Perhaps if we don't want to start a panic, the news helicopter(s) that hovered this early morning over Bellevue, waking up light sleepers in ST/PCV after 6am, should disappear. Is it really that important to get aerial shots of the hospital where NYC's first Ebola patient is being cared for?
Sending positive thoughts for a full recovery for the patient.
(On a side note: Look into Governor Cuomo's eyes. The man has superior powers of hypnosis.)
That helicopter woke EVERYONE up!
ReplyDeleteIt was there for a full 1/2 hour?
Thank you very much! ASS%*!$%#'S.
Has anyone other building other than 17 stuy oval building and 1 other PCV building receive a notice regarding the "FACADE" MCI
ReplyDelete"WORK"? Please let us know.
By the STR, these "prove you are not a robot" words are really difficult to read.
Perhaps increasing density of the population is a VERY BAD idea as anyone with an ounce of common sense will tell you.
ReplyDeleteWe should also say we wish the Dr well and admire his work and humanitarianism and support the Mayor in his efforts to keep all of us safe in NYC.
ReplyDeleteTo backtrack a minute, an earlier commentator said something about the Mayor's wife holding a post- most spouses do. And she happens to be a very smart woman. The administration is fortunate to have her. She is qualified and deserves the position she has.
ReplyDeleteJust waiting the moment that someone connects the ebola patient at Bellevue to the broken washing machines...
ReplyDeleteOff the topic, with regard to our a/c charges going up, can you imagine how much more it would have been if today's a/c's were NOT energy efficient? This still sounds like a scam to me, and the TA must conduct some sort of an investigation. YOU HEAR THAT TA?
ReplyDeleteBeen really silent lately, that is, if you still exist.
I wonder if Management would let us know if there is an Ebola case here in STPCV? Probably not, until they have to.
ReplyDelete"Just waiting the moment that someone connects the ebola patient at Bellevue to the broken washing machines..."
ReplyDeleteThat's the least of what you can catch from the filthy washing machines.
1:09 LOLLL I love that post. Ty
ReplyDeleteOur former apartment on the west side was not $800+ a year in ACand electric. We use the AC July - September, maybe a bit of October and that totaled about $400 in all! The monthly bill was about $130 and this was only for summer/hot months. These are not large apartments folks. It is a scam that we are now charged $75 per month for 12 months. SCAM. SCAM.
ReplyDeleteI'm just waiting for the first airb&b Ebola case!
ReplyDeleteNew tenant here. We are in a newly renovated apartment which is $3580.00 per month for a one bedroom. The couple who held our place for 30 plus years were paying $1200.00 How in heck's name did it go from that to this? We have painted floors and a new kitchen and bath. Is this legitimate charging? Thank you all.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a very steep and legally problematic increase, but I bet CW Capital can somehow justify it. If I were you, I'd look into it, by at least asking your leasing agent why such a considerable increase.
ReplyDeleteLeasing agent? what agent? She long gone. They rotate every few months... lovely.
ReplyDeleteTo the new tenant: Didn't your lease or lease rider contain an accounting of how the new rent was calculated? That's supposed to be part of a standard rent-stabilized vacancy lease. Whether the numbers are legitimate is another question, but there should be an accounting.
ReplyDelete5 53. CWC is taking full advantage and no one is stopping them. Overcharges, mid lease increases, mci ++++. NO one gives a damn and dhcr continues to ignore and approve all landlord increases. You almost have to laugh at this.
ReplyDelete>>with regard to our a/c charges going up, can you imagine how much more it would have been if today's a/c's were NOT energy efficient? This still sounds like a scam to me, and the TA must conduct some sort of an investigation. YOU HEAR THAT TA?<<
ReplyDeleteAC charges went up because the cost of electricity probably went up again in NY state.
ST-PCV owners buy electricity wholesale and the cost to tenants is covered by temporary add-ons to our rent bills. Because we are all rent-stabilized, those temporary increases have to be approved by the DHCR.
The cost of wholesale electric in the state may have gone up a lot. It's a huge problem in NY now. Electricity used to be cheap here until Pataki deregulated NY's wholesale electric market in the 1990s. Electric costs doubled overnight and haven't come down since. Our electricity increases far exceed those of states with regulated energy markets. NY state now has the second highest wholesale electric costs in the entire country. Only Hawaii, the state surrounded by water in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, is higher.
Electricity deregulation in NY has not led to the promised free market miracle that Pataki promised and it needs to be re-regulated. Cuomo and the state legislature need to get on it.
