Thursday, April 19, 2018

Ready for that Pool!


 





116 comments:

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Quite a sight. All trees around that Playground. All. Removed.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

I found this funny, in a way. But not funny in other ways. Part of a message from Rick:

"The construction will be invasive and loud at times. The tree cutting has begun. The existing asphalt has to be jackhammered and removed and the parapet wall will need to be demolished. The noise will be on and off through the end of May. To those residents surrounding Playground 1, a detailed noise schedule will be placed in your bulletin boards consistent with what’s used for the apartment renovations. The Princeton Elms will be planted in June and the newly laid cobblestones will return, also in June. The removed oak will be mulched and used, not disposed of. There will also be an additional inconvenience as 5 parking spaces on the north side of the 1st Avenue Loop will have to be reserved for dumpsters as the old asphalt is removed. We’ll apologize now and continue to apologize for the noise and inconvenience; there’s just no way around it."

So, more noise. Loud noise, too. Add this noise to the noise that goes on inside and around Stuy Town. Better take down those "Peace and Quiet" signs.

Just suck it up, New Yorkers.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

The bottom line is that residents will not win. Except if they sue. And "win" is qualified. One person withheld rent payment and won in court. No help from our TA, of course.

https://town-village.com/tag/caryn-chow/

Anonymous said...

So sad. Go look at the scrawny trees lining the side of Playground 8 and you'll get a sense of what's to come. Idiots.

Anonymous said...

Are those pics Stuy Town or Soviet Russia?

Anonymous said...

I detest that Hayduk character. Under his watch the property has diminished in trees and increased in crime. He's neutered PS and throws up a wall of secrecy to protect against bad publicity. He's stupid and arrogant enough to think that word doesn't get around that this place has become an overpriced slum and as ugly as sin.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Again, each person has to have a rent reduction (something!) if the noise is going to be great enough to interfere with your habitation--if you are around those hours, of course. Chow did it, but it takes your time and writing things down and having videos, etc, to make the judge realize what is happening. Blackstone owns this property and can do anything they want with those playgrounds. They can cut down all the trees in this community, and there is nothing a resident can do about it. But you are also guaranteed something. The extra noise shouldn't be a case of "sorry, but you live in the city." This does not mean that you will win. But it is something to take into consideration.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Regarding Rick, I think he's very aware of what goes on around here. He does his job, and a good part is to keep Blackstone satisfied. Think of the uproar if you had a manager that wasn't personable.

Anonymous said...

This place looks like a East Berlin before the wall came down. Rick is presiding over the uglification of Stuyvesant Town. I wish he'd go back to his resort world in Boca. I bet they were SOOOO glad to get rid of him when he came up here! He probably wanted to ruin all the natural beauty of Boca and put in ugly, disgusting "amenities." What a jackass! But he's a true Blackstonian. Blackstone is infamous for uglifying and slumifying every property it gets its dirty parasitic hands on. Blackstone is kind of like a bacterial disease that spreads all over properties it buys up.

Anonymous said...

"Think of the uproar if you had a manager that wasn't personable."

How personable is he when he's asked a tough, but honest, question about what is happening here?

Anonymous said...

bitch... bitch...bitch... bitch...bitch.

I think this is the last playground to be renovated. Would you prefer they just leave the shuffleboard courts and go away ?

Anonymous said...

This place sure gone crazy.

Anonymous said...

I agree that Hayduk knows exactly what he is doing. He is a great fit for Blackstone. He fulfills their wishes while winning over some of the older tenants with his e-mail responses and believe me some of them still adore him.

Anonymous said...

Why do you keep writing that nothing can be done?

Trees are being KILLED. Living creatures are being MURDERED.

Human beings and other forms of life are being hurt and even tortured and some of them die as a result of these actions. I saw two dead squirrels today which were likely poisoned.

Is there something I don't know? Person A, or Person A, B, and C are granted the power to MURDER and they are exempt?

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>Why do you keep writing that nothing can be done?<<

I could be wrong, but the only things that can be done involve city laws, but try to get the city to move on them! Whether we like it or not, Blackstone owns this property, and can, within guidelines (some of which they push), do what they want.

Anonymous said...

6:23, I don’t see anyone bitching about the playground being upgraded. I see people rightfully complaining about the trees being chopped down around said playground.

Anonymous said...

demand the cheap fuckers get rugs tell the nannies and the losers to stop the kids from jumping running through apartments broke our lamp last week that is because hey building shakes when the horses run plus jump around for hours. fucking low class losers.

Anonymous said...

Without a viable TA Blackstone can do whatever it wants. And we know that our TA is nonexistent. Sad but true.

Susan, where are you? said...

The rape of StuyTown continues.
Literally MURDER of perfectly healthy trees.
Unabated and with increasing force.
How sad.
Susan Steinberg and the Tenants Association?
WHERE ARE YOU?

Anonymous said...

I suggest posters pool their cash and hire an arborist to check all the trees on property and maybe an autopsy on the stumps. It's the only way to know for sure if management is lying. if they are, then they can apply for a decrease in rent or sue for damages. It has to be more proactive than hate typing here.

Anonymous said...

"bitch... bitch...bitch... bitch...bitch.

I think this is the last playground to be renovated. Would you prefer they just leave the shuffleboard courts and go away ?"

YES!!! ESPECIALLY THE GO AWAY PART.

Atomic Man said...

What’s kinda sad is that this was the last of the “original” playgrounds, pretty much unchanged since ‘48. Think of all the kids that played stickball there, dreaming of being the next Mantle or Musial.

At least they didn’t put in the dog run that the puppy people have been pining for.

