Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, together with the surrounding areas, are the worst I've ever seen. And I have been here for over three decades. The Covid disaster has just exacerbated the situation. A mess everywhere one looks. Inside the complex and outside. Would you want to live here? Yes, there are reasons to do so, but convincing is starting to look purposeless.
Also, at wintertime, there is infrequent heat for many tenants. Unless you use space heaters and/or turn on the stove (against your lease), you may be freezing. Management does not care. If Blackstone gets penalized, the payment is very small. So Blackstone continues on....
Photos: Inside this complex:
Outside:
Much more to tell and experience. (My camera was "attacked" by one of the vendors, but I held on and took more photos.) The various quality-of-life rules are not enforced as they should be, and can be ignored. Outside dogs casually being brought in, electric scooters and delivery bikes, unpicked dog refuse, it's all here. Welcome and have a nice day.
807 comments:
1 – 200 of 807 Newer› Newest»They need to get rid of Hayduk and put a competent, intelligent and caring manager in place. Somebody who actually lives here with his family, rather then have a pied a terre here while his family lives far away. We need a manager who actually cares about the property and the people who call it home. He is far and away the worst manager we've ever had and I think that the people who fell for his smarm and bs early on have seen enough to have a re-think. It would also be helpful if we had some politicians on our side. Politicians who actually care about their constituents. Powers is totally useless, but he's always been a REBNY kiss-ass.
We are pretty much on our own at this point. When it comes to the QOL we have nobody in our corner. DeBlasio has to be the worst Mayor in the history of the City and he and his wife are a couple of grifters. The sooner they're gone, the better.
Hayduk just sent his email blast and it has an arial view of the Sty. More photoshopped than a nude model's err whatever.
OK, let's clear the air. The out of control peddlers flea market on 14th Street has basically nothing to do with RH and Blackstone. The 2 AM NY articles on this issue have been pretty good. This is a major failure of #1, CC District 2 Carlina Rivera. And CB2. And the 9th NYPD precinct. And now the Department of Social Services. Ultimately, per usual, it's another Bill de Blasio CF who, like John Bolton, is hated by both the Left and the Right.
>>OK, let's clear the air. The out of control peddlers flea market on 14th Street has basically nothing to do with RH and Blackstone.<<
No clearing necessary. I know, and have said, that the southside is not Rick or Blackstone's territory. As have many others. But that area is our neighborhood. I, and many other residents of Stuy Town, go there every day. And residents that live by 14th and face that area can see the "flea market."
This was in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, but to read the rest, one needs to subscribe. So, just the beginning...
"Harry Wolff, a software-engineering manager who lived in Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town neighborhood complex, was already planning to move to Connecticut with a second child on the way. Covid-19 accelerated that departure."
Leaving aside the unholy mess on 14th Street, the property itself is beginning to look like a war zone. With all the mess surround Blackstone's power plants that are being put on the property and with all the bicycles and dog shit, it is absolutely hazardous to walk through the property at any time. "Public Safety" does NOTHING. They are just window dressing and serve no other purpose than to give the appearance of us having any kind of Security force. The discarded furniture adds greatly to the Appalachian Hillbilly look of the place. I wonder where the Moonshine still is hidden?
Major, very noisy drilling at one of the new power plants nearby. Thank you, Rick.
I think in a former life Rick was the head of a cold, bleak institution for the unfortunate. Cold, illness and violence was what the inmates had to endure.
No heat, no sympathy. Eat your stale crust and say your prayers and line up for your whipping.
What is happening here is so typical of what happens when Blackstone buys a property. Tenants are subjected to harassment in the form of noise, filth, negligence of basic obligations of the landlord, lack of heat and lack of maintenance. They probably recruit some dickhead to be manager in every property they buy to destroy. Blackstone is known worldwide for its despicable treatment of people and the planet. There is a special place in Hell awaiting the people of Blackstone. It represents the consummate evil that is capable by human beings.
I have seen a few posts stating that Rick doesn't live on the property. I think he does. In fact, I saw him recently on First Avenue near Gracefully. Maybe he doesn't have his family live here at this time, but remember: he has two young children who have special needs and, as I come from a family where there was a child with special needs, I know that those kiddies do not have very strong immune systems. A dose of Covid would kill a kid with Down Syndrome very, very speedily. Those kids have compromised immune systems fro Day One.
My only beef with Rick Hayduk is the stingy amount of heat we get during the cold months. The City Guidelines are rock bottom and are meant to deter slumlords from totally denying tenants any heat whatsoever. PCVST doesn't fall into the category of a slum (far from it) and it is sheer parsimony for Blackstone/Beam Living to adhere to the City's minimum requirements. Apart from that, I have no complaints.
I don't care if his family lives here. But what I see all the time are outside dogs being brought in with PS not stopping them, uncovered mattresses on the loops, electric delivery bikes and scooters being driven, no masks or social distancing in the basketball courts, etc, etc. This is ALL at the feet of Rick and Beam Living. So to me, the excuses don't carry much weight. If anyone wishes to challenge me, I have lots of photos, some of which I have shared here. This place is not being run the way it should be. And that is a FACT.
A beautiful Saturday morning, windows slightly open for some fresh air, and my neighbors and I have to endure the din from the dogs'"play" date in the basketball court outside our building. For 2 straight hours, the combined noise includes the seemingly baying of wolves, the yipping and yelping of the smaller dogs, the occasional wail, plus echo. What a place!
Do any of the long timers remember the couple who lived above Playground 9 and were always yelling out the windows about the noise? They kept a log of their complaints and filed a lawsuit seeking back rent when they moved and they won a considerable sum. I wanted to do some research and can't seem to find the case. It should be something v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, I would think. Does anyone perhaps remember this?
Now that delivery people apparently have been told to dump everything in our lobbies, the state of our lobby has become worse than ever before. Two days ago, standing sentinel right outside our building front door (on the landing and across from the intercom), was a huge box containing a Kohler bath tub! It stayed there the entire day. Big boxes, small boxes, envelopes, on the floor, on ledges, every day of the week.
11:56 PM here: You have some very valid points, STR. I guess I focus on the heat problem because I am so damned cold all winter. But you are right about the other things. I never walk through the property. Haven't for a long time because I am scared by the speeding bikes and scooters. The dogs don't bother me, except for the owners who don't pick up their poo, but it is certainly not safe to walk around the property anymore, especially if you are not young and strong! I don't think PS can cope with all those bikes, especially as there are so many of the delivery guys on the property and they ride like bats out of hell and show no concern whatsoever for life and limb. Time is money to them and they will mow you down as soon as look at you rather than slow down. I have long been of the opinion that bicycles should require a license and road tax and insurance. AND a number plate like cars have. I think they cause as much, if not more, accidents than vehicles.
"Do any of the long timers remember the couple who lived above Playground 9 and were always yelling out the windows about the noise? They kept a log of their complaints and filed a lawsuit seeking back rent when they moved and they won a considerable sum. I wanted to do some research and can't seem to find the case. It should be something v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, I would think. Does anyone perhaps remember this?"
I remember this. It was in the early eighties. I also remember that the old geezer who then owned T&V, Charles Hagedorn, wrote so angrily and vindictively about those tenants. But he wrote like that about many people. He was a total nut job.
How do you help restaurants that are hurting financially during this pandemic? Well, the City Council has voted that restaurants can add 10% to your bill for recovery. Brilliant idea. Now see people flocking to restaurants to pay an extra 10%.
Agreed. I might be willing to pay that fee at 1-2 restaurants where I have relationships with the staff. Otherwise I will be cooking at home a lot more this winter. I’m not sure that any of these “progressive” politicians in our city council actually use their brains.
The "progressive" City Council also voted a hefty pay raise for themselves a few years back, over 30%, I believe. They are not hurting.
As with Blackstone, so with City Hall. The corruption starts at the top.
Happy to be moving out of this filthy slum after 25 years. What a wonderful place this was at one time. I'm chopping off the "golden handcuffs!
"Happy to be moving out of this filthy slum after 25 years. What a wonderful place this was at one time. I'm chopping off the "golden handcuffs!"
Don't blame you. Good luck to you. I've only been here 11 years, but that is more than long enough. I've heard that the place was wonderful several years ago and has got gradually worse under each new owner/management. The current "Manager" (if you can call him that) is a total loser. I don't know anybody who likes him or thinks he is doing a good job. In my building you have to negotiate your way to dozens (yes, literally dozens) of undelivered boxes, envelopes, packages large and small because the cretin in charge deems it acceptable for delivery people to do that. I suspect he is doing it to push Oval Concierge, but unless they deliver to the door, what good would that be? Like flushing money down the toilet. The current manager just doesn't have a clue as to how to manage a place like this and is totally out of his depth. He's done NOTHING good since came here, but has definitely done a lot of harm. I hope they get rid of him sooner rather than later. I don't think he could manage a fruit stand without messing it up.
