A lot to read here and think over, including conflicts of interest by some important parties:
http://www.progressqueens.com/news/2015/11/7/officials-with-conflicts-of-interest-in-the-blackstone-ivanhoe-purchase-of-stuyvesant-town-peter-cooper-village
Basically, after reading this, you will realize that, long-term, it's over for affordable housing in ST/PCV. The impetus behind creating ST/PCV ("that families of moderate means might live in health, comfort and dignity in park-like communities"), the goal that was met for decades, officially expired with the "deal" with Blackstone. Everyone lied to us while they went about their business.
123 comments:
I've been saying this for a while now. No one believes me.
"Everyone lied to us while they went about their business."
Yup. That they did. They think we are to stupid to see what they are doing. We are not stupid. We were just naive to believe they would actually do their job the way it should be done and not use their office (elected TA and POL) in a dirty real estate deal that would destroy us.
"This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again"
Agree with you 6:23. We are not stupid, but the unfortunate thing is that the organization that is supposed to represent the community is run by people that are fully invested in what the Pols and REBNY want, not the tenants. Most RS and MR tenants that I talk to have 0% confidence in the TA, and with member numbers hovering around 5%, it is a shame that these people are still the "voice" of the community.
The next TA meeting should be a priority for tenants that would like to voice their displeasure with the TA and Dan Garodnick.
De Blasio is not to be believed in this article.
www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/bill-de-blasio-defends-affordable-housing-plan-article-1.2443297
Development is not inevitable and not driving the market up. Money laundering is! Real estate and politicians are opening the door and laying down the welcome mat for the world's worse criminals to launder their money, to drive up the market. Foreign investors are driving up the market and REBNY welcomes it to avoid a real estate bubble burst and to fill their grubby pockets. Americans are forced out of house and home so foreign money can get washed.
Ukraine, India, China, Brazil, laundering dirty proceeds in the USA buying up RE, 7-11, McD's, etc
(Russia) turning once again to Manhattan’s real estate which has had a proven track record as a safe harbor. Its stock of prime inventory that is in strong demand has liquidity, with future product supply limited by its land mass restrictions of being an island prompting dismissal by some industry experts of a looming real estate “bubble.”
It has been projected that reportedly $120 billion will leave Russia by the end of 2014, with an additional $80 billion by the end of 2015; anticipating that some portion of this money will fi lter into New York City real estate purchases, with continued strong demand keeping property values at levels high enough to offset any value decline linked to interest rates rising
http://absre.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Office4Q14.pdf
Worse of worse, is the capital flight with PCVST seniors losing their homes, Canada Retirement pension profiting, and in 20 years they get the land and everything. WTF
Why don't they just go coop/condo. it's long overdue. Then there would at least be some security for the buyers and by law those who don't want to buy couldn't be throw out.
Again, the TA meeting was nothing more than an attempt by the politicians to grab kudos and put us to sleep. In that Susan Steinberg was complicit. This deal gained us nothing, gained future tenants little or nothing and cost the city plenty. Tax payers (we and those who have no relationship to STPCV) are footing a large bill to gain little except the appearance of victory for the politicians.
Have no idea if the deal has closed yet. I heard somewhere it wasn't scheduled to close until some time in Dec.
But I say again, if for some reason it doesn't close and conversion becomes a possibility again, then across the boards there should be unity on one point. Tenant ownership is better than any scenario any landlord is going to come up with.
DeBlasio, Hoylman, Garodnick and the whole shitty bunch think we are stupid. Can't wait for the next election. I will probably vote Republican because no repug could be any worse than this cabal of FUCKING LIARS!
DeBlasio is a total huckster as well as being an arrogant, delusional creep. He, Cuomo and that Slimy Dan and that bad joke of a "Tenants Association" need to ride off into the sunset. In a less polite day and age they would have been tarred and feathered and driven out of town on a rail for being such liars and thieves.
That is a lot of conflict
Will we ever read any good [for tenants] news about this place? This is the most depressing place I've ever lived in. It seems to be the meat in a bloody food fight among a bunch of ruthless sharks. My apologies to the fish version of sharks.
From page 10 of the terms of the sale under "Rent Stabilization"
"Any affordable units subject to rent stabilization on the Effective Date will continue to be subject to rent stabilization unless and until such units are deregulated pursuant to the terms of applicable law."
That does not seem to match the sentiments of the headline of this post...
"everyone lied to us and went about their business"
That is the Hoylman, Garodnick, Kavanagh, Stringer, Schneiderman way, isn't it. That is their status quo, lie to the PCVST community, ignore our complaints on overcharges, illegal construction, frauds against us, and then the next day go on business as usual.
Good for the guy in the Town and Village news today who instigated a write in campaign to shake up the status quo that is wreaking havoc on our lives. The destruction of this community by Governor Cuomo for Rob Speyer could not have happened without his foot soldiers on the front lines, Garodnick, Hoylman, Kavanagh, Schneiderman carrying out the General's orders.
These grade "F" failures have to go!
And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain
I've lived a life that's full
I've traveled each and every highway
But more, much more than this
I did it my way
Regrets, I've had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way
Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall
And did it my way
>>"Any affordable units subject to rent stabilization on the Effective Date will continue to be subject to rent stabilization unless and until such units are deregulated pursuant to the terms of applicable law."
That does not seem to match the sentiments of the headline of this post...<<
These "affordable units" will not be affordable 20 years from now. My betting is that ST/PCV won't even be standing once the 20 years go by and the owner (new buyer) will be able to knock these buildings down and build a glorious high-rise city.
Also, please be aware that AT THIS POINT we are not primarily a complex of affordable housing for families of moderate means. That goal is gone permanently.
I agree with the people who promote the conversion, but I think that the reality is that greedy RE does not want this property for the buildings - they want it for the land. If it were to go coop/condo, it would be much harder to eventually tear down and rebuild. In this case, they have a 20 year window to come up with an extensive plan for the destruction/rebuilding of the land (think Hudson Yards).
This is what RE wants, so it is also what the politicians, DG, TA, etc. want. In 20 years people wont remember what DG and the TA did to this property, so why not reap the benefits now and take what the RE giants give you...
That part the writer got wrong. Apts that are still in the rent regulation system would remain in the rent regulation system. The units that would go market rate in 20 years are the set-aside 5,000 "affordable" apts governed by the system set up by the city that are tied to Area Median Income.
Did not vote for Cuomo,Kavanagh, or Hoylman in the last election due to the privatization and city takeover of state facilities which affected my employment. Both Hoylman and Kavanagh were evasive when I questioned them about their vote and Cuomo engineered the whole thing. Will likely not vote for Garodnick next time he runs due to his support for this lousy Blackstone deal for ST.
"From page 10 of the terms of the sale under "Rent Stabilization"
"Any affordable units subject to rent stabilization on the Effective Date will continue to be subject to rent stabilization unless and until such units are deregulated pursuant to the terms of applicable law."
