Saturday, January 9, 2016

Happy Days Are Here Again?


 The crowd starts to gather.

Saturday's "Meet and Greet" with our new property manager Rick Hayduk was attended by about 100 or so tenants (more kept streaming in after the event started). The crowd was comprised chiefly of older tenants. Not a student in sight, of course.

 Introduction by Blackstone/Ivanhoe.

Hayduk's presentation was impressive in that he made a commitment to be accessible to tenants and responsive to their problems. He asked for patience, as he has just recently taken over, but set a goal of improving the quality of life here by 1% each day. He stressed that those in a work capacity for tenants would be made aware of their importance in serving the community. He stated that about 30% of residents responded to the surveys that had been sent out at the end of 2015, a figure that, according to general marketing stats, was impressive. Hayduk made it clear that he is very aware of what the problems are, mentioning noisy neighbors, slow response time on plumbing issues, non-registered dogs, the filth along the walkways, etc.

 Property Manager Rick Hayduck addresses the assembled crowd of tenants.

Though I was uplifted by his presentation and apparent sincerity and vision, when I left "the tent" I almost instantly came across dog urine and crap stains and the horrible cracked condition of the walkway. Rick Hayduk has taken on an impossible job, I thought, particularly as the financial aspect of owning this complex will surely be at odds with the attention Hayduk can give to making positive changes for a community of families and senior citizens, the real tenants of ST/PCV. If I'm getting him right, he wants to see this community infused with positive energy about this complex and its management, and, perhaps, increased in number. Realistically, however, my impression is that Blackstone and Ivanhoe will need to be channeling students as renters for monetary reasons and to expedite apartment turnover, which guarantees a 20% increase in a unit's "base" rent.

Now, let's go out DANCING and SINGING!!!

26 comments:

  1. Surely there will come a point where an apartment's base rent is too ridiculously high even for this environment of skyrocketing rents? There has to be a limit on what even parentally-funded dormies will be willing to pay to be crammed into a unit.

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  2. I hope the new management addresses the disparity of heat in the buildings. On some lines the tenants are roasting and on others there is no heat at all. They refuse to address the issue unless you let someone come to your apartment (and by the time they arrive several hours later, the heat may have come on).
    Some tenants have to live with their windows open during the winter months and some have to live with space heaters and ovens. The people in so-called "Resident Services" are sometimes sympathetic and other times don't give a shit and make that very clear, but the problem continues anyway. The computer system they have installed (I think TS installed it) is a total crock. It's like that Compstat boondoggle Bloomberg had the taxpayers fund. A complete rip-off.

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  3. How long do we have to wait before we are completely rid of Campus Crock?

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  4. Unfortunately, the deal that the TA and politicians made with Blackstone leaves half of the ST/PC units at market rate. The only way that they can rent them is to break them up into student dorms and transient hotels. We are stuck with this quality of life situation. Blackstone can promise and court the tenants from here to eternity and it will still be the same crappy dorm situation here.

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  5. Funny, the meet and greet was yesterday where Blackstone said things were going to change but tonight, right now, at 12.19 AM, as someone who faces the Oval, there was inside and out, the full blast of the dormification was in effect, the entitled ones pounding, stomping and, of course, screaming.

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  6. Compass crock can suck ass for all we care as they are mean,nasty, do nothing losers who get paid from our $. Donalda needs to go too. She doesn't do jack shit.

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  7. Wait a second, did anyone ever find out where all the money over three billion went as a result of the sale? You know, the money that Blattman said had nowhere to go? I'd like to provide a home for some of it if needed.... I would have thought that DG and the TA would have gotten to the bottom of this by now.

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  8. If they keep Donalda we know the fix is in. This is proof they are not interested in tenants needs. The entire property in agreement that she is not only ineffective, but rude and lies to tenants.

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  9. The two BR in Sty are now made into 3 mostly - 3 to 4 guys sharing and 1 bathroom. That is gross. In Pcooper, the one BR is now made into and 2 to 3 guys girls sharing 1 bath. Gross.

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  10. "The two BR in Sty are now made into 3 mostly - 3 to 4 guys sharing and 1 bathroom. That is gross. In Pcooper, the one BR is now made into and 2 to 3 guys girls sharing 1 bath. Gross."

