said...

As one who has served on the TA in the past (the long ago past), I know the nature of the long timers. Long on complaining, short on action. I can't speak for the market renters. They are the ones who have the most to lose but then as I look at the newbies around the oval and other places, many of them seem transient to me. Anyway, I agree that without a meeting, nothing will happen. And if I were GG, I wouldn't hold out great hopes for the first meeting because you'll see all the usual types emerge: the windbags who love to hear themselves talk, the arrogant skeptics who'll act like they're the only ones who have had a suspicion, the 'realists' who think they're the only ones in touch with reality. In other words, leading this will take forbearance and patience. To the point that you may very well wonder if your involvement is worth it, But if you do hold a meeting, I'll be there. And then I would be likely to sign on.

Anonymous said...

Mr Guterman

I would have thought someone of your acumen knows full well gathering a community of hard working time stressed people is an uphill battle. Even the TA at its peak only had 10% and now is at 4-5% of the population and you are demanding 50% of the population. Which is really almost 100% of the population as PCVST is at 40% transients students.
PCVST has no TA at present as the membership is too small to be representative.
If you can only achieve what you say by having 5000 people then people aren't going to put their necks out, get a big target on their back,(as we saw the TA board chastise and berate some woman they accused of opposing the construction in the Oval and Management office).
What you are trying to do for this community is achievable. But you need to adjust your approach and business model (with regards to numbers of participants).
People want to, need to, and will participate if you do that.

Anonymous said...

All the negative comments were made by the same 6 people -- who tried to infuriate and intimidate you into a state of boiling over anger and quitting. People you otherwise shouldn't care what they say. You boiled, and are quitting. WTF It can't be that easy to get you to back down if you want us to get on board.

Anonymous said...

Yelling at us for not buying in is poor salesmanship.

Anonymous said...

To follow up with 9:51, an actual meeting would probably be best, because there is no way that you can expect a return of 5,000 signatures. I have lived in PCVST my entire life, and have a lot of family and friends who still live here... none of whom have heard of or read this blog. To think that 50% (or 5,000) of residents are going to return your application based solely on this blog is just ridiculous. I think that even STR would agree with that.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>I think that even STR would agree with that.<<

I would. Even if you could post on the TA Facebook about this offer, you'd never get the numbers being asked for. Their membership online is currently 1,228 and only about twenty or less take active participation.

I also am in the process of writing a post on this, which I may hold back until after the deadline.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

To preview a little of what I'm writing, I think the effort here made by Guterman is just too miniscule to gather any real numbers. Look at the numbers the TA got showing up at the Leasing Office protest. And the TA has a sizable email list, volunteers in many of the buildings that can slip flyers under every door, an online presence on both Facebook and a website, the assistance of a councilman, the eagerness of Town & Village to spread their message, etc. The only time the TA gets decent numbers to show up for anything is when there's a town hall meeting that's necessitated by some emergency.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

And....Even those town hall meetings gather a few hundred, but NEVER thousands.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

AND, this is not even talking about whether the Guterman offering is acceptable to tenants.

Anonymous said...

The only people who showed up the leasing office protest were longtime RS tenants who weren't even affected by the sudden rent hikes.

Anonymous said...

I have to say, I want to sign up with Mr. Guterman, but the post demanding us to do so, on a blog that's not his, is off putting. I'm starting to now lose interest. And ita, how many names does this man (seriously, is he ok?) think he can get from the STR blog? omg, laughable. No offense, STR, but people are busy working, having kids and doubt you or any blog has that much exposure. I'm confused, really now.

Anonymous said...

And... this is such BS from DHCR . W.T.F.

http://town-village.com/2014/09/04/dhcr-rejects-tas-objection-to-mcis-for-roof-elevator-projects/

Anonymous said...

I plan to vote for Teachout and Woo.

Anonymous said...