October 25, 2014 at 5:53 PM
ReplyDeleteFirst. Rent regulations allow the landlord to get a 20% vacancy increase when the old tenants vacated. So add $240 to the $1200 and now you have an increase to $1440.00 Subtract that from $3580.00 and you have $2140.00 unaccounted for.
Next. In buildings with more than 35 apartments, rent regulations allow the landlord to recoup 1/60th of the cost of renovating a vacated apartment in the form of a permanent rent increase.
At only $1200/month, the previous tenant was probably elderly and without AC. So rewiring for AC probably gets figured into your 1/60th increase along with the BS stuff like painted floors, a new kitchen and bath. To get to the additional $2140 increase, the landlord would have to perform $128,400.00 in renovations, or individual apartment improvements as the state of NY refers to them.
The DHCR is the state agency that implements state rent regulations. According to their website:
"...such rent increases may be challenged by a tenant up to four years after the installation. When timely challenged, any claimed individual apartment improvement cost must be supported by adequate documentation, which should include at least one of the following:
1. Cancelled check(s) contemporaneous with the completion of the work;
2. Invoice receipt marked paid in full contemporaneous with the completion of the work;
3. Signed contract agreement;
4. Contractor's affidavit indicating that the installation was completed and paid in full."
http://www.nyshcr.org/Rent/factsheets/orafac12.htm
In the past it was basically impossible -thanks to Republicans in the state legislature- to challenge landlord renovation cost claims. Cuomo changed that, but I have no idea how easy it is or how to go about challenging those costs. I'd call the offices of our state reps to find out how. They're Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh (212-979-9696) and State Senator Brad Hoylman (212- 633-8052).
accounting or no accounting - that's an awfully huge increase. Did they install a pool, an extra bedroom and gold floors and walls in there?
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad that a man with such psycho eyes and ruthlessness as Gov. Cuomo has is not on our side. I can't vote for him beause he is owned by the REBNY. Shame.
ReplyDeleteTHE EBOLA VIRUS WOULDN'T SURVIVE IN OUR LAUNDRY MACHINES. THE MACHINES ARE TOO TOXIC.
ReplyDeleteRegarding DHCR: IMHO, no point in disputing the charges. Many have tried. Dhcr does not either respond, audit or follow up.
ReplyDelete"Regarding DHCR: IMHO, no point in disputing the charges. Many have tried. Dhcr does not either respond, audit or follow up."
ReplyDeleteBecause DHCR is OWNED by the REBNY and the filthy ilk of Speyer, Spinola and Cuomo. Nobody, but nobody, has a chance when this organization that is ten times stronger and worse than the original Mob ever was and the Russian Mob is. They are evil, despicable and thoroughly corrupt to the core. They own every politician in New York. This is why I will not be voting, though I may write in a candidate just as a gesture.
Anonymous @ 10/25/14 at 5:53 PM said...
ReplyDelete"We are in a newly renovated apartment which is $3580 per month for a one bedroom. The couple who held our place for 30 plus years were paying $1200."
This is a score for the Brookfield predator Garodnick and the TA are giving our $3 billion Fannie/Freddie funding, 100% ST-PCV ownership and multiple financial windfalls worth multiple $ billions in exchange for Brookfield promises to do almost nothing.
Disguised as our white knight, stealthy predator Brookfield looks forward to inheriting another predator's work product. It looks forward to inheriting your RS paying MR apartment. It looks forward to you vacating in disgust so it can inherit an even higher rent. Or, it looks forward to selling you an expensive Brookfield condo if you don't vacate in disgust. Instead of taking everything there is to take like other predators, Brookfield looks forward to Garodnick and the TA handing everything over to it without being called a predator.
Welcome to ST-PCV. Don't expect Garodnick or the TA to ever do anything real that might provide you with a benefit if it does not provide Brookfield with a much greater benefit. Don't get distracted or suckered in by their trolls dividing tenants apart by inciting petty bickering amongst neighbors. In different ways we are all prey fed to predators.
Dumb and Dumber! LOL! Neither one of them has a fucking idea of what they are talking about! How did these douchebags get into office? Can't believe anyone could be so dumb as to vote for either of them!
ReplyDelete7:33 is spot on. Corrupt to the core. The DHCR will not investigate as it is owned by RE. You're a sucker if you pay that rent.
ReplyDeleteNot a TA supporter but all this invective against Garodnick & the TA is somewhat mis-motivated.