That does not seem to match the sentiments of the headline of this post..."
A Penn South type of conversion would have taken this issue off the table. Let's not lose focus here, the blame for this disastrous deal lies squarely on the shoulders of Dan and the DA. They rubber stamped it. Blackstone would not have bought unless they were feeling the love and, of course, knew those 5000 apartments would be market rate in 20 years).
Steinberg at the meeting said that it could have been a lot worse. The question to ask is why is that exactly? The TA didn't address why, with all the political support we had, it could have been a lot worse.
Today around 5500 units would still be considered affordable. However, past 2020 (in just 5 years, not 20), when j-51 benefits are not applied for by Blackstone, the following with kick in: "Once the abatement expires, the apartment may be subject to deregulation if the landlord follows the proper procedures."
So if an affordable unit vacates and conditions are met (rent at $2500/mo or higher), the sky is the limit.
So the landlord can do the following: 5000 have to stay affordable by contract. If the landlord has 5000 at "affordable" and one of these can be decontrolled, it pays to have that unit go to market rate while the landlord could then take a unit that is just over the "affordable" definition and lower that rent to "just affordable". In other words, maximize the profit by controlling things such that the "affordable" units are paying the maximum without going over the "affordable" limit. Which is to say that many years prior to 20 yrs from now, STPCV will be composed of over 6000 units completely unaffordable and 5000 units right at the limit of affordability.
Given what is happening, there is no point at all in talking about any ideal circumstances with respect to affordability. For all practical purposes, affordability will be gone in LESS than 20 years.
In terms of affordability alone, today tenants should only think in terms of what would be the least bad alternatives.
I agree with 11:03 AM.
Affordable Housing? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!
Hoylman has long used his Senate office to further the agenda of The Partnership for New York. Thank you Progressive Queens and STR for reporting this.
@10:56am - How does this fall directly on the shoulders of Dan and the TA?
If you listen to them, they "saved" Affordable Housing, they "saved" Associated... they are saviors!!
Now that I am done with my sarcasm, you are completely correct. This does fall squarely on their shoulders, but they will continue with the smokescreen to hide their abysmal failures to this property.
There is a reason Cuomo refused to do as De Blasio asked, and instead Cuomo gave an insulting $200 slap-in-the-face lift from $2500 to $2700 which makes NO difference to landlords who can easily make up that last $200 with their fudged inflated gouging renovations.
Cuomo sent a meassage loud and clear, he HATES affordable housing, HATES tenants (as he ordered Mulrow to push people away from renting and towards dirty mortgages so banks can profit from us) and particularly HATES PCVST tenants because we are educated and see through his deceptions.
"DeBlasio, Hoylman, Garodnick and the whole shitty bunch think we are stupid. Can't wait for the next election. I will probably vote Republican because no repug could be any worse than this cabal of FUCKING LIARS!"
Bad as the Democrats being Republicans "light", you do realize that the Republicans believe in ZERO rent regulations. If you think the Democrats are owned by REBNY, wait until the Teabaggers get in. BTW, there are no “moderate” Republicans anymore. What we need is a grassroots start up to primary these DINOS. Any volunteers?
And speaking of volunteers, still waiting for the alternative to the TA from those who post at this blog. The TA is dead. Endless posts about how the TA sucks; the TA is part of REBNY/CWC/Blackstone etc., does nothing. It’s time to move on. Since any advice to run as a new TA Board member during the next TA Board elections with an alternative message to change it is met with derision here, (the elections are fixed, the TA is corrupt, blah, blah), then the only thing to do is to start a new organization. Waiting.
BTW, in its “Glory Days", I bet you that the TA had, at a maximum, a low to mid teen STPCV tenant percentage enrollment. I know many long tem tenants here (full disclosure, I am a long term tenant) who never joined the TA, never went to a TA meetings even back in the so called glory days of Al Doyle. They are docile, clueless and vote (if they vote at all) against their own interests, time and time again.
Curious.....I didn't find this article on the TA'S web site.
Why weren't tenant's notified of meeting with Blackstone? Why didn't the TA send out Questionnaires and review them BEFORE they met with Blackstone so they could discuss tenant concerns as opposed to the TA's concerns? Oh, I forgot, they're all volunteers. That's why.
Once Associated's lease is up, they are going to triple the amount. 2 years will pass by, and nobody will care. They are not coming back. There is no niceness when it comes to dollars and cents. Sorry folks, but that's how I see it.
All this blame on the TA being corrupt, in bed with politicians, etc. makes me ask: Why? What does Steinberg and her fellow board members gain from being against the tenants? They still live here and are affected by what happens? I don't see why the TA should have any reason to be influenced by the politicians (who we KNOW are corrupt). They are unpaid volunteers and I just don't see what they would have to gain by being complicit with management and politicians. Excuse me if I'm being naive, but I sincerely just don't see what they would gain. They don't rent-free apartments for their "sins!"
>>All this blame on the TA being corrupt, in bed with politicians, etc. makes me ask: Why? What does Steinberg and her fellow board members gain from being against the tenants?<<
I don't hold to this belief, btw. I do hold to the belief that the TA has gone down paths cleared for them by the politicians, paths that are not necessarily that advantageous to tenants, including themselves. The big mistake that the TA made is not being hard core with the owner. I think this was a purposeful stance to get CW in a friendly mood for a condo conversion. Remember the Roberts case held up a resolution with CW for a long time. This is something Steinberg mentioned herself at the TA-tenant meeting we had. So the TA was NOT open to instigating another case against CW that would have held up a resolution for more years.
This is not a done deal, it will not go through for another month, if the TA and Dan are not going to do anything, STR should get a petition going to block the sale.
What the TA should have been doing is investigating the "murky practice" of flex rentals, the addition of partitions that create rooms with no windows, the DOB filings that create additional rooms where there is, somehow, "no change in occupancy," the wink-wink illegal allowance of more than 3 students to an apartment, etc, etc. I believe that there is an overwhelming amount of material to investigate and then sue.
>>This is not a done deal, it will not go through for another month, if the TA and Dan are not going to do anything, STR should get a petition going to block the sale.<<
Perhaps I'm too pessimistic or just realistic, but I don't think a petition is going to stop the deal. Just how many signatures do you think such a petition would get?
Also, an important point: We do not own anything in this property. We are renters at the mercy of the owners, the city and what has been crafted by our local and state politicians regarding rent protections.
>>Also, an important point: We do not own anything in this property. We are renters at the mercy of the owners, the city and what has been crafted by our local and state politicians regarding rent protections.<<
Exactly. And not to beat a dead horse, but the only fix to this situation was a tenant conversion. Period. Sad, but at the end of the day, it was never in the cards. Why? Because, as someone said previously, the "land" is too valuable for a giant company to just give away to ordinary people. That fact alone should tell you why it was the better plan for tenants. I'll always be proud for seeing the forest through the trees and advocating for tenant ownership. There's a lot of people on this blog that were so against it, and I bet they are rethinking that position now.