Gosh. My first impression was, what a sore loser! Tenants didn’t do what Guterman wanted so he’s picking up his marbles and going home. And maybe tenants were indeed not sufficiently grateful so be presented with a white knight or clever enough to recognize one. But the tone of this last message is thin skinned, insulting and not professional. It does make sense, though, coming from someone who got in trouble with the state attorney general for advertising the ages of nonbuying tenants in a building he converted to co-op. Guterman even advised us to violate the terms of our leases by replacing our locks and not giving management the keys. On the other hand, kudos for presenting a large community with what might have been an alternative. But setting up an email address and posting an agreement that could have been copied from Contracts for Dummies hardly represents a major effort or financial investment on his part. And as a strategy for market penetration, attempting to get 45% success via a blog that probably doesn’t reach anywhere near that figure, it’s a non-starter. Shouldn’t Guterman have been savvy enough to understand that from the beginning? And now he’s berating us. I guess we’re just not that into him.

Gerald Guterman said...

Guterman Said....

I believe that I read a suggestion for a reasonable compromise, that can get the engines running again.

Get 99 more Agreements (that will total 100) signed and sent back at: stpcv@gutermanpartners.com.

Two or three residents get
together and decide on the best location to hold at least 1,000 people and check available evenings beginning at no later than 4:00pm for about two hours on a Monday or a Wednesday. Also find out the price.

I will have my New York Rep check the location and confirm the meeting.

Gerald Guterman

Anonymous said...

9/4 6:10

well said and it's exactly what I have been thinking. I thought it was just me!

Anonymous said...

Gosh, 6:10. Gosh...this comment is so transparently from a TA sympathizer, it's only good to read for laughs.

Anonymous said...

6:16 thx for the link.

According to Susan Steinberg/ Marsh TA Board the biggest complaints from tenants (although their reported numbers are too small to register) is
laundry rooms and bikinis.

That is the PR perception Steinberg/Marsh TA board want to give the city before they go in to speak with CW in a few weeks.

According to tenants the biggest complaints are:

Contractor / Landlord Gouging on Renovations
MCI charges in perpetuity
MCI charges for unnecessary work
Weak Lackluster arguing against mci charges with the DHCR
Unfair, uneven distribution of mci charges across tenants negotiated by the TA board
Hidden fees in leases
Verizon access charges in leases
NOISE complaints
-in apartments from transient partying students
-from concerts in the quiet space oval
-from drunk students roaming the property, crawling back to the dorm in the middle of the night

Illegal dorm blocks of apartments
Illegal wall partitioned apartments from sham DOB deal

Shady corporate deals for commercialization of property (NYU, monopolistic Verizon, etc)

Secret closed door deals by Politicians / TA Board making corporate deals that cost us the community

Lack of transparency by a TA board

Dishonesty and uncaring responses from the TA board to tenant complaints

Dishonest representation of the tenants by the TA to the city agencies

and on and on ...



Guterman is not a white knight and we should not expect him to be. He is a human, flawed and imperfect as any and every human - but 6:10 you made a good point in that Guterman is an alternative resource. We should use him as a resource. That is what he is offering. We can take or leave his advice, but we should get it because clearly the TA board is not giving residents good advice or honestly representing PCVST.

Guterman is not saying he can save us -
he is saying he can show us ways to save ourselves.

And for the comment on illegal advice to change locks - that is how RE operates. They bend rules and stretch laws and leap through loopholes until someone says you can't.

We too need to bend, stretch, and leap and get the rules rewritten.

Anonymous said...

VOTE TEACHOUT WU!

PCVST endorses TEACHOUT WU!

Anonymous said...

Don't blame Mac Grey for the condition of the laundry rooms. Mac Grey recommended different and better machines for this populated community and more service technicians but CW put terms in the Mac Grey contract for cheaper smaller machines and at times only one technician for the entire complex both PC and Stuy Town. 1 overworked technician running all over the entire property to service all the machines. It is not mac grey's fault.
It is an easy fix to get it right. But I am sure Steinberg/Marsh will pretend they negotiated hard with CW to resolve the "#1 complaint by residents" in their upcoming meeting with CW.
I am calling BS.

Take on a real issue in that meeting like the overpopulation overstressed infrastructure! But the TA board would have to care about that. They only care about increasing the mci's and profits for Brookfield.

Big conflict of interest with this TA!

BIG!

Anonymous said...

Guterman's 1:16Am post just goes to show that none of this is sinking in with him.

Yes, it is possible to get 2-3 people to push the cause.

Will those 2-3 people be able to gather 1,000+ people? Probably not.