Our so-called "Property Manager" is not only incompetent, he is indifferent. An incompetent person may actually be trying to do his best, but an indifferent person just doesn't give a shit about the job he is so badly doing. No end of tenants have asked for the resumption of deliveries to apartment doors and an end to the practice of having them left in the lobbies. I am aware that the stupid TA woman (who does NOT speak for 99.9% of the people living here) requested that the current situation continue, but she is not paying our rent. Nor is she delivering the packages or making good on the lost and stolen ones. I don't think that what Hayduk is doing is even legal. He is interfering in interstate commerce! We have a right to get our mail in our mail boxes and our parcel deliveries brought to our doors as many of us are paying extra for that service. Hayduk has no right to interfere with this. Hayduk has no right whatsoever to interfere in our business like this. He's already in breach of the law by ripping out the directories and putting them back in such an incompetent, incomplete and shoddy manner. A lot of the entries on the directories show the wrong apartment number. If incompetence is the hallmark of Blackstone, then he is their mascot.
Rick has his fans, for sure. And so does the TA. (Probably less.) The packages dumped in the lobbies are beyond pathetic. I and everybody else have to go through them to see what is there. Like working in the Post Office and going through parcels. And Management trying to push Oval Concierge because of this is shameful. So, you get a large package, being held at the Concierge, and are suppose to lug it back to your apartment?
STR -
Which building is it, please with Covid? This is VERY serious.
Thank you for your crucial information.
A poster on the Resident Facebook states 435-445 E. 14th Street. There is a copy of the letter posted to residents of that building.
I have to backtrack a bit, and leave out "many." This is part of the notice. Too small, so I had to enlarge it.
It is a notice from Rick about "Self-Quarantining."
"Please be advised that Building Management was notified that one or more residents in this building are in self-quarantine after receiving a positive diagnosis for COVID-19 in their household. The health department has given the affected residents self-quarantine directions and we wish them a speedy recovery."
I also deleted my original notice on this.
The constant attacks on Hayduk here seem misplaced. Unlike the late, great Bill Potter, I doubt he has much autonomy, if any. Replacing him with another Blackstone shill wouldn’t change a thing.
Unfortunately, because of the huge price they paid to acquire this place, Blackstone‘s sole focus is on extracting as much money as possible out of the tenants, QOL be damned, and that will never change.
A REAL Tenants Association would be picketing the useless Oval Concierge, instead of promoting it, albeit indirectly.
I can confirm that heavy packages, and I mean heavy, are still left in the lobby. There is a post on another blog that someone from Management is delivering packages to the apartment door. While this may be true, the question is what time? I was down in our lobby after 2, and found several big and heavy packages in the lobby.
I just came from my doctor's office and he was upset because the delivery people had left a load of boxes by his door and somebody had opened them and stolen $3000 worth medication. Thieves are everywhere!
Our lobby is so full of boxes and packages and large envelopes that you have to kick them out of the way to get to the mailboxes. When is this dumb "manager" going to do something about that and rescind the requirement that deliveries are left in the lobby? With the holiday season coming up, thieves are going to be in their glory!
In fact, a friend in another building had ordered a load of stuff from Walmart and found a woman by the mailboxes going through her delivery. She had to literally wrestle big can of coffee out of the woman's hands.
This place is shit. Nothing but shit. The qualify of life has gone beyond down the toilet. It is in the sewer. Thank you Lazy Hayduk and the Useless TA. As life isn't tough enough these days we have these incompetent jerks making things worse.
I agree. I don’t think Rick, or anyone at Beam Living for that matter, is capable of properly taking charge here, and that is because of the group on Park Avenue that is really running things. They could put in a hundred different Property Managers, and those 100 people would all act the same way. This is not the Rick Hayduk show, it’s the Stephen Schwartzman and Blackstone show.
There is no evidence in my building that packages are being delivered to apartments.Both Hayduk and Steinberg are unmoved by any of the concerns expressed on Facebook.Crises bring out the best in some people and the worst in some other people. Pretty obvious where Hayduk and Steinberg fall in that spectrum
The area around First Avenue and 14th St has become horrible. I had to do a few errands today and was appalled at the number of mentally ill, homeless men yelling and gadding about without masks. This type of behavior spreads Covid and should not be permitted. There is filth all over the blocks, a new flea market was going up near the church and it is a nasty scene. Not a cop in sight. I actually had to stand in the gutter waiting for the light to change in order to avoid the chaos. The two council people, Powers and Rivera need to be voted out. The incompetent mayor is already going.
I am confined to my apartment due to recovering from surgery and I have to hope that my neighbors will bring me any delivery of mine that is languishing in the lobby. This hideous "rule" of Hayduk, supported by the so-called TA, means that I may or may not get essential deliveries. If it is ok for food delivery people (many of whom don't wear masks and who will barge into an elevator regardless of others)to come up to the apartments, then it should be ok for FedEx, UPS, et al to do likewise.
A crisis like the one we're going through tends to bring out the best in some people and worst in others. Hayduk and Steinberg definitely fall into the latter group.
"The two council people, Powers and Rivera need to be voted out. The incompetent mayor is already going."
I will NEVER again vote for Powers or DeB if they run for any office in the future. They should both disappear from "public service" because they do no service to the public whatsoever. They only serve themselves and are profiteering parasites. I hope we never see nor hear of either of them again when they finally leave office at the end of the terms they are "serving."
Unless all the young liberal progressives are gone from NYC for good, Powers is going to be around for a while. They all need to get their heads out of the sand and do some research on the guy, and see what he really stands for. For example, he tells his constituents that REBNY and real estate are bad, but guess who has a front row seat at the yearly REBNY gala, yup it’s Powers. Plenty of other council members speak out against REBNY, but they don’t turn around and attend their gala like Powers does. Same thing with the Met Gala. Progressives like the extravagant lifestyle for themselves, just not for the people that vote them into office.
Powers was a REBNY lobbyist for years before he decided to run for Councilman. Wouldn't trust him any further than I could throw him.
When is this fucking dope of a "Property Manager" going to mandate that delivery people have to deliver to the door? Is he aware of the suffering and threats to our health (especially for seniors and handicapped) his pig-headed edict is causing? Every lobby is like a Post Office sorting room that has experienced a tornado. Our stuff is being stolen; we risk getting infected having to go up and down in the elevators and mingle with everybody else who is looking for their deliveries. It's going to get worse as the Holiday Season is almost upon us. I HATE this man and his pig-headed, high-handed, heartless behavior.
It was McQuade v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. They won initially but lost on appeal.
My lobby is filled with boxes, envelopes and all kinds of packages. Many are mis-delivered and should be in other buildings. I think that Hayduk has made it so patently, unambiguously clear that he doesn't care damn about the rent-paying tenants in this development. He treats us like shit. He does it with a smug smirk on his face. I think he is beneath contempt. Everything he does seems to be against the best interests of the tenants. He has Covid-spreading events that spread the virus to those who attend and totally shatter the peace of the people living near the Oval. Everything he does seems to be designed to hurt us. Is he instructed to do this by his Masters, or is he just a total jerk who either gets off by harming us or simply is too lazy and incompetent to give a shit? Maybe we should hold him financially responsible for deliveries that are stolen by being left in the lobby. People have medication delivered that doesn't always fit in the mailbox. Would RH care if somebody died if their medication was stolen? He should mandate that delivery people and the letter carrier bring anything that can't be put in the mailboxes up to the apartment. If the letter carrier doesn't want to do this then he/she should call the tenant from the intercom or leave a note that there is something to be picked up at the Post Office. Nothing should be left to be fair game for the many thieves who prowl these buildings.
"This place is shit. Nothing but shit. The qualify of life has gone beyond down the toilet. It is in the sewer. Thank you Lazy Hayduk and the Useless TA. As life isn't tough enough these days we have these incompetent jerks making things worse."
Can't improve on this paragraph! Truly, what a shit hole this place is.
I don't think things will change with a different property manager. Blackstone rules. That said, if it was me, I would not do several of the things that Blackstone wants, even if I am replaced. It's called "personal integrity," but I guess Rick has other personal plans.
"I don't think things will change with a different property manager. Blackstone rules. That said, if it was me, I would not do several of the things that Blackstone wants, even if I am replaced. It's called "personal integrity," but I guess Rick has other personal plans."
Rick has no genuine integrity. He is a BS Artist and phony. He doesn't give a damn about tenants. He comes up with all kinds of garbage gimmicks, but nothing that addresses the rapidly declining quality of life here. I hope anybody thinking of moving in here sees this blog first and knows what they would be letting themselves in for. The entire property is sliding further and further into becoming a tenement slum. We are out of here asap and they can whistle for any charges they want to come after us with. As a public service someone should write a truthful, factual article about what has become of this once-nice place.