Once an entire building goes market rate, can't Blackstone clear out all the tenants in that building by simply refusing to renew their leases? Then they can just clear out the MR tenants at the end of their leases, knock down the buildings one at a time and build new luxury high-rises.. They can offer to keep a percentage of the new apartments affordable, and make a fortune on selling the larger percentage of apartments that are condos. That way they can abide by their agreement to keep some apartments affordable while making windfall profits.. This is what the tenants of StuyTown coud have done on their own to keep the majority of the apartments permanantly affordable.. Too late now. Game. Set. Match.
Well, there was another fix, but the city would have had to step in some time ago when Met Life decided to sell the property, and certainly when Tishman-Speyer defaulted and placed a 5 billion dollar burden on this place that tenants became at the mercy of. But those days are gone, obviously.
@1:50
I think it was stated earlier in this thread, or another recent one, but the TA has changed since DG has become a vocal and focal point of the TA. It used to be an organization run separately from the politicians in the area (with their support). Once MetLife sold to TS, this property has been a political hotbed. I would like to think that they have the tenants best interests in mind, but worry that the powerful political/RE voices in their head are a hindrance to them doing what needs to be done. `
What the TA gained. etc.
I agree with STR. It isn't/wasn't that the TA is anti-tenant. They did follow a path outlined by Garodnick at first when conversion was on the table, and then they fell into line when it came to dealing with the mayor & company.
You could well ask why do these things. Several reasons perhaps all of which could indeed be viewed as gains for the TA leadership.
1. Garodnick can be very persuasive. Lessons learned from the 1st tenant attempt to buy led him to the Brookfield partnership which he could have cogently sold to the TA leader.
The TA hasn't a clue in many respects so being led by Garodnick & others seemed like a good possibility. They felt they were gaining guidance.
2. As of all the conversion talk, thanks to the link-up with Garodnick, the TA leadership was rubbing elbows with politicians and getting quoted in the papers and online. That can be very intoxicating (a kind of gain).
4. As for this last round with the mayor and all the other politicians, that was pure intoxication.
5. Last, I would say that apart from the intoxications above, the leadership also experienced (gained) a certain headiness from 'leading' the community as it did, acting as if they were too important too be representatives accountable to the community. I'm referring in particular to the tight control over one-way communication, generally acting like 'leaders' as opposed to representatives, a lack of transparency, announcing 'leadership' decisions after the fact, acting more politically than a TA should, etc. (Many of the flaws that have been listed here repeatedly.)
We might have responded more positively to the TA leadership had they not suffered from some basic shortcomings. Like...no clear idea of mission and role that a TA should have in these circumstances. No clear idea of what's a TA's real leverage is in a free market situation where money & power talk. Not to mention making basic flawed decisions about how deal with the community to gain unity.
311 works ::S::: Those of you hAVING ISSUES WITH UPSTAIRS NEIGHBORS AND NOISE USEE 311. Tremendous help for us. Just thought I would post this!
I think we do have a stake in ownership. I think a renter's lease somehow has that responsibility and each lease has a semblance of a piece of a fragment of a fraction of ownership.
I think John Sheehy's qute someone posted in a comment article explains why the TA board was complicit with the pols and CW Compass Rock in increasing the "take" from each unit to increase the apartment prices to be competitive with their bid. The TA board deliberately increased the rents on each of the apartments.
5:29 hit the nail on the head. One of the beSt posts regarding the TA, and what has happened to them since DG got involved.
They need to separate from him if they want to show that they have the tenants interests in mind... regardless of how persuasive he is.
Yes the Ferry expansion is for one of Bloomberg's signature initiative CUSP Applied Sciences campuses, connecting Cornell on Governors Island, NYU 370 Jay Street in downtown Brooklyn, etc. A big promise to the schools who are participating in the consortium of campuses was Ferry expansion lines connecting the campuses.
Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton Garrison is the law firm for the Bloomberg signature initiatives, including the terms of the Ferry lines.
A fundraiser for Governors Island Campus - Tishman Construction is very very involved in these campuses as well as the Waters Alliance Org, East River Ferry
http://www.rpa.org/library/pdf/GIA-Gala-2012-Program.pdf
Between 2011 and 2013 Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton Garrison counted as clients
1. All the Bloomberg Signature Initiatives
2. CUSP - the Center For Urban Science and Progress applied science research institute consortium which has as one of its industry partners AECOM / Tishman Construction. (AECOM and Tishman merged in 2010)
3. Blackstone (one of our new landlords)
4. BlackRock
5. The Tenant Association for Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village
NYCEDC (for which Garodnick chairs in the City Council)
6. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (the other of our new landlords as partner with Blackstone) Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec is a member of The Maple Group. The Maple Group is a client of Paul Weiss Rifkind Garrison Wharton in a highly controversial Canadian takeover of the Canadian stock exchange.
The link with all of the conflicted Paul Weiss Garrison Rifkind Wharton clients
www.paulweiss.com/media/1723924/practicehighlights20112013.pdf
https://commercialobserver.com/2015/01/the-colleges-that-ate-new-york/
Recently checked out the old trunk room that is now a spanking new apartment on Main, and because of which we get a whole new set of mailboxes! The apartment is spacious as far as square footage goes, and makes sense if that determines the rent. The layout doesn't allow for very much natural light because it's on the ground floor facing the street and only has 2 windows, but it's sure to provide plenty of traffic noise! Just enough I'd imagine to churn the place on a regular basis. Also there's room enough for a washer and dryer (those lucky people!), 2 large bathrooms, an open kitchen layout, but no bedrooms to speak of (unless you consider two overgrown walk-in closets as such (sans windows). Makes ya wonder.
Hudson Yards Unusual Financing (that is modeled off of Rob Speyer's financing of Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village)!!!!!
http://therealdeal.com/blog/2013/08/16/anatomy-of-a-deal-inside-relatedoxfords-unusual-hudson-yards-financing/
Anatomy of a deal: Inside Related/Oxford’s unusual financing of Hudson Yards .
August 16, 2013 09:00AM
By Hiten Samtani
Just how sophisticated the transaction, was, however, is still coming to light. Speaking to representatives from Related and Oxford’s legal team, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and industry observers, The Real Deal examined the anatomy of the deal, one of the most intricate in Manhattan’s history, according to Schulte Roth & Zabel’s Jeffrey Lenobel, who advised the Related-Oxford joint venture.
“There’s been nothing like this since Stuy Town,” Lenobel told The Real Deal, referring to the scale of the Hudson Yards project and comparing it to Tishman Speyer and BlackRock’s $5.4 billion acquisition in 2006 of the sprawling East Side housing complex.