Will those 2-3 people be able to gather 1,000+ people on a Monday or Wednesday for two hours no later than 4:00pm? Absolutely not!

New Yorkers are hard working people, and to think that you are going to be able to gather over 1,000 people at 4:00pm on a workday is just ridiculous. I certainly would not take vacation time to attend this meeting.

I also do not believe that you are getting 99 more signatures before an actual meeting, therefore, I do not see this going anywhere...

Anonymous said...

"Two or three residents get together and decide on the best location to hold at least 1,000 people"

1,000 people? Dream on, Mr. Guterman. The most vital of TA meetings never drew that many people. If you're really serious, you need to do a mailing to all tenants. You've done it before, you need to do it again. I don't understand your resistance to doing that and to insisting on this forum for reaching out to people. Very odd behavior on your part.

Anonymous said...

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is SOO out of control here, that something has to give. I don't know WHAT, but we cannot continue to live under these conditions. It is soo depressing living here.

Anonymous said...

The only ones who show up, when hundreds show up for a meeting, is mostly retired and elderly. We work for a living. I can barely keep the site live on my computer w/o someone coming into my office. I do it because we want to raise our kids here and we can't afford an overpriced Brookfield condo that is based on the numbers CW states because they operated the property illegally, negligently, and unsafely to get operation costs lowered and profit numbers to look high. Mr Guterman, put it in the mail and have a meeting to so those who can go can spread the word.

Anonymous said...

You guys really are awful. I mean, really terrible in the way you talk to other people. BUT it is rather odd that a major real estate developer would choose to use this ridiculous place to try to garner support for his plan. I may not be the most supportive of his proposal, and certainly wouldn't pay him any money to "consult" on my behalf (still not clear what that would do), but I do want to buy my unit, if we can. I favor condo, but so far, there isn't any offer for anything on the table to like/dislike, etc. Mr. Guterman was not well-served by interacting here, and though I can certainly know how easy it is to get disgusted with the people on this site, all hurling insults at everyone and doing nothing but wallow in misery, I am surprised as a business man he would get so personally involved and respond to the people here. They really aren't ever going to support anything, ever.

Anonymous said...

There must be a good mailing list available for Mr Guterman to inform everyone about his plan. He can also use local media like Town & Village or the NY Post and Daily News to get his message across. That being said, it is really up to tenants to take some action, not Mr Guterman or the TA or local politicians.

Last time around, very few showed up to protest against the mid-lease rent increases/mass evictions, and yet all the naysaying trolls seem to have lots of time on their hands to knock down any new ideas for tenants to stand up for their rights, even though they probably have hidden agendas as shills for the TA or CW Capital.

The problem isn't Mr. Guterman or the TA or CW Capital, the problem is the passiveness of the sheeple that inhabit StuyTown and who just want to complain but never seem to take action. It's your money, your neighborhood and your home that is at stake, isn't that enough motivation to do something, to do anything?

Gerald Guterman said...

Guterman said....

I asked the readers asked to find a location that will hold 1,000 Residents. I didn't ask anyone to "get" 1,000 Residents, or rent the location.

I mentioned that my local representative would then check out the location. That means they will also make the financial arrangements.

My office will do the mailing and put articles into local papers.

I mentioned Monday and Wednesday as the days that I am available to be in New York. I did not mean that this coming Monday and Wednesday was requested. Simply the two days that I can generally be available in New York.

9.5@8:02 Right on. I am not in the saving business. My partners (now semi-retired and looking to be involved in an important service) and I, believe that we can do something that is significant for the future of the community. We sincerely believe that with the help of the tenants, we can eliminate the major portion of your list and probably moderate the balance.

I still need the signatures to begin.

Gerald Guterman

Anonymous said...

Sending our signed Agreement this weekend. Thank you Mr G and thanks for this forum STR.

Anonymous said...

What? I am confused. Mr. Guterman agrees that a meeting is a good idea, but he can't organize that meeting himself??

Since it's your meeting, Mr. Gutermna, aren't you in a much better position to be the one to "decide on the best location to hold at least 1,000 people and check available evenings beginning at no later than 4:00pm for about two hours on a Monday or a Wednesday. Also find out the price."

Who are these "two or three tenants" on an anonymous blog whom you expect to do this for you?

