I used to belong to Oval Study a few years ago. I paid 30 dollars a month and quit when it wasn't being run to justify the price. In just a year or two, the price for Oval Study, which now includes a Peter Cooper location, rose to 55 dollars a month.Of course, the thick one-page brochure that you must have seen somewhere in your building, touts "for only $55," but that kind of happy-face push is not fooling anyone. At least, I hope it's not.
Who is paying for this? I would suppose mostly college students whose wealthier parents are paying for their son's or daughter's privilege. (Since masks are required, you will probably feel more liberated at your Stuy Town or Peter Cooper room, though this apartment could have inhabitants that hamper your studying.)
And that is the point. Stuy Town hopes that more money will be coming in from weathy parents.
The prices of everything have gone up. Part of the reason is the Covid disaster, but the prices were going up anyway, though the pandemic gives a talking points reason for higher prices.
As I look about, this community has taken a hit in everything. And not just prices in the neighborhood or those given by our lord and master, Beam Living.
To think. our former congressman, Daniel Garodnick, has just released a book on Saving Stuyvesant Town. The book's title is no joke, though it should be a comedy book. But not to worry. You can be sure that in a year's time, the book will be remaindered. A dollar is too much to ask, actually, but the book can maybe save you on 14th Street from one of the vagrants selling a piece of junk and becoming hostile to you because you are you.
I have never, ever met anyone who is as negative as you.
ReplyDeleteNow that the weather is warmer, I guess we can expect to see you out lurking around with your belly hanging over your shorts and your stained shirt. Snapping pictures with your cell phone. What a miserable life you must have. I though we were lucky enough that you were gone for good, but Noooooo your back.
LOL. You must be one of the people who have lots of money or you're working for Beam.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you are, gasp, Garodnick himself!
ReplyDeleteI never understood why anyone would pay a monthly fee to use that 'Oval Study' space. Anytime I walk past it I feel like I'm looking at some creatures in a zoo exhibit. What's the point? Go to a library or here's a thought -- study inside your apartment. I guess people just have money to burn.
ReplyDelete@6:52 PM: I thought at first you might be a Beam Living employee, but you're too illiterate.
ReplyDeleteThere is a typo, however. But everyone makes mistakes.
ReplyDeleteGeez! 6:52 PM: WHO are you? "Anonymous" works for cowards. (I'll be posting "anonymously" for this message, but I'm one of the very few who has posted my name and identity and more here, so I don't fit my own definition of "coward.)
ReplyDeleteThis entire nation, collectively, has been declining into a particularly ugly mentality for years. It has plummeted over the last 13 or so months. People, individually, and in groups, have made the choice to behave in repugnant, obscene manners with their mouths, words, actions. WHY are you writing such hurtful and personally vicious words to STR???
STR is not "negative," as you describe. If you want "negative," I'll be happy to oblige. In fact, he is always a great deal more diplomatic in his posting of facts than I'd be were I to manage this blog.
There have been precious few postings over the last many years, no matter how strongly worded, by nearly every poster, which have not accurately described conditions and behaviors here. What was beautiful, peaceful, civil, soothing sane, and truly HOME for tens of thousands of human beings became ugly. It became anti-life. It became misery.
Both "landlord" and "residents" (I use that word loosely) increasingly behaved in manners which destroyed most of what was positive, healing, healthful here in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.
Morality and ethics and decency (as expressed in words such as: morals, ethics, civility, respect, maturity, unselfishness, self-restraint, modesty, manners, etiquette and many more which few learned and many fewer can understand in these times of degradation of self and world) have long been dead. The last two "landlords" have created, encouraged, invited despicable behavior from tenants and outsiders for years.
Catering to, and constantly stimulating, the worst characteristics of human beings, "landlord" and their "management" minions have turned this once home and refuge into 24 hour misery for all who called this home. Some few of us do what creatures on this planet do: adapt by "accepting" and either "ignoring" the intrusions and filth and noise and soul-killing conditions, or convincing ourselves we "like, love, appreciate" it.
These two complexes, the immediately surrounding neighborhood, and probably all of New York City, along with all of the United States of America, and most (if not all) other countries have suffered and will continue to suffer - more and more -as we fail to find our humanity.
PLEASE DO NOT INSULT STR AGAIN. YOUR WRITING WAS VILE AND OFFENSIVE.
Little Boy Danny Garodnick is truly without shame.
ReplyDeleteHe sold StuyTown residents down the river as did the impotent and corrupt Tenants Association.