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of Charles Dickens' novel "Bleak House." Maybe they should rename the property to Bleak Houses? Would be most fitting because they can never again use the slogan "A Park Runs Through It. A River Runs Round It." Those days when that description held any water are long gone.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>I suggest posters pool their cash and hire an arborist to check all the trees on property and maybe an autopsy on the stumps. It's the only way to know for sure if management is lying. if they are, then they can apply for a decrease in rent or sue for damages. It has to be more proactive than hate typing here.<<

Good idea. I don't trust Management or anyone they may hire.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

You can still get your rent lowered if you can prove that your quality of life was adversely affected by what is due. I can't do it, as I don't live in that area.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Also, I've taken photos of a few stumps. I don't know if something can be predicted about those stumps.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

And then the question also becomes: Was Management purposefully neglecting those trees because they wanted them down. A good lawyer has to examine all angles.

Anonymous said...

"What’s kinda sad is that this was the last of the “original” playgrounds, pretty much unchanged since ‘48."

Playground Six, besides the temp "dog days" event crap, is still the same. Shhhhhhhhh, let's not give them any ideas.

Anonymous said...


What’s kinda sad is that this was the last of the “original” playgrounds, pretty much unchanged since ‘48. Think of all the kids that played stickball there, dreaming of being the next Mantle or Musial.


Ah, dreams of overgrown boys. As the girl who never was allowed to play, I'm happy to see it re-habed for everyone's usage.

Do it Differently said...

"Nothing can be done."

Yes, it can. Many of us were here, in America, for civil disobedience. Protests, sit-down strikes, linking arms and blocking access to select locations.

Rent strike.

Picketing the Blackstone offices.

Picketing the Rental offices.

PICKETING RESIDENTIAL SERVICES.

There is a longer list of actions we can take.

Other than fear, or indifference, why not???

DID BLACKSTONE MURDER OUR TREES? said...

OKAY, I'M IN.

IF OTHER RESIDENTS WILL PAY A PROFESSIONAL ARBORIST TO EXAMINE OUR TREE STUMPS, AND IF IT CAN ACTUALLY BE DETERMINED WHETHER OR NOT THE TREES WERE DISEASED AND NOT MURDERED, THEN I'M WILLING TO CONTRIBUTE MY SHARE.

ANY TAKERS???

Anonymous said...

They revamped all of the playgrounds about ten years ago and they were quite adequate. This new reworking of playgrounds into sports and fitness areas is pure PR nonsense. They are not real amenities as they advertise them. Just leave the playgrounds alone.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>As the girl who never was allowed to play, I'm happy to see it re-habed for everyone's usage.<<

When was this?

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>Yes, it can. Many of us were here, in America, for civil disobedience. Protests, sit-down strikes, linking arms and blocking access to select locations.<<

Absolutely. But seeing how most New Yorkers are, and people in general, "suck it up" is realistic advice I'm sorry to say.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

I remember how New Yorkers held hands around this property for low rents and true affordability. I was there. I also remember the protests called by the TA at the leasing office that happened more recently. Protests which were small and dropped in a couple of weeks. What was it that yellow placard said that one was supposed to put at a window? I believe I was one of the very few that did that window display. I looked around.

Right now, the rents here are going up and up (affordability my ass)and the TA is sort of dead. This is the reality.

Anonymous said...

Here we go again. Peter Stuyvesant tooting the TA’s horn on the “work” they did in Albany. And of course, who is front and center for the picture but our very own Susan Steinberg. What a fraud she is.

How come we don’t see her out there protesting the destruction of this property? Maybe protests at the leasing office like back in the day? Oh that’s right, that would go against her pals at management.

Susan, I hope your politician pals can save you from the upcoming firestorm against the TA. I’ve warned you, it’s coming.

Anonymous said...

9:47
While a nice idea, there are a few problems/points that need to be made:

1) Our “TA” has received nearly $100k over the past 3 years from various sources, and nothing to show for that money. THEY should be using that money to fund an arborist coming in, not us.

2) Would management listen to an arborist report that goes against their “master” arborists report? Without assurances from them that they would take another arborists findings into consideration, it would all be for nil.

3) What would the costs be, and could we find someone to do it pro bono?

Anonymous said...

Hey Susan, what good is working to strengthen rent stabilization laws when the rent stabilized community we live in is in shambles and utterly unbearable to live in with noise and construction??? Work on the damn internal issues first, won’t you!!

If it weren’t for my extremely affordable rent, I would have been gone a year ago.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

I'm unclear, but that Stuy Town exhibit that was held in one of the Oval buildings--did it have photos from the affordability circle that extended all around the property several good years ago? Many New Yorkers took part, including the ones who lived here, and it was MAJOR news, at least for that time. Certainly something that should be mentioned in any exhibit. Was it?

Stuy Town Reporter said...

From the NY Times, May 23rd 2007:

“At least 7,000 people are expected to join hands and form a ring around Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town, from East 14th to 23rd Streets on First Avenue, at 5:15 p.m. today to protest rising housing costs. Nearly 100 housing, labor and political groups, including the New York City Central Labor Council, the Working Families Party and Acorn (the Association of Community Organizations Reform Now), joined the New York Is Our Home! Affordable Rent Campaign, said Evan Thies, a spokesman for the coalition.

“Fifty state legislators have endorsed the campaign and at least 2,000 residents of Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town are expected to attend the rally. After holding hands for up to 30 minutes, the group is scheduled to march toward Union Square.

“In October, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company agreed to sell the two giant complexes Tishman Speyer Properties and the real estate arm of BlackRock for $5.4 billion. Although most of the 25,000 residents are protected by rent stabilization laws, city officials have expressed concern that the new owners, by investing heavily in improving the properties, could speed up the process of removing units from the protection of those laws.”