I just don't get it. In a comment on an earlier post, someone suggested that this might all be a hoax. Sometimes I wonder.

Anonymous said...

What's with the "no later than 4 PM"? Mr. Guterman, do you actually expect people to leave work in the middle of the afternoon for this meeting?? Or you only want retirees there??

I agree with others who cannot figure out why you don't just do a mailing.

Anonymous said...

11:33 I have to disagree with your portrayal. The people commenting on this site have exposed a lot of the bad things going on here. They brought awareness to things that I otherwise would not have known about because the TA and CW are trying so hard to keep it all secret and hidden. Just making us aware and bringing awareness to ALL that is going on, is doing a lot. That takes a lot of work. I thank all who have been working hard to expose what the TA and CW have been hiding.

Anonymous said...

I agree that Mr G would have to set the agenda & help organize the meeting. I say this not because this 'should' be the way things go but knowing the people here, if it doesn't happen that way, it won't go. An auditorium at Baruch is the best way to go. If GG asks for volunteers to help organize the meeting & develop the agenda, I'm sure some will come out of their shells. Just beware of TA moles.

Anonymous said...

Show up to protest against rent hikes? whyyyyyyy? It doesn't matter is all 20,000 of us show UP. NOTHING CHANGES, DO YOU NOT GET THIS? LIVED HERE FOR YEARS, been attending these things - to no avail. waste of my time.

Anonymous said...

6:08...what's your point of posting this here? To tell people to do nothing? Or another TA detractor?

Anonymous said...

Hey 11:33. Assuming you're not with the TA or following the TA blindly (just an assumption, mind you), why would you favor condo over co-op? The base price of a condo will cost you much more and condo closing costs are much more than co-op's.

Anonymous said...

Why does 6:08 need a point. Not a TA fan (stop repeating yourself/ it's a bore) but it is the truth. No one does anything, will do anything, this is all rhetorical nonsense & a place to vent , nothing more and no offense to Str. We are going backwards and you know it.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Gutterman-- you stated that "you are all intelligent people." That is, unfortunately, not true. It does not take great intelligence to stay put in a RS apartment and pay a fraction of the rent that your neighbors pay. The MR people are the ones you should be focusing on. They actually present a potential business opportunity.

Anonymous said...

Surely the point of posting here is that we're doing zilch, nada , nothing. Forget the politicians, Dhcr, DGarodnick. Noone gives a ___k about the wrongdoings towards decent working class middle income residents here. DG should be ashamed.

Anonymous said...

Why so much hate 10:42?
Both RS and MR are intelligent.
Seems the reno work audit would help us MR. So stop hating and start being a community. Both RS and MR need assistance and it is up to each person whether or not they go get it. We are one community who will benefit if we help ourselves AND each other.

Anonymous said...

Excuse me, 10:42 it does not "take great intelligence" to remain in my home of 30+ years, but I often do question the wisdom of those paying luxury rents to live in the projects.

Anonymous said...

"and pay a fraction of the rent that your neighbors pay. "

This is such BS. Go away, clueless one. Both you and the clueless long term tenants (there are many) as well. However, there are enough of us here to make up the difference, both ST and LT.

Anonymous said...

6:07 pm : where would you like us to go? We're all loving how you think it's cheaper to live elsewhere in the city. As a broker, I can tell you it is not. Maybe you should give up your place to help us all out a bit, eh?

Anonymous said...

Not the TA and believe me, not a big fan of this particular TA. But I am somewhat savvy and I would never want to put the financial security of this place in the shared hands of Stuytown residents. I would rather go in at sponsor level for a very below market unit that (my estate?) would then sell back after we leave here feet first. The risks are too high for going coop, given the physical needs, the questionable ability of other residents to carry those costs, the risk of individual default on a large scale, threatening the ownership of all residents, etc.

Anonymous said...

7:54...not sure I trust your TA remarks. But co-op form has been in place since the 1920s. ANd has been the most stable. Condo introduced in the 60s. In the history of co-op there has never been a large co-op default. IN the history of condos, there have been many condo defaults and some condos have had to go into bankruptcy because of developer defaults. So on what do you base insolvency of STPCV folks? Why are they different? ANd you are willing to pay much higher base prices and much higher closing costs because????? Sorry. To me this sounds like the TA line which in essence was Garodnick leading the TA by the nose in order for him to nail down MRs a voting constituents while securing a deal for Brookfield Y his cronies over at Paul Weiss and Moelis.