In recent years I believed that the Tenants’ Association had been useless under the “ leadership “ of Susan Steinberg . But I was understating the situation . Steinberg used her position as head of the TA to demand that Hayduk continue the policy of dumping packages in lobbies , which policy puts all tenants , especially the elderly , in greater health risk and greatly increases the likelihood that packages will be stolen . Both Hayduk and Steinberg couldn’t care less
Maybe Hayduk and Steinberg are in with the thieves! Joking.
The Susan Steinberg Creed: If you don't have a seat at the table, you're probably on the menu.
This place is such a dump now. It used to be so beautiful, but each successive management since it was sold by MetLife has trashed it more and more. Blackstone is notorious world-wide for destroying the properties it buys and destroying the lives of the people who live in them. I don't know how anybody with any self-respect and a moral compass can work for such an organization in any kind of "executive" role. They must know that they are participating in causing destruction and heartbreak.
Rick is here to make the property as lucrative as possible for Blackstone. Nothing more, nothing less. Our beef should absolutely be with the do-nothing, corrupt TA. They are the ones who should be doing right by each and every one of us, not Rick. We have been failed immensely by the TA leadership since Garodnick got involved in the TA and started pumping funds into their pockets, with absolutely no results to show for the taxpayer money given to them.
No, I don’t like Rick, but the blame lies in the hands of our TA and politicians (Powers and Garodnick), who let Rick walk all over us with literally no fight whatsoever.
That says it all.
I attended the press conference on First Ave when the Blackstone deal was announced publicly . It was obvious to me that Blackstone literally walked all over the City and our local politicians in the negotiations. Yet there all the local politicians were there preening for the cameras . But even worse , so were the leaders of the TA , including Steinberg , who touted this deal despite its obvious major shortcomings and the tremendous financial incentives given to Blackstone , including millions in foregivable loans and hundreds of millions in potential value in transferable air rights! Great deal for Blackstone , lousy deal for tenants but Steinberg loved it !a
Shameless Susan Steinberg and the corrupt so-called Tenants Association...a marriage made in heaven!
Steinberg should just go away. Life has spiraled downhill and we tenants are stuck with it. They off an incentive to bring in new suckers err I mean tenants, but when you have to wade through about 50 or more boxes, envelopes, etc that have been scattered all over the lobby and have to look for your own deliveries and hope they are there UNOPENED, why would you try to profit from luring some friend or acquaintance to rent in such a mismanaged dump?
Rick is the absolute worse "manager" we have ever had and to add insult to injury, he will smirk and lie right into your face. He's not up to the job and it shows. If he thinks he is going to push Oval Concierge on us, he has another think coming.
Rick Hayduk has violated our right to receive our mail, package deliveries, etc. He has violated New York State and USPS laws by ripping out the directories and refusing to correct mixed up name/apartment information, leaving some tenants off the directories deliberately because they are room mates or spouses who are not, to his way of thinking, "head of household" occupants. I feel violated by his stupid actions. My husband's name is on the directory, but not mine because I go by my maiden name. I could go on, but I won't. I just wish they would get rid of this parochial halfwit and get us a real Manager who knows what he is doing.
And you know what, all of these things will continue as long as Rick goes unchallenged. Rick will continue to do things that will make a buck for Blackstone. It is up to our TA and politicians to fight them on it.
Please do us all a favor though - stop thinking anything is going to change with Rick, or anyone at Beam/Blackstone. This falls directly on the hands of The TA, Powers, and other local lawmakers.
The TA really does not exist. I am surprised that you do not know that. They are an arm of management. Have been since Blackstone bought the property.
One thing that needs to change is the lack of enforcement concerning speeding bikes on the property. They are silent and deadly. If Rick hasn't got the cojones to make PS enforce the rules (and laws), then he should just get rid of PS because they clearly do NOTHING.
There are boxes of unassembled furniture in both lobbies of my building. Nobody could possibly lift them. If Rick isn't requiring delivery people to deliver to the door, then he should provide porters with dollies to get them to the apartment doors. The people ordering them are probably new move-ins. I'm sure they are already regretting moving into to this unmanaged and god-forsaken hellhole.
STR, those photographs could have been taken in a Third World Country.
I do know that. I know it very well as a member of the organization for many years. Unfortunately your false hopes that Rick/Blackstone/Beam are going to do anything different is falling on deaf ears. With no TA, and spineless politicians, there is no recourse whatsoever for what Rick is doing, and it will continue.
One thing that needs to change is the lack of enforcement concerning speeding bikes on the property.
I don’t think you realize that the people paying $50-60k+ a year to live here think dinner is something you order on an app on your iPhone.
If management banned bikes from the property, as was once the rule, restaurants would not deliver here, and the howling from the coddled market-raters would be intolerable to the powers that be.
"If management banned bikes from the property, as was once the rule, restaurants would not deliver here, and the howling from the coddled market-raters would be intolerable to the powers that be."
They could at least INSIST and ENFORCE safety. There is going to be one helluva wrongful death or serious injury lawsuit when somebody is killed or maimed by one of these damned assholes!
One doesn't have to ban bikes, but ban electric bikes (running) which are constantly in this complex. And, enforce.
A friend just emailed me from her apartment across town. She said "It's chilly today. Hope you've got heat." Now wouldn't that be nice! She has heat, of course. I can only wistfully think about the days when we did get heat when it was "chilly today." Or even "freezing today."
She doesn't have a slumlord for a landlord and an asshole for a manager. Sigh.
What is the pecking order with Vohs and Hayduk?
I believe Vohs is in charge of Beam, so he oversees the management of Stuy, kips Bay, and Parker, whereas Rick is just working for Stuy Town.
In the overall scheme of things, it would seem that Vohs would be above Hayduk, but not positive about that. Vohs might be the one who attends the Blackstone meetings where they determine the wonderful policies for this place.
They could at least INSIST and ENFORCE safety.
Not enough manpower. Just as the only way to ensure there aren’t piles of dogshit all over is to ban dogs, the only way to ensure there aren’t speeding bikes and e-bikes is to ban them from the property.
But as we all know, that horse is out of the barn and over the horizon. Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.
Do I mention, again, that the pipes are cold this morning, which means they have been cold for the night.
>>Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.<<
or:
Forget it Jake, it's Stuy Town.
This place is a mess! Why does the first ave sidewalk need to be replaced -- the new one has a slant to it and a texture that's difficult to walk on. Also, what is with cutting down trees and the barricades near 20th street when you come down the stairs from playground 1 ???Also, you can do almost anything in stuy town these days--whiz around on electric bikes and scooters, get drunk in the playgrounds , steal boxes in lobbies,etc. You rarely see the same person twice in the lobby coming and going -- it's very transient. Don't even get me started talking about the spoiled brats called nyu students.
This place is a fucking hellhole. Hayduk, Vohs, whomever are lazy, useless shit.
This is barely - and I mean barely - one step up from a NYCHA project. Except in the cost of the rents, that is. This is so absolutely TYPICAL of how Blackstone operates and Hayduk and Vohs are typical sleazy lowlifes that Blackstone employs to carry out its destruction of homes and lives. It is nothing more than a legalized version of the Mafia.
I was just reading the non-TA facebook page. People are complaining about the pile-up of boxes, etc., in the lobbies and the total lack of heat in many apartments. It seems that no amount of appeals to that Hayduk guy makes even the slightest dent in his hard, cruel heart. I don't live here anymore, but my Mother does and she is well into her seventies and partially disabled. For now she is living with my husband and me out on Long Island. She wants to go back when the pandemic is over. We are trying to find her a nicer place in the City (because that is where she likes to live), but she has been living in Sty Town for so many years and has lots of friends there and hobbies and interests in the City and it would be a shame for her to lose all that. She gets almost zero heat during the cold months, though it wasn't always that way.
Dealing with the Pandemic is bad enough, but when you add to that a totally non-empathetic, hard-hearted "Property Manager" who makes stupid rules that serve nobody's purpose except maybe thieves that prey in the lobbies and who just dispenses bullshit about the heating system without making any effort to rectify its failure to deliver heat to even to the most vulnerable of tenants, you know that your are dealing with evil. The guy isn't just incompetent, he's cruel. The elderly, anyone in poor health or living with some kind of disability should not be at the mercy of such a callous and godless individual. He clearly has no conscience, so I doubt he loses no sleep about knowing what a jerk he is. My husband wanted to go see him and have a talk with him, but I talked him out of it because it could make matters worse for Mom as this Hayduk guy sounds very vindictive. Also, my husband has a temper and might deck him! That certainly wouldn't be helpful!
He'll get his. One day. Karma is a bitch.
Easy. Nobody pays rent.
You’ll get heat and package deliveries.
All Blackstone understands is $$$$
Do a bit of research online. RH has been working for Blackstone for years before he came here. All the low-rated tacky resorts he worked for are owned by Blackstone. Never expect competent, professional, tenant-friendly decisions and actions from this man. All of the above "virtues" mentioned above are anathema to the values of Blackstone. It is not an organization that works with or respects basic, decent family values or honest business and professional values. Mammon is the God of Blackstone.