Anonymous said...

I hear some kind of annoying loud music in the Oval at ten am. Don’t tell me they are starting this crap already.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Management values these solar panels on the roof that they are putting up. My apartment doesn't have anything nearby, but for those apartments that do, this may be helpful when all is done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mVIfsp8Fl0

Anonymous said...

Don’t know why they feel the need to play that cheesy music every time they run an event .(today the flea market). A good day to keep windows open and I resent having to hear that.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

LOL. So a resident on the TA page cheered PS for moving so fast that the door she was locked out of was opened by PS in 10 minutes. All well and good, but then we find out that she will be charged 50 dollars for the privilege of that door being opened. She didn't bitch, btw.

Listen, for 50 dollars, even at 7am, I will gladly open any door in Stuy Town. Just give me an all-pass key. 50 dollars! I could make a fortune with tenants accidentally locking themselves out!

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Hell, I will be competitive about it. I will only charge 40 dollars. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Gracefully taken care of!

Stuy Town Reporter said...

For 40 dollars, with tax, I may as well go to Hane and really enjoy myself!

Anonymous said...

That post about being grateful for management opening her door had me chuckling. Sure they will do it and collect the money. Better they should use their PS officers to walk around at night,

Anonymous said...

2:17 pm
Thank you!!! Would be nice to have Windows open and hear the beautiful birds instead of this all day crap!!!

Anonymous said...

2:17 pm
Thank you!!! Would be nice to have Windows open and hear the beautiful birds instead of this all day crap!!!

Anonymous said...

The PS guy got to her in 10 minutes. Wasn't that the length of time the young woman had to fight off her assailant who was trying to rape and murder her before a TENANT came to her rescue by scaring him off?

Management makes me vomit.

Anonymous said...

Of course security is going to rush to a lockout, it’s a cash cow for them, and it has been since long before Blackstone came around. I actually think it used to be $75 under previous management companies.

At least previous management companies had the security force actually working, now lockouts and client relations is all they are allowed to do, so of course they are going to rush to a money-making event like a lockout.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>The PS guy got to her in 10 minutes. Wasn't that the length of time the young woman had to fight off her assailant who was trying to rape and murder her before a TENANT came to her rescue by scaring him off?<<

You are correct.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>> Would be nice to have Windows open and hear the beautiful birds instead of this all day crap!!!<<

Pretty soon everyone in that area will be listening to jackhammers.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Now I'm going to get serious regarding those charges to open a resident door that was accidentally closed. Blackstone should be embarrassed. 50 dollars plus tax! How about the "charge" being nothing. Just a service that is offered to tenants. A service, free of charge. And if you need to make a charge, why not something small and it goes to something that will help others less fortunate. What is this making money all the time? And don't get me started about other buildings in New York. Think out of the box, as advertised!

Anonymous said...

"The PS guy got to her in 10 minutes. Wasn't that the length of time the young woman had to fight off her assailant who was trying to rape and murder her before a TENANT came to her rescue by scaring him off?"

Yes, and let's not forget that the attack was right under a security camera. One of the cameras we are paying a very high and perpetual MCI for. Fuck these monstrous bloodsuckers that own and run this dump.

Anonymous said...

The community is owed information on why a senior public safety officer was fired. Why was Eddie Grace fired?

Anonymous said...

STR, I agree that $50 is far too much just to be let into your apartment. They give greed, avarice and parsimony a whole new dimension. Despicable low-lifes.

Anonymous said...

str at 6 12 you are 100% right. Awful shit people. Shame on them. If anything, should be a small charge $10 , $20. Disgusting. but hey they charge us for light bulbs and mci for intercoms we did not need.

Anonymous said...

The noise today on the Oval:

1. I called 311, the 13th Precinct, Resident Services, Rick Hayduk. Eventually, 311/the 13th Precinct sent me an e-mail stating this was not within police jurisdiction. Security later informed me that, basically: THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY AND THE "OWNER" CAN DO WHAT THE HELL THEY WANT REGARDLESS OF A LEASE, ETC.

2. Another resident and I managed to speak to: Rick Heyduk (CEO), Fred Knapp (General Counsel, and the individual responsible for evicting and attempting to evict thousands of tenants under Tishman), and Kelly Vohs (Chief Operating Officer, who does a number on employees according to several to whom I spoke) today.

Every single one of them repeatedly stated they would NOT stop the music.

I, personally, pleaded with at least two of these individuals, going into detail about how the noise, and the vibrations, were pouring into my home, through the windows, and causing extreme disturbance, and pounding in my head and ears.

I've spoken many times about old people, infants, children, sick or injured residents who need peace and quiet.

It had begun between 9:30 - 10:00 a.m.

TWO OF THESE MEN LOOKED POSITIVELY GLEEFUL AS THEY INFORMED ME THAT THIS HARM TO ME WOULD CONTINUE UNTIL 4:00.

These men looked me dead in the eye, repeating and repeating, "No, we will not stop."

"NO, WE WILL NOT STOP."

I was told, "there is a disagreement" (about the noise and the harm to which they were subjecting many, many residents who pay money to live in their apartments. In effect, we are paying people to hurt us).

I was told, while I pleaded for a cessation of the racket and horrendous disturbance in my home, "Hey, this is great. Look how wonderful this is. This is COMMUNITY."

I stated repeatedly that they are hurting me. All three (Vohs, Knapp, Hayduk) declared that they WILL NOT STOP THIS.

We have the right, as New York City tenants, to peace and quiet ensured by the landlord, to whom we pay money each month.

