At the tail end of last week, I wrote a query to the Tenants Association. I had only two questions. 1) What is the dues paying membership for 2018? and 2) What year was the largest membership?
I was answered quickly. The reply:
>>Dues for the Tenants Association is $50.00 but $25.00 for tenants who are on DRIE or SCRIE.
Thank you again for contacting us,
Your Tenants Association<<
No joke. That was the response. LOL.
And.... I still have not heard from the Legal Department of Stuy Town. I asked: How many summonses were issued to e-bikes in the month of April. (I emailed on this issue starting May with at least two further requests and another e-mail address. Nothing yet.) I mentioned the running e-bikes at E-ssa Bagel, a tenant of Stuy Town/Blackstone, too. I also mentioned the club cars crossing 20th street. Illegal or not? Nothing.
I have no other recourse than to continue and press in a number of ways. All legal. Yes, the wheels move slowly, but they do move.
Not sure what you mean proceeding and pressing legally. I predict that the TA and management will just continue to evade your questions and continue their agenda.
ReplyDeleteThere are ways!
ReplyDeleteNothing has improved in four years. In fact, the TA/management has actually censored all dissent. The place has gotten worse and tenant support is limited. I don’t think your ways are working. Mine certainly haven’t.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The last victory for anyone here was that woman who fought the noise from the building of the bunker (with absolutely no help from the TA). Nobody else has won a thing otherwise. That’s probably why the TA stopped trying - “if you can’t beat them, join them.”
DeleteI don’t think that the TA just stopped trying and joined management. I think that they pushed the deal with Blackstone and simply made a deal with the devil. It was purposeful. The TA is not helpless. It chooses to be corrupt, mean spirited and despicable.
DeleteThe TA Facebook page censors all dissent.
ReplyDeleteThe TA is a sham organization, a shill for Management.
They do absolutely nothing for the residents.
If an investigation was done of their finances and the kickbacks Shameless Susan gets from the politicians and our overseers, we would see a real scandal.
Perp walk anyone?
Hi STR - I have a general question for long term residents like myself? Have any of you replaced your refrigerator with one you personally bought and thrown out the old? Can you get in trouble with your lease for doing that?
ReplyDeleteI know this question doesn't apply to the topic but I would love some thoughts on it as I want to replace mine.
Thank you for all you do to keep us informed. I've been here 20 years and love it despite the changes.
For me, same ST refrigerator.
ReplyDeleteIt is not just the TA which shuts you out, down, and threatens you.
ReplyDeleteSPS Management issues cease and desist orders, threatens you with legal action, and may attempt to stop you from interacting with any employees.
As you swelter through this summer heat, think about what will happen in the winter when no heat or insufficient heat is provided; they resume their bullying, lies, insistence on "protocols," which include sending (1) unqualified, or (2) lying, or (3) entirely helpless people into your apartment to take "readings" of your temperature in order to declare that your apartment is JUST FINE and WARM.
(REMEMBER THE REFRAIN: "IF YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE COLD . . . ")
And provide you with "thermometers," which, by their own admission, do not work properly. And insist you are receiving sufficient heat.
Because in addition to all of the above, if you complain often enough, loudly enough, and with enough anger, you may be threatened with legal action and more.
>>The TA Facebook page censors all dissent.<<
ReplyDeleteProof?
The proof is that they did it to me just because I criticized them . And I might add in a very nasty, unprofessional, ignorant manner. My posts were professional and appropriate but often directed at them. Furthermore, I have seen no or very little criticism on the site lately. Is that enough proof?
DeleteProof? Are you kidding? The whole site is now trolls and cheerleaders. Some say that management controls the site. Likely true but the TA absolutely does not tolerate criticism of their phony organization. Note the instant retort of all they do after a poster criticized their lack of interest and action. The defensive posture says it all. They have also banned posters and not for bad language or inappropriate remarks.
Delete"Hi STR - I have a general question for long term residents like myself? Have any of you replaced your refrigerator with one you personally bought and thrown out the old? Can you get in trouble with your lease for doing that?
ReplyDeleteI know this question doesn't apply to the topic but I would love some thoughts on it as I want to replace mine.
Thank you for all you do to keep us informed. I've been here 20 years and love it despite the changes.
