A Surprise for Residents is Waiting for You

You're right, I am surprised. Every time I step outside and see dog crap and dog smears--that is, if I don't get hit by the workers' "club cars" that go any which way, including across 20th Street.

And turn up the heat, pretty please.

Let the Beer Flow!

You may have heard that 5 Stuy Cafe applied for a license to sell wine, beer and cider, and then withdrew the application less then a week later. Why? We think Blackstone's Rick Hayduk had something to do with it. But if you are against the selling of alcohol at the cafe, don't cheer too much.

Town & Village had this updated information: "Stuy Town general manager Rick Hayduk told Town & Village that after learning about the application, he would be requesting that it be withdrawn until the details are vetted by StuyTown Property Services." Note: that it doesn't say that the application is permanently withdrawn. According to Hayduk, Stuy Town Property Services has to have the application "vetted." To me, this is merely a type of trick where STPS will "examine" if there are any issues which would disallow the application and then fix these issue before the license can be granted. I can easily see the following from STPS (truthfully, Hayduk), an announcement that a sign will be placed that the cafe is "for residents and their guests" (nothing currently states this, a violation of the agreement), and that someone will be monitoring who can buy this alcohol, as anyone below 21 years cannot buy wine, beer, and whatever cider is (I assume having alcohol content). The distance from the two parks nearby will also be checked to make sure. With this "promise" from Management (yeah, another promise, another rule) residents should be happy.

Is this good enough? I'm of two minds. On one hand, I don't see residents needing to drink beer with their donuts and luke-warm coffee, but never underestimate people. Right at the cafe, there is a short brick barrier where dogs piss. This doesn't seem to bother those at the cafe nearby that wall.

Even if beer and wine will be bought, I don't think the cafe will be financially saved, as most people (the younger crowd) use it as a study area, with wifi, and sip their coffee (or pretend to) for hours while they do their work. Yet, I do see problems. Some of-age residents will buy alcohol to get plastered right there ("More beer, Martha!"), another first for this community. Then there are those underage residents...

Stuy Town is seeing more and more college kids renting here. ("A college town" is what a waitress told me in the Lower East Side about downtown NYC.) They know how to get over with fake IDs and just plain bullshit. Stuy Town is terrible at enforcing its own rules, so why would this be any different? Talk is cheap, and the current Management talks a lot....

I have been here much longer than any of our current landlords, and I see this place as getting worse, instead of better. The introduction of alcohol into our cafe is another step in the process of things becoming undone.

We Are Losing

I don't think it's my mood. What I read is the opposite of encouraging, and what I see and experience is disheartening. Money rules, as I have stated many time in the past, but now I see that not only does it rule, but that it is destroying the city, or rather, many of the people who live in it. And the people behind the money do not care.

This was posted by Edmund John Dunn on the other Stuy Town Facebook. Though the post is not about Stuy Town, the park "project" will affect us. Besides, during nice weather, I go into the park and have felt it was a very positive boon to residents (yes, mostly, lower class) who live there and enjoy the park with weekend sports and barbecues:

"The question is not that something has to be done but what plan should be done. The plan that was carefully thought out over 4 years with major community input? Or this CF plan whereby the MO is we have to destroy the park to save it. And now throw in the clock is ticking for the Sandy Federal funds as well. The EV Grieve blog has a great thread on this issue. As always, follow the money. Funny, the destroy the park to save it plan is not being used on the West side which also had a major Sandy impact. On the East side, low income housing projects (NYCHA) face the river. On the West side, massive lux development has already taken place. As always, follow the money. REBNY say what? And also, enough with this 25,000 Amazon job number. It was once 40,000 jobs. Where does this figure come from? Out of Bezos’s butt?"

There are a lot of other things destroying people. And the "opposition" is ramming on.

Where's the Heat?

There are a couple of issues I care about regarding heat or insufficient heat in Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village. Is my apartment "toasty warm." No, it is not. As a matter of fact, the pipes can be frequently cold, which means no one is getting heat in my line. Pipes cold. I don't need a temperature gauge to tell me that, I don't need a "tour" to tell me that.

The issue is Management tells me that they are following the city regulations regarding heat. There is a process one has to go through to make sure the heat if there from a landlord, but Blackstone and Management know that this process if cumbersome and, if it is dealt with, so what? A warning? A fine? We may never know, just as Management does want any "bad" news about this complex out there. Suicides? What's it to you? Desperation? What's it to you? Intrusive noise? What's it to you? Everything, including the breaking of city laws--uncovered mattresses on the loops, club cars going this way and that, with their riders frequently hold a cellphone, etc.? What's it you?

And nothing proves how morally bankrupt our TA is than their response to the issue of heat, though, admittedly the TA is been purposeless for a while now and is clearly "in bed" with Management.

Yes, some tenants get heat, and it appears, lots of it. But for others, their apartments, like mine, are not "toasty warm."