This deal structure also reassured the MTA — which owns the land under the project and leased it to the developers in a deal that is worth north of $1 billion — said the city agency’s attorney, Meredith Kane, a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
“As a ground landlord, we’re concerned that once a building is started, it is finished,” Kane said. “The fact that the loan came in first gave us a level of comfort. No lender wants to leave their money in the building.”
Meredith Kane represented the MTA, who owns the land Hudson Yards is built upon.
So Meredith Kane modeled the financing of her most proud deal on the Tishman Speyer BlackRock purchase from MetLife. Why not - Tishman made out well. Only the tenants paid the price.
Speaking of the tenants, the anchor tenant Coach and it's broker Mary Ann Tighe (former REBNY head) are having troubles already. Coach has a double dipping both hands in part ownership in Hudson Yards (see double dip in above article link). Coach got HUGE tax breaks from NYC.
Late 2014 Coach began backing out as sales slumped 20%.
Late 2015, this month in a PR spin and even more unusual financing, Coach is selling off and it seems leasing back its space.
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2015/11/16/coach_is_selling_a_major_stake_in_10_hudson_yards.php
http://nypost.com/2014/11/05/coachs-financial-woes-put-hudson-yards-move-at-risk/
RE is a desperate and dirty business. You can't make this stuff up!
REBNY owns Albany
Heastie and Flanagan, who replaced on-trial Silver and Skelos, said nothing is going ot to change. The reason: Skelos said on a phone tap that politicians are always only thinking about the next upcoming election
Skelos Corruption Trial: State Pol’s Reluctance on Reform Aired
By Timothy Bolger -
November 23, 2015
http://www.longislandpress.com/2015/11/23/47698/
Tishman and Brookfield
Hudson Yards and PCVST
Same financing structure
Same lawyers
Now Tishman and Brookfield are two of the three major developers in Hudson Yards.
www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20150610/REAL_ESTATE/150609852/tishman-speyer-is-buying-a-development-site-across-from-javits-center-for-185m
Thank you, 6:13 PM!
"311 works ::S::: Those of you hAVING ISSUES WITH UPSTAIRS NEIGHBORS AND NOISE USEE 311. Tremendous help for us. Just thought I would post this!"
I too am having problems with noisy upstairs neighbors. How did filing a 311 complaint resolve the issue for you? Who responded and how was it handled?
Not 6.13 PM but I have used the on line 311 noise complaint system for effective use against dorm apartment parties. As per the provided TA link, the complaint goes directly to the NYPD 13th precinct. They will respond if they have a car that is not redirected to a more pressing issue. You will get a confirmation email from the 311 system that NYPD did respond and took action to fix the situation. The trick is to report the complaint ASAP. If they respond after the Children Of The Corn have left to go to the 13th Step, the Village Pourhouse, and now that new horror show on First Ave, Visana, you know, the unusual Bro/OMG places, then you will also get a notification that the NYPD responded to the complaint and with the information available, observed no evidence of the violation at that time. The good thing about 311 is that NYPD officers, unlike CompassRock Public Safety officers, do not have to enter your apartment to “confirm” the complaint.
As far as using 311 to go after families that have no carpets (children running down the apartment halls, screaming, etc.) or even dorm apartments that have no carpets (the OMG’s coming back from clubbing with their stiletto boots and shoes), I have never tried it but I believe using 311 would not be effective since by the time NYPD responds, that type of noise would have already been abated. In these cases, one must go through the process of calling PS to have them "confirm" the complaint. Good luck.
http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/1197/noise-from-neighbor
http://www.stpcvta.org/kb/entry/50/
http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/epa-identifies-noise-levels-affecting-health-and-welfare
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/3384/text
Wow. These people think nothing about ruining other people's lives, wish for pollution to profit from the cleanup, and have zero talent other than gaming the system. Still Adam Skelos wanted Glenwood management to make him CEO of the environmental company despite having no skills for the job, and gave 100% assurance that Governor Cuomo would allow fracking (which he did not).
For more on the Skelos guys trial
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/nyregion/skeloss-son-wanted-ceo-removed-in-failed-takeover-bid-witness-says.html?_r=0
You can't make this stuff up either. Adam Skelos, a CEO...
Did anyone else pick up on the "master community" in the MetLife sales piece for Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town? A "Market Rate Master Community" is the promise to buyers. A plan to evict the Middle Class and replace them with the Master Class.
In the Metlife brochure it says the cost of renovating the Peter cooper Village apartments averaged $50,000.
Those apartments are bigger than ours, so how is our renovation cost twice that?
I am not the poster but what type of noise? heels, music, banging, jumping, ball bouncing, lack of carpets?
Ok, according to the MetLife brochure it says the Stuyvesant Town apartment renovation costs averages $40,000.
Which is exactly what we were told by independent friends who have seen the work. $40,000 does not add up to the increase in rent we are charged, that brought our apartment over the threshold from affordable to market rate.
Did anyone else read the brochure and have a renovated apartment too who could look at the calculations on their apartment and see if it does not add up like our?
"Also, an important point: We do not own anything in this property. We are renters at the mercy of the owners, the city and what has been crafted by our local and state politicians regarding rent protections."
Hmmm, very true STR. Can you imagine that there were people AGAINST tenant ownership? I'm surprised you posted this. It is antithetical to all of your beliefs. On the one hand you have been arguing AGAINST ownership for years, and now you appear to be lamenting the fact that we don't own the property. Indeed, we are all at the mercy of the owners. That's why US owning would have been the desirable outcome.
Ownership did not have to mean buying one's apt for $200000 and selling it for $1000000.
Blame the TA. We've been bamboozled! Hoodwinked! In the truest sense of the words.
The fat lady has sung.It's over!
November 24, 2015 at 7:08 AM
Screw that! I called the 13th precinct once, and BOY, everything stopped. No one wants bad press, you know! Remember, go right to the top, and usually you will see results. Public safety is a total waste of time.
It is one particular apartment making all the racket in the building. Single dad, several kids, no parenting and boy, it's a fucking freak show. was told a law firm has been hired to handle.
11 22 you are correct and ours is even higher. CALL THE DHCR, GO DOWN THERE, COMPLAIN THAT IT IS ALL FRAUD. OVERCHARGED up the wazoo and it stinks of corruption.
>>Can you imagine that there were people AGAINST tenant ownership? I'm surprised you posted this. It is antithetical to all of your beliefs. On the one hand you have been arguing AGAINST ownership for years, and now you appear to be lamenting the fact that we don't own the property. Indeed, we are all at the mercy of the owners. That's why US owning would have been the desirable outcome.<<
I still think that tenant ownership (and it would not be all tenants, but a minority) would have created problems of a different kind. The condo people would quickly bitch about paying more for maintenance than the rent-stabilized tenants and would, I believe, have actively gone against those tenants because they would consider them leeches, a term that has already been used by some market-rate paying tenants to describe the older RS tenants. I've always been for affordable housing here FOR EVERYONE.