I am repeatedly told by many employees here and the New York City Police Department personnel, that this is not my home, this is Blackstone's private property and they can do whatever the hell they want (in this case, cause pain and suffering, which they will do on many days and nights for months now in the warmer weather - "events" and "concerts")

WHY THE HELL IS THERE BLASTING MUSIC DURING A FLEA MARKET??? Has anyone reading this ever gone to flea markets with blasting noise?

It gets worse and there is more, and worse news, but I'll wait.

DOES NO ONE HERE WANT TO DO ANYTHING TO STOP THEM FROM DELIBERATELY HURTING US?

Anonymous said...

I wonder if they are planning to flip this dump or tear it down. They are certainly not making it any more livable or desirable from a tenants' POV. The destruction of everything that made it a great place to live seems to be so deliberate and calculated. They are investing money that is not going to benefit tenants in any way whatsoever, but may help them make a case for deeming it a beyond redemption property that they have invested money in to no avail. That would probably help them get a lot of write-offs when making a case that it is irredeemable junk as it exists today. We all know that the destruction and building of "amenities" is just a ploy to get the green light to sell it as scrap as a housing project but for the land it stands on that is worth billions.

Anonymous said...

To be fair, many buildings/complexes charge a lockout fee. Many younger tenants like to go out, party, and come home in various states of intoxication. For them, the lockout is a regular occurrence. Perhaps the $50 fee serves as some kind of deterrent (debatable). But for lifers like myself, who have been locked out a grand total of once in 26 years, it seems like just another way to nickel-and-dime us to death. Maybe the happy medium would be one free lockout entry per year, with each additional lockout incurring a small charge (certainly significantly less than $50). Gone are the days when both of my adjacent neighbors were trustworthy enough to trade keys with me in anticipation of lockouts that never actually happened.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>I stated repeatedly that they are hurting me. All three (Vohs, Knapp, Hayduk) declared that they WILL NOT STOP THIS.<<

Unfortunately, this is the reality. The 13th does not consider this property theirs unless there is a serious crime. Blackstone and their reps consider this theirs, however, and can do want they want within limits. I live in an apartment that does not face the Oval (thankfully), but for those that do, this is just one of the things they have to put up with if they are against this noise. Blackstone has to publicize these events, like the flea market (which, truthfully, mostly sells junk). You can get better quality stuff if you just wait around for what is thrown out because the apartment dweller has died. And it is free. Thanks for trying, though.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Just to report I was, again, driven out of my sitting area in the morning. So after a light breakfast I headed to the south side of the Oval to sit on one of the benches and enjoy the morning and the view, as it is a beautiful day and this is when Stuy Town looks the best. But I must have a welcoming sign on my forehead, because a bench away I was joined by a dog walker and her dog. Now, at that time she had a very wide range of sitting areas, but she had to sit close to me. Sure enough, it didn't take one minute before she was joined by two other dog walkers, one of which, like her, did not have that blue lanyard. Now, I had three dogs around me, japing away and fighting. Of course, there passed a PS officer, three times. Not once did he say anything to the illegal dog walkers. Remember, per rules, that any dog without that blue official lanyard is not supposed be here, and they and their owner are to be escorted out of Stuy Town. Bull. I don't care what Management or PS says, but the REALITY is that no one pays attention to this rule, even Management and PS.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

And Gumby still works for Management, as if it wasn't obvious. Some of the duties that Management is looking for in hiring Public Safety officers:

• Be an ambassador to the property while on patrol
• Ensure the safety and well-being of our team members and residents
• Build relationships with residents and the Public Safety team
• Conduct verticals, foot patrols, vehicle patrols throughout the property
• Assist residents with all sorts of things
• Respond to and de-escalate many different types of situations
• Represent the Public Safety department in a professional manner at all times

Note that not a word is directly said about enforcing the rules.

Anonymous said...

To the poster who pleaded, unsuccessfully, for a cessation in the noise: the more we complain, the more they will do what we complain about. They want us to be miserable and harmed if we are longtime tenants. They want to make us sick. They want us to die. The want us out. They want to take our rent stabilized apartments and turn them into noisy dorms for ten times the rent we are paying. They are evil and they would do anything, no matter how cruel, to cause the demise of the tenants who are paying lower rents.

Anonymous said...

12 28 not only low payers stop that shit they wanted our dear new families out too. duh.

Anonymous said...

That noise Saturday at ten AM was totally unwarranted. All of us on the Oval heard it and it was loud. As for the flea market, I have better junk at home and am not interested in other people’s junk. Some of the management trolls on the TA site were raving about the flea market and thanking Hayduk. So lame if that is what they see as Saturday entertainment.

Anonymous said...

Shocked that Eddie Grace was fired. He was the best. Any new news about this?
Also, had to leave my apt. today because of the (2) dogs barking for hours. Maddening.
Called Security and they verified the noise and will issue a lease violation.
Why do people go away for a weekend and leave their animals alone?

Stuy Town Reporter said...

A sample of comments at the TA Facebook:

"I think this was a demonstration of the special place we are so very fortunate to live in! Old and new friends sharing our “stuff”, laughter, hugs and so much fun!!! Thanks Rick!!!!"

LOL.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

BTW, I'm not laughing at the person who made the post, who could be very lovely, just at the message and what it says about "no accounting for tastes." Some people like the flea market with the loud music accompanying it, some people don't. For me, it is not "my scene," and I'd be respectful of people who live in the area who don't want this noise. But that's just me.

All I Want is Some Peace and Quiet said...

