So the City Council voted for Midtown East Side rezoning, allowing for excessive high-rise buildings, with Our Man Dan leading the pack and in favor of the 63-floor One Vanderbilt building at Grand Central, but now.....
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20150728/REAL_ESTATE/150729850/key-city-council-members-want-to-curb-super-tall-buildings-south-of-central-park
A number of local elected officials who hold sway over zoning laws sent a letter to the Department of City Planning last week urging it to rein in the tide of new tall buildings south of Central Park.
"We write to voice our concern about the impacts of as-of-right super-tall buildings in the 57th Street corridor below Central Park and its environs," wrote seven lawmakers, including City Council members Dan Garodnick, Corey Johnson and Mark Levine, in a July 23 letter to Carl Weisbrod, who heads City Planning. "We ask for your assistance in mitigating the proliferation of these buildings."
Is this a case of covering one's ass just in case? "I voted for it, before I voted against it."
Or maybe, since the filthy deed is done, and those high-rises have gone up, are in the process of going up, or will be going up in the future, it doesn't matter any more, so why not make a useless stand against them now and fool the public into thinking the protest was there earlier in the game when election time comes around.
Perhaps they just mean 57th Street, but they do mention "environs." Anyway, the City Council is giving away many blocks of the city to the REBNY and high-rises, so what is actually happening here?
More at the above link.
And a reminder of what the City Council did recently:
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2015/05/8568860/city-rezone-grand-central-area-allow-1500-foot-tower
52 comments:
maybe probably it is both of your theories
"Is this a case of covering one's ass just in case? "I voted for it, before I voted against it."
Or maybe, since the filthy deed is done, and those high-rises have gone up, are in the process of going up, or will be going up in the future, it doesn't matter any more, so why not make a useless stand against them now and fool the public into thinking the protest was there earlier in the game when election time comes around."
We all complain about this for years and these same politicians give our names to the billionaire developers to harass the crap out of us and now they are pretending to care about and to do the same fu**in things we have been saying and doing for years. They are all the same. They care nothing about constituents homes or Central Park but now they care about saving office space from Russian Oligarchs. They betrayed us. All of them betrayed us.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2015/07/8572965/midtown-east-officials-seek-limits-residential-building
Dan and pals have probably heard the rumblings of the discontented citizenry who don't want their sunlight stolen and don't want more of these ugly, hideous money-laundering buildings that are only affordable to oligarchs and plutocrats who won't live in them and they know we are not going to vote for them next time round.
If we are going to have these monstrosities thrust upon us, even if there is a closet or two put aside for poor people to live in, then we might vote for people who will do the polar opposite. Remember that DeBlasio only won the election because were were sick of the Bloomberg/Quinn type leadership. Cuomo won by the skin of his teeth because Teachout and Wu came out of nowhere and almost defeated him. We CAN get rid of DeBlasio, Garodnick, Stringer, et al at the next election and we hopefully WILL. Cuomo will be in the slammer with Silver, Skelos, and the rest of the shit. I hope that Klein gets nailed too because I am sick of hearing him lie through his ill-fitting dentures. No matter how much campaign money these politicians shore up, we have the votes and they cannot pay us to vote. Boss Tweed did, but he got his commupance eventually.
What a bunch of two-faced liars. It takes an expose in New York Times with media and constituent pressure for them to do a u turn and stop the money laundering RE racket they have their two hands in. Rezoning and RE money laundering could only happen with the REBNY partying politicians making it happen. They want the towers since they all voted 49-0 in favor of SLGreen monster tower, and Cuomo is worse with no shame cashing checks right after voting for his bribers. Cuomo Stringer Garodnick ... all of them.
Lastly with all that went down here and everyone turning a blind eye with no one investigating I am having serious doubts about Vance and Schneiderman too.
Lots of parties and no cleaning.....new stabilizers are a different stage of life that does not fit in with young families with sleeping kids and people who work for a living. Thanks for the loud parties bro-hos.
http://kellyinthecity.com/tales-of-a-stuyvesant-town-east-village-resident-and-comfy-clothing-for-freezing-nyc-days/
"We CAN get rid of DeBlasio, Garodnick, Stringer, et al at the next election and we hopefully WILL."