I made a noise complaint via 311 and was given a reference number to check the status online. When I checked it said the problem had been resolved. It hadn't because the party was still raging and I hadn't heard any cops knocking on the door of the neighbors. And we all know you can hear the cops when they knock on a door! I called the 13th Precinct and was told that a cop had gone to the door and hear nothing, so gone away again. I said that he was either mistaken or someone was lying to him. A little while later the cops showed up and shut the noise down. Don't let the 13th Pct brush you off with a lie. They probably don't always do that, but they did it to me that one night.
"I still think that tenant ownership (and it would not be all tenants, but a minority) would have created problems of a different kind. The condo people would quickly bitch about paying more for maintenance than the rent-stabilized tenants and would, I believe, have actively gone against those tenants because they would consider them leeches, a term that has already been used by some market-rate paying tenants to describe the older RS tenants. I've always been for affordable housing here FOR EVERYONE."
I LOVE YOU, STR! I DON'T KNOW YOU, HAVE NEVER MET YOU AND HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE, BUT I LOVE YOU!
but knowing that affordable is long gone, we should have gone the way of owning it ourselves. In any case, rather have you as my landlord than these asshwipes
"I've always been for affordable housing here FOR EVERYONE."
Exactly how I've seen this blog. Affordable housing for everyone.
The tenant ownership plan that the market rate new stabilizers master community were pursuing was more predatory than Rob Speyer himself. Speyer did not hide his deceit to force out RS tenants. He hired Fred Knapp to rip to shred people's lives and intimidate RS to leave. The new stabilizers hid their deceit, pursued increases on all apartments and rents to up their bid(with more increase on RS apartments than MR apartments) to push Rs out of their homes, to move into RS homes, expand MR homes in a takeover while pretending to be for a united community.
The RS were always for the whole united community to have affordable housing.
The MR were for a hostile takeover that is reliant upon eviction of 85% of the RS families.
The only tenant bid that would curb the predator tenants would have been a Penn South deal.
Thanks for posting all the information STR.
By far the most deceitful is Hoylman and his Partnershio loyalties while using this community to make him look like a tenant advocate with his failed 12 point plan to protect the property.
Hoylman is a disaster.
>>I still think that tenant ownership (and it would not be all tenants, but a minority) would have created problems of a different kind. The condo people would quickly bitch about paying more for maintenance than the rent-stabilized tenants and would, I believe, have actively gone against those tenants because they would consider them leeches, a term that has already been used by some market-rate paying tenants to describe the older RS tenants. I've always been for affordable housing here FOR EVERYONE.<<
I disagree. Rather than bitch about paying more in mtnc than RS tenants (who'd be paying rent, not mtnc), I think the vast majority of owners would've been happier knowing their monthly mortgage/mtnc payments, which for most would probably be less than their current rent, would be both tax-deductible and represent an investment, rather than just thousands of dollars tossed out the window every month. It does't matter at this point, but no doubt tenant ownership represented a FAR better situation for this community than what we have now. Just common sense. I also think we should be careful characterizing MR tenants as describing older tenants as "leeches." I don't think it represents the majority of MR tenants, nor do those older RS tenants who characterize MR tenants as not caring about their community represent a majority of their population. I realize you're referring to "some" MR tenants, but if you're going to use it as an argument against tenant ownership, I think it's an unfair characterization and not helpful for the community.
str: no point in discussing tenant ownership, long gone, will never happen. Just creating arguments for no reason at all.
Ms Sexy MCI said...
The fat lady has sung.It's over!
November 24, 2015 at 12:07 PM
You wish. It is far from over. We are still alive, We are breathing. We have rights. Go ahead and roll over or do whatever you wish. But we are not following your lead.
I see no point in going over this RS vs tenant ownership thing again. Press anyone to the wall on this and they'l go back to where they were. But if we drop background, personality, etc there's only one way to look at all of this. The same way the RE people do...a business proposition. Personally all of us can look at it any way we'd like, but once we get into the public arena, into the free enterprise market, it's a business proposition. Everyone here has now had a pretty thorough education in that...has seen how CW played the game, seen how Freddie MAc and Fannie Mae played it along with Metlife, Tishman-Speyer and all our politicians. That has to change how you look at things. If it hasn't, I don't know what to say. There must have been some lessons learned.
Nice summary so far of both the Silver and the Seklos trials from NY Magazine.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/11/what-you-missed-in-sheldon-silvers-trial.html#
From the PCVST Living email alert:
"Christmas Tree Sales: Buy your tree, wreath, stand, and accessories with free delivery for residents! Through Christmas Eve or while supplies last.
Hours: Mon-Wed: 4-9pm; Thu-Fri: 3-9pm; Sat-Sun: 10am-7pm
Starting Friday, November 27th @ playground 9 (off the 1st Ave Loop)"
So "free delvery for residents". Which means that non residents (please spare me the BS that these would be "guests" of residents)can buy stuff there. They just won't get "free delivery". Which means this is not a “Resident Amenity” but it is a commercial enterprise in an interior STPCV area zoned for non-commercial use. So blatant now, it's on the record, not even bothering to hide it, so busted but they don’t care because Garodnick does not care since he actually supports the strip malling of our interior spaces which violate the NYC zoning law.
Yet Garodnick does not support the Small Business Jobs Survival Act. (SBJSA) because he claims it is “unconstitutional"* under the City Charter. What a REBNY tool. I know, these interior zoning issues may not seem to be a big part of the current horror here but they are part of the death of a thousand cuts. Yet you will have tenants (both short term AND long term) here who say but we LOVE the tree store, so convenient, we LOVE the Ice Rink, so convenient, we LOVE the Oval Café, so convenient, we LOVE the Green Market, so convenient……………Stop me now, end my misery.
*BTW, this is bullshit. It has been legally vetted for some time. Garodnick will not let it come to a vote in the City Council because he knows he will be showed up as the REBNY tool that he is.
I have said it once before, and I will say it again… tenant ownership was never an option. This land (not buildings) are too valuable for RE to sell it to us and maintain the status quo for an undetermined amount of time. In the next 50 years, PCVST will no longer be around because it will be filled with expensive new high-rises.
Also, as much as I love PCVST and would have loved to own, can you imagine the eventual costs to upgrade all of the aging systems (plumbing, electrical, etc.)?
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I see no point in going over this RS vs tenant ownership thing again. Press anyone to the wall on this and they'l go back to where they were. But if we drop background, personality, etc there's only one way to look at all of this. The same way the RE people do...a business proposition. Personally all of us can look at it any way we'd like, but once we get into the public arena, into the free enterprise market, it's a business proposition. Everyone here has now had a pretty thorough education in that...has seen how CW played the game, seen how Freddie MAc and Fannie Mae played it along with Metlife, Tishman-Speyer and all our politicians. That has to change how you look at things. If it hasn't, I don't know what to say. There must have been some lessons learned.