For him to write a self-promoting book extolling his dishonesty, duplicity and evil is a true example of "chutzpah".
The nerve of Garodnick. His book will be a bunch of crap. He sold us out to a corporation intent on turning this development into a dorm and transient dump. How dare he say he saved us.
DeleteThank you, "Watch Your Mouth," but I also found the person's post laughable because I don't run around in shorts (the last time was when I was in the Army), don't have a pot belly, etc. The post exhibited frustration because I addressed the truth...and will continue to do so. ;-)
ReplyDeleteNo one, outside the TA board at the time (Doyle, Marsh, Steinberg, O'Donnell, the disbarred lawyer guy, etc.) did more harm to Stuy Town than Dan Garodnick. This book is a test to see if he is palpable enough to run for office again. As someone who is leaving after way too many years I say, yes, NYC deserves Dan Garodnick.
ReplyDelete"Thank you, "Watch Your Mouth," but I also found the person's post laughable because I don't run around in shorts (the last time was when I was in the Army), don't have a pot belly, etc. The post exhibited frustration because I addressed the truth...and will continue to do so. ;-)"
ReplyDeleteGood for you, STR! Also "Watch Your Mouth." Many of us appreciate STR and the truth he exposes on his blog. PCVST truly has gone down the toilet over the last several years. Those of us who call it Home and have done so for many years, are made to feel like pariahs. This is because our rents are considerably lower than the more recent "tenants" who are mostly short stay occupiers of the apartments. It is not our fault that some people are paying through the nose to live in what is now an overpriced dorm/hotel/flophouse set-up.
The grounds used to be beautiful; the rules were those of civility and decency. We were expected to respect our neighbors and our homes. The landlord respected the tenants inasmuch as they kept the place clean and safe and enforced the rules of civility and mutual respect. All that has gone, but we still live here and will continue to do so and will continue to show the respect and civility we have always had, even if it is not reciprocated.
Please keep up the good work, STR. Most of us appreciate you very much.
Oh, by the way, we used to have a functional and honest Tenants Association. Now we have a bunch of political toadies who do nothing to help tenants in any way whatsoever. True, they are executing a lawsuit against the landlord's efforts to overturn the ruling of 2020 that protects our rent stabilization status, but they don't inspire any confidence because they pander to the vile politicians who helped bring this place to the level of misery that we all have to endure. I see the TA as a bunch of opportunists at this point.
"I have never, ever met anyone who is as negative as you.
ReplyDeleteNow that the weather is warmer, I guess we can expect to see you out lurking around with your belly hanging over your shorts and your stained shirt. Snapping pictures with your cell phone. What a miserable life you must have. I though we were lucky enough that you were gone for good, but Noooooo your back."
Don't you love it when haters are too stupid to see that they are the haters? Clearly, this person was writing to themself in the mirror.
It's your blog, so you should post whatever you want.
ReplyDeleteBut this post does read quite a bit like Grouchy Old Man Yelling at Cloud. "Look, things are more expensive than they used to be". "College kids spend too much money". "Kids these days don't work for what they have. I bet they have rich parents". "BAH!".
Like I said, it's your blog, but you seem to have a robust audience here, the unique perspective of a decades-long resident, and a bit of time on your hands. Others may take advantage of that fact to contribute with content or analysis that is of a wider benefit than, for example, is found in this post. There are a lot of issues in this community that the residents could collectively address, but a slight increase in the cost of a service none of us really uses anyway doesn't seem to be one of them.
No one is forcing membership or payments !
Delete>>But this post does read quite a bit like Grouchy Old Man Yelling at Cloud.<<
ReplyDeleteSorry, I like clouds...and nature. Again, you seem to be riled at the post's truths. Either you are a Beam Living worker or the Cafe, or from the TA or one of the two Facebooks on Stuy Town, which are people mostly from the TA. "A seat at the table?" What a joke. Oh, I forgot, thank you for your service....
BTW, your quotes are not accurate.
ReplyDeleteForget the clowns who are running for Mayor.
ReplyDeleteI say VOTE FOR STR! He's the Best Since FDR!
Pretty clever slogan if I say so myself...lol
Seriously, you are the BEST, STR.
You would have my vote any day!