Shocker, Beam was hit with a Notice of Violation by the state DEC over the CHP plants they are building around the property. Rick and his team are filling our homes with more pollution, while greasing the palms of the group that gave them LEED certification. Guess rick didn’t grease the palms of the state enough to get past this violation.
Here is another case where the TA and politicians should be stepping up IMMEDIATELY. I expect a phony coordinated response where they say they are monitoring the situation with no eventual resolve.
Has no one here ever heard of space heaters?
Our heat is hit and miss, some days it’s warm, other days the pipes are cold. Then, we switch on the space heaters, one in the LR, one in the BR, problem solved. Granted, we shouldn’t need to do that, but since the landlord is paying the electric bill, it’s not costing us, other than the $50 apiece we paid for the heaters.
And PLEASE don’t tell me they’re not safe - that may have been the case 30 years ago, but definitely not now.
Blackstone knows that’s never going to happen so they operate with impunity , particularly because we no longer have any leadership in the Tenants Association
8:46 am, what kind of space heaters did you get?
I think some are safer than others. Some contain the same chemicals in their materials that go into
nonstick pans and give off odorless fumes that are bad for very young infants and deadly to pets, especially birds. We like the oil-filled radiator type,
Oh, so you’re giving Hayduk and Blackstone a pass??!
What next. No water? Bring in your own bottled water?
Yeah, right.
Ridiculous. In a privately owned development, we should not need space heaters.
I don't live in The Sty (as I understand it is now called), but my mother does. I can't understand why the manager is not instructing delivery people to take deliveries up to the doors. Some actually do deliver to the door if you sign up with them and instruct them to do that. So far, only UPS is honoring that request. FedEx pretty much does as it likes. We never order anything from Amazon, when I was over there a few days ago I noticed tons of Amazon boxes in the lobby. Many of them were delivered to the wrong building. I think Amazon uses Lasership, which has a very bad reputation.
I've heard such negative things about the Manager of the property. It seems he just doesn't care. On one of the facebooks someone was complaining about the property's cards speeding silently on the sidewalks and almost hitting people. In fact, they said one person did get hit. There are tons of bicycles speeding around too.
I hate to say it, but Stuyvesant Town is not a very nice place to live anymore and that is a great shame because it used to be so safe and the grounds so pretty. No they seem to have no Security, the grounds are being bulldozed to death and the resident manager seems totally indifferent. It's a shame.
"Oh, so you’re giving Hayduk and Blackstone a pass??!
What next. No water? Bring in your own bottled water?
Yeah, right."
What do you suggest? If they don't supply heat (or even adequate heat when it does come up) what should we do? Just shiver and put our overcoats on? Putting the oven on makes the place fill up with unhealthy fumes so space heaters are the only option. In fact the people who live in the totally unrenovated apartments and aren't wired for air conditioners can't even have space heaters because plugging such an appliance into any other outlet but one that is designed to take the capacity of an air conditioner would blow out all the fuses if a space heater was plugged in. Would also be a fire hazard.
It is very unfortunate that we now have a landlord that withholds heat or relies on a very faulty system that it doesn't care to change, so we just have to take care of the situation ourselves. And as for water: yes we do provide our own drinking water because the stuff that comes out of the faucets is smelly and off-colored.
This is not a very nice place to live in and we have an extremely uncaring management. Gotta live somewhere though and it's not that easy to up and move when you've been here a long time and call it home, notwithstanding all of its many flaws.
I believe that it has to do with the fact that they are only allowing one household per elevator cab, and if you have one elevator being utilized completely by a person delivering packages, it creates a wait for the elevator.
Let’s be realistic though, these delivery people were not delivering to the apartment doors before Covid.
For 15 years, I lived in an apartment that was not rewired and had an oil filled radiator to supplement the heat. Also had a Pinguino AC for part of that time. Occasionally, the circuit breaker would trip, especially if you were simultaneously using other heating appliances like a toaster or coffeemaker. But, easy enough to flip the switch and turn the power back on.
And no, getting a space heater is NOT “giving a pass”, it’s dealing with the reality of the situation. Maybe getting mad keeps you warm, if that works for you, great. But I’d rather deal with the fact that Met Life, Bill Potter, and the days when everyone kept their windows cracked open all winter aren’t coming back, and make the best of what is.
My packages were always delivered to my apartment before Covid FYI
"Let’s be realistic though, these delivery people were not delivering to the apartment doors before Covid."
Most of them were. At least in my building. Even the Amazon deliveries were brought up to the door. The only deliveries I ever saw lying around my lobby were the ones that had been brought to the wrong building and were unclaimed. We put the wrong delivery ones back in the lobby in the hopes that the lazy Lazership or FedEx person would see it and take it. Only Lazership and FedEx ever f**k up in my experience.
UPS is the best.
There is a HUMONGOUS box that must contain a piece of furniture in my lobby. It is top heavy and is standing against the wall. If it tips over onto somebody it will kill them. Hateful Hayduk will have blood on his hands. That man could put a stop to this endangerment to life if he wanted to. He could so something about the property carts zipping along the sidewalks and the speeding bicycles and scooters on the property if he wanted to. The thing is: he doesn't want to. He doesn't care. If a member of his family was hit by a speeding cart or bike or if a heavy delivery that should not be left in the lobby toppled onto a member of his family he would care. In all probability these huge heavy containers of unassembled furniture are belonging to the new people moving in. How they will get them up to the apartment unassisted is a mystery, unless their family includes a couple of very strong men with a dolly or cart of some sort. Probably Hayduk is figuring that they will have to hire and pay Beam to have people bring these things from lobby to the apartment.
That man disgusts me to the point of nausea. Creepy, slimy lowlife. He is totally in the wrong profession because he doesn't give a damn. Behind that smug smirk is a heart and soul of flint.
"Rent" bills have arrived for November.
"Rent" what, precisely? Among other items for which you are being requested to pay: a veritable smorgasbord of Covid-Spreading Events and Locations available: The ever popular illegal and noise-producing ice-skating rink; Sunday Green Market (already illegal, unsanitary and unhealthful) "Book Swap" in which you can do further mingling during our beloved killer pandemic AND bring home the virus in both your own lungs, and upon your own body and BOOKS; the Oval "Study" in PCV now, in which you can rent a variety of spaces and configurations to begin your own Death-by-Covid experience and/or acquire the dear little bug to take to family and friends, perhaps to kill them; engage in sweating and huffing and puffing at the "Fitness" centers (whatever did any living human being DO to keep healthy BEFORE GYMS WERE INVENTED???).
The above is only a representative sampling of the many, and growing number, of methods by which you can attempt suicide by Covid-19, and/or kill or seriously sicken others right here in our tightly knit community.
Other writers have eloquently, and informatively, written about the GREEN heating plant(s?) being built here, which has me wondering how vicious Blackstone truly is, and why.
No heat? Too many of us have become accustomed to sitting quietly for abuse.
So . . . you gonna pay your rent for no heat, and the deliberate, literally murderous actions of the "landlord?"
Nope.
Take good care of yourselves and each other,
Sari
The problem with a rent strike is that there just aren’t enough people here who would partake. If this was back in the day when the property was 100% true rent stabilization (pre-2000), it may have been able to get some traction if the strike was warranted.
Now you have true rent stabilized apartments in the 30-40% range, many of whom are afraid of getting thrown out of their apartments. Then you’ve got 30-40% students, and not a single one of them will rent strike. And finally you’ve got the 20-30% market raters, many of whom love Ricks cheesy events, and the ones that don’t do not equate to a large enough # to make a difference.
Sari, what can we do? We need our homes and some of us are very "settled" here and we came here when the property was a well-run, pleasant and safe place to live. It's not easy to uproot, even though we have a landlord which is worldwide known for being the worst landlord on the planet and a murderously amoral champion of the destruction of the Rain Forest. Blackstone is a life-negating, evil corporation on par with the medieval feudal system. Hopefully, the day will come when it is vanquished and disappears, but I don't think that will be anytime soon. Rome wasn't built in a day and wasn't purged in a day. The best we can do is go to the polling stations and vote for people who are the antithesis of this cruel form of governance. Eventually, things will change for the better, but probably not soon. Meantime, we just have to keep a watchful eye on what these despicable bastards do and do everything we can to hold their feet to the fire.
The Third Reich eventually fell as did the Soviet Iron Fist. Maybe they weren't replaced by anything that was much better, but we can plod on and raise our children to plod on.
Peace.
Don't know it's just temporary, but the small cafe near the corner of 14th and Ave A is closed. Their tents would semi-bock people. Meanwhile, that supermarket on 23rd, Morton Williams, is charging 20 cents per bag. Thank you, City Council.
