Yeah, expect it to become "official" with an announcement from my friend and yours, Rick. We do have a virtual doorman. It is official from Abigail Michaels, our concierge, and it is also official from StreetEasy, a site that Stuy Town uses to sell apartments. So, since selling is what is most important, even with a little bs thrown in, we have what we previously never had--that we knew. What is that you, say? You have no virtual doorman? Well, just speak to one. You will get the answer.
365 comments:
1 – 200 of 365 Newer› Newest»Gimme a motherfuckingf break! Rick, go back to Boca and the "resort" you used to run there. You have no place in New York City and we New Yorkers are not as stupid as you obviously think we are!
Are you aware that the truth about this place has traveled far and wide? NOBODY in their right mind sees the place the way you want them to. Even in London they are laughing at this dump!
What a sick fucking joke.
If it weren't so pathetic it would be funny.
Are they serious about this shit? Unbelievable! They will go to any lengths and means that stretch the limits of credulity to sell this dump! They are really desperate.
12:06, Rick is perfect to run this place. His Florida resort experience fits perfectly for running a student resort, which is what this place has become. The college kids love this crap, and that’s all they cater to now. Do not ever expect things to go back to any sense or normalcy in this dump.
Despicable lying public relations
there is a woman who is a resident and rides her bike daily on the sidewalk. She is an older woman, wears a crossover bag. She will knock you over, hit you with her bike, won't speak an apology or a word. If i see her riding her bike on the sidewalk ;;;; always west on 20th street near Pcv and ST ;;;; and she hits another person i will personally citizen arrest her, photo it and post it all over sm. Beware lady.
There's nothing new here, STR. This is the oval concierge. Been around a long time. Just calling it virtual doorman doesn't mean it's new.
>>There's nothing new here, STR. This is the oval concierge. Been around a long time. Just calling it virtual doorman doesn't mean it's new.<<
The concierge has not been around a long time. Have you? LOL.
I'm just a messenger here. The "virtual doorman" is now advertised on the Abigail Michaels website AND on StreetEasy. Perhaps on other sites that Stuy Town uses, also. I don't remember seeing a "virtual doorman" spoken about "a long time" ago.
6:58 p.m.:
Good for you. I once actually pulled a young kid (in his 20's, I'd guess) off a bike.
There are many, many rotten, sick people here on skateboards and scooters as well as bikes.
I am not referring to delivery people or children. I am referring to deranged dangerous "adults" in their 30's, 40's, 50's. In suits, carrying packages, putting on performances with flourishes (desperately soliciting attention), parents thinking they're adorable with their little child beside them on a twin scooter, utter moronic "mothers" and a few "fathers" with tots strapped to the back of the bikes they barreling into traffic with on a daily basis.
The degree of stress (which slowly and painfully kills us) which is increasing and worsening is horrific. When are we going to finally join forces, stand up (literally and figuratively) and JUST SAY NO AND STOP IT???
6:58 p.m.:
Last Thursday late afternoon, as the snow storm wound down, I went out shopping.
Twice I came close to being killed by the cowboys driving the plows.
In decades living here, I've never been mowed down and murdered by a snowplow (obviously!).
This was a first: walking out through the Oval, two plows followed each other behind me. I stepped aside for the first one while the second one stayed far behind. I then continued on my way, hearing nothing and fearing nothing until I turned around to see behind me the second plow gaining on me and picking up speed.
Coming back through the Oval, in the dark, a plow was speeding toward me. There was nowhere for me to dodge him. He saw me, stared at me and accelerated. I quickly backtracked and just barely got to the entranceway of a building close to First Avenue. He continued to accelerate.
The next day, one of the dear and badly abused, overworked, underpaid young women who work at the Concierge commented that the previous evening the Oval was "really dangerous" and scary because of the men operating the plows as if they'd run us over.
I do not know or understand what the hell is going on here.
6:58 Pm, please post a photograph of that woman. Thanks. She sounds like a piece of work and I think I've seen her.
>> The concierge has not been around a long time. Have you? LOL. <<
Yes I have been here almost 3 decades, going to Concierge since a fella named Bill first opened it, near old Radio Shack. He sold the business to one of the overlords. It's not new but the name Virtual Doorman might be. The package service has been there from the start. Happy new year, STR.