November 24, 2015 at 10:12 PM
BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS, FOOD CLOTHING SHELTER, ARE NOT A BUSINESS PROPOSITION TO GO TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!
BUT THAT IS HOW UNETHICALLY AND IMMORALLY NY GOVERNMENT UNDER REBNY WALL STREET CONTROL OPERATES BECAUSE NY GOVERNMENT IS NOT DRAWING THE LINE AND LAYING DOWN THE LAW ETHICALLY AND MORALLY.
NY government is failing millions of people because of the very attitude you express. Not jumping onto that unethical immoral bandwagon. Some things should have better protections from predators or "highest bidders" as they like to call themselves, food, clothing, shelter.
It is pretty basic a premise and not that hard to get right. But it takes what NY completely lacks.
Political Courage.
Hoylman uses his office to push the agenda of his "former" employer The Partnership for New York.
Garodnick uses his office to push "former" employer Paul Weiss Law agenda.
During time in office, these two achieved great results for their former employers.
But disastrous results for constituents, with the demise of the West Village, East Village, and Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town.
The Senate seat office and the City Council office is supposed to represent and serve the People, not law firms and corporate partnerships. PCVST is a crystal clear demonstration of what occurs when political offices are compromised.
Cuomo likes to lecture on how government is "compromise"
Put a wink wink in there and what is really being done is political offices are "compromised"
Cuomo just gave 70 million taxpayer dollars to Alcoa in a payoff to keep a plant open for three years, the remaining time he is in office. He is pretending he saved workers, but he really saved his legacy, so the plant does not close on his watch and he did it by misusing taxpayer dollars to save himself.
Our political system is corrupt to the core from the bottom to the top and held hostage by corporations because the elected are mostly corrupt with a few too weak of character to not lay along and all having access to taxpayer dollars without proper checks and balances to prevent abuse for self serving agendas.
Come on Preet.
Good points, Exactly right November 24, 2015 at 11:29 PM
Again, exactly right November 25, 2015 at 7:14 AM. That is why the TA board betrayal is worse tham most realize. The scheme scam under the promise of ownership that was all part of the Tishman Speyer and Canadian Brookfield Caisse run op to transform the land ef Aecom Tishman Construction "Aecom transforms communities, improves lives and powers growth by designing, building, financing and operating infrastructure assets around the world"
They run the Op
They get all the profits and gains.
Not tenants.
It may be so that only a few utterly deviant MR are harassing the RS neighbors, but it is also true all MR needed 85% of RS evicted for a conversion.
What do they do make back room deals with each other, where Brewer campaigns for the small business act while her buddy Garodnick rejects it, so Garodnick looks good to REBNY and Brewer looks good to the community while they both cancel each other out et achieve the REBNY goal?
If the small business act is "unconstitutional" under the City Charter then amend the damn charter! That is the purpose of the charter, to serve the People of New York.
Garodnick's expertise in being "unconstitutional" and using that as his excuse to hurt constituents livelihoods while he is a lawmaker in a position to amend the charter to better serve the constituents lives is wholly egregious.
How stupid does a buyer of a property have to be to increase the purchase price? There must be a secret or long term payoff for their agreeing to increase the rents we pay to increase the unit bids.
Happy Thanksgiving STR from an average Joe daily reader and occasional commenter. Thank you for your work as a citizen historian and documentarian of all things town and village.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, too. And to everyone here.
SO far as ownership is concerned, everything depends on circumstances. To wit, why did ownership even come into play 2011-12? Because T-S had gotten in trouble and real estate valuations had dropped. Had valuations remained low, a conversion might have been the likely route.
3 things changed things here. Real Estate valuations made a comeback, CW ramped up renting to students and timing was different with respect going off j-51 benefits. T-S was 10 years away from j-51 expiration. Blackstone will be 5 yrs away The increase in valuations might say to investors, this place is a stable investment. If they have to sell, they'll get their money back. But renting to students is what makes this place operationally viable. The upward churn in rents represents a strong tactical advantage.
I doubt that a conversion was never in the cards. But I agree that a conversion now is unlikely. However, anyone who thinks such things are impossible only has to look at the gaping hole from 38th to 41st next to the U.N. Prime real estate lying unaffordable and dormant for 8 years. If circumstances change, anything can happen.
In the wake of all that's happened in last 4 years, what's of interest to me is unity among the tenants. The discussions here reminds me so much of divisive arguments I used to see break out in the old TA meetings. For our circumstances, exchange of points of view is very important but in the back of everyone's mind at the same time we all should be thinking how do we achieve unity.
I mean to say that the TA was right in one respect. Without unity anything we hope to gain about anything is hopeless. Landlords, developers and politicians will just figure out ways to divide an conquer. One of the TA's big mistakes was thinking that it could call for unity and it would just happen. It never asked itself the question how do we achieve true unity. All of us know that Blackstone has tactics up its sleeve that it will unveil when it's ready. So the question remains today. How do we achieve true unity?
Unfortunately the TA leadership still isn't asking itself that question.
November 24, 2015 at 11:29 PM most of the tenants who love the amenities also love the fact that the concerts, cafes, ice rinks are not within earshot of their apartments. They would feel differently if it was right under their window. so bring it on Chipotle, the loud late night liquor license and let those on the outer perimeter experience what the Oval is. Let's put the dog run under Garodnick's window.
8:16 - That is how these politicians work... they make it look like they are protecting all of their buddies and constituents. You hit the nail on the head in terms of city charter.
I am going to have my brother-in-law take a look at the charter and see what he thinks. He is an RE attorney that is not based in the corrupt NYC area.
To All of you as well! Time to really appreciate what we REALLY have!
Anony 8.16 AM, 11.29 PM here.
"where Brewer campaigns for the small business act"
Thank you for supporting my post but I must correct you, Brewer does NOT support the SBJSA, she has her own, toothless proposal out there that will just give a one year stay of execution to small businesses. Her proposal is a joke, it’s probably supported by REBNY behind the scenes, and it gives her cover and other politicians to sound like they are pro mom and pop butin reality, like Garodnick, just REBNY shills.
http://gothamist.com/2015/03/23/small_business_gale_brewer.php
http://www.savenycjobs.com/history-of-sbjsa
"I've always been for affordable housing here FOR EVERYONE."
Sounds great STR, but now we don't have it for ANYONE ultimately. With all respect, I think you came down on the wrong side of this issue, not that it matters anymore. The worst possible scenario (for you) would have been tenants flipping their apartments for huge profits. Now those profits will be going to Blackstone. I think (now) even you would agree that it would have been better for tenants to build some equity as opposed to Blackstone. Let's not forget that the conversion could have taken on any structure (including a long term affordability one).