We should keep in mind that although Blackstone is continuing the misery some of us experience here, they did not start it. In my opinion the Worst Person in The World is the hideous Rob Speyer. I am a longtime resident and I remember when Tishman Speyer and Blackrock purchased the property from MetLife, using other people's money that came from pension funds, etc., and was never repaid when they walked away from the property. TS, at the behest of the hideous Rob Speyer, went after elderly longtime tenants like the gestapo. The not-so-elderly were also persecuted. I remember people having to produce divorce records and all kinds of documentation (at their own expense) to prove that they were not living somewhere else and did not own property elsewhere. The "researchers" went into public records about people's private lives and very often came up with the wrong information because they mistook the accused tenant for someone else with the same last name. Many people moved out because they couldn't deal with all the hassle; some people became ill and I think a few died. When a longtime tenant died Speyer's goons would pop champagne corks in their office. They went after a very, very disabled lady who had fallen behind with her rent because of the recession and it was the New York Times Neediest Cases program that saved her from being tossed out on the street.
Speyer and his goons were absolute bastards and the people who worked in the "Legal Department" were inept, cruel and vicious. The toll on human life and whether or not their "information" was correct meant nothing to those monsters.
When Speyer and his hideous goons walked away from the property and their debt, the property was run by CWC, which (I think) was some kind of interim landlord. They were almost as bad.
I know Blackstone is dirty and is headed by some Schwartzman creature who suffers from insatiable greed and I know Rick Heyduk is rather annoying at times, but I think he does the best he can with what he's been given to deal with. Some of the his initiatives are admirable, e.g., the food program and various other things (flu shots, etc.), but on the whole it is not a caring landlord since we get so little heat in the cold months. However, it is nowhere near as heinous as the Speyer regime.
I agree that a rent strike would not work at all. That only works when a landlord owns one or two buildings. Not enough would participate here to even make a dent. They would be risking their tenancy. A totally inappropriate idea for this large, transient, student centered development.
SUSAN STEINBERG - vile
RICK HYDUK - vile
Unscrupulous, unfeeling, immoral and clearly borderline corrupt.
Although the Tishman Speyer ownership was evil, at least you knew what you were getting. No hypocrisy like we see in the Beam Living group. They are like wolves in sheep’s clothing. Talk a good, benevolent game and then sock it to us.
Our lease is up in March and we can't wait to get out of here. Two years of misery. Noisy neighbors, no heat even in the coldest of weather and no service other than lip service. What a horror of a place. Reminds me of cold water flats in the slums.
We will warn everybody far and wide, by word of mouth and social media, to never even THINK of renting here. Freezing cold overpriced shithole.
That near corner diner on 14rh that was closed the other day is open again. But "sellers" are all over the area where one catches a bus. Thanks, City Council.
A "shithole"
That pretty much says it all.
Hmmm, no heat.
What a shock!
Slimy motherfuc*ers run this place.
"That near corner diner on 14rh that was closed the other day is open again. But "sellers" are all over the area where one catches a bus. Thanks, City Council."
Those "sellers" are an absolute menace. They obstruct the sidewalk and they obstruct access to an egress from the 14A bus. Why the hell don't the cops clear them out? 14th Street has become like a fucking third-world fetid slum. I have stopped going to Trader Joe because of those people and take the 14D to downtown stores or the Westbound 14th Street bus to Food Emporium. I would love to shop at TJ and Petopia, but cannot deal with those filthy fucks on the Street. What's wrong with that stupid bitch, Carlina Rivera and the 9th Pct losers that they can't get rid of all that scum? They are not honest vendors. They are selling stolen goods and drugs.
Two large well attended Halloween parties on my floor last night. One was a family affair mostly young children and their parents and the other was NYU students coming and going all night long. Way over 25 people at each event. Thanks for the COVID Rick, my attorney will be in touch!
The heat came on for a short time this morning. Since then: NOTHING. Do they wait for the sensors to register a temperature below 68 before the heat kick in? I know people who have the sensors in their apartments and their apartments are as cold as a grave. The sensors don't work. Can't Hayduk get that into his thick head?
What happens if people who have the sensors in their cold apartments decide to put the oven on or buy a space heater because they can't stand waiting for the sensors to tell the system that is so cold?
This has to be the worst [non]heating system ever foisted on tenants anywhere. Maybe it was sold to them by the same crooked entity who sold them the faulty windows - that we are paying for in perpetuity. Everything they acquire for tenants' use, whether it is stoves, refrigerators, windows, heating, any appliances and fixtures, intercoms are all f**king schlock. Cheap, nasty, inferior, third rate crap. And they know it. I'm surprised the elevators don't break down more frequently than they do. In fact, I'm surprised that nobody has been killed by the cheap, tacky "facilities" provided by the landlord. What a shithole.
Before I even catch up on the most recent posts - the answer to the question asked, "What can we do?" about the actions of Blackstone, who harms so many people and other beings . . . is: lots of things. It takes will and courage, conviction, and often, united and sustained efforts.
Again, as many times over the last few years, I'd be glad to read messages from anyone who would like to talk and maybe more. I'll post my information again soon.
Could not get to the ticket machine to buy a ticket by the bus stop just in front of TJs. I got on the bus without a ticket and hoped no inspector would get on. This bunch of nuisances that have taken over the street from First Avenue to Avenue A are really out of control. They should be removed by the cops and not allowed back. Do we actually have any policing around here anymore? Is the 9th Pct on strike?
"What can we do?"
Not much, and Blackstone knows this very well. Even if Blackstone is fined for this or that, the small fine is meaningless to them.
Just when you think that nothing can get worse, we just received a notice from the Tennants Association that Blackstone is planning on constructing 2 power plants in st/pc -- one near where my wife and I live at 410-430 east 20th Street and the other on Ave. C. This is just insane - who wants to live near a power plant !!!!!!!!!!!! I hope they condemn this place. My wife and I are looking into several 55 Plus communities in New Jersey. It has to be better in one of those places. There is nothing left to enjoy here. The buildings are poorly constructed, there is little heat and there are too many NYU students. Now a damn power plant!!
They are putting power plants on the property???!!!!
I think it is time we got the news media involved and make sure that the whole world knows what Blackstone is going to this property and to the health and well-being of the residents. These greedy bloodsuckers have no conscience, no sense of decency and behave like this is a Feudal system.
This has to be the most amoral, life-negating and vile landlord on the face of the earth. And Rick Hayduk, if you are reading this: You are complicit with your evil employers and you will be judged one day and you will not be acquitted. I'm sure you know that and I hope you can live comfortably with yourself. Most people would not be able to because most people are decent.
If you feel you are being misjudged, say so. Show, at least once in a while, that you have balls. Unless and until you do that you will always be seen as the pariah and enemy of the good people who make their home in PCVST.
Isn't this news weeks old? The power plants. On the main page, I even have photos of some of the work.
Two large well attended Halloween parties on my floor last night. One was a family affair mostly young children and their parents and the other was NYU students coming and going all night long. Way over 25 people at each event. Thanks for the COVID Rick, my attorney will be in touch!
October 31, 2020 at 3:27 PM
anonymous, PLEASE REPORT THE STUDENTS TO NYU. NYU IS TAKING ACTION AGAINST THESE STUDENTS WHO THROW PARTIES. THIS SHIT HOLE MANAGEMENT DOES NOT TAKE ACTION.
it's best if you can snap a picture of these parties, but if you didn't do that, send an email anyway to
covidcompliance@nyu.edu
include the students name and address. Say that there was a party of over 10 people. NYU is suspending students who do this, even if they live off campus
Shocker, Beam was hit with a Notice of Violation by the state DEC over the CHP plants they are building around the property. Rick and his team are filling our homes with more pollution, while greasing the palms of the group that gave them LEED certification. Guess rick didn’t grease the palms of the state enough to get past this violation.
Here is another case where the TA and politicians should be stepping up IMMEDIATELY. I expect a phony coordinated response where they say they are monitoring the situation with no eventual resolve.
October 28, 2020 at 8:41 AM
Do you have any more information about this, please? can we get some updates here? I don't give a shit about these notices management is sending out, I'm interested in real information. Will this violation hold up the bulldozing and excavation or are they just continuing on like they've done nothing wrong? I can see that the excavation is deep enough to hit the coal tar under the surface here.
all the rick apologists "he's doing his best" and "he's well intentioned" --just shut the fuck up. now and forever. it should be clear to even the stupidest of tenants that rick is not well intentioned, not trying his best, and a sick and evil man who is filling our homes with pollution.
If a power plant were being constructed on NYCHA property, exposing toxic chemicals to the air and to residents, the New york times would be writing article after article--they would launch a crusade to help the poor disadvantaged minority residents.
but somehow when it happens in stuy town, it's not news. How does that work exactly?
And still not a peep from Powers. What a shocker.
Actually, I contacted Powers the very day they started tearing up the 20th St Loop.
