Of course, these developers won't ask for anything in return and will keep the projects "affordable"....
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/city-sell-stakes-housing-projects-developers-article-1.2037359?cid=bitly
Our landlord, BLACKSTONE, can't handle Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village. There is a lack of enforcement of certain "rules," and no amount of notice to this alleviates the problems. We are continually being told half-truths and fabrications. And we have no viable Tenants organization, despite our TA asking for dues all the time. So far, the politicians have proven to be basically useless. A typical New York story.
This is what Bloomberg wanted. To these plutocrats and developers, the poor and middle class are nothing more than canon fodder for their profitable wars and if they could round up all the not-fit-for-canon-fodder people and exterminate us, they would. This is the New World Order.
ReplyDeleteOn fodder what have we done?
ReplyDeleteWell, this is finally a step in the right direction. Introduce private ownership to run this housing efficiently for a change and make some sorely needed upgrades. Hopefully, the proceeds will be invested wisely.
ReplyDeleteYes, a step in the right direction. Hopefully, we can get rid of the people living now in the projects, upgrade the buildings and introduce amenities to get a different class of people in. If you can't afford the city, what are you doing here?!
ReplyDeleteOh, and hi, Richard.
ReplyDelete"Yes, a step in the right direction. Hopefully, we can get rid of the people living now in the projects, upgrade the buildings and introduce amenities to get a different class of people in. If you can't afford the city, what are you doing here?!"
ReplyDeleteIs that what you really think, STR? If so, then you one big BASTARD!!! Take your blog and shove it!
So in 30 years the developers will "ask" that the units become market rate....but NYCHA will keep everything affordable? How's that gonna work? Why would any developer sign on to that? Are we being told the truth? Or is this more bullshit from Democrats who change after they get elected?
ReplyDeleteThe Bloomberg guy was worse head of NYCHA ever....a wall street quasi private corrupt developer mentality and look what happened.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-mayor-dump-nycha-rhea-asap-article-1.1503364
ReplyDeleteSound familiar?
"And then there was Rhea’s grand plan for “long-term financial stability” — handing parking lots, basketball courts and community centers in NYCHA projects to real estate developers who would build luxury housing in exchange for long-term leases.
Needless to say, public housing tenants have overwhelmingly condemned Rhea’s attempt to sell off their public spaces. Still, the man keeps pushing forward.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-mayor-dump-nycha-rhea-asap-article-1.1503364
Has anybody noticed a certain "angst" in the air? We are ruled by a plutocracy/oligarchy which is just what most people who emigrated to this country, wether recently or generations ago, strived to leave behind. The Feudal System was all the go in the "Old World," but now is alive and thriving in the "New World." Time for a change. Time for an uprising against these plutocracies, oligarchies and feudal systems that infested and metastasized in our country under the new name of "Hedge Funds."
ReplyDeleteWe have police who are no better than the Gestapo, overlords who want to strip us of every last bit of dignity and pride we have and we are just about sick of this.
I fear for America of the future. We are going backwards, not forward. We need a clean sweep of these corrupt politicians, SS-style cops and corrupt and filthy hedge funds who are hellbent on destroying our country.
We need a real change of power and I don't know who will lead and who will follow; but I do know that it will happen. History has a way of repeating itself and I may not see it in my time, but it will happen.
Kinda like privatizing the postal service, which is now bankrupt.
ReplyDeleteWorthy of another mention
ReplyDeletehttp://stuytownreport.blogspot.com/2014/06/memorandum-from-guterman-copied-to-firm.html
UPDATE: Exterior Restoration MCI for More Buildings in Stuyvesant Town - Peter Cooper Village
ReplyDeleteThree buildings—431 East 20th St., 601 East 20th St., and 2 Peter Cooper Road—all in Peter Cooper Village—recently received a Notice to Tenant of MCI Rent Increase Application for exterior restoration work. Several buildings received such a notice in October. WTF?
This reminds me, Ain't No Chimneys in the Projects. It's a song (look it up).
ReplyDeleteAs per article, by outside companies, investing & upgrading apartments, they will be allowed to eventually be allowed to raise the rents to market rate. This may create the first "non-poor" door.
Next time Dan says its legal for PCVST to be destroyed due to loopholes and laws remind him he and his peers make those laws. If it is legal it is because he is making it legal for RE to destroy this community.
ReplyDelete"In Albany, some of the most questionable conduct by elected officials has long been perfectly legal, safeguarded by the only people who can outlaw it: the lawmakers themselves."