So there is a woman on the TA Facebook page that was once a cheerleader, then became a realist, and it appears she has gone back to cheerleader. Normally this wouldn’t really matter, but something she said a few days/weeks ago is concerning. She stated that management said something to her about her non-praising Facebook comments when she called about a problem in her apartment. Now she is praising management??
This is intimidation, and it’s disgusting. Intimidation was started with Tishman, continued with CWC/Compass, and still goes strong with Blackstone. It’s no wonder that people are not speaking up, they fear retribution for comments they make on social media.
The TA is condoning this by having an open Facebook page that management can read, instead of a private forum for tenants to voice their frustrations. The page should be private, and anyone with ties to management removed. Otherwise the TA is partaking in this tenant intimidation, and could open themselves up to legal action. I know that if I hear from management about Facebook posts when I call to make a maintenance request, the TA will be hearing from my attorney.
>>Yes I have been here almost 3 decades, going to Concierge since a fella named Bill first opened it, near old Radio Shack. He sold the business to one of the overlords. It's not new but the name Virtual Doorman might be. The package service has been there from the start. Happy new year, STR.<<
Ah, that concierge! I've also been here almost three decades. I remember what used to be at Oval Study. I believe a PS spot used to be there, temporarily. Then that "box" close by, and now a bigger box but better equipped and closer to the Oval. Sorry, if I seemed a bit brisk in my response. And a happy new year, too!
Management does read the TA fb page. I don't give a fuck. Even in the age of a fascist with an orange bad hair piece, I refuse to be intimidated. Fuck 'em all!
It would be interesting to know the position the union takes on this practice. Have we heard from 32BJ SEIU on this property equating virtual doorman with the real life experience of residents having hard working, polite, courteous real doorman service?
This property has about 80 buildings. A real life doorman experience would provide for at least two or three rotating daytime doormen and the same for night time doormen.
That equates to 480 jobs. That is nearly 500 jobs for the working class and for residents to get the full experience of real doorman service and not the do-it-yourself virtual experience which is far inferior.
What is the city's position or the state's position on advertising that equates the virtual experience with the real experience in advertising in what is at best an exaggerated claim but more likely false advertising especially when a property is using it to persuade parents of underage residents living on their own without adult supervision and protection to lease here?
The practice of equating a virtual doorman with a real life doorman is deceptive. It should not be allowed in advertising. A real life doorman implies a real life safety element which is nonexistent on this property. The term "doorman" should be used only when a real life doorman with all its meaning and definition is applied, from safety to services.
Same argument the Milk industry used on Soymilk not being able to in isolation, use the word "milk" the real estate industry is misleading when they use the word "doorman", even when it is has an unattached qualifier.
11:58am
I give you a lot of credit! Unfortunately many here do not have the courage to stand up and fight management because of these intimidation tactics. These people are not the problem, it is management as well as our complicit TA, who provides this platform to the tenants, but does not protect the tenants from harassment and intimidation for things posted on their page. The TA is as guilty as management is until they make their page private and remove all management members from the page.
This is a very easy fix, and if they do not do it, it just furthers everyone’s belief that they are on management’s side and not the tenants.
Tenants who have a rent that is "preferential" have to be careful. Their rent, come renewal time, can be raised. The rest of us (what I call "old-timers" and not under the Roberts decision) can breath freely. For now.
BTW, those "old-timers".... Management would be happy to see us go.
@4:00 PM: 11:58 AM here. I agree with what you say about the TA being complicit with Management's intimidation and general lousy way of treating tenants. I don't pretend to like either group. No reason why I should feel intimidated by them. I PAY to live here and so long as they are taking my money, I expect service. Good service, minus bullshit! The TA wants $50 per year for doing fuck-all for us. When Management lets me live in my apartment free of charge, they can start telling me they don't like my attitude. That's not going to happen. I pay my rent and obey the rules. I don't have to pretend to be grateful for the honor of living in this place (I actually like my apartment, just hate the way the property has gone to hell) and they have nothing to that they can intimidate me about. I can also afford a lawyer should they ever start any shit.
Ultimately, Management would like to see all rents as "preferential."