May I address the issue of noise pollution for the residents close to the Oval?
If you think it is bad now, wait for the Summer "Concerts".
The mindless cacophony of third and fourth rate "bands" awaits us when the Summer Festivities begin.
Oval "Amenities"...hahahaha.
Susan Steinberg, can you address this issue with Management?
Guess not, you're too worried about the half-naked bikini babes sprawling on the Oval on hot, sunny days.
Now that's an amenity I like!
Any fool who sends 50 dollars for a TA membership is an idiot.
I wouldn't send them 50 cents.
A paper tiger organization, a fraud.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, on the Citizen app we see that there was yet another assault of a woman on the property on Friday at or near 622 E20.

Stuy Moms group is saying another incident where a man exposed himself to kids at playground 8.

But hey, we had a flea market, so everything is great. Thanks Ricky boy.

Anonymous said...

That special place and thanking Hayduk goes too far. You can see flea markets and thrift shops all over the city if you like that sort of thing. But then, anything Blackstone does is wonderful to these people. Just hope they are not paying market rate for this crap.

Anonymous said...

April 22, 2018 at 12:09 AM you must live on the First Ave loop. Long gone were the days of exchanging keys with neighbors once all of the lobbyists, TA Board and Brookfield members started harassing rent stabilized tenants to get to mandatory ratio requirement for the condo conversion. Exchange keys with neighbors at your own risk.

Anonymous said...

Leaving dogs alone for the weekend is animal abuse. Call the police because they have taken over from the ASPCA in enforcement of the animal abuse laws.

Anonymous said...

Continued part 2

Steven Schwarzman Landlord

In other words, even after a $3 million birthday party and a Wall Street-fueled economic meltdown, Schwarzman still thinks the same way. And that’s scary.


...At its core, the entire carried interest debate is about a mind-set. Those who defend it truly believe managing money is somehow more noble than what the rest of us do for a living—that their lower personal taxes are justified by the risks they take (with other people’s money) to create growth and jobs.



...While the vast majority were content to bob and sway, looking down from my table, directly above Schwarzman’s, I saw the private equity titan dancing frantically.

The past few years have taught the world the folly of that warped view. But the message hasn’t gotten to Schwarzman. Quite the opposite: He’s stumped up and down Capitol Hill, groveling for his tax rate superiority.

I remember thinking two things. First, 60-year-old white men should never dance alone at a public gathering—he was about as smooth as five-day stubble. Second, for all the public mea culpas about his over-the-top party, back among his element, nothing had changed. That was mid-2007. Now it’s mid-2010. And to Steve Schwarzman, the party is still going. That should worry all of us.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/stephen-schwarzmans-stupid-wall-street-and-nazis-comparison




Using logic or pulling on heart strings will never work on those with delusional disorder who insanely evoke Nazi comparisons. Delusional Disorder is a serious disorder if left untreated you get inaccurate historical accounts of the world's most dangerous era, Nazi comparisons.

Anonymous said...

It is rich to compare and contrast StuyTown landlord Steven Schwarzman's tax loophole complaints and his tenants, some on fixed income, paying $50 lock out fees. Stuytown under Schwarzman evokes slumlord tactics.

"Stephen Schwarzman’s Stupid Wall Street and Nazis Comparison
For Steve Schwarzman, serving as last decade’s poster child for greed wasn’t enough.

Randall Lane, author of The Zeroes: My Misadventures in the Decade Wall Street Went Insane, on why his comments likening Wall Street taxes to the Nazis tee him up for an encore.


To understand how a billionaire private equity titan like Stephen Schwarzman can be so completely tone deaf—and policy ignorant—as to suggest that the idea of taxing Wall Street fat cats at the same rate as the rest of us is akin to the Nazi invasion of Poland, it’s instructive to follow him to lunch.

I met the deal world’s top dog midway through my first meal at America’s power commissary, Manhattan’s Four Seasons restaurant...

En route to my noontime table, in prime bubble era late 2006, I passed media power Mel Karmazin, Edgar Bronfman Jr., political power Vernon Jordan, Michael Bloomberg and Wall Street power AIG’s Hank Greenberg, Citi’s Sandy Weill.

But it was Blackstone’s Schwarzman, a near-daily regular, who acted like he owned the place, bounding from table to table... I had entered his clubhouse, and by the look on his over-tanned face, which stood out against his salt-and-pepper comb-over, he clearly reveled in it.

People who bunker themselves solely among the like-minded, who forget what it’s like to eat a hot dog or a take a bus or answer their own phone, lose perspective...one would think that the cataclysmic events of the past two years would have knocked some reality into the heads of Wall Street’s elite.

Especially Steve Schwarzman, the poster child for greed in the decade I call The Zeroes.

On Feb. 13, 2007, he gained infamy by throwing himself a $3M 60th birthday party, transforming the giant Park Avenue Armory into a replica of his 35-room Park Avenue palace...down to the replica paintings, and buying himself serenades from Patti LaBelle and Rod Stewart...

...The following year, as if in penance he announced a $100M gift to the NY Library, though a fight broke out over how many times his name would be chiseled onto the main branch's facade.

Yet when President Obama, in an age of soaring deficits and 9.5% unemployment, makes an eminently reasonable proposal—close the tax loophole known as “carried interest” that lets the people who inflated the asset bubble pay a 15% tax rate, versus the 35% rate paid by most reading this article—Schwarzman trotted out the specter of the Nazis.

To understand how a billionaire private equity titan like Stephen Schwarzman can be so completely tone deaf—and policy ignorant—as to suggest that the idea of taxing Wall Street fat cats at the same rate as the rest of us is akin to the Nazi invasion of Poland, it’s instructive to follow him to lunch.

“It’s a war,” Schwarzman told members of a nonprofit board, comments Newsweek revealed on Monday. “It’s like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.”