I read (I think in T&V) Steinberg talking about how happy she was with Blackstone. Saying that she never had this kind of relationship with a landlord. This is after one meeting, without Blackstone doing a thing. This is what is leading us. Is it any wonder why this all came apart?
I'm not sure how many members the TA has, but I would hope that now they have none. I think it's important to be part of the solution and not the problem. The TA is part of the problem.
Have a great Thanksgiving STR.
Happy day of giving thanks...
>>How do we achieve true unity?<<
I think the first thing is that the TA has to be transparent. And responsive. It still hasn't answered some primary questions, including why it has been missing in action from doing anything about "the 'murky practice' of flex rentals, the addition of partitions that create rooms with no windows, the DOB filings that create additional rooms where there is, somehow, 'no change in occupancy,' the wink-wink illegal allowance of more than 3 students to an apartment, etc, etc." The TA should also get off its high-horse, as if it is above responding to questions it chooses not to answer.
Anybody interested in signing this petition against greedy developers destroying the city and our lives?
http://www.humanscale.nyc/
Hope it's ok to post it here, STR. :-)
For the past few years you could not get to the questions part of the TA's online contact form without being forced to sign their fucking stupid Unity Pledge. So much for that!
And to follow up with STR - how about a response to the bunker disaster. Why didn't they support the tenants that were affected by this? Why did a tenant go to court on her own to get a rent rebate? What is the TA doing about no gas in 272-274?
I hate to say it, but the situation at 272-274 deserves their attention more than Associated at this time. (Although Associated does deserve their time!)
>Anybody interested in signing this petition against greedy developers destroying the city and our lives?
http://www.humanscale.nyc/
Hope it's ok to post it here, STR. :-)<<
Actually I was intending to make this a front page post today.
Unity: the state of being one; oneness............NOT!
Great graph. Yes there is a lot of really bad business dealing.
Every MR tenant who wants to buy needs to eliminate 85% of RS apartments by any means possible to satisfy conversion requirements to, as said above be "happier" money was invested and not out the window - a happiness coming from destruction of others. Pretty gross by all standards of decency.
Some more duplicitous MR took "by any means possible" to include name calling, lying, harassing RS out of house & home to combine MR apartments into micro-mcmansions. All MR have same goal, ownership which requires force innocent people out of safety and sanctity of home
..self-serving, self oriented selfish deceitful "master community" devoid of ethics, morals, common decency and humanity; like all master communities in history
REBNY and NY are building 75+% wealthy housing; the 1% own multiple empty dwellings and 99% must grovel in a lottery for an unlikely remote chance of just one home.
That is immoral.
Extell, Time Warner Towers most attractive amenity is Superb Laundry for Bloomberg's most desirable billionaire neighbors, wealthy by any means possible.
Hudson Yards Rob Speyer model of financing is Paul Weiss crowning achievement where wealthy owners are teflon and tenants pay the price.
Coach part ownership upfront, sell then lease back stunt is like Tishman Speyer Brookfield arrangments, Tishman back out then buy into Hudson Yards and Brookfield attempt to buy PCVST as if Tishman is not still here.
Hoylman Wilde Partnership for NY and Speyer Cuomo Committee To Save NY does not include New Yorkers as you and me who raised generations of families here.
If Paul Weiss wants tenant ownership she easily would have achieved a takeover deal at $3 billion and not scheme to increase the price to $5.4 billion out of our reach yet just above tishman purchase price so Fortress reaps windfall.
For all the selfbragging and peer accolades, if they were truly advocating for tenants, she would masterfully outfox RE. They advocated for RE, as photos, firm's resume, and PCVST eviction and construction results shows.
Aecom, Tishman Speyer, Brookfield, Blackstone, BlackRock play a shuffle game. They are not acting independently or any different from one another. They trade assets to unjustly enrich each other, taking from middle class that is deliberately unprotected by law enforcement, DA and AG.
Common denominator is Master House of Conflict Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton Garrison.
Goal is Control: profit from privatization of education, master communities, sunshine blocking towers of windows hermetically sealed from fresh air, consortium amassing assets eg The Maple Group consortium takeover Canada's stock exchange arranged by Paul Weiss, Bloomberg's signature initiative consortium kicking out middle class and small businesses for Applied Sciences campuses again arranged by Paul Weiss.
Bloomberg and Cuomo are painfully notoriously famous for desperation of control.
Other common denominator in Bloomberg campuses, Hudson Yards PCVST master communities, East River Ferry, and Cuomo La Guardia airport, etc - Aecom Tishman construction.
Tishman Speyer never left PCVST. They took on different forms and company names to carry out the master plan while keeping it within Paul Weiss circle of friends. Aecom Tishman construction did all of the toxicity soil air testing for Con Ed. Former ConEd head John Banks now runs REBNY and Speyer Chairs REBNY and Mayor / governor alliances and committees.
Alliance between Partnerships / Committees To Save New York and strategically placed friends in offices of elected to force public into submission. Hiring Paul Weiss was hiring REBNY. Blackstone keeping same employees in property management is keeping Tishman Speyer in PCVST.
Paul Weiss schemes require blind eyes, deaf ears, mute mouths from justice, complicity from law makers and law enforcers who worship money above all else.
to be continued....
In PCVST it requires a TA obeying Paul Weiss to carry out the master agenda - an all out assault on RS to eliminate 20,000 people so a master community of new stabilizers, charter schools and master Campus can takeover. An east side Hudson Yards.
Bikinis, Fortress CW, CompassRock, laundry rooms, affordable housing rallies, PR stunts in NYTimes inflating number of PCVST illegal hotels are scapegoats, distractions to divert press and constituents attention from:
thousands illegal dorms
fake golub claims against people who cannot afford time and money needed to protect themselves in a rigged court system controlled by Paul Weiss Rifkind Garrison Wharton
strategically placed frat houses and large families to harass neighboring RS out of their homes
Fannie Freddie billions staying in RE hands and pockets
rent overcharges and frauds, etc.
TA Sheehy admits TA goal to increase price of each unit.
That takes complicity in ALL construction on Open Spaces by Steinberg, Doyle, Marsh Garodnick -- and aggression against tenants who oppose bunker, complete absenteeism on unlivable conditions for a year, killing Oval TreePark for strip mall, Killing trees and squirrels every where, and website to make it look like bunker construction was safe then altered to erase mention of toxic substances after it was illegally dumped and tested to be highly dangerously toxic); mass evictions bragged by Salacan - but majority of 20,000 evicted were not running illegal hotels they just haven't the money and time to stand up for themselves in a grade F failing court system where Paul Weiss controls Judges.
TA participated if not led evictions of RS with the help of the AG, promoted new stabilizer MR master community, favored MR and hurt RS in mci allocation, and more.