July 30, 2019 at 9:09 AM"
Because all apartments here are New York State Rent Stabilized, there are lease rules regarding the refrigerator. If you want to replace your landlord supplied one, you must then have Blackstone pick up your old one and they will then charge you a monthly fee (I don’t how much) to “store” it. Also, like the A/C, there may be (not sure) be specifications for the new one that have to meet Blackstone guidelines.
“and thrown out the old?.”
This is in violation of your lease, do not do it.
Asking questions are actually nice thing if you are not
ReplyDeleteunderstanding anything fully, but this post presents good understanding yet.
I have a refrigerator that was about 10 years old when they put it in 20 years ago. It works beautifully, BUT defrosting it is a real chore! I'd love to buy my own, but I know they don't allow that and that is one of the things they check for when they do inspections. I know I could have a new one from Management, but a large charge (for my senior citizen budget) would go on my rent permanently. And then when that fridge died and had to be replaced another large charge would go on the rent. If you let them give you a new fridge you pay for ever and ever. Fridges don't last long these days (most things come with built-in obsolescence in my opinion) and the charge doesn't drop off the rent bill when the fridge dies. The charge just multiplies!
ReplyDeletePeter Stuyvesant asked a question concerning the location of the movie screen on the Oval. There were 11 comments, but 9 have been deleted!
ReplyDeleteAt the TA FB page even if you make a valid critique of Blackstone (post on a current thread), the “Cheerleaders” will always attack and call you a name. So I just FB block them. EOS. God forbid one of the PS administrators will call them out on it.
ReplyDeleteWhen we asked about your same question back in 1988, Met Life's answer was yes we could bring in our own refrigerator but we would have to pay Met Life storage fees for the current refrigerator! We were given the option then to upgrade to a "new model" refrigerator at $8.66 a month forever. This "new model" finally died in 2019 and I figured out how much we had paid for this upgrade over the past 30 some years -- $3,178.22. And we were still filling the ice cube trays. What a wonderful refrigerator we could have bought for $3,000 if only we could have bought our own. The good news, I guess, when this upgrade needed to be replaced, we received a brand new GE Top Freezer. In checking the Lowe's Price -- $709. Also, be aware, when the time comes for the "apartment inspection" the model numbers on your current frig and stove are taken down.
ReplyDelete>>Peter Stuyvesant asked a question concerning the location of the movie screen on the Oval. There were 11 comments, but 9 have been deleted!<<
ReplyDeleteI just checked. None of the comments are now showing up, though eleven have been made, it said.
>>The proof is that they did it to me just because I criticized them .<<
ReplyDeleteI understand. It seems the TA only want "happy" posts....
Regarding posting on the TA Facebook page.... I've noted that there are "cheerleaders" and that the aim is to have uncritical posts or if they are critical to have the person speak/write to Management/Rick. This is NOT the purpose of a TA, of course.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who gives a $50 membership "fee" to the Tenants association is a fool.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't give them 50 cents.
They are a tool of Management.
They DO NOT represent the tenants.
They stifle ALL dissent on their Facebook page.
Any critical comment is removed.
The Tenants Association "leadership" are a bunch of self-servicing, egotistical thieves.
Open the books and prove me wrong.
Let's see the financials.
Believe me, Shameless Susan ain't gonna let that happen.
Peter Stuyvesant asked a question concerning the location of the movie screen on the Oval. There were 11 comments, but 9 have been deleted!
ReplyDeleteI just checked and all 11 comments are still up.
"I understand. It seems the TA only want "happy" posts...."
ReplyDeleteand your $50 membership fee. What that fee is for, who knows!
>>I just checked and all 11 comments are still up.<<
ReplyDeleteI went back again. Didn't work again.... But I hit it once more and now the comments came up. Either a glitch (I've never seen anything like it before) or something else is happening....
I would imagine that the anti-TA's banning of dissenters could possibly be a first amendment rights violation. As long as it's not hate speech, it would seem to me for a member to dissent on a forum that is public to members and to have that dissent removed or banned by the administrator of the sight would violate the bill of rights.
ReplyDeleteThat might be a good issue to bring up with those trolls when they have their membership desk out again. I will also tell them why I will never pay them another cent.
DeleteFrom Mike McKee-Tenants PAC NY:
ReplyDelete"I’ve seen a lot through my five decades fighting for tenants in Albany, but I’ve never seen as tectonic a shift in power like we witnessed during this most recent legislative session.