ReplyDeleteThey aren't evil, but Garodnick and the TA aren't listening to us for 2 reasons. One, they tell themselves no matter what they choose, they can't make everyone happy. Two, they know they can't win without being the high bidder. So to be the high bidder they have to get into bed with a big developer and negotiate whatever they can get. But most of the items they claim to have gotten for us are pure BS. Many other developers would promise the same. The TA would point out they got a promise of affordability to buy for some low income households .God only know what that would mean in reality. It all really comes down to this. Roughly how much would Brookfield charge per square foot? The TA says Brookfield can't say for 2 reasons. One, they don't know how much they have to bid to win. This is a bullshit excuse. At any bid up to 5B, the developer will make plenty of money. It's more a question of how big a profit Brookfield wants. So at a price of 5B, Brookfield needs to answer how much per sq ft?
Second, the TA says that Brookfield is prevented by law from making such disclosures. Well, somehow Guterman was able to give an estimate and I don't see anyone charging him with a crime. There has to be a way Brookfield can give some estimates if it's to expect some community partnership.
The final piece of bullshit that really undercuts and discredits them is the spin the TA has pushed that the condo form is preferable to co-op. Condos are good for Brookfield and lousy for us. The costs are so much higher than co-op.
So the TA doesn't really seem evil but rather seems misdirected, overly manipulated, arrogant and a little too impressed with itself.
I would sooner that Garodnick and the TA just stay out of the bidding and organize the community to react as a unified community to whatever comes down the pike. A unified community is something any developer would find formidable. Instead, Garodnick and the TA have divided us.
October 25, 2014 at 5:53 PM
ReplyDeletePlease ignore the self-defeating commenters on this thread and go ahead with your challenge. Contact Hoylman or Kavanagh to walk you through it as suggested.
Two of the renovated units on my floor are being used as Airbnb hotels. The tenant turnover has been so frequent due to the huge (and midlease) rent increases that the current tenants are probably paying well over $4k per month for their one bedroomed units. I know for a fact that the units are Airbnb now.
ReplyDeleteNormally, this would bother me, but it does not because at this point I can fully understand why the leaseholders have moved to somewhere better and probably cheaper and making some money off their overpriced ST apartments. The people who come and stay for a few days at a time are usually middle-aged or elderly foreigners. They come in with their rolling luggage stay a few days, are very quiet, out most of the day, then after a few days they roll their luggage out and are gone. Different nationalities come and go, but the one thing they all have in common is that they are mature adults and behave as such.
I'm pretty sure that if CW ever finds out, they will terminate the leases and pack those units with noisy, nasty-assed students. I hope they never find out! I and my neighbors will never sniitch on them unless they start renting to troublesome people who disturb us.
I know it's not right, but there are so many things that are not right in this place and this is something we can live with.
Before anybody thinks of renting here, let alone BUYING here, it should be kept in mind that the plumbing and infrastructure is old and crumbling.
ReplyDeleteRecently, on two separate occasions, I have had my bathroom and my kitchen flooded by burst pipes in apartments high up on my line. The mess and work and patching up was no joke and still isn't completed. I've heard of this type of incident happening on numeous occasions. One of my friends in another building lost valuable carpets and antiques because of a major flood from an upstairs neighbor. It was nobody's fault; the pipes just burst. This should be kept in mind if you feel like plunking down money to buy into this aging complex.
I'm not the poster, but we live in STown & will also set in motion a challenge to the exorbitant rent. I seriously (not meant to be snarky) can't imagine HOlyman or Kavanagh office helping in this matter. I don't even know how to begin a conversation with them. Very beat up here in terms of rent increases and more. Thank you in any case for posting.
ReplyDeleteI can explain a possible scenario for the rent going from $1200 to $3580. First off, add the 20% vacancy increase ($240) which brings it up to $1440, then add in the long term vacancy increase of .06% per year if there's been no vacancy within the last 8 years. Let's say they were original tenants, and the apartment hasn't turned over in 50 years, that would equal another 30% increase on top of the $1440 ($144 x 3 = $432 + $1400 = $1832) then add in your 1/60th the cost of renovations, so that's $1000 per $60,000 worth of reno, and you see how fairly easily you could get to $3800 if they claimed $120,000 in reno, which is a number fairly easily fudged.
ReplyDeleteNow, I agree that this is all bullshit, but this is how the system works.
I heard Bozo Cuomo state that he disagrees with the CDC concerning Ebola quarantine requirements. When did he graduate from medical school and which one?