After decades living in PCV , we are leaving this month driven out by a landlord which thinks heat in the winter is a luxury and which rents to anyone whose check doesn’t bounce and by a TA which does nothing about problems like lack of heat or the ridiculous policy of leaving all packages in building lobbies ( which policy was actually instituted by Hayduk due to the demand of the President of the TA ) . It took me and a few others weeks and weeks of calls , emails and photos to Hayduk and others to get Hayduk to reinstate the policy of requiring delivery of packages to apartment doors , which naturally helped out ,in particular, the elderly and disabled residents of STPCV ( I guess the TA President really couldn’t be concerned about such residents ).What a toxic combination- an avaricious landlord and a useless TA
ReplyDelete>>I say VOTE FOR STR<<
ReplyDeleteIf nominated I will run — to another country! Thanks, but my first orders would be getting rid of the BS and the "donations" for "political purposes," but that's another story.
"What a toxic combination- an avaricious landlord and a useless TA" Add corrupt politicians (i.e., Dan Garodnick, Keith Powers, et al) and you get the unholy trinity that is PCVST. A once desired neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteI am appalled that the TA is promoting Quisling Garodnick and pushing him down our throats again.
ReplyDelete@8:47 PM: I am so glad Hayduk has gone. I pity any enterprise that gets involved with him. He gave a whole new dimension to "incompetence and bullshit." Paul Burke was probably too decent for this place. Who knows what the next guy will be like.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is the hostile commentator is one of of Beam’s fine rental agents.
ReplyDelete“Brown water? Here? Where’d you ever hear that?”
Little Garodnick...a two-faced, self-serving POS.
ReplyDeleteI agree 7:24. That is exactly what he is. How dare he portray himself as Stuyvesant Town savior.
DeleteI see complaints on the TA Facebook about packages not being delivered because the sender did not put the apartment number. I'm sure it would be helpful if the Directories were updated on a regular basis. The removal of names from the Directories and doors was one of Hayduk's most destructive brain-farts. I'm so glad he's gone. I wish the new Manager would undo the damage that Hayduk did. What a total asshole that guy was/is. I pity whomever is having to deal with him now, wherever he is.
ReplyDeleteComing soon...
ReplyDeleteStuy High, 24/7 coffee and cannabis shop.
Dog shit in the elevator.
ReplyDeleteGuess Fido couldn't hold it in.
Another “amenity”.
DeleteEarth Day coming up and our new amenity: Butterfly Garden. Should be interesting. Dogs will be off-leash in an area.
ReplyDeleteDog shit all over the place.
ReplyDeletePlease people have a little consideration for your fellow residents.
Inevitable
ReplyDelete1:10 PM, Friday, 4/22/21
A fat, sloppy, middle-aged woman and a giant, black GREAT DANE with cropped ears were strutting around PCV like they owned the place. They stopped near the front entrance to 510 East 23rd Street, whereupon the Great Dane took a long dogpiss on one of the numerous large dogpiss boulders BlackStone conveniently installed throughout PCVST as an amenity to accommodate pissing/shitting dogs, after which they slowly walked away.
Children were crying.
oh since post #1 is obviously a Beam Living employee, I have a constant stream of brown water from my bathtub, which has never been addressed by any maintenance person. haven't been able to use that bathtub in the several years since I moved in. can you do something about that, thnx
ReplyDeleteBlackstone has the big steel balls to celebrate Earth Day while they are building two fossil-fuel burning power stations on the property? What a bunch of slime-ball hypocrites! They'd sell their own mothers and children if they could make a buck. No wonder they don't care about the people who live here and are close to those polluting monstrosities. I truly believe that in order to work (in a senior capacity) for the Schwarzmans and Grays of this world you have to be totally divested of any morals and decency.
ReplyDeleteI think that they are planning an oval movie soon too. Tired of this noisy crap.
DeleteThat little weasel, Danny Boy Garodnick, is hawking his book in Stuy Town.
ReplyDeleteWhat a piece of sh*t.
He sold us down the river and he claims he saved Stuy Town.
Unreal.
A delusional, unscrupulous fool.
Little danny tomorrow at the oval signing copies of his book! Better get there quick before they sell out!
ReplyDeleteGarodnick has a lot of nerve writing and pushing this misleading book.
DeleteApril 22, 2021 at 5:54 PM "Blackstone has the big steel balls to celebrate Earth Day while they are building two fossil-fuel burning power stations on the property?......"
ReplyDeletefunny, that's what I said to my husband when I saw the email (although I used the word "nerve" instead)!
As I arrived home in PCV at around 5 pm, I saw 3 dogs playing off leash on the grassy area/dog toilet in front of my building. Is this a dog run now?
ReplyDeleteAnd why have fences at all in STPCV? I see people and dogs everywhere and anywhere they please.