Airbnb is a political diversion scapegoat in over publicized, inadequately addressed, targeting tenants more than guilty landlords, using CIA terrorism and narcotics investigation tactics to portray tenants as terrorists and create false perception Airbnb is destroying affordable housing when actually "Master Communities a la Hudson Yards, Consortium Campuses, and Hotel amenity laden Towers" are destroying affordable housing while Airbnb mostly is effecting the Hotel Industry business that own politicians.
Paris reminds us the real terrorists are not NYC tenants but the City puts $10million more into targeting tenants and not going after money laundering all cash multimilion dollar condo buys under anonymous llc names that are more likely to be arms dealers.
We are not for transient housing in PCVST, not dorms or Airbnb, not 9 or 3 month rentals that are allowed because pols wrote laws using 30 day rule and not 12 month rule on RS housing to allow semester and summer leases for landlords to use dorms to harass and decrease affordable housing.
Most of all, we are NOT for duplicitous, deceitful, dishonest TA Board. The day they hired Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton Garrison was the beginning of the end of the community and property. Hiring Berlin Rosen in an ass-backward relationship, working for Berlin Rosen promoting and hawking RE clients to us, showed this TA Board is acting in bad faith.
The living room "meeting" with Blackstone was another Garodnick living room meeting with De Blasio, to give a false perception. To De Blasio's credit, and contrary to the TA Board, De Blasio did not become immediately complicit with Dan TA Board on that day
" All MR have same goal, ownership which requires force innocent people out of safety and sanctity of home"
Not ALL MR. Some, maybe, but not ALL.
1:53 pm: Where and when did Salacan brag about evicting RS tenants?
All joking aside... how do we go about starting a new TA? I can get lawyers, accountants, financial advisors, etc. in a heartbeat. Is the current TA official in any way, shape, or form?
The time has come.
"TA participated if not led evictions of RS with the help of the AG, promoted new stabilizer MR master community, favored MR and hurt RS in mci allocation, and more."
And your proof for this absolute bullshit is? You have been posting this crap for some time now, you mix in the truth with the bullshit like all good conspiracy nuts do.
Hey remember that bullshit that NYU students were in cahoots with John Marsh and the TA to drive out long term tenants and there was video proof for it. Was that your bullshit as well?
Its a good summary 1:53.
Who is AG?
I sort of agree with 3:21. There are a lot of accusations with no facts.
With that being said, where was the TA for Ms. Chowes? Where is their input on the MCI questions about room count? Where are they for the residents in 272-274? Why are they having meetings with Blackstone without notice to tenants (and acting on behalf of us)? Why are they promoting oval events that are sponsored by Barclays? What are they doing about the continual dormification of the property? When will they announce the 20th Street ferry stop?
Do you want me to continue? A true TA would address all of this.
Whatever is bullshit or truth, the bottom line is that we don't trust the TA or Garodnick and other elected officials. Maybe they have never committed the nefarious deeds that the conspiracy theorists present, but they have not done the right thing and do not have our respect or trust. That (imo) is what really matters. We do not have a trustworthy TA and we definitely do not have trustworthy politicians. These are proven facts, regardless of any conspiracy theorist embellishment.
3:21 is funny. He/She is defending the TA for something they didn't do (and I agree that they did not do these things), But at the same time, they don't seem to participate in much of anything. They need to get more involved ASAP to have any real say in this community going forward.
"Hey remember that bullshit that NYU students were in cahoots with John Marsh and the TA to drive out long term tenants and there was video proof for it. Was that your bullshit as well?"
Probably yes, but Garodnick-TA trolls have been equally, if not more distracting, successfully disrupting intelligent discourse on STR for years. Garodnick-TA, knowingly or at best unknowingly, destroyed PCVST by squandering away their PCVST neighbors/constituents real opportunities to own and control the entire PCVST complex, their individual homes and their futures. Garodnick-TA, knowingly or unknowingly, ensured REBNY wins everything.
John Marsh referred to this blog as a "cesspool." Some of us feel that the Garodnick-controlled TA is a cesspool. There may be some "frothing at the mouth" (Marsh's description) posters on the STR blog, but most of the posts are intelligent and thoughtful and I don't believe that, apart from the TA/Garodnick apologists, there are any corrupt posters here. We have clean hands on this blog. A few crackpots, maybe, but definitely no corrupt, lying, deceitful people.
This blog is a cesspool because it is knowledgeable people that are able to have a voice... something they don't have with the TA.
Hey TA - show the tenants your books and ballots. Time for transparency!
Information sharing, education and awareness always terrifies those who want to keep all the information to themselves with the rest uninformed and more easily duped, manipulated or controlled.
STR informs the community and that angers, scares those who want to control us, deceive us, by keeping us in the dark.
8.43 All of your TA issues are facts. Not insane conspiracy theories.That was my point, let's stick to the facts and call out the TA with the real issues.
I agree with 6:16. Unfortunately in this age of the internet, nothing is secret. Up until 10-15 years ago, the TA could keep everyone in the dark and tell them what was going on, and they would believe it. The Internet changes all of that, and we are just a few clicks from the facts. Transparency is the only option for the TA, because we will all find out the truth soon enough.
Has anyone thought about contacting Anonymous to expose the TA? I know they are busy with ISIS, but it's worth a shot...
The TA promoting the Barclay Ratner events in the Oval shows the TA stance on commercialization and construction of the Oval and destruction of the trees.
As if NYC doesn't already have too many event spaces. But with the convention centers, golf courses, stadiums and casinos, some are trying to capitalize on cheesy cheap drunken events to entertain the new type of tourist - the traveler on an expense account who is away from the spouse and kids for a few days who wants these events and the "models" that work the events -- instead of the high quality tourists who come to NYC to genuinely explore and get to know the once ethnically diverse, small business, middle class neighborhoods.
The high quality true luxury was the Tall Tree Park of last century - because it was rare. Not this new century of commercialization of every inch that is common in all cities.
Generic buildings, neighborhoods, skyline and tourists to the highest degree and lowest common denominator.
Promoting RE interests of Berlin Rosen clients to get us to buy into the commercialization of the Tree Park they killed. Sorry no dice.
BS is not going to change current management. It works well for them.
Oh for pete sake. I guess "frothing at the mouth" = "telling tenants the truth"
Of course tenants are outraged, the TA has behaved outrageously.
"Whatever is bullshit or truth, the bottom line is that we don't trust the TA or Garodnick and other elected officials. Maybe they have never committed the nefarious deeds that the conspiracy theorists present, but they have not done the right thing and do not have our respect or trust. That (imo) is what really matters. We do not have a trustworthy TA and we definitely do not have trustworthy politicians. These are proven facts, regardless of any conspiracy theorist embellishment."
Pretty well said and accurate if you ask me. It's certainly my feelings.
Anon on 11/25 @ 6:31 pm: Attorney General
If anything the new owners BlackStone will be worse towards tenants, worse than C ROCK and I'd bet my monthly salary on that.
lets post a link on Yelp to STR site here so all can read.
Who's this guy Pete?
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