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/08/nyregion/after-moreland-commission-shutdown-by-gov-cuomo-loopholes-live-on-in-albany.html?_r=0
Seems like this "paves the way" for Alicia Glen to warehouse the elderly poor in a death row of cells er.. one-room studio apartments in separate buildings as an earlier poster mentioned?
ReplyDelete>>"Yes, a step in the right direction. Hopefully, we can get rid of the people living now in the projects, upgrade the buildings and introduce amenities to get a different class of people in. If you can't afford the city, what are you doing here?!"
ReplyDeleteIs that what you really think, STR? If so, then you one big BASTARD!!! Take your blog and shove it!<<
I guess you don't understand giant sarcasm when you read it!
Oh for heaven's sake it was OBVIOUSLY SARCASM and someone is threatened by the truths told in this blog and comments they are grasping at anything to discredit it.
ReplyDeleteAfter 30 years, the developers could technically ask for the units to become market rate, but any switch would be at the discretion of NYCHA, which has vowed to keep the units affordable.
ReplyDelete“NYCHA is in control here,” the spokeswoman said.
Sure. Tell that to Mayor Bloomberg III in 2044.
Dec 6, 10:15 pm: Cool your jets and take a tranq. STR was being sarcastic and I think he was responding to a comment (that he didn't post) from a known right-wing jackass who, I think, is named Richard.
ReplyDeleteFrom a poster at the TA FB page:
ReplyDelete“If you're unhappy about the way STPCV is being run by CWCapital and Compass Rock, there was bad news at the TA meeting last Saturday. Councilman Garodnick said that according to the new creditor agreement put in place last summer between the property's bond holders and CWCapital, CWCapital and Compass Rock could be here for the next 3 years and that term is renewable for an additional 3 years. That's a possible total of 6 more years living under their destructive regime. And, if their parent company, Fortress Investment Group, a hedge fund that's publicly announced it's willing to pay 4.7 billion dollars to satisfy the bond holders and acquire the property, gets their hands on STPCV, CWCapital and Compass Rock could be here indefinitely.
And here's even worse news than the above bad news, also confirmed by Councilman Garodnick: the property does not need to be sold on the open market. Theoretically, CWCapital could just hand it over to their parent, Fortress. I think this plan/scenario has been in place for years and it's the reason CWCapital wouldn't talk with the TA and Brookfield about buying the property. Diabolically clever of Fortress to buy CWCapital shortly after it became the Special Servicer here. If Fortress takes over, things are likely to get even worse for STPCV's long-term tenants. The head of Fortress is on the Board of NYU/Langone Medical Center and I'm sure we'll see the housing of even greater numbers of students, contributing to the further dormification of STPCV and the further erosion of our quality of life."
It really is over here. Conversion? I don't think so.
3:51 That is exactly why residents have been telling the TA they are on the WRONG side of the battle lines allowing CW to commercialize the property and evict thousands of residents. In the past 3 years the TA has done ZERO to stave off the destruction by CW Fortress and worse, the TA has helped CW and we watched the TA throw residents under the bus who tried to stop the destruction by CW.
ReplyDelete@ 3:51 pm:
ReplyDeleteI agree, there will be no conversion here. It isn't over till it's over, though. Now is the time for the Tenants Association to concentrate on being just that. Forget the conversion nonsense and just focus on being a good TA and you will probably find a lot of tenants will get on board with you. Be like the Riverton TA. We need a good TA very, very badly and our TA has been just sitting waiting for the fucking conversion that will never happen! No need to be nice to CW; no need to kiss Garodnick's ass (you know he isn't our friend); time to just focus on making life more livable for tenants and fighting CW on their bogus MCIs and destruction of the property.
Then WHY DOESN'T DAN GET OFF THE CONVERSION WETDREAM AND START HITTING CWC AND CR WITH VIOLATIONS FOR RAISING RENTS, FAKE AND PHONY RENOVATIONS, MID LEASE INCREASES, BULLSHIT MCI?
ReplyDeleteWHAT ABOUT THAT DAN.
Completely agree that the TA should now focus on the real issues here and not hope that a conversion will save the day. It's been a mantra for too long whenever there are problems here: "We need conversion so that we can rule ourselves and not be at the mercy of the landlord." That's been the focus for too long of a time. Meanwhile, the affordable housing stock at ST/PCV gets less and less each month and more students get crammed in (who don't give a damn about what happens here and whose turnover is responsible for higher rents on the apartments they leave).
ReplyDelete"Then WHY DOESN'T DAN GET OFF THE CONVERSION WETDREAM AND START HITTING CWC AND CR WITH VIOLATIONS FOR RAISING RENTS, FAKE AND PHONY RENOVATIONS, MID LEASE INCREASES, BULLSHIT MCI?"