For decades, the real estate lobby has spent more than the gross domestic product of many small countries to keep incumbents in power and ensure that the deck remained decidedly stacked against tenants, cementing a political status quo as solidly as the foundation of any luxury high-rise. And when the Republicans lost the Senate majority, the real estate lobby simply fell back on a new “majority” by shoveling cash to the now-infamous Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), members of which grabbed as much real estate money as they could in exchange for keeping Republicans in power and killing any real rent law reform efforts.
But in 2018, the electoral tide shifted. The IDC was largely swept out of office in the September primaries, replaced by true progressive Democrats; and in the November general election even more Democrats flipped seats from red to blue, making Andrea Stewart-Cousins the new Senate Majority Leader. Working with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, they delivered the strongest package of tenant protections of our lifetime. This victory will resonate among millions of renting families statewide.
The defeat of the IDC was the lynchpin that made this all possible, but even in our victory we saw the emergence of a new group every bit as disingenuous as the IDC and equally dangerous.
The IDC was built on an implicit dishonesty: candidates ran as Democrats, but then empowered Republicans once elected. After several years of this, the voters simply had enough and showed six of them the door. But this year, we saw explicit dishonesty from four Long Island senators -- Anna Kaplan, John Brooks, Monica Martinez, and Jim Gaughran -- all of whom ran as loyal Democrats, promised to support strong rent laws, and willingly accepted financial support from Tenants PAC.
Then they betrayed us. These four turned their backs on tenants, ignored the promises they made, and sided with big real estate money and the entire Senate Republican Conference to vote “no” on the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019.
These Long Island 4 may not be a new IDC, but they are every bit as insidious, possibly more so, because they tried to dismantle tenant reforms from within the Democratic conference, siding with Governor Andrew Cuomo as he tried to create deeper divisions between New York City and suburban senators. This all blew up in Cuomo’s face when the Senate and Assembly came together on their own to negotiate a strong rent law package without him, reducing him to impotent ranting.
Elections have causes and consequences. Years of seeing our rights as tenants ignored because the real estate lobby used big political spending to bottle up reform caused voters to say enough is enough and finally elect leaders who would stand up for them. And now come the consequences – both the energized and ascendant tenant movement that will continue to grow into greater political power for working families, and the backlash that legislators who turned their backs on us, including some Assembly Democrats, will face at the ballot box next year.
The IDC collapsed under pressure from voters across the state who expected more integrity and honesty from their elected officials. The dishonest Long Island 4, freshly-brewed in the worst cauldrons of Albany’s toxic combination of money and politics, would be wise to heed that lesson."
The TA site is becoming an ad site for services. That is all it is good for.
ReplyDelete>>From Mike McKee-Tenants PAC NY:<<
ReplyDeleteOne of the very few, if not the only one, that I respect that's out there.
">>From Mike McKee-Tenants PAC NY:<<
ReplyDeleteOne of the very few, if not the only one, that I respect that's out there."
I feel the same way STR. Our so-called TA is trading on a reputation it had and deserved many decades ago. It is a completely new bunch of people on the Board these days and they are all ALL money-grubbing weasels who suck up to Management and politicians and never miss a photo op. Remember when the Bunker was being built and people were dying from the noise, filth and pollution? Susan Steinberg was like a giddy old biddy over it. She loved it. The lady who withheld her rent because of the disruption to her life got absolutely NO support from the TA. Absolutely NONE. The whole bunch of them are useless parasites - and they KNOW it! Why do you think they are so defensive and punitive toward anybody who questions or challenges them?
They are a useless bunch of parasites and someone needs to disband them. They are nasty and work against the tenants.
DeleteI thought that you were not supposed to advertise for services on the TA site. Looks like that is what the site is becoming. What a joke.
ReplyDeleteThe commercialization of our homes continues brisk and expanding.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I watched what appeared to be workers lining up at lunch time at the Shake Shack food truck outside of our highly esteemed Resident Services.
Tonight, even my cynical self was flabbergasted to learn that AARP-clad folks were using the Security Office's bathroom as they occupied the tent-like table set up in front of the EXCEEDINGLY NOISY AND INTRUSIVE SHREDDER which people lined up in pouring rain and thunder to use.
(I was informed that the shredding is a "service." Really? Plumbing is a service; provision of heat in the winter is a service; policing the grounds and buildings so that no one is raped, strangled, nearly killed is a service.)