He got right back to me, saying that his PCVST liaison would revert. That was the last and only response I got.
Keith Powers is a wholly owned subsidiary of the REBNY. Why would anyone expect an answer from him?
"He got right back to me, saying that his PCVST liaison would revert. That was the last and only response I got."
What did he mean by "his PCVST liaison would revert?"
"all the rick apologists "he's doing his best" and "he's well intentioned" --just shut the fuck up. now and forever. it should be clear to even the stupidest of tenants that rick is not well intentioned, not trying his best, and a sick and evil man who is filling our homes with pollution."
Sadly, I am tending to agree with you. It really is become very Hellish living here. It used to be such an enviable place to live, but the greed of the owners and the sleaze and corruption of our so-called elected politicians has really brought the property down to a point that I don't think it can or will ever recover from. They will never get stable, long-term tenants anymore. Only students and transients can put up with what we have to go through. We're looking to move even though we've been her for almost 25 years. Our rent is low by Manhattan standards, but it is really not worth putting up with such a lousy quality of life just because of the rent. I feel very sorry for people who are not in a position to move out and into something better. We warn everybody we encounter who might be or is in the process of looking for a place to live in NYC that they should, at all costs, AVOID this place like their life depended on it! I could never in good conscience encourage anybody to move in here. Not even someone I loathed! And not even if they were offering a massive bounty for bringing in a new tenant. I could never do that to another human being.
"If a power plant were being constructed on NYCHA property, exposing toxic chemicals to the air and to residents, the New york times would be writing article after article--they would launch a crusade to help the poor disadvantaged minority residents.
but somehow when it happens in stuy town, it's not news. How does that work exactly?"
Good question. I wonder the same thing. Maybe Blackstone has some pull over at the NYT. Nothing is sacred these days. Greed is the only thing that matters, sadly.
The constant construction noise (inside and out) and the lack of heat, brown water and infestation of students who do not give a shit about anybody but themselves has turned this place into a living hell. Hayduk probably chuckles at the thought of what we have to go through. Don't tell me he is doing his best, etc. He and his crew can all go to hell. The sooner the better.
What did he mean by "his PCVST liaison would revert?"
Like all council members, he has a staff, and there’s a person (not going to mention his/her name) that’s “covers” PCVST issues. Or maybe “covers up” might be more appropriate.
It’s a testament to the sad decline of both Stuyvesant Town and City Hall that the landlord’s going to build fume spewing power plants right in the midst of a residential complex, and it seems that tenants and our elected representatives are just passing it off with a shrug.
>>Like all council members, he has a staff, and there’s a person (not going to mention his/her name) that’s “covers” PCVST issues. Or maybe “covers up” might be more appropriate.<<
I deal with Ben.
Ben from Powers office is worse than useless.
I really think we ought to get the mainstream news and media involved. Does anyone have any useful contacts with those entities?
As usual, there is a pattern every year. The pipes have been okay for me recently, but I woke up around 4 this morning and they were cold. Now, later, past 8, they are still cold. Thanks, Blackstone.
We have had no heat since Monday. This place sucks and the “manager “ is a useless jerk.
When the temperature is in the 50’s outside they don’t give heat.
I am proud of myself because today I successfully talked someone out of moving into Sty. I warned him about the noise, lack of heat and all-round incompetence of the so-called Manager. Not worth $1k to sell your soul and make somebody who is genuinely looking for a decent place to live miserable.
The Love of Money is at the root of all evil and that is proved over and over and over with Blackstone and liars who promote their shitty, destroyed acquisitions.
Lookin' at you, Slick Rick.
BTW, work at the "new" power plants has stopped. For a while, that is. I wonder if Management was compelled to stop for now.
Work still continues on the east side of Stuy Town.
There was a female thief today, as reported by the Tenants Facebook. She was "carrying several large shopping bags to put stolen merchandise in — got into them and opened some packages, stealing their contents, and grabbed others without opening them. A young guy — it might have been a building worker, I’m not sure — caught her in the act and chased her to an area outside of the Fitness Playground, near buildings 451 and 455, and wrested several bags..."
The PS got involved, but why not sooner? What about all those monitors? Unknown whether she was captured.
"There was a female thief today, as reported by the Tenants Facebook. She was "carrying several large shopping bags to put stolen merchandise in — got into them and opened some packages, stealing their contents, and grabbed others without opening them."
Thanks, Rick, you ***ing dick! Thanks Susan Steinberg, you silly old woman. This is what happens when deliveries are left in the lobby. There are several deliveries in the lobby of my building which have the recipient's name and correct address on the label, but the apartment number is missing. No way to take the packages up to the apartment or notify the tenant that he has packages in the lobby because stupid, useless, clueless, brainless RICK took down the directories and never bothered to update them. This is a violation of the law, but so what? Rick doesn't give a shit. Even some people who didn't opt out found their names removed and they haven't been replaced. Nice work, Rick, the worst "manager" we've ever had.
>>Rick, the worst "manager" we've ever had.
SO FAR!
I can't help but wonder if Rick's insistence on holding his super-spreader Oval events and his refusal to enforce the wearing of masks and social distancing ("recommending" is not the same as "enforcing") was possibly some kind of political statement on his part.
Just "We're Open for Business!"
IMPENDING EMERGENCY:
November 8, 2020: I paid rent over the last few days, electronically. I just cancelled the November rent payment, however, because Blackstone is insisting upon practices which put us into danger of Covid-19 illness, prolonged related health problems, and death itself.
The refrigerated trucks which function as mobile morgues are once again parked near NYU Langone and the NYC Medical Examiners Office at First Avenue. This is the first time they've been seen since the first wave in the winter/summer of 2020 which killed so many of us. The numbers of sick-with-Covid in the City, as well as elsewhere, are rising.
Blackstone/Beam, et al. is aggressively promoting and hosting, and encouraging "events" and gatherings and the use of places ("Study," "Fitness," etc.; playgrounds) which are dangerous as hell to the health of every one of us.
The young people out screaming, shrieking, walking in groups nightly has increased and is being allowed.
I will be happy to pay rent when my landlord institutes and enforces measures once more which keep all of us safe. This emphatically excludes "encouragement," "be kind," "do one thing," "please," and all of the usual. This emphatically excludes, "We are following the City's guidelines" when "the City's guidance," etc. IS NOT STRICT ENOUGH TO PROTECT US FROM WHAT IS ALREADY HERE and ABOUT TO SURGE.
In other words “rent strike”.
Good.
About time. Maybe 2000 other lease holders will join you.
Screw Blackstone.
November 8, 2020 at 3:07 PM:
"Rent strike." And "Maybe 2000 other lease holders will join you."
Someone recently asked what we can do regarding Blackstone's actions here.
Whether or not any specific result is desired, it makes no sense to pay a person or group of persons (corporation) to take deliberate daily, ongoing actions that might well lead to grave illness and possibly a hellish, miserable death.
As I've written, I sometimes speak with "management" people here; I continue confounded by their insistence, even during a time of widespread death, on spouting sick-souled corporate-speak.
There are many of us who can do little to protect ourselves from exposure to that which kills and harms us.
Blackstone, in contrast, can enact many changes to dramatically limit the opportunities for Covid-19 related illness and death for all and each of us.
They adamantly refuse.
I was told by one individual today the same emphatic, brief "NO" which I was told a few years back by a now retired Stuyvesant Town trafficker (used in the moral sense, not the legal sense here) in misery. It was the same NO that another much hated Blackstone employee spit out of his mouth as he stared into my eyes one sunny, lovely day not far from my home two or three years back now.
The NO is NO to your life itself at this point because they bluntly refuse to end practices which can kill you.
THAT IS WHY PAYING RENT MAKES NO SENSE.
Yes - take care of yourself and any and all other lives, if that is who and what you are.
And please think many times over about participating in Blackstone's machinations to extract money from you as they coldly and emphatically enunciate their intention to hurt you. At least three of their people have repeated that word to me now.
As the morgue trucks sit silently waiting.
Sari, I don't quite understand what you are talking about. Are you referring to the Coronavirus and the way they don't enforce the masks and social-distancing at the ridiculous events they put on? The ones that have the same mentality as the outgoing mentally ill, malignantly narcissistic caricature of a human being in a powerful post? I think we really have to look out for ourselves and wear masks, stay distant from anybody who isn't wearing a mask and avoid at all costs going anywhere near Hayduk, et al's Super spreader Events. They are not mandatory. Avoid the laundry rooms, "amenities" and put all garbage, except glass, down the garbage chute. Glass can injure porters because it can splinter in the compactor and send shards of glass into their faces. Just hand on to glass to dispose of at a later time in one of the outside garbage bins.
Or, are you talking about the CHP project to build power stations on the property?
I think that is a very serious situation and we need to contact the NYT and make a big fuss about it.
