Friday, December 30, 2016

From Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village's Own Policy

"Carpet your apartment in accordance with the terms of your Lease. Your lease requires that rugs or carpeting must cover 80% of all floors at all times. Floor covering is not required in the kitchen or bathroom."

Actual examples at ST/PCV's own website (click on photo to make it bigger):




Monday, December 26, 2016

No Comment Is Necessary











This is what I see every day. Would it hurt a representative of Blackstone to make the same 15 minute tour of the Oval and its environs? Or...is everything okay and fine??? Is that the spin?

These are actual photos, as you can see, and made today, in the afternoon.

I would not be proud of the quality of life on display.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!


Just perfect, 3 hours of by-now traditional songs!

We will see if this works. One per day. First up, something you won't eat anymore at Neptune--


Let's not forget our Vets, past and present. Happy Christmas, Holidays, and a Happy New Year!...


We have a lot of residents who are of the Hebraic background, so--


They live above me and walk in their high heels (without carpeting) all the time, but what I want to know is what are those two men doing there? I see you! At least the hijab girls are without high heels.


 A shout out to our police--men and women--and firefighters, too. Thank you!


The French have too eat, too!....


They get a certain amount of flak from the blogs, including this one, but when real trouble or difficulty rears its head, they are there for us. So this is for our team of Public Safety. Stay warm, too! It is cold out there!


What are you waiting for? An invitation? There are some holiday sights that are still New York....


Unless I get inspired, this will be it of the holiday photos, as this week will be plenty busy. I'm wishing everyone here a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season!

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12/14/16. My Christmas/Holiday greetings continue, but there is other material eager to get the front page. To wit:

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/muslim-woman-reported-trump-supporter-attack-made-story-article-1.2910944

Part of the article:

" A Muslim student who said she was harassed on the subway by drunken, hate-spewing white men shouting 'Donald Trump!' found herself behind bars Wednesday after telling cops she made the whole story up.

"Yasmin Seweid, 18, joined a growing list of local and national alleged hate crime victims when she told cops that she was taunted Dec. 1 on the No. 6 train by three men who called her a terrorist and tried to snatch her hijab off her head while straphangers did nothing but watch.

"But Seweid finally broke down and admitted to detectives that it was all a big lie."

More at the link. Meanwhile, guess who has become Our Man Dan's biggest advocate: the PCVST Tenants Association. We knew this, but the TA should be embarrassed, especially considering the holes that are starting to come through.

Here's part of their special email to all tenants ("Your Tenants Association" header):


So the TA is connected to Dan in this way, too. They are not connect to tenants via many of the problems that exist here, but to Dan--yes, sir. Oh, how is that lease office protest working? And composting? Can't forget that.

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12/16/16. Yeah, I know it's algorithm stuff, but I want to get back to the "swing" of things...


Wednesday, December 7, 2016

A Case of Mistaken Identity?

This is the blog post by Sabina Mollot:

https://town-village.com/2016/12/06/jew-man-graffiti-seen-across-from-stuy-town/

Garodnick tweeted on December 5th a not-too good photo of the graffiti. He didn't get much of response, but TA Facebook has been full of pronouncements about the graffiti, and now the "discussion" is shut down.

Today, during lunch break, I went near Papaya, the store over which is this graffiti, and took photos.

Let me state that the graffiti cannot be seen by anyone in Stuyvesant Town. To call it, as Garodnick does, "in the community"--well, maybe. (T&V: "Garodnick later said he had never before seen anti-Semitic graffiti in the community.")

Now I realize that Garodnick is trying to promote "New York Values" to the country, and he and his friends can certainly do that, but the truth is that the graffiti is NOT seen by anyone in Stuy Town and definitely not from where Garodnick lives in Peter Cooper Village. At first I was quizzical about the actual photo, as I know it can't be seen in PCV. This would not be an issue if the graffiti was anti-Semitic, but actually seeing it, I'm not sure. At all. The graffiti doesn't seen to be racist and could very well be someone just "tagging" the sign with an amusing, to him, caption.

All this noise about how hateful it is, is just that--noise. Unless we know different. Right now it appears not to be racist, and just a use by Garodnick to have the high moral ground and promote his petition. There may be some justification if Garodnick may feel threatened, of course. But at this point the graffiti may be completely innocent.

Meanwhile, an incident involving a NYC police person, who happens to be Muslim, has been confirmed. This is where our anger should be focused right now.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

On Anti-Americanism

Our councilman, Dan Garodnick, posted the other day a photo of an anti-Semitic sign over Papaya on 14th St and Ist Ave. State Senator Hoylman addressed anti-gay and anti-Semitic swastikas written in his building....

I consider these signs and activities as anti-American. They do not hold the values that I and others hold, namely that everyone, regardless of race or creed should be treated with dignity, unless that person is a proven son-of-a-bitch that deserves to be treated otherwise.

That said, I must state a warning: Do not automatically assume these anti-Americans as Trump supporters, or Pence or the Republican Party supporters. They could very well be or they could also be people who are using the election results against Trump by instigating false hoaxes. There have been a slew of these false hoaxes, though recent NYC police reports are pretty damning.

This is the game that is being played now: set up the "other guy" as a bad fellow because of whom he or she voted for. This is where I part company with Garodnick and others of his type ("New York Values"), who insist on highlighting for political purposes "us vs. them," the them being Trump and the Republican Party. I am not willing to play the game or be used by politicians for the game. And I am aware of the game.

If possible, I want all these anti-Americans caught and shamed and judged legally. I trust that is what all of us want.

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Update 12/7/16: I may have been wrong about my assumption that the Papaya graffiti was anti-Semitic.  More at the newest blog post.

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Garodnick's Play




I'm glad that our departing councilman Dan Garodnick is placing a spotlight on the president elect's expenditure via his office and Trump Tower, but once again, I think good old Dan is stressing politics over reasoning. Is he also willing not to listen to and not be a lap dog for business high rises in his district? Is he also going to give back the donations made by his rich buddy SL Green for One Vanderbilt? Is he willing to not go and smile at the REBNY awards dinner? Is he willing to go after "the boys" who give money to the NYC Democratic Party, and probably the Republican Party if in power? Is he willing to say, "I'm sorry for accepting a third term as councilperson when I voted against third terms"? Is he willing to fight for the middle class and say f.u. to affluent concerns and reestablish Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village so that "families of moderate means might live in health, comfort and dignity in park-like communities and that a pattern might be set of private enterprise productively devoted to public service...."  I don't think he is on any of these things, so I just want him to go away and leave us in peace.

He won't.

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12/12/16 Just a placement so as not to mar our Christmas and Holiday cheers.  Current AirBnb hosting. Do you think Management knows? Oh, how is your composting going?