Is it time to call Mayor Bill de Blasio (aka Warren Wilhelm, Jr) a Fuckin' Idiot?

He names his new buddy Rob Speyer a co-chair of a host committee for the Democratic National Convention, when the only thing Robbie should have is a chair thrown at him.

And Bill or Warren, how's about those promises to the residents of Stuy Town and Peter Cooper that you made pre-election time and that meeting with Dan and the TA in Dan's apartment in July of last year, over Veniero's cannolis, where a plan was going to be put forth in a hopeful 60 days? We're still waiting. Though we could be understandably waiting to be screwed or sold down the East River, which is my educated guess.

The Tenants Association: Worthless or Helpless?

So how's your Tenants Association doing? What is it doing?

While we appreciate the self-sacrifice of spending one's free time in the TA and trying to help our community, what does the TA have to show for its efforts and accomplishments? And it's not even a case of accomplishments in a "victory" sense, but just some serious movement that is putting pressure on management to make things work here effectively for the middle class, and some serious fight in retaining whatever affordability is possible in ST/PCV? (Though affordability is now becoming a joke to more and more residents here.)

What I experience from the TA is secrecy and stubbornness. Tenant concerns have been raised about the legality of certain procedures on the part of the landlord, whether it's the growing student population that is packing itself into 1 or 2 bedroom apartments, whether it's the addition of wall partitions that change the occupancy of an apartment (but, at the same time, officially NOT its occupancy), whether it's many other matters, but the TA refuses to respond to these issues.

Instead, the TA, joined at the hip to our councilman, Dan Garodnick, has placed much of its energy on the pipe dream of tenant ownership of this property. That's it. That's the TA's plan for this community. People in the know privately laugh at this dream, but even if by some very small chance (about 1%) tenant ownership would become a reality, it would be a tenant ownership of a few, while the rest of our buildings would be under the lordship of a Big Read Estate landlord or a conglomerate of such landlords whose vision for this property is much different than ours. And "affordability" would be severely diminished and on the way to expiring in the years to come.

If the TA is going to disappear one day (and that appears to be the logical direction of its life span), then let it at least go out with a fight and not with a whimper about conversion. "Please, Sir, can I have an apartment to buy? Pretty please."

Silver Arrested

I could think of others....

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/assembly-speaker-silver-arrested-report-article-1.2087758

We Are Losing This City Quicker Than We Think

No, the above is not a building in the making. It is the finished design for a new building being raised in Tribeca.

And here's an article that every Stuy Town/Peter Cooper Village and NYC resident should read:

http://tribecatrust.org/the-destruction-of-tribeca-and-new-york-what-can-we-do/

A few money quotes:

"Everywhere you turn, you can see that our historic, distinctive city is being eaten alive by those Lords of Misrule who represent Big Real Estate. To them, New York is just a lot of unrealized Floor-Area-Ratio waiting to be built up. They do not care about history, urbanism, quality of life, sunlight, beauty, or about anything that makes our city livable. While it is true that our government is supposed to care about those things, it cannot do so if it is 'captured' by a special interest like that of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)."

On the Mayor:

"He too has been silent on the issue. Apparently he doesn’t want any more historic districts if they interfere with the ambitions of Big Real Estate. Is it because he is listening to the self-serving advice of REBNY, the real estate lobby? Most likely. Don’t forget that REBNY is the same lobby who thinks that neighborhoods like ours should be torn down and replaced with towers (as argued by REBNY’s favorite right-wing, anti-regulation economist, Edward Glaeser in his destructive book, 'The Triumph of the City'). And If you didn’t know, REBNY has been on an anti-historic district rampage for years, issuing  ideologically-slanted policy statements against historic districts on their website and in editorials everwhere. REBNY even finances lobbying campaigns to take down the Landmarks Preservation Commission."

The REBNY is the enemy. The politicians who bow down to the REBNY and attend REBNY galas are our enemies.

We are losing this city. And it will never come back.

More Attendees at the REBNY Gala You May Know

Yeah, let's bring these photos out into the open here.... (Thanks to STR readers for the original links.)

Surely you recognize the mayor, and a person away, Robbie Speyer, former landlord of our complex, whose "best practices" fucked up this community and left us with billions of dollars in debt.....

Melissa Mark-Viverito, speaker of the City Council, next to Robbie....

On the left, Comptroller Scott Stringer (may the heavens preserve us from him becoming mayor)....

Left: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and next to him, our Tenants Association counsel (you read that right), Meredith Kane....

And last, but certainly not least, our man Dan Garodnick (middle), who appears to be having a grand time at the gala....

So now what do you think are the chances for true "affordable housing" in ST/PCV?

The Walkway Condition of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper: DISASTER!

I think it's time to start sending photos to the big shots at CWCapital and CompassRock, asking them if they are proud of the way the walkways of this complex look. The other day, I took a walk through a part of Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village, and was astounded (and sickened) by the dog shit all over the place and the terrible condition of certain areas of our walkways.

Here's a small sample of what I saw. (And, yes, photo 2 is of a doggie bag with dog shit inside that someone placed on the stairway at the 20 St. Loop.)

 

We all know, of course, that the walkways (with their many cracks, gouges, holes) are waiting to be fixed when the passage of time will allow an MCI can be charged for it, but it's disgraceful that the stewards of this property keep it in such condition and that no one is compelling this job to get done now, MCIs be damned.

As to the dog shit, it really is all over the place and increasing month by month.