ReplyDelete1 - 26 We should all do this. They want to play ball, let's play ball. They're cheating, lying and stealing our homes here.
ReplyDeleteOctober 27, 2014 at 1:26 PM - There may not even be actual "tenants" per se living in those Airbnb apts. AG Schneiderman found out that a lot of Airbnb apartments in NYC are run by brokers with multiple listings.
ReplyDeleteYou're not doing yourself or your neighbors any favors by doing nothing. Call 311, state that the complaint is "illegal hotel." You can do it anonymously if you'd like. Then take note of the reference number and email it to Community board 6: office@cbsix.org
Then notify Public Safety: 212-598-5233
1:26 here. Tenants did move in. I don't blame them. Let PS and "management" do their own work. The Airbnb people don't bother anybody. Now, the sorority sisters and their bro boyfriends who live upstairs - that's a different story.
ReplyDeleteDhcr should be recording all overcharge claims and investigating. For the record, if you file one, you should be able to check for 'related claims' as well. You should see several for STPCV.
ReplyDeleteWhat is needed is for CW to be thoroughly audited to see exactly what they spent on these renovations and how they arrive at the ridiculously inflated rents they charge.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear that there is some felonious "book-keeping" going on. This is Tweed Courthouse accounting and if the AG has a spark of decency and professional drive, he will audit these despicable crooks ASAP.
AG nowhere to be found. Funny isn't it?
ReplyDeleteThe recipe for higher rents is as follows; install glass door shower, remove glass door, replace with free shower curtain. Rinse & Repeat, (no more glass shower doors)
ReplyDeleteI am leaving all my lights on and A/C on 24/7 just to get my money's worth. Imagine if everyone did this? Think we'd get their attention then? Calling for EVERY imaginable thing that needs to be done in my apartment? Imagine if everyone did this? Think we'd get their attention then?
ReplyDelete>>AG nowhere to be found. Funny isn't it?<<
ReplyDeleteYou don't think the AG reads this blog, do you?
Has anyone here actually contacted the AG's office? If so, what was the response?
9:32 AM, I think you will just burn through a lot of light bulbs, burn out your air conditioner (they malfunction in cold weather because the motor will freeze) and will get yourself a bad name with Resident Services who are nice people and who are not responsible for the bloodsucking crap the landlord pulls. You may do yourself more harm than good because you could have a real problem in your apartment and RS will be reluctant to respond.
ReplyDeleteBombard the AG with requests (no DEMANDS) to investigate these scumbags. That's what I and some of my neighbors are doing.
A new wine shop is opening up on first avenue next to Radio Shack.
ReplyDeleteThis is going to be great for the students. More parties, more noise, more empty wine bottles littered ALL OVER the place. This is all part of their slogan, MORE OF EVERYTHING! Be careful what you wish for! It will eventually hit you in the a$*.
TO: October 29, 2014 at 10:45 AM
ReplyDeleteI was only kidding! Just demonstrating a point out of frustration, like everyone else.
"This is going to be great for the students. More parties, more noise, more empty wine bottles littered ALL OVER the place. This is all part of their slogan, MORE OF EVERYTHING! Be careful what you wish for! It will eventually hit you in the a$*."
ReplyDeleteThis is why I like my Airbnb neighbors (two units doing it). They come and go quietly. No fuss, no mess, no noise, no pot stench. Just quietly-spoken Italians, French, etc. people rolling the luggage in and rolling it out again after a couple of days. So long as they don't bring in Ebola or bedbugs (especially bedbugs) they are fine with me. Helluva lot better than students!
I think as long as one is paying for something, they should be able to use it as much as they want. There are safety mechanisms built in such as the fuse box.
ReplyDeletePost the address of the AG and others can also bombard with complaints.
ReplyDeleteproblem is they do bring in bedbugs.
ReplyDelete1:34pm: no one is saying otherwise, but there is such a thing as cutting off your nose to spite your face.
ReplyDeleteA simple question, how do Airbn tenants get in and out of the buildings? Are they furnished a laundry room key?
ReplyDeleteI hope we get ONE major snow storm this year. Know what I mean?
ReplyDeleteOctober 27, 2014 at 1:26 PM: Thats extreme. I dont think your equations that tourists = quiet and all new tenants = noisy partiers are always correct.
ReplyDelete8:51 PM
ReplyDeleteNot necessarily. It all depends upon the wind direction, though.