Maybe you are referring to the lack of heat? We have to buy safe space heaters and use them wisely and carefully and not leave them on when we leave the apartment. Most certainly we should not have to resort to space heaters, but it is what it is. We have a vile slumlord for a landlord and an incredibly evil and hypercritical individual who calls himself the manager. No doubt he doesn't let his own family suffer the way he makes us suffer and we are paying through the nose to live here.
I don't think that withholding rent is going to do much good. They will just evict us. I don't know what we can do except protect ourselves as much as possible, be sure to warn other people about what we have to suffer here and how dangerous a place it is to live for many, many reasons. And then seek somewhere else to live. There are alternatives. Plenty of apartments available at the moment. Don't even have to live in New York City really.
I really wish you would be a bit more specific about what it is that you are so angry about and are addressing the Blackstone employees about. Thank you, Sari.
Given the number of tenants NOT paying rent due to Covid and the related effects I don't think they would notice a rent strike.
I've noticed that commenting on both the TA Facebook and the ST Tenants Facebook has become heavily censored and reduced to sort of "Where can I get ...." type of info blogs. The Admins on the Tenants Only page sound like they've had enough! Cranky and dictatorial. Can't be a fun job though, but they really get nasty at times.
Shameless Susan Steinberg is a tool of Management.
She has ZERO scruples.
She is President of a corrupt, sham Tenants Association.
Truly a poor excuse for a human being.
Represent the tenants. That is your job.
Get out of bed with Management.
Are there any Spectrum customers on here who are having trouble with their service, or is it just me? Cable boxes keep freezing and internet keeps dropping. Sick of rebooting boxes and router. It takes forever to get a live person when you call Customer Service.
Everything Sari says about evil Blackstone is true, but it's unfortunately not going to end happily for her.
I DON'T KNOW IF THE MODERATOR OF THE TENANTS (NOT TA) FB IS ALSO A MODERATOR ON THE TA FB BLOG, BUT HE SURE IS A LITTLE DICTATOR!!!
I MISS JOHN MARSH BECAUSE HE WAS NOT SO CONSTANTLY IRATE AND DICTATORIAL.
They are extremely nasty. They throw people off the site when they are critiqued for doing nothing. A horrible group of management lackeys.
"They are extremely nasty. They throw people off the site when they are critiqued for doing nothing. A horrible group of management lackeys."
I presume you are speaking of the TA moderators. The moderators on the not TA FB are not management lackeys by any means. They do get a bit cranky at times though. Can't be an easy job they have. So many subjects are banned on both of those forums. But you can find out where to get curly hair colored!
For everyone's information, a post on the non-TA Facebook by a former TA member indicates Shady Susan is President For Life of that now-totally-fraudulent organization. This actually explains a lot that goes on here. Recommend everybody google the expression "President For Life" on Wikipedia for other historical examples of such exalted individuals (including their pictures).
what was the post on the non-TA Facebook that indicates we are stuck with Susan? I must have missed it.
Disagree completely. They are nasty and vindictive. They hate it when anyone questions what they do. They have done nothing on heat, noise, and other issues.
What is banned is anything that calls into question what the TA actually does or what management does to destroy our QOL.
"what was the post on the non-TA Facebook that indicates we are stuck with Susan? I must have missed it."
Me too.
It was not a separate posting, but part of a long back-and-forth between persons arguing about how/when the TA developed a conflict of interest, the TA's attorneys, and why some comments there get removed by moderators--which now seems to be the case, as of today!!
Well, can't get heat when it is cold out but with the temperatures near 70 degrees the heat was on in my apartment this morning. These people are totally incompetent
"Well, can't get heat when it is cold out but with the temperatures near 70 degrees the heat was on in my apartment this morning. These people are totally incompetent"
Incompetent doesn't even begin to describe them. Unfortunately, they are only going to get worse.
Shameless Susan Steinberg struts about like she is something else.
How utterly pathetic!
A loser who "leads" a phantom "organization" of 50 members tops.
Open up the books, Susan.
Let's see where the money goes.
PHONY.
It's interesting to learn that our so-called "Lifestyles Director" used to work in the cruise ship industry. Considering how filthy and disease-ridden many of the cruise ships are, his title probably be "Deathstyles /Director." I can't believe we are stuck with refuse from the resorts and cruise ship industry to run this property. I wish the City would take it over and make it a NYCHA property. It would be a step up.
No heat today, of course.
Blackstone is building two air-polluting power plants ON RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY. There is no limit to the depth of the depravity of these people. Where are our elected so-called representatives? How the hell are they allowed to get away with this atrocity? There must be some very serious money going into the coffers of the politicians and the TA. How the hell can the TA call itself a Tenants Association and purport to represent tenants when they don't rise up in anger against this murderous activity of our landlord?
Spread the word far and wide that this place is an absolute must to avoid. I have already deterred a few people from renting here and can't wait to get out of here myself. In a couple of years this property will be home only to transients, students and a handful of people who are not in a position to move out and will probably die sooner rather than later because of Blackstone's actions be they Covid-spreading "events" and cancer and respiratory illness from the power plants. Rick Hayduk must have no conscience whatsoever. He is a whited sepulchre with a hear of darkness. He will probably moving on soon and will leave a trail of death and misery behind him.
Will these power plants perhaps burn dog waste? Animal dung is used for many purposes in so-called Third World countries. And we all know how environmentally-conscious Blackstone is. LOL
He’s not THAT bad! I doubt he has much say in anything.
I agree that he doesn’t have much say in what goes on around here, but I don’t agree when you say he’s not that bad. He takes orders and a paycheck from some very evil people who have ruined the lives of millions of people worldwide. He has worked for this company for years before taking the job here, so he is well aware of what they do to people, and he chooses to continue working for them and supporting what they do in the name of the almighty dollar.
He also lies directly to people’s faces, so is that a character trait that is not that bad in your eyes? The bottom line is that the guy represents one of the wealthiest companies in the world, not us, and everything that comes out of his mouth that makes him seem like he has our backs is a lie.
Thank our politicians and TA for bringing this personal hell to us.
Spot on.
I don't know who is more vile?
Smilin' Rick Hydick or Shifty Shameless Susan Steinberg?
Both morally and ethically bankrupt.
He is very smooth, hypocritical, and phony. He talks a good game. I have no respect for him at all.
Acquaintance just signed two year lease on un-renovated 1 bedroom for less than $1800 on 20th and first . Any one who pays $3k or more to live here is an idiot, plain and simple.
Might as well rename this site from The Stuy Town Report to The Rick Hayduck Bash-A-Rama.
He gets off light here.
The corner at 14th and Ave A to Trader is impossible to cross freely. I was there Saturday early morning (between 9 and 10), and there were many "vendors" selling their goods and maybe customers from God knows where. I had to warn these people to "get out of the way" as I went through them. And, again, this is Saturday morning. This is a visible failure of our city and local politicians.
Rick is the face of this property (see his emails with his literal face included in them), who oversees Blackstones marching orders on how to run this place into the ground and make life hell for many people here. He is the cause for most of the personal strife that that the tenants go through, so yes, he is going to garner a lot of attention on a blog dedicated to speaking the truth about what goes on in this property.
But as I’ve said before, the real animosity on this website should be towards the TA and politicians. They are the ones who vow to fight for us, but do absolutely nothing other than show up for photo-ops. I’ve literally never seen 2 groups of people more ineffective than our TA and local pols.
"But as I’ve said before, the real animosity on this website should be towards the TA and politicians. They are the ones who vow to fight for us, but do absolutely nothing other than show up for photo-ops. I’ve literally never seen 2 groups of people more ineffective than our TA and local pols."
You are absolutely right on all counts. The TA is totally useless as far as tenants are concerned and is only useful to Management and the local pols. Our local pols are a bunch of do-nothings as far as their constituents are concerned - excepting, of course, their corporate constituents.
Rick Hayduk is the Face of Blackstone and everything he does is for Blackstone and NOT for the tenants. At least not for the good of the tenants. If he leaves he will be replaced with a clone. He's a career Blackstone lackey, nothing more and nothing less. I don't get his emails anymore. I unsubscribed because there was never anything in them of any interest or of any use to me. He's a typical corporate stooge and makes bad decisions and implements bad policies that harm tenants (directories removal, packages in lobby, the atrocious lack of a decent, comfortable level of heat during the cold months, virus-spreading banal events. I could go on). He has turned this once vibrant residential community into a transient dorm/hotel/airbnb where we don't know our neighbors (who come and go like extended stay hotel customers) and his decision to not even bother to put names on apartment doors or keep the directories updated (and he's in violation of State law on that one) is a reflection of his and his masters' attitude toward the people who actually call this place "home." He is a nothing little man who is just a corporate lackey with no heart and not much of a brain. That's why he was chosen to be the manager of this property.