Dogs are all over the place. Barking, crapping, and blocking the walkways. It is disgusting.
DeleteIt is absolutely outrageous, if not criminal, what they doing on Avenue C. That power plant is right outside apartment windows. People have their light and view obliterated by that poison-spewing monstrosity. They should all be moved to other buildings at Management's expense and apartments close to the plant should be used as store rooms or something like that. This is a total affront to the people who live in those apartments and a criminal assault on their health and safety.
ReplyDeleteHow come we haven't had an outcry from our so-called elected "representatives?" Are they getting paid to look the other way? If Garodnick comes around here touting his book, somebody should grab him by his legs and make a wish.
Somebody in City Hall is being paid bigly for allowing this assault on our health and dignity. I have torn up my voting material. I'll vote for Satan before any of these sniveling vermin.
>>This is a total affront to the people who live in those apartments and a criminal assault on their health and safety.<<
ReplyDeleteAre the power plants a done deal?
>>I think that they are planning an oval movie soon too.<<
ReplyDeleteThe "screen" has been there for a least a week. It is ugly just sanding there. I guess the new manager is the same or worse as the last and the one before.
Burke is the WORST from stories I’ve been told . He accuses tenants of violations they never did. He is worse than Gregory Claude the criminal working in the legal who illegally evicted rent stabilized tenants to bring the rent up to market value. He lied under oath and was in contempt of court multiple times. Google Gregory Claude and see for yourself . A warning you will be shocked ....
DeleteI think the power plants are a done deal. Somebody has pocketed a lot of money from that deal. Haven't heard much from Keith whatsisname (the councilman) lately. Maybe he's home counting his money.
ReplyDeleteHe is busy promoting himself on social media for earth day and lauding himself for Covid test availability. No help to the community.
DeleteI went through the documents at the Tenants site. It seems that people in positions of power are dragging their feet, with the understanding that it can take time to get anything done around here. The power plants are awful and harmful to residents. Not even an issue. Beam Living and Stuy Town management are for these power plants. I don't why residents are still thankful for this and that, as if Beam Living is their god, when it is not.
ReplyDeleteI live on 14th Street, though facing the back, and I can hear some horrible bellowing noise which I think is coming from the Oval. Is there a heavy metal concert or are they torturing some poor animal to death? The sound is so ugly and disturbing that I have had to close my windows.
ReplyDelete"The power plants are awful and harmful to residents. Not even an issue. Beam Living and Stuy Town management are for these power plants."
ReplyDeleteThese power plants are a total assault on the residents of Stytown and probably are a contravention of many laws. Unfortunately, Beam Dying and the TA don't give a rat's ass about the harm they are doing. They offer $1k to anybody who will bring in a new victim. Nobody with even the slightest level of morals and decency would recommend living here, let alone get rewarded for such vile action. How come the press hasn't got word of this atrocity? Is the NYT on Blackstone's payroll too? We know that our politicians most certainly are!
Another question: Is one of the power plants near the new, not yet done, "Butterfly Garden"? I was at the garden hoping to get a look, but the garden and more will be finished in June, so there is nothing there now. But beyond I saw the top of power plant???
ReplyDeleteI'm a registered democrat, but I am not voting for ANYBODY who is not going to do something about the disgusting and murderous power plants that Beam is putting up on the property - particularly the one on Avenue C. This is something that Putin might do to his people. We should not have to deal with this kind of attack on our health and well-being in the United States, especially in densely-populated New York City and where there is already a filthy fucking power plant spewing pollution.
ReplyDeleteI want to see this get on 60 Minutes and am working in that direction.
As for the Tenants Association, why don't they just disband and go away if they are not prepared to fight for us in this situation. Will NOT be renewing my dues (after god-knows how many years of paying them) unless they take a firm stand on this.
I can’t believe that you have been paying dues to the TA until now. They are an arm of management. I realized that years ago after they sold us out to Beam Blackstone.
DeleteThe Tenants Association is a joke.
ReplyDeleteIn bed with Management and the local pols.
TA President Shameless Susan Steinberg.
Time to retire and move to Florida.
You've been around way too long.
The Tenants Association is a dishonest shame which should be investigated by the Manhattan DA's Office.
ReplyDeleteCouncilman Keith Powers kicks back city funds ( $30,000 ) to the TA.
Guess who sat on the TA board?
That's right.
Keith Powers.
Do I hear conflict of interest?
I challenge Keith Powers to respond to this allegation.