Besides flubbing history—if we’re using awful Nazi metaphors, Obama’s dogged push on the carried interest loophole wasn’t a Poland-style sneak attack, but more of a sustained siege, à la Leningrad—Schwarzman is wrong on policy. So wrong that, among a half-dozen private equity players and money managers I previously asked about this, equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats, not one...chose to defend why they are paying less than half the tax rate ordinary mortals do.

“Virtually everybody in the private equity community knows that they have been receiving a gift for as long as people can remember,” says one Schwarzman peer.

Yet the most important person at the most important deal shop in the world, with a net worth of $5 billion...felt it legitimate to invoke the Nazis. And even as he spent Tuesday “apologizing” for his “inappropriate analogy”, it was filled with a “however” that just reinforced his original point.


cont'd

Anonymous said...

I agree with the person who declared that the diseased beings who claim to "own" this place plan to destroy the buildings.

For quite some time now, it has been plain to me that Blackstone and their servants envisioned this acreage cleared. And then hosting other buildings for very different purposes with a population of the human poison which deliberately and wantonly destroys everything it can. While millions, and perhaps billions, of other human beings die of starvation disease, etc. And while more billions of other lives on this planet are enslaved, tortured and dead.

We are a vicious, destructive species. Some of us are kind and unselfish and loving, but fewer and fewer.

In particular, people in "real estate" are especially pernicious. The politicians, bankers, and others who participate in escalating rape of land, murder of millions of non-human animals and other lives (e.g., trees), and immiseration of human lives (I love that word - immiserate - it means to make miserable, and to impoverish) are wretched, power-hungry creatures. They might be outright sadists and too often, psychopaths. It is never simply about money. It is always about POWER OVER OTHERS, CONTROLLING OTHERS.

I read here, on this blog, some time back, a number of posts concerning the plan to seize and colonize 14th Street from river to river; the plan to seize control of land beside the Hudson and East River, as well as the water itself for huge yachts, hotels. I think there may be truth in it. And it seems to me that the 14th Street L line shutdown is part of it. Murder (quick) of trees and bushes and flowers has already been implemented on a broader scale and murder (excruciatingly slow and painful) of people has already been implemented. Look at the growing numbers of homeless and exceedingly, desperately ill people in our city (and other cities).

Anonymous said...

Hayduk worked for Blackstone in Florida at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. He also worked for other Blackstone owned corporations as LXR Resorts. Hayduk is a career Blackstone yes man. Boca Raton Resort & Club has a long history of ties to Stuyvesant Town including mutual residents.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/tourism/fl-boca-raton-resort-for-sale-20141104-story.html

Anonymous said...

The love on the flea market thread is sickening. I’m all for a good time, but I hate people who claim to be optimists and see the bright side of things, but ignore REALITY. These people live in a fake reality where the world around them is crumbling. And I want to be clear, I am fine with heaping praise on something you enjoy, but don’t ignore the realities of this place when they are hitting you square in the face.

You need to be able to dish the criticism in the same way you heap the praises.

A few reminders for the “glass half full” people:

- a drastic rise in crime (coincidence that it is around the time PS stopped doing their jobs?)
- tearing out “diseased” trees
- return of Golub notices
- suicides on the rise (one with poisonous gases)
- questionable renting policies and PR campaigns
- house rules NEVER being enforced, especially carpeting and noise
- short term rentals taking over the place

There are many many more. So again, enjoy your flea market and Disney world amenities, but don’t put the blinders on for everything else that goes on here. And do not say you live in a peaceful oasis, because that makes you a LIAR.

Anonymous said...

The cheerleaders get very huffy if anybody expresses an opinion that is any way contrary to theirs. If THEY like something, then you must have something wrong with you if you don't feel the same way. If you don't care for something because it personally invades your peace and privacy - HOW DARE YOU!!! If you don't care for something because you are just not interested in the event - HOW DARE YOU!!! Can't those people enjoy something without acting as if your not feeling the same way is an affrontary to them! Just get on with your flea market and enjoy it, but don't turn on anyone who says they didn't enjoy it so much or were not interested in it.

One poster who lives on the Oval said she didn't like the loud music invading her living space so early in the morning. She has an absolute right to say that because she owns her feelings without those cheerleaders having to have theirs affirmed by everyone else. They turned on her like a pack of snarling wolves who had just had their prey stolen from under their noses. I'm sure those folk really did enjoy the flea market (probably could have enjoyed it just as much without the loud music which was never a feature of the old flea market events), but I get the definite impression that some of the posters were trying to impress Management with what loyal devotees they are. And i don't know why because trying to score brownie points with Management ain't gonna get your rent lowered, your broken appliances fixed any faster or any other kind of benefit. Management will screw you just as badly as it screws the people who don't give a shit about the flea market or any of the other bread and circuses events.

Anonymous said...

The person who made the post clearly enjoyed himself and scored a nice carpet cleaner. Good for him. Clothing wasn't permitted to be for sale, but I wonder if that ban applied to Leather goods?

Anonymous said...

I have no objection to the flea market and am glad to see its return. But we don't need to have that lousy "music" blasted at us! Where does management get its musical "entertainment?" Subway platform buskers?

Anonymous said...

Now I'm going to get serious regarding those charges to open a resident door that was accidentally closed. Blackstone should be embarrassed. 50 dollars plus tax! How about the "charge" being nothing. Just a service that is offered to tenants. A service, free of charge.


That would just end up having no one carry keys... what's so hard about carrying keys?

Stuy Town Reporter said...

I forgot to mention: As I listened to that announcer at the Oval flea market, he said a "no-no." It was supposed to be a joke, but, he said, the Irish dancing that was happening on stage would go to the senior center (community center) and teach those seniors some steps. Yeah, it was supposed to be a joke. Wonder if this guy was that Gumby we hear about?