When are they up for reelection? I will vote for whoever is running against them.
One of the comments from that Kelly in the City blog:
"Thanks for directing me to this post about Stuy town - it makes me miss it so much! That's too funny that you lived with 3 guys there...."
Yeah, funny and illegal, unless they were related.
Don't forget, Garodnick is a master at "voting for it, but then voting against it." He voted for term limits, but then ran for a third term as councilman when it suited him. And still all those nice old STPCV ladies love the guy and will vote for him no matter what.
Banks and REBNY will get away with it all because politicians cover up and clean up messes to help wealthy friends ONLY by undermining the Dept of Justice. In Fox news and The Wall Street Journal today:
"Donations to the Clinton Foundation by Swiss bank UBS increased tenfold after Hillary Clinton intervened to settle a dispute with the IRS early in her tenure as secretary of state, according to a published report.
"The bank admitted to helping set up sham companies, creating phony paperwork and deceiving customs officials."
"According to the Wall Street Journal, total donations by UBS to the foundation grew from less than $60,000 at the end of 2008 to approximately $600,000 by the end of 2014...while paying former President Bill Clinton $1.5 million to participate in a series of corporate question-and-answer sessions with UBS Chief Executive Bob McCann.
UBS' legal battles with the U.S. government date from 2007, when a whistleblower told the Justice Department that UBS had helped thousands of Americans open secret accounts to avoid U.S. taxes. In 2009, the bank paid a $780 million fine and turned over names of 250 account holders to U.S. authorities as deferred-prosecution agreement.
...that same year, IRS requested UBS turn over names of U.S. citizens who owned 52,000 secret accounts worth est $18 billion. The bank maintained doing so would be violation of Swiss privacy laws. Journal reports UBS enlisted Swiss government to settle matter. Clinton, recently sworn in as secretary of state, first met with her Swiss counterpart, Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, in March 2009.
Under terms of the deal announced by Clinton and Calmy-Rey July 31, UBS would turn over information about 4,450 account-holders, a fraction of 52,000 sought by IRS.
The deal was criticized by members of Clinton's own party in Congress. Then-Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. called the agreement "disappointing."
In recent weeks, Clinton's corporate ties have been harped on by Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has made some gains on her in polls of early-voting states."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/30/ubs-donations-to-clinton-foundation-increased-after-hillary-intervention-in-irs/
http://www.wsj.com/articles/ubs-deal-shows-clintons-complicated-ties-1438223492
The Garodnick Stringer deal left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Do any of these guys believe themselves or are they all game show hosts smiling for the cameras? Best thing about the internet, people can speak up about politicians not doing their job. Some politicians will fake anything for a headline, even caring for constituents, like a spot light seeking game show host fakes caring for contestants. But they only care about money money money.
Cuomo gave De Blasio 1 year on schools and Schneiderman 1 year on civilian deaths. Typical tactic used by insecure leaders, setting them up to fail. Measurable results on those issues in 1 year's time, not possible. Cuomo will get just enough to say they have not done what needs to be done after they had an entire year.
I am not defending De Blasio and Schneiderman for failing the 30,000 PCV ST residents. De Blasio and Schneiderman did fail you.
Cuomo and all of them will one day have it come back and bite them in the arse if they don't do it to each other first.
Yeah illegal for this girl to live with 3 unrelated guys and how about this doozy she writes
These days, Stuy Town apartments are back to being pretty expensive… but a few years ago, it was possible to get a good deal there. Especially if you put up a fake wall to create an extra bedroom. (Which Mitch and his friends did. They snuck in the materials into the apartment in the middle of the night, since it was technically an illegal fake wall.)
So I moved in with Mitch… and his two buddies from college. Three guys, a girl, and a fake wall.
CompassRock doesn't care about the illegal unrelated tenants or illegal walls (which they will build for you) all they care about is their rent increases so they booted this girl when she was illegally subletting so they could increase that apartment.
The illegal sublet was not OK but the illegal wall with 4 unrelated tenants, no cleaning and loud parties was just fine with CompassRock (and the TA).
Kelly in the City and all the young kids are just beginning to spill their Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village illegal experiences on blogs and linkedin.