Local pol Keith Powers has been all over social media lately with community assistance projects. Of course, he is running next year. Just in time to snare votes. He has done next to nothing to help with Beam Living issues like heat and Covid spread gatherings.
It is so cold and windy today, but god forbid those bastards will send up any heat because the outdoor temp is 56 (not counting the windchill factor). The heat should be determined by the outdoor temperature, not the indoor temperature which is what this stupid sensor system depends on. Even when it is cold inside an apartment with a sensor the heat doesn't kick in because the sensors don't work. If the occupants of the apartment with the sensor is cooking and that warms the apartment, nobody else gets any heat. They say that the max temp is pegged at 72 degrees. It never (or hardly ever) gets up to 72 degrees indoors unless you have the stove or a space heater in use. 72 degrees isn't really very comfortable for a lot of people. 75 is much more comfortable. These damned stingy bastards should rot in hell.
"Local pol Keith Powers has been all over social media lately with community assistance projects. Of course, he is running next year. Just in time to snare votes. He has done next to nothing to help with Beam Living issues like heat and Covid spread gatherings."
I can think of no reason whatsoever to vote for him. He is a dyed-in-the-wool REBNY tool, just like his predecessor, Garodnik.
re: our vile landlord:
https://www.housinghumanright.org/modern-day-robber-baron-the-sins-of-blackstone-ceo-stephen-schwarzman/
Pipes ice cold this morning.
NO HEAT.
What a shock...not!
Thanks, Smilin' Rick Hydik
Thanks, Shameless Susan Steinberg
This is my first winter here and it's going to be my last! I woke up so many times during the night because I was freezing! Even a heavy blanket and comforter didn't help much. I'll have to buy a heater to get through the next few months. If I had any idea what this place was like before I signed a lease early in the year, I would have run a mile from it. I was puzzled by the way they leave pamphlets explaining the heating system in the lobby because I have never lived in an apartment building in New York where they did that. But then, I've never lived in one where the heat only comes on in short bursts IF it comes on at all!
I called to complain about the lack of heat and was asked if I have a thermometer. No, I don't have a fucking thermometer! The pipes are cold. I am cold. I don't need a thermometer to tell me that. The brain dead person on the phone said they would send an "engineer" to check my apartment. Just turn the fucking heat on you morons! I don't need an "engineer" to tell me the heat is not turned on and it is freezing cold. Can't wait to get out of here and will warn everybody I ever meet to NEVER even think of renting here. In fact, I plan to write an article about what a hell hole it is.
Amazing that management has to plant signs pleading with these sleazy dog owners to not let their dogs shit and piss in the gardens. Reason enough as to why allowing dogs was a mistake. Of course, dog owners will abide by the sign's directive.
Just the other day I saw a resident inside the garden with a no dog sign--inside with a dog.
>>Pipes ice cold this morning.<<
I awoke late last night before going to sleep again. As I was up, I checked the pipes, though my cold nose was enough for an answer. Yes, the pipes were cold.
"Amazing that management has to plant signs pleading with these sleazy dog owners to not let their dogs shit and piss in the gardens. Reason enough as to why allowing dogs was a mistake. Of course, dog owners will abide by the sign's directive."
If we had a security force like we used to have, they would not allow the assholes with their dogs to go where they're not supposed to go. Now, unfortunately, we do not have a security force. Instead, we have a bunch of untrained, minimum-wage kids who are called "Public Safety" (dorm term used since this became a dorm) and these kids don't know how to enforce the rules and are not encouraged to, anyway.
It's unfortunate that we have only a sham "Tenants Association" and a lazy, useless, half-assed moron who bears the title "Property Manager."
How does one get an $1800 un-renovated (larger) apartment? My lease is up soon and I plan to move out of the city but need about 6 months more. I was planning to rent elsewhere for that time but would sign a one year lease for less than 2k.
"Just the other day I saw a resident inside the garden with a no dog sign--inside with a dog."
What a bunch of shameless scumbags.
How come there is no heat?
"How does one get an $1800 un-renovated (larger) apartment? "
Supposedly they are listed at the Beam Living webpage but they are snapped up right away. Supposedly. There is also very good evidence that many non renovated apartments are being warehoused by Blackstone which is sad to say totally legit under NYS RS law. The reason? Blackstone/REBNY is hoping to gut the NYS RS law via court actions all the way up to now very REBNY friendly US Supreme Court.
I wonder why Blackstone doesn't simply renovate said apts and charge market rate? Perhaps people are finally coming to their senses and realizing what a dump this place is and refusing to rent in the stytown projects? I'm sure the china virus has something to do with it as well.
I personally have no contacts at the NYT but here's a thought...
how about a starting with student journalism? often NYT and larger papers pick up stories from student papers.
aren't the students concerned about living next to POWER PLANTS? I mean I realize this is not the 60s, but I thought kids were concerned about toxic chemicals in the air.
I dont expect NYU to care--honestly I wouldnt be surprised if they somehow get a cut of the profits--but the students themselves should care. they live here, in droves.
They are warehousing apartments, the one next of mine has been vacant since the last tenant moved out in March. They came in and painted and did the floors. Even put a Welcome Home nametag on the door. It isn't listed on website as available. I am thinking they don't want to list too many.
@11:50 PM: The students don't care because they are here for a very short time. They come and go and some aren't even here full time. They are not making this place their home and have no reason to care about anything that goes on here. That goes for most, if not all of the transients. This is no longer a residential apartment complex. It is a short-stay dump.
Nyt doesn't need to pick up this story from student journalists, anyway--i bet nyt already knows. They'll never report this.
With all the stupid carp they print about this shit hole, masquerading as journalism-- that puff piece about the ed army guy or whatever, who's farming out apartments--this is considered journalism in the time of vivid. It's clear they have their marching orders from Blackstone.
How come I have no heat?
The NY Times has NO journalists and no one cares what the asses who work there have to say. No one with a brain that is.
“how come I have no heat?”
Blackstone doesn’t provide heat. You have to buy space heaters.
Good question - why we have no heat. It's 50 degrees outside and windy. Probably the temperature in my apartment is at the legal MINIMUM (I don't have a thermometer and don't need one to know that I am cold). I've never before encountered a landlord that insisted that tenants have a thermometer in their apartment so that they could make sure to not give them anything more than the bare minimum of heat. The city sets those temperatures to prevent slum lords from freezing their tenants to death, but that only means they are the bare minimum life-sustaining temperatures, not COMFORTABLE temperatures. Cheap scum bastards. May they rot in Hell. The sooner the better.
I have space heaters in bedroom and living room.
That’s true. They’ll give you super spreader loud Oval crap.
Heat is optional.
"Heat is optional."
Optional for them. Our only options are to be freezing cold or buy our own heaters and use their electric. The first thing out of my mouth if anybody asks me about this place is that it is a private development where the rents are high and heat is minimal-to-nonexistent. That turns them right off if they had thoughts about renting here.
"Cheap scum bastards. May they rot in Hell. The sooner the better."
You should reserve your vitriol for the entity who allowed Blackstone into our lives. The entity whose sole task was (and is) to look out for the well being of tenants. Hopefully, you're not paying the ghouls in the TA.
By the way, how long is this "affordable condo conversion" going to take anyway?
Agreed. I am done being pissed at Blackstone and Beam and Rick. They are sleazy and dirty, and that will never change in any of our lifetimes. I am solely pissed at the TA and politicians who allowed this real estate predator to walk in here with a celebratory hug, and for 5 years now to walk all over the tenants of this property and the laws of this city.
The “We have a seat at the table” TA and the “Darling of the REBNY gala” Garodnick (and now Powers) are who we should have our pitchforks out against. They sold each and every one of us out on the day the sale was finalized, and continue to do so each and every day that they don’t go to bat for us.
How could the TA have allowed or not allowed Blackstone into our lives? The property isn't and never has been the property of the TA. I doubt they had any say in the matter whatsoever. They're just a bunch of volunteers who try to get the Landlord to do the right thing. I don't think they have pull or power. They advocate for us, but they can't make the LL do anything or not do anything. They certainly don't get to choose who owns the property. Those are BIG REBNY projects.
As I was entering the building a little while earlier, two delivery guys came in and dumped several large boxes and a whole bunch of Amazon delivery packages right under the shelf where the mailboxes are. We don't have a notice up in our lobby telling them they should deliver to apartment doors, but even if we did it would not make a difference to the Amazon jerks.
I see that Blackstone has also purchased Phipps Plaza/Kips Bay Court. I always thought that Phipps was housing built specially to house physically handicapped people. Did Blackstone role them in their wheelchairs into the East River? That would be consistent with their moral code.
Work keeps moving on with the power plants. Maybe we've come full circle, back to the Gas House district again.
Any word from our Elected Reps, after that strongly worded letter (No! Not that! to management?
**crickets**
We can thank the despicable TA and Dan Garodnick for the Blackstone deal. They are largely responsible. Don’t ever forget that.
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