AARP??? Pitching to the seniors coming to soak themselves for a long period of time in order to have their drenched precious papers reduced to confetti? And I need add that it's been explained to me that once upon a time AARP was an honest and helpful institution, but those days are many years gone.
Would anyone believe that AARP just happened to stumble in here at just the right time???
Of course, the requisite Citi-bike geniuses were busy with their bikes, cell-phones, important selves in and out of Playground 9.
There are advertisements for "popular" artistic opportunities, beach-going, kayaking, golfing and more. I suppose more of the fabulous skiing days will be scheduled once they've turned off our heat.
An extremely successful medical professional, living in Stuyvesant for a very long time, surprised me by exclaiming how "beautiful" is the landscaping. Ironic, since tonight I observed that the vegetation in front of the chess tables near the 5 Turd Café has been removed, leaving much bare ground. WHY? Maybe some of the humans performing tasks such as this ought to be REMOVED, BY THEIR ROOTS, THROWN INTO TRUCKS AND "TRANSPLANTED," OR JUST PLAIN DISAPPEARED, AS THEY KILL THESE INNOCENT LIVING BEINGS. 'Sorry if this offends anyone but . . .
I am so sick of the hell they've created here.
I cannot help but wonder if Blackstone is in this destruction together with the good geniuses who "run" the City of New York. In nearly 4 decades, including the "wild west" of the drug era in Alphabet City, I've never seen such filth, danger, homeless people, abandoned and destroyed stores on 14th Street.
I counted 7 stores, 6 of them in a row, between 1st Avenue and Avenue A: shuttered.
Never have I witnessed the degradation, danger, ugliness that we are now living with as a matter of course.
As I walked home this evening from Avenue A I saw 2 mass dumplings of furniture. Such a disgusting eyesore. My building should be labeled a dorm dump. I saw no less than 5 students entering in front of me, two with suitcases. Who knows if they even live here. This place has become unbearable. They
ReplyDelete8:56 PM you are spot on. The property is being trashed and violated constantly, mostly in the quest of the Almighty Dollar, but also because the people running this place, especially Master DICK, don't know or care how to run this place properly. They are idiots. Careless, Useless, Ignorant Idiots.
ReplyDeleteThe AARP is predominantly a shill for insurance companies.
Many posters here have said that when they have approached Slick Rick about the mattress and garbage dumping, that he treats it as a joke. Not a joke Hayduk. You are letting this place turn into a filthy slum. Who do you think you are to laugh at this. What will it take to clean this dump up.
ReplyDeleteThe families just keep getting priced out. A lovely family on our floor moving out. So looking forward to another dorm to coordinate with the one next door. And the city subsidies next door to me stay of course. Been there four years. Of course, the city pays the high rents. A terrible renting situation here. Just what Blackstone wants : students, tourists, and city subsidies. They can’t tell us Ethan they want a family oriented community. That is such bull.
ReplyDeleteWell, having just returned from Associated with no stops, I see once again many violations here. Oversized dogs from outside the property being casually walked about the Oval, a speeding bicycle around the Oval while a PS officer is in that small guardhouse....
ReplyDeleteI noticed also that we will lose more vegetation. The sculpture honoring Vets... The space has been been cleared for it, and the area is pretty large. Opposite Playground 9, but at the Oval greenery. I was for this sculpture (if that's what it is) but now I am against it. And I am a Vet.
Dirty Fick makes us Sick🤮
ReplyDelete🤣🤣🤣🤣
Delete2 families in our building left in July as they are sick of high rents and crap living here. They were here for more than 8 years.
ReplyDeleteThe family on my floor was only here about three years. Figured they would be priced out. Dread seeing what is coming in.
DeleteA cheerleader friend of mine mentioned that so many families are moving in. My reply was that they are mostly short term. Many are tourists, Airbnb, or stay one year. Many speak foreign languages(tourists). In fact I see different ones all the time in my building.
ReplyDeleteHere is a little poem for a Thursday evening
ReplyDeleteSlick Rick,
Lousy third rate movies he does pick
Every day in the loop
Mounds of dog poop
Piles of trash
And most nights in the oval a noisy bash
Black stone
Go away and leave us alone😬
Surely the NYU classes will be on site soon. You betcha. It's inevitable. YMMV but you should all plan for it.
ReplyDeleteMy building is so full of students. It is disgusting what this place has turned into.
ReplyDelete