So Dan is taking action to stop towers from replacing office buildings? Midtown East offices mean more to Dan then PCVST? Wow.
Typical flip flop Dan. I'm for it. I'm against it. I'm for it. I'm against it. I'm for it. I'm against it. I'm for it. I'm against it. Wait....what day is it? Today I'm for it. No, I'm against it. For it. Against it.
I guess that is why the former votes yes on towers with the 6 month 421a extension happened so the pet projects Cuomo Garodnick Albany the City Council have already been paid (bribed) get through the permit process before the politicians have to denounce what the public is denouncing.
You're welcome STR at July 30, 2015 at 7:06 AM. Family in Chicago saw it, they are following the NY State and City corruption especially with our home here. Word will get out. Or already is.
In a time when the Mayor is saying not to turn on air conditioners due to a thousand power outages but with brohos saying on Yelp the best thing about Stuy Town is the unlimited air conditioners in every room on all day maybe it is long enough past the time for the Mayor to rewrite the money handout to landlords for each air conditioner they put in apartments. Landlords get more handouts for more things that do more damage.
Mr Mayor deBlasio you are causing the outages with your policies.
With the city going to crap very quickly, no one is going to even want to live here.
Hence, leaving these buildings empty.
The quality of life is diminishing so quickly its unfathomable.
And still all those nice old STPCV ladies love the guy and will vote for him no matter what. >>>
Not any nice old STPCV lady who talks to me!
The City Council only voted to rezone a small corridor of Midtown East. The main rezoning project is still in committee and it's my understanding that Garodnick's committee is only tasked with making recommendations to the City Planning Commission.
It's a five block "stretch." For a tight area like Manhattan, that is considerable, and will effect the surrounding region greatly.
Also the City Council could have stopped these high-rise buildings south of Central Park if they wanted to.
Dan likes to play on both sides of the temporary black fencing. Oh BTW how's that crackdown on illegal motorized bikes on sidewalks doing?
Sounds like someone wants their cake and eat it too! HHMMM.....
When someone gets killed, and a major lawsuit arises, THAT'S when they will ban ALL bicycles in ST and PC. THAT'S WHEN!
"Also the City Council could have stopped these high-rise buildings south of Central Park if they wanted to."
YUP
Thanks for the UBS links. That deal making is what causes inequality and hoarding of assets from money to real estate (houses, entire countries) by a very few.
I guess the crackdown on illegal motorized bikes went the way of construction noise.
What? Isn't that we have been saying? Crazy!
This is too much. They already built towers so now the pols want to stop the towers? Watch a "tradeoff" will be revealed with towers only allowed downtown or here in PCVST but not UES or MIDTOWN EAST which was probably long ago decided already.
Good catch STR. Our politicians are allowing bad things then after outcry from citizens the politicians denounce the very same things they allowed after it is too little too late.
This is just ONE example of why people don't trust politicians--from either party. But it's a complacent electorate that keeps on voting these bums in. And they know it.
Bloomberg buying his unconstitutional 3rd term destroyed NYC.
What was once NYC is now Bloombergoligarchstown.
I plan to write in Charles Manson next time I vote.
A comment that Kelly made is one that I often hear market raters repeat, that PCVST was "built for WW2 veterans". While it's true that initially only veterans were rented apartments here, the fact is that this development was built as an affordable place to live for working and middle class families. Remember the Fred Ecker plaque in the oval (which soon disappeared as soon as the smiling Speyers arrived)?
The WW2 service requirement (though not the white folks only policy) was lifted not too long after, and for several generations afterward PCVST was known as a safe, affordable NYC refuge for people of moderate incomes. Thus, the 10 year wait list to get in here...So, i imagine that these newcomers find it a lot more palatable to describe this community as "built for WW2 vets" (after all the war ended 70 years ago) than saying it was "built as affordable housing, but we don't care, we'll play along with the landlord's subversion of that, and pay double our neighbor's rent".
what a joke
the city council and albany gave huge tax breaks for towers they approved
now the city council is against them
clinton got the rich off for hoarding 81 billion dollars tax free
now she is decrying inequality that came from the rich hoarding billions
here is an idea
there are enough problems without creating new ones then pretending to care about fixing them
Whoever in Dan's office still saying their position is tenant purchase has zero cred. A purchaser tries to keep the price down while the seller tries to bring the price up. Dan has done nothing to keep the price down or challenge it whatsoever but he has supported the seller effort to bring the price up. Dan acts in the best interest of a developer and not a purchaser. Actions are much louder than words.