ReplyDeleteBecause Dan is a Real Estate Man! His campaign coffers were stuffed with RE money; his political aspirations are to help Big RE. He is NOT on our side and has proven that over and over. He loves CW, Fortress and their ilk.
Slow and steady persistence will win the race. A conversion of some sort is inevitable, no serious investor will repeat TS's mistake. It would be foolish not to engage and ensure a favorable outcome for tenants.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Dan doesn't care very much about PCVST because the majority of tenants here are not registered to vote in this district. They are transients from the Flyover States.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how the TA goes from delineating exactly how the conversion will take place to informing us that that it could be another six years (in addition to the past 5) before there is any resolution. All the while the project burns. I feel bad for the families who have been overpaying all these years only because they bought the TA party line. Of course when they leave I'll probably have apartments full of NYU sewage on opposite sides of me.
ReplyDeleteoh I almost forgot......yeah, I realize you're all volunteers.
>>A conversion of some sort is inevitable<<
ReplyDeleteStill thinking that? I'm dumbfounded that anyone could hold onto that idea, which just stifles anything serious being done around here.
STR- not advocating a conversion, just pointing out the reality that it's the choice plan of any serious investor. To sell apts at close to 1000 sq foot AND make a fortune in perpetuity managing the property is the way to go. Time will tell.
ReplyDelete8:52 -- it is hard to feel bad for the MR who "bought" the party line when that line caused the eviction of thousands of our neighbors and friends, killed thousands of trees, installed 4500 dorms with 5X as many students every 11 months removing apartments from middle class reach so the MR could get mortgages from the bank - banks that require buildings be 80% purchasable dwellings before they will give anyone a mortgage. SO the MR you feel sorry for are responsible for the transient population and the commercial businesses. The party line the MR bought into was a purchase deal similar to the Tishman Plan which is why the TA pretended to be pro-tenant / pro-pcvst community and pretended to be doing things for residents while instead was misleading the RS to help their "new stabilizers community kick out the current rent stabilizers community. There is no difference between Tishman, CW and the TA. All played a part in evicting the existing community to replace it with their new "desired" community and killing the park space to replace it with their benghazi tents and strip malls.
ReplyDeleteThis TA can never be trusted to do right by residents. A tiger cannot change its stripes.
I find it astonishingly pathetic the city brags about the credentials of the people they put in charge of these agencies who are not able or chose not to balance the agency's budget and worse run the agency into financial ruin --- who then go onto the private sector where the same people are paid a lot of money and are able to or chose to profitably run private businesses. The article in the post tells me the agency commissioners should be prosecuted and imprisoned for harming the people. The job of commissioner is too important to give to the inept or the corrupt. Commissioners enjoy a lot of privileges while not fulfilling their obligations to the people they serve. Who are the commissioners who ran this agency into the ground? They should be run out of town.
ReplyDeleteA digression, an earlier poster is correct. the inspections checking the air conditioners, refrigerators, etc are illegal. They cannot inspect for inventory reasons and those inspections should have been stopped at the onset by a legitimate TA that is not complicit with CW.
ReplyDeleteIt's over folks.
ReplyDeleteSend your money to Tenant PAC and work to have stabilization laws renewed and extended beyond the j-51 expiration, it's your only hope.
StuyTown is toast, Campos is toast, the Wald and Riss houses are next as well as the Harlem waterfront Issacs houses. It's OVER.
I was at the most recent TA meeting. I left after Dan's sermon. The meeting was touted (at least partly) as a conversion update. Where exactly was the update. Dan gave a history lesson and basically added no new information. Was anything added at the meeting after his sermon that I missed?
ReplyDelete"To sell apts at close to 1000 sq foot AND make a fortune in perpetuity managing the property is the way to go. Time will tell."
ReplyDeleteWhat makes you think the seller would be the manager? I don't think there will be a conversion, but I'm pretty sure that it should happen, the apartment buyers would not want this bunch of half-assed crooks (CW/CR) to manage the property. I think they would be booted out and told never to come back!
Now that oil prices have dropped, shouldn't our "AC Charge" drop accordingly?
ReplyDelete"I was at the most recent TA meeting. I left after Dan's sermon. The meeting was touted (at least partly) as a conversion update. Where exactly was the update. Dan gave a history lesson and basically added no new information. Was anything added at the meeting after his sermon that I missed?"
ReplyDeleteWhy should anybody be responsible for doing for you what you should have done for yourself?
Why does anyone think that buying is the way to go? Look at what happened with Sandy... Look at how old these pipes are...