Stuy Town Reporter said...

BTW, kudos to that Japanese girl who tried to do her normal run with all those people and dogs at the Oval when the flea market was occurring. She dodged pretty well. Her twin sister wasn't around, as she had a baby, but the other one I see almost every day.

Anonymous said...

"I forgot to mention: As I listened to that announcer at the Oval flea market, he said a "no-no." It was supposed to be a joke, but, he said, the Irish dancing that was happening on stage would go to the senior center (community center) and teach those seniors some steps. Yeah, it was supposed to be a joke. Wonder if this guy was that Gumby we hear about?"

What exactly is the issue here? That he called it the "senior center" instead of the "community center?" Or is the issue that he said that the dancers would "teach the seniors some steps?" I'm honestly curious, because I think that he was just trying to make a pun.

Anonymous said...

"I forgot to mention: As I listened to that announcer at the Oval flea market, he said a "no-no." It was supposed to be a joke, but, he said, the Irish dancing that was happening on stage would go to the senior center (community center) and teach those seniors some steps. Yeah, it was supposed to be a joke. Wonder if this guy was that Gumby we hear about?"

That guy was a total ASSHOLE! The seniors here feel discriminated against and unwelcome enough because we all know that Management wants them dead. I hope that most of them have kids on the lease who will legally be able to keep the apartment at the current RS status. Ageism is as cruel and evil as sexism, antisemitism, racism and all other forms of hostile discrimination. Rick has a special needs child. How would he feel if that bone-headed loser made fun of the handicapped and special needs children?

The tacky lowlifes running this property make me puke.

Anonymous said...

Those flea market enthusiasts were absurd. They act as if you are a totally negative person if you don’t like the cheesy music and Sty events. They love every event that management sponsors with no regard for QO L issues. They are the ones who are missing out if they think that this garbage that Blackstone offers as amenities is worthwhile.

Anonymous said...

Open the books Steinberg. Show us to whom TA Board Treasurer John Sheehy paid "awesomely burdensome costs" to in the StuyTown Bed Bug fiasco you testified about. Was it a shell company that John Sheehy paid? How much? Who registered for reimbursement once (if you ever) expose the hotels and have them reimburse those claims that TA Treasurer Sheehy paid?

Anonymous said...

Lieutenant Eddie Grace was indeed fired after more than 30 years of service.

He had suffered a number of strokes, been burdened with responsibilities injurious to his health, and, like his fellow officers, subjected to increasing harassment by "mismanagement."

Previous to our loss of the good Edward V. Grace (he did his job, cared about the residents here, and enforced rules - ALL PROHIBITED BY THE "OWNERS" OF THIS CATASTROPHE), Chief William McClellan had been hamstrung and marginalized by Blackstone's minions for months, rendered incapable of doing what Security and Safety folk do, made miserable, informed he was to be replaced. He walked away rather than being fired after, I believe, something in the neighborhood (pun intended) of 12 years of service here.

This was seven months ago.

Look around at our Security folks. Many, many are new. Many of them are young. Most of our stalwarts are gone. "Security" and "Safety" have been increasingly prevented from doing what they need to do, what we need.

Our lives and bodies have been deliberately, knowingly endangered by Blackstone and their impeccably moral and decent agents here in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. We've got "leadership" here which behaves in a psychologically brutal manner, demeaning and intimidating their own employees.

Institutional memory is systematically and brutally being wiped out of both the tenant population and Security. THIS is what every colonizer/murderer regime does: terrorize a population and render it unable to mount an effective resistance. Eliminate those who remember, who are concerned and strong and brave. Hurting them (creating conditions that bring about heart attacks, strokes, cancer and other both quick and slow killers) is a tried and true method of invaders for many, many years in many places. Remember American history? The military provided Native Americans with blankets contaminated with deadly disease germs.

Hurting these targeted, strong and effective individuals will also scare the living hell out of those remaining. "We did it to Smith; do our bidding or we'll hurt you, too."

One of Blackstone's employees explained that they want people to regard their apartments as their "homes." Oh, really??? In contrast: Another employee declared that, "This is NOT your home. It is Blackstone's (private) property and they can do whatever they want." Which translates to: "They can harm you as much as they choose to hurt you."

Hell, think about the crap we've heard for years about this being "private property" so that the police ignore us.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>What exactly is the issue here? That he called it the "senior center" instead of the "community center?" Or is the issue that he said that the dancers would "teach the seniors some steps?" I'm honestly curious, because I think that he was just trying to make a pun.<<

I don't have the recording, but he made a joke about the Irish dancing being taught at the community center to seniors. I call it the senior center at times, because that is what it is. Maybe he did, too. Never seen a young person there.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>Lieutenant Eddie Grace was indeed fired after more than 30 years of service.

He had suffered a number of strokes, been burdened with responsibilities injurious to his health, and, like his fellow officers, subjected to increasing harassment by "mismanagement."<<

I have to say that I don't know who he is, though if I saw a photo I would probably know. When was he let go?

Anonymous said...

4/23 10:17, I agree with you. If you voice an opinion on something that is bothersome to you, and may construed as negative (in the eyes of the beholder), than they jump on you like a pack of wolves. You know what that makes them??? BULLIES.

Go ahead and enjoy your events, but if someone doesn’t have the same positive experience that you had, listen to what it is that bothered them, don’t berate them as negative nellies. If you were in suffering health and expected peace and quiet in your home but instead had that all day, you too would have been upset.

Anonymous said...

Eddie Grace was not the benevolent security officer some are making him out to be. Eddie Grace did not have good intentions with all of the tenants. He may have had favorites who he was good to. But to others he was awful.

Anonymous said...