Don't hold your breathe.
Thieves!
Crooks!
If this were present-day Germany, a big faker like Danny Boy would be greeted in the Oval by protestors in what's there termed a "Bucket Action." Guess what's in the bucket? Lots of it around everywhere in STPCV these days....
ReplyDeleteMaybe Danny Boy can get the power plants shut down, seeing as he’s Our Savior!
ReplyDeleteHow the vile despicable Garodnick has the fucking nerve to show his face around here is beyond me. Touting his book about "saving" Stytown shows what absolute gall he has. He and the phony "Tenants Association" should slink away and never come back. Garodnick was on NY1 with Errol Lewis a few nights ago and was boasting about his so-called saving of the Sty. I'm surprised at Lewis for having him on his show because I've always thought he was one of the very few decent reporters on that terrible so-called "News" station.
ReplyDeleteI recently was visited by some neighbors who are considering starting a Building Association. Like a tenants association but only for our building. I said I would join. Let's see what if anything comes of it.
ReplyDeleteIt’s a nice idea, and I wish the group luck, but it’s a difficult endeavor based solely on the fact that each building is not a standalone entity. If they are going to bat for change, it would need to be for the entire property and not a single building.
DeleteFor example - your building really wants a doorman or rooftop access. This is not something they will even consider on a building by building basis.
However, it could work for some smaller scale issues the building could be facing. For example - the building is dirty and the building would like to have a porter change. Or there are ongoing elevator issues your building is dealing with.
Puff piece on Rosemary’s in the RE section of the Post today.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the author it’s the first restaurant ever in PCVST!!!
Oh those wonderful Beam folks, always spreading joy and happiness!
No mention of the fume spewing power plant under construction right across the street, for some odd reason...
10:24, I saw that interview as well. What a whitewash...
ReplyDeleteLouis obviously knows little about this place, he said in the interview that he’d only learned that day that PCVST was built by Met as a public/private partnership.
And Smarmy Dan didn’t even bother to correct him when Erroll said Garodnick still lives here. He’s been gone since his third term was out!
"I recently was visited by some neighbors who are considering starting a Building Association. Like a tenants association but only for our building. I said I would join. Let's see what if anything comes of it."
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good idea.
I think it is totally unconscionable that Management is building two fossil burning power plants on the property. I wonder if the rental agents mention this to prospective tenants? They are always touting this property and offering rewards for bringing in new tenants, but I don't know anybody who would want to move to a property where two filthy power plants are being built - and not for the benefit of the tenants, but just to make money from selling the electric back to ConEd. Living so close to ConEd is bad enough, but back in the days when the property was truly "an oasis in the City" the abundance of oxygen-producing beautiful shade trees was a big inducement to move here. Some say it was the low rents, but rents were much lower all over the City, thanks to so much of the property being rent-stabilized. Besides which, the grounds were a bigger inducement here than the apartments. The apartments were very 1940s and there was no air conditioning.
ReplyDeleteNow that most of the trees have been destroyed and the apartments are outrageously expensive, notwithstanding low-end appliances, etc., why would anybody in their right mind want to move here? Only students and transients can put up with this place now. Nobody wants to make it their home, especially those who care about their health and the health of their children.
They are starting those cheesy, disgusting movie nights already this week.,I pray for rain. The noise pollution in my oval apartment is terrible. Most that come are outsiders.
ReplyDeleteRats scurrying about on the patio of the Stuy Town Cafe.
ReplyDeleteVery nice!
Bon appetit, suckers!
$17 for a BLT sandwich...what a deal...hahahaha
So cold today because of the wind. I wish they'd send up a little heat, but we know they won't do that! Thankfully, we'll be gone before the cold months because we are not renewing our lease this time. I'm expecting and I certainly don't want to live on a property that has built power plants that will be spewing shit into the air. As well as the pollution, there is bound to be a horrible accident, given how cheap and money-grubbing these bastards are. It's bad enough they're building these atrocities on the property, but the fact that they are doing it to make money by selling electricity to Con Ed just shows how they are so morally bankrupt and devoid of any decency whatsoever. After ten years here, we can't wait to put this place out of our lives and minds. Don't know how come we stayed so long. Certainly not for the "amenities" or the quality of life! It was always convenient for work and that's about it. It has become more and more of a student dorm than a nice apartment complex. We will miss the trees and grass and one or two nice neighbors, but not the chilly apartment, noisy riff-raff and constant turn-over of neighbors.
ReplyDelete