This is not luxury living, but slum living for white folks who don't know better. Wake up, everyone, and see our projects for what they are and how badly they are maintained by CWCapital and CompassRock!  So what, you have an Ice Rink! (That only a couple of hundred tenants at most use.) So what, you have a "cafe" at the Oval that serves overpriced lukewarm coffee and still can't make peanut butter & jelly sandwiches! So what, you feel safe because the people around you are not minorities! Demand more of the rent check you pay every month!

The 119th REBNY Gala

 

If you couldn't make it or misplaced your invitation, not to worry, here's a run-down:

http://commercialobserver.com/2015/01/rebnys-119th-gala-through-the-five-senses/

And, yes, our man Dan is mentioned.

The "We're Screwed" Photo:

Ess-a-Bagel to Close this Month

http://town-village.com/2015/01/16/grill-21-rose-closing-ess-a-bagel-moving/

A very popular neighborhood fixture, Ess-a-Bagel, will apparently go the way of so many other mom-and-pop businesses in Manhattan: it's going to be gone. To be taken over by, what else, a bank (Bank of America) and something called "Tal Bagels."  Gone, too, will be Grill 21 and Rose Restaurant.

I'd rather have "Tower Bagels" be a CVS or a Duane Reade, but you can't have everything.

Folks, we are losing this city, piece by piece.

Robbie Speyer Asks: Is Your Building Happy?

More brilliance from Robbie Speyer, chairman of the REBNY and former landlord of all the happy buildings in ST/PCV....

 

Robbie Speyer on Making Cities More Affordable

Yeah, he's a genius at that. Made ST/PCV more affordable when he was in charge here, right?



His solution appears to be to get rid of many landmarked buildings!  New York, you've been warned!

The REBNY is playing young people for suckers...and winning

One of the aims of the REBNY is to get young people into smaller apartments to maximize the profitability of limited space. Make micro-apartments "cool" and you solve your problem because now young renters will accept a shitty living situation and be happy about it!

Case in point. Check this "apartment" out:

http://elitedaily.com/humor/most-pathetic-nyc-apartment-listing-photo/906247/

Then check out the first comment (from someone who lives in Santa Monica!):

>>It's for a young, single person on a budget. It's really not that bad at all. It's clean and keep you safe. Think: minimalist. It's a "micro apartment", which are really in right now.<<

The Mission of the REBNY

This is an important read:

http://www.globest.com/news/12_1026/newyork/development/On-REBNYs-2015-Agenda-Ongoing-Advocacy-354353.html

Just the beginning should alert you:

>>It’s the stated mission of the Real Estate Board of New York “to protect, improve and advance the business of real estate” in the city, and tackling a variety of municipal, state and federal issues has been among the ways it has carried that mission out.<<

Note. The mission of the REBNY is to "protect, improve and advance the business of real estate..." (Emphasis mine.)

And, if you don't know by now, our former disgraced landlord (who introduced dog shit into the complex) is chairman of the REBNY. Here's Robbie Speyer and one his politico friends:

Oh, and the REBNY and Robbie Speyer are pissed off at the landmarking that's around the city, which handicap the BUSINESS of real estate in Manhattan.

Was the New Management Office (Still Not Completed) Really Necessary?

Everyone knew this would be coming.... A flood barrier, protecting lower Manhattan, including Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village.

http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2015/01/task-force-begins-planning-for-335-million-east-river-flood-barrier.html

Market-Rate Tenants ("The New Stabilizers"), You Are Being Played for Suckers

I don't understand why the TA is still hovering around the idea of conversion and actively hoping and working for it. Do you seriously think that CWCapital, in a sale, is going to handicap a potential buyer with conversion nonsense? Don't you think that the best scenario for a seller is to afford the buyer the prospect of doing what the buyer may wish to do with the property?

And take a look at the property, now that the foliage is gone from the trees: THESE ARE THE PROJECTS. Fairly ugly looking, institutional buildings. Despite the gimmicks of an ice rink or an "indoor" basketball court, these projects only make sense if the property is affordable and structured for the working class. Otherwise, only the land is of supreme value, which means that sooner or later, these buildings, with all their old structural problems, are going to be torn down, replaced by modern high towers.

Right now the "New Stabilizers" are paying market-rate prices for a complex that is inhabited more and more by students (herded several into an apartment), where the laundry facilities are mediocre, there's dog shit everywhere, the walkways are cracked, delivery packages are being stolen, and where THERE ARE NO DOORMEN! You are paying for luxury living, but are not living in luxury.

Approved by the DOB the other day

Maybe it is time to move from NYC.

I've Had Enough! Have You, Too?

Very busy, but in reading what's been happening here--a stabbing leaving someone paralyzed, future MCIs, dog shit all over the place, lack of heat in certain apartments, washing/drying machines broken down--I've had enough! No more Mr. Nice Guy!

To be continued....

Sublet Your Stuy Town Apartment to College Students

Back in the game. Hope you all had a nice New Year's Eve and Day.

So...while I was on Facebook, I was shocked to see an ad on the right side for subletting one's Stuyvesant Town apartment for free to college students!

Here's the full pitch on NYC COLLEGE RENTALS: http://www.nycollegerentals.com/sublet/

The money quotes: "College students love Stuyvesant Town because of it's [sic] location, safety, atmosphere, amenities and beautiful apartments. There are 53,700+ NYU students alone, and most of them have parent guarantors. All of the renters we recommend to you go through a thorough financial vetting process. Our real estate service is recommended directly by NYU and other top schools to all of their students."