The flea market would be ok (if you like that kind of thing) if they spared us the crappy music. What is music to some (tone deaf) ears is noise pollution to other peoples ears.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

They're back! The politicians. Of course, it has to be Election Day in the city. Keith Powers people (which I call them, though they are Harvey Epstein people) where INSIDE Stuy Town and Powers was there, on the corner, with his candidate, Epstein. Neither said anything until I did. What I found even more amusing was the photos of Garodnick and Powers under the Epstein placard. Now, I want them to lose seeing this, but knowing people here in the city and Stuy Town, Epstein will probably win.

Anonymous said...

Officer Grace was fired within the last several weeks.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

The thing is (and another thing to lodge in one's experiences) is that politicians don't care about these "little" laws if breaking them serves the politician. Again, both Powers and Epstein were there at the corner and said NOTHING about the Epstein workers INSIDE Stuy Town. I had to say something, and Powers acted as if he didn't know the rules, after the Powers people a few months back were really inside Stuy Town and handing out those cards, and some residents were pissed. He knew damn well what the rules are, but he didn't care.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Of course, Public Safety should have said something. Should have. After all, they have all those cameras hovering over the property, even near the perimeter.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

BTW, a lot of suits in Stuy Town today.

Anonymous said...

If management doesn’t care about rules, why should the politicians? If management was actually enforcing rules, the politicians would probably follow suit (for appearances). As with everything and almost everyone else around here, rules are not enforced and therefore people do what they want.

I don’t like Powers, but I don’t blame him for doing what he’s doing, it’s on management to enforce what it says.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

http://www.gazettextra.com/news/nation_world/seeking-a-quiet-place-in-a-nation-of-noise/article_86288492-6962-58ee-99c6-c38656ce7f3c.html

Stuy Town Reporter said...

From the above link:

Noise doesn’t just affect hearing, noise activists say; it can cost your health. A study by the University of Michigan showed a link to cardiovascular disease and heart attacks, according to Neitzel, who conducted the study.

“The consensus is that if we can keep noise below 70 decibels on average, that would eliminate hearing loss,” Neitzel said. “But the problem is that if noise is more than 50 decibels, there’s an increased risk of heart attack and hypertension,” he said. “Noise at 70 decibels is not safe.”

According to the Earth Journalism Network, when you hear a jackhammer, that’s 130 decibels of noise; a chainsaw, 110. At a rock concert standing near the speakers? 120. Getting passed by police with sirens blazing? 120. Behind a garbage truck? 100.

Anonymous said...

I'll vote for Epstein because he is a dem and we need a dem to fill Kavagnah's seat. Powers is a weasel, just like Garodnick. He was so obnoxiously in-yer-face when he was campaigning that I voted for another candidate. He is a hyper-ambitious, ruthless SOB who used to be a lobbyist for the RE scum. I wouldn't vote for him if he were running for dog-catcher.

PS or NYPD should make Powers and his gang obey the rules. The cops are paid off and PS are neutered.

Anonymous said...

What did Eddie Grace look like? Was he a big red-faced guy with sandy-blond hair?

Anonymous said...

@5:38 AM: You are right. The "cheerleaders" are bullies. Nasty bullies and control freaks. There are a couple who are really vile. One guy only posts to snipe and berate anybody whose posts he doesn't approve of. He never has anything of value or substance to say, but just likes to belittle and harass others who post what he considers "negative" posts. I'm betting that he was the target of bullies at one time and wreaks his revenge from the safety of FB by berating others who he might feel are weaker than he. Nasty little twerp. Best to just block his kind because they are not worth having to deal with.

Anonymous said...

Management wants us to think it is Environmentally-Friendly and wants us to recycle, e-cycle, compost, shred, deal with the aggravation of their painting the roofs white and installing solar panels, etc., etc. HOWEVER, when it comes to OUR environment, they don't give a flying fuck. They cut down all (or most) of the beautiful trees, subject us to endless, health-destroying noise pollution, both indoors and outdoors and don't care how much it harms our health and quality of life. What despicable hypocrites they are.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>I'll vote for Epstein because he is a dem and we need a dem to fill Kavagnah's seat.<<

Understood. But those faces below Epstein made me go the other way. But that's just me. I don't want to be told the person I should vote for. It doesn't matter here, anyway. Epstein should win.

Anonymous said...

I always thought that the Democrats were great for housing issues but after Garodnick, Kavannagh and Hoylman sold us to the devil Blackstone I don’t know anymore. They did nothing to protect us against this management ‘s destruction of the QOL here.

Anonymous said...

"Understood. But those faces below Epstein made me go the other way. But that's just me. I don't want to be told the person I should vote for. It doesn't matter here, anyway. Epstein should win."

Touch touchy! Wasn't telling you who to vote for! Just saying why I'll vote for him, even though I'll have to hold my nose!

Stuy Town Reporter said...

>>Wasn't telling you who to vote for!<<

That I know. That's why "but that's just me." ;-)

Anonymous said...

10.10 AM.-"What did Eddie Grace look like? Was he a big red-faced guy with sandy-blond hair?"

Yes but short. On LinkedIn, no picture, just this.


"edward grace-Public Safety Tour Commander at Blackstone Properties"

Anonymous said...

I wish the shit who removed all the beautiful trees would remove themselves and be replaced by decent human beings. Hard, if not impossible, to find decent human beings in the RE industry, though.

Anonymous said...

It almost makes me nostalgic for Tishman Speyer’s “rape forrest.”

Anonymous said...

Amen to "hard, if not impossible to find decent human beings in the RE industry, though."

They are right down there with lawyers, politicians, financial types.

A very close relative used to be a lovely, loving, generous soul and then became a professional liar and worse: Real Estate!