    Not only gross, but ILLEGAL. However, unless management does something about this of its own volition, I can't see our impotent TA doing anything about it and certainly not the Belle of the REBNY Ball. He won't do anything whatsoever that might make him a wallflower at the next REBNY Ball.

    Maybe we should ALL file complaints with the Mayor's Office?

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  11. @11:02

    Speaking of the Belle of the REBNY Ball, the big date is coming up very soon - January 21, 2016. The Belle will not be a wallflower, because he has done everything the REBNY has asked of him. Oh, and by the way, tickets are starting at an affordable price of $1,100.

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  12. How does one file a complaint with mayor's office and why haven't we? I have about 30 or so for this property.

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  13. Yes, Donalba's ineffectiveness has been going on for years. Even PS comments that contacting her is a waste of time. She has been burnt out for years and probably is going to retire soon so she really couldn't care less.
    New Year, new property manager, lets really clean house and get someone who can actually work with tenants and who actually cares.

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  14. The problems have less to do with the Property Managers and EVERYTHING to do with Andrew MacArthur and the rest of the pieces of **** at Campus Rock. I believe Adam Rose had good intentions but he clashed too much with MacArthur and had the good sense not to muddy his name with these people. I wish this guy luck but I'm not holding my breath.

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  15. Did they say anything at these meetings about putting construction on roofs? I wasn't able to make any of these meetings because I was recovering from surgery.

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  16. construction on the roof? whyYYYYYYYYYY

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  17. POSTCARD days are here again! It's time to GET ORGANIZED! Who's with me?!?!?

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  18. Just walking by the ice rink. Yes I am sure it's loud in a nearby apartment. It is just a few months at best. I am also not supporting this argument to remove until the other problems are addressed for thousand of tenants here dealing with student noise 24/7. Sorry. I hate that rink, but someone has to do something about the noise level indoors by neighboring tenants.

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  19. I don't think it's that much heavy lifting to deal with two, three or more issues at the same time.

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  20. "construction on the roof? whyYYYYYYYYYY"

    From the TA FB page:

    "I went to the meet and greet tonight.The answer is that the apartment on 14th floor in 2 Peter Cooper (a two bedroom and one bedroom combined )has a staircase in it that leads to a terrace on the roof. This was an experiment done by the last owner. Black Rock had no knowledge until after the sale and at this point there are no plans to continue this practice, or do anything with the roofs."

    CWC/CR made TS look like a bunch of rank amateurs. Truly evil.

    Hey “Postcards”, since the TA is beyond hope (debatable), where’s that alternative organization that I hope you are creating to the TA again? Waiting.

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  21. I went to the "meet and greet" at the basketball tent last night and listened to Mr Hayduk's opening remarks which included an apology "for what you have been through with the previous owner." He said Blackstone Ivanhoe are here for the long term. He sprinkled his remarks with examples of QOL issues that he intends to tackle and came across to me as taking a consensus building approach to his job. For instance he said that he will "align" the interests of all residents. He pledged to build a new culture of service across his staff. He asked that the community press the "reset button" and give him a few months to align his team around QOL, including "enforcing the guidelines". He described QOL as noisy neighbors, loud parties, slow plumbing turnaround times, and dogs running off leash.

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  22. "...dogs running off leash."

    I sense a reluctance to effectively deal with the dog issue if that's the way Mr. Hayduk frames the dog problem. I rarely, rarely see a dog off leash. Instead, I see streams of dog urine running across walkways, dog crap and smears everywhere, dog urine against the entrances to buildings (particularly in PCV where there are already permanent stains and corrosion along the faux marble there), dog owners placing their dogs inside fenced in areas of grass and foliage, etc.

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  23. um, tenants are not allowed on roofs. ?

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  24. Paarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrteeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

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  25. Shame on landlord. Fake yelp reviews today and removal of real reviews. Great start for our new LL.

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  26. The dog problems are getting out of hand, the sidewalks are practically becoming unusable as you have to constantly keep your eyes on the ground to avoid stepping in dog poop or pee, I don't remember it ever been this way, and we moved in only in 2009. What happened all of a sudden in the last year or two? There are also more aggressive breeds allowed than I have seen. For those of us with little kids, dog issue is of a big concern.

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