Atomic man said "the fact is that this development was built as an affordable place to live for working and middle class families"
It's not just easier to say....it's the truth. It was built as housing for vets returning from WWII...it later changed to affordable housing...but it was never built to be affordable housing for anyone BUT WWII vets.
What a load of crap. Giveaways to developers to help them build towers then joining in the public opposition after they are built. They should build towers on the UES but not around Parks. So between Park Avenue and Gracie Mansion build away. But stay away from Central Park.
I'm almost beginning to miss Bloomberg and Quinn. At least they were transparently vile and corrupt.
Welcome to our near future
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2015/08/8573301/de-blasios-lich-problem
Well said, on a poorly planned infrastructure legacy for himself that will benefit no one.
http://www.streetsblog.org/2015/08/03/andrew-cuomo-is-building-a-legacy-fit-for-1950/
Andrew Cuomo Is Building a Legacy Fit for 1950
by Stephen Miller
This is posted on the TA website:
If The Fire Is Not In Your Apartment ·
◾Stay inside your apartment and listen for instructions from firefighters unless conditions become dangerous.
Really? What is dangerous? Sorry, but if there's fire in MY building, I am getting the #$*%@! out. I can always return. Those poor souls on 9-11. I always go by my gut feeling, and am usually right.
When DeBlasio talks about "affordable housing" he is not think of the middle class in New York City. He is thinking about the working poor. The middle class are totally excluded from any of this grandiose plans. If your income is slightly above subsistence level for this city, then you are not eligible for "affordable" housing and market rate housing is out of sight. It's as if the middle class (I'm thinking people making $50k - $70k) are pariahs who should leave the city and find somewhere else to live. And by the city, I am including the outer boroughs (before some jerk jumps up and says Manhattan is not meant for your kind). I am hoping to find a middle class-friendly city to move to when I retire because I don't want to struggle through my retirement years in this city of the very rich and very poor.
Also, when it comes to the "affordable housing," there are so few units being built and so many people who need them that getting struck by lightning or winning the lotto look more likely!
Can anybody recommend an insurance company that sells renters insurance to sty town residents? It used to be considered such a safe place that I (foolishly) never got renters insurance. Now I feel the need to get it!
What's the story with the fire at Peter Cooper last Friday? Freebasers?
Stuy Town and Peter Cooper village along with the rest of Dan's district have been Garodnicked. It is our duty to get the word out so this corrupt individual cannot Garodnick the entire city. He should never hold public office again.
STOP THE GARODNICKING OF NYC!!!
Instead of building more skyscrapers to stand empty as money-laundering facilities, burning energy and destroying the ecosystem and general environment, money should be used to dig down and fix the sewer pipes, water pipes, electrical cables. If they want to build anything, let them rebuild our decaying bridges and tunnels. Building outlandishly tall buildings on fragile infrastructure seems to me to be a recipe for disaster.
It won't be Jihadi terrorists who ultimately destroy New York City and its citizens; it will be our unscrupulous politicians and the avaricious developers and REBNY who buy and control them.
The pols want a city of very rich and very poor because that is all they know how to please. They give the very rich very big tax breaks to cause problems for the poor and they give the poor people programs to solve the problems from the rich. They have been doing this since forever and a day. Old trick.
I've noticed that some of the high rises that have gone up recently have that ragged slummy look that you see in poor countries. Balconies that look like washing belongs on them!
"I've noticed that some of the high rises that have gone up recently have that ragged slummy look that you see in poor countries. Balconies that look like washing belongs on them!"
Agreed! Take a look at the cover photo on the Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Tenants facebook (not the TA f/b) and you will see the kind of mess that is going up all over town. It's an exaggerated depiction, of course, but it is rather reminiscent of some of the ugly condos that they are throwing up.
hypocrites.
Post a Comment