ReplyDeleteIt's only a matter of time. They can push the buttons as long as they would like, but time is the real factor that is not on their side. You get all these MCI's for bricks, but what about internal piping?....
Buy at your own risk
"Now that oil prices have dropped, shouldn't our "AC Charge" drop accordingly?"
ReplyDeleteHuh? What exactly is the connection?
There will be a conversion, but it may not be in your life time. The longer CW holds PCVST in abeyance the more older tenants pass on, the more legal rents are driven up by student churn, the more real estate makes a comeback. If there is a sale, the top bidder will be Fortress. The fix is in there for everyone to see. Fortress will keep doing the same a CW except just like MetLife, when they see a market oppty, they will start charging legal rents and they will apply to AG for a conversion. At market rates there will be many thousand empty apts which will be sold at market rate. Do the math. At 2.5MM per in 10 years we're talking about many billions in profit. Meanwhile, the MCIs are at our expense to make the place more attractive to future market rate buyers. Security system, new lighting system on the stairwells, god knows what else they'll think of. There are just 2 ways to fight them. One is to start having large weekly rallies against them that get media attention. Big real estate firms really hate bad press. There other is to fight the MCIs in a massive way. (I don't think it's possible/legal to stop student rentals.)
ReplyDeleteExcellent point 10:49a
ReplyDelete"Still thinking that? I'm dumbfounded that anyone could hold onto that idea, which just stifles anything serious being done around here."
ReplyDeleteyeah STR I agree, and I'm someone from the conversion camp. How anyone, at this point, can think that there will be an AFFORDABLE conversion is beyond me. I do see a possibility of an UNAFFORDABLE conversion (for real R/S renters). People who are overpaying for their apartments would probably jump at the chance of purchasing at say 100,000 under market. Let's say a typical one bedroom in the sty would sell for $650000. For someone paying $3500 a month, why wouldn't they pay an "insider" price of $550000? I pay $1500 for my 1 bedroom in the sty. Why would I assume a $4000 per month mortgage? Since half the tenant population here are overpaying, they would have significant buy in. As far as tenants like me? They will just continue nickel and diming us with MCI'S until they wear us out. When I leave, they will renovate my apt and sell it for market. That's how I see it anyway.
I was annoyed at how they addressed (or actually didn't address) the inspections. I confirmed with the NYPD too that the inspections are illegal. They cannot inspect for the reasons they are or how they are going about it when they are in the apartment. What they are doing is illegal. It does not matter at all as they said at the TA meeting about this 24 hour notice and they should have addressed the inspections in FULL at the TA meeting instead of just saying the typical response we have been getting from these guys for years telling residents about the 24 hour notice with no mention of how they are illegal for the reasons behind the inspection. I am sick of the TA not addressing in FULL the issues we face here every day and for years. We can question and refuse the inspection for the reasons they are conducting them.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the notices that documented that installation of a 2nd door lock was a violation of your lease. For those long termers, we were required to submit a 2nd door lock key to what was once a Cleaners on 20th street. So good luck keeping them out.
ReplyDelete"Why should anybody be responsible for doing for you what you should have done for yourself?"
ReplyDeleteOh SHUT UP, you annoying preachy troll! Go back to the TA fb page and continue hall monitoring and causing trouble there.
"Don't forget the notices that documented that installation of a 2nd door lock was a violation of your lease. For those long termers, we were required to submit a 2nd door lock key to what was once a Cleaners on 20th street. So good luck keeping them out."
ReplyDeleteI was never asked for a copy of my top lock key. Must have been an oversight on their part. I don't intend to volunteer it! I wonder if they made this mistake with others who have their own lock.
What I don’t understand why everyone is saying that it’s a done deal and Fortress would gain control. I did read complaint junior bondholders filed in NY Supreme and later in federal court against CWC and senior bondholders. I am not a lawyer and I am not in real estate, but I understand a bit of finance and I think they have a strong case – CWC did try to pull a fast to cut the junior guys out completely, but I don’t see how it would hold in court (anyone with the knowledge to make an educated guess on the timeline and outcome is welcome to comment). If junior guys win, the complex will be sold on public auction and in this case there will be plenty of bidders. However buys the place may very well keep it rental but I am not convinced it’s going to be in CWC control for another 3+3 years.
ReplyDelete9:20 agree. I too am not entirely convinced of the 3 + 3 story they tried to sell us. Felt like a typical shyster trick; Cuomo-esque, when he uses fear as a motivator to control people, get people to follow his way, and tries to look like a hero. But it falls flat since NY is too smart for that and is not motivated by fear.
ReplyDelete