Anonymous said...

Converting to Co-op definitely makes more sense than condo, both from a financial and a community standpoint, but the bigger issue is how to maintain affordable housing. So far there is no plan to protect affordable housing even though the TA and Guterman claim that a conversion would do so. Most long time residents would not buy or be able to buy, meaning outsiders would have to come in and buy in as an investement, which makes StuyTown less of a community and more of a commodity.

What StuyTown needs is an affordable, non-market rate Mitchel Lama limited equity co-op program like Penn South, where apartments prices are capped and the equity is used to help maintain the property. They also have a 50 year property tax break from the State worth tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars in savings, which keeps everyones housing costs much lower both short and long-term.

Keeping overall costs lower for midlle income people must be the goal, otherwise just let the real estate vultures take over the property and let them turn it into the super-luxury millionaire gated enclave that these developers have in the works already.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

You're absolutely correct, 11:56 AM.

Anonymous said...

@11:56 Yes, you're absolutely correct, but you overlook one thing........


The $5.4 billion dollars in Met Life's pockets.

Gerald Guterman said...

To Anonymous @11:56 AM

You are absolutely right.

When I proposed my Coop plan to the TA, Moellis & Paul Weiss, I included a signed Agreement with a National Not-for-Profit Organization ("NOP"), wherein the NOP agreed to purchase all of the unsold coop apartments (at the coop sale closing) at the inside price and operate the purchased apartments under Rent Stabilization, for a period of twenty years.

Unfortunately, the Agreement was kept a secret by the tenant representatives.

Gerald Guterman


Anonymous said...

What Mr Guterman proposed was quite tenant friendly & did offer some sustained affordability. At roughly $315/sq ft many old timers would be able to buy with funds accumulated over many years &/or with help from younger family members. Once we start going back to the theme of the ideal, long term stability for everyone through gov't intervention, everything falls apart. For one, Mr Guterman is a conversion specialist and not some long time community activist advocating rent stabilization. Second, any form of rent stabilization will always need to benefit some landlord...unless you're thinking of gov't ownership (some form of socialism) and then we get into arguments over that. Last, even a co-op conversion will not satisfy the most idealistic among us because over time, all the units bought will sell at market rate. Please...let's not diffuse our efforts & descend into arguments over idealism. The kind of co-op conversion Mr Guterman proposed was the most logical I've seen. To be realistic, if we need to stand for something, we should stand for something like this. Not a shill at all. More than happy to discuss co-op versus condo with anyone. Show me logical common sense reasons why we should hope for anything other than co-op.

Anonymous said...

I for one and my sister (another renter) would sign with Guterman. We need a face to face meting though. We're not born yesterday and blind daters Mr. G. ?

Anonymous said...

7:35 pm - rude comment telling someone to go away. Shows zero class. And you're just avoiding the issues and points.

Anonymous said...

5:54 email Mr Guterman and ask for a face to face on the days he is in the city. He is the only one being communicative directly with us. Email him. He is just a regular nice guy.

Anonymous said...

I've met with Mr Gutterman as have others. I found him responsive and willing to make himself available when possible.

Anonymous said...

"7:35 pm - rude comment telling someone to go away. Shows zero class. And you're just avoiding the issues and points."

I am sick of hearing this crap (BTW, the STR has called BS on this as well) that the MR tenants subsidize the LT, old school, RS tenants. First of all, you guys have all these so called amenities that a “Classic” and “Modern” renovated apartment have. That these amenities are poorly constructed pieces of junk that the loopholes of the RE industry friendly (vacancy decontrol) NYS RS law have let pass to allow your exorbitant rent is not our fault. Second, you don't subsidize us; you subsidize the enormous debt that TS left this dump with. End of story.

Anonymous said...

12;17 EXACTLY RIGHT!

Anonymous said...

12 17 sorry it is true. You can look at it as such, but you can't change the facts. Yours (and my) rent doesn't cover squat around here. Not the taxes on the place, not the water bills, electric, gas, maintenance workers. sorry.