The biggest liar, hypocrite in history
https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2018/01/10/city-hall-cant-disclose-sexual-harassment-claims-after-mayor-suggests-it-for-private-sector-182582
Do as he says, not as he does.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said last week he thinks it’s a “great idea” to have the government force private companies that do business with the city to disclose the number of claims of sexual harassment against their employees.
“There needs to be an atmosphere of consequence, so I think holding private companies responsible makes a lot of sense,” the mayor told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer, following remarks from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who first floated the idea during his State of the State address last week.
But so far, de Blasio is unable to heed his own rule when it comes to city employees.
POLITICO asked Monday for the number of sexual harassment complaints made against NYC Health + Hospitals during the past 12 months. Health + Hospitals is a public benefit corporation that relies on more than $1 billion of city subsidies.
By Wednesday evening, no number was forthcoming.
POLITICO also requested a list of sexual harassment claims made by City Hall employees in the last year, but no information was provided.
STR, of course they wants all rents as preferential! The population of NYU continues to boom, which means they would probably have no problem filling all 11,000+ apartments with students if they had the opportunity. If they could get rid off all the true rent stabilized tenants, they would still make a killing with this $3000 “affordable housing” scam, which was pushed by Dan Garodnick and our “TA.”
They will not be happy until all of their affordable housing units are above the $3000 threshold, and we have Dan “Fighter of Tenants” Garodnick and our Management Association to thank.
I can only laugh at Peter Stuyvesant’s response on the carpeting Facebook thread, “Technically, it’s a requirement because it’s a term of the lease, a mutually agreed to legal document.”
No, Peter/Susan/whoever you are, there is no technically here. It is absolutely a part of every lease, and if we had a true TA, they would be fighting this day in and day out. Instead we get messages like this, which shows absolutely no fight. With no fight from you morons, Blackstone will continue to let this slide and people’s lives will continue to be disturbed on a daily basis.
This is occurring on your watch Susan, and I think many of us can agree that karma will come back and haunt you at some point for the things you continue to allow management to do to us.
January 10, 2018 at 8:15 PM or anyone, where does one file a sexual harassment complaint against NYC Health + Hospitals?
The Tenants Association Board is made up of a bunch of lying, conniving, useless jerks. The nothing to help tenants with the crap we have to put up with. All the TA cares about is getting money out of tenants and crawling up the assholes of management and the despicable politicians we have to put up with.
I agree with 9:36 am. No fight in the current regime. Only taste is for marching to Albany and Cooper Union. How does the board set its priorities? Do they ever revisit their mission and update it to reflect current residents concerns which are raised on their very own social media page? They have been riding buses to Albany for 30 years! Take on something new! Recruit some new blood. Plan for the future succession of the organization.
Peter Stuyvesant is back at it, plugging their membership. All I can say is $50 for what???
I think their post about not allowing non-residents to use the page comes from a post on here yesterday or the day before. What they don’t realize is that we are not stupid. Just because they do not allow people to join the page does not mean that people (MANAGEMENT) can’t still view the page as a non-member if the group, because they can. The page needs to be made private!!!
Also, I have a neighbor who was also quoted for their TA Facebook post when calling management. This person is getting an attorney involved for the intimidation, and I believe they are considering action against the TA as well as management. One day the TA will learn, and that day will come with a massive lawsuit against them, and we all know they have hidden coffers of money from the politicians/Roberts settlement.
The TA will be a very easy target for a lawsuit if they continue down this path of recklessness and abandonment of their duties to the tenants.
I can always see the TA page and I don't have to be a member.
BTW, I know it is a broken record, but I still always see outsiders walking their dogs casually in Stuy Town and PCV. Never once have I seen these folks escorted out.
If I am not mistaken, that woman lives in oval#21. She almost hit me the other day.
Phew. Next time I call PS.
PCV is literally and figuratively a shithole today. As a dog owner I am absolutely disgusted at the amount of untouched dog poop that is flooding the floors of PCV on this rainy day. And I am not talking about the smeared poop, which is at least a sign of someone trying to pick the poop up, but still disgusting. I am talking about the 30+ piles of untouched shit. PS needs to review the tapes and find these disgusting creatures, and I’m not talking about the dogs, and write everyone tickets who leaves piles of crap lying around.
If you are too lazy to pick up after your dog, than you shouldn’t have a damn dog. It’s that easy.
STR, none of the rules is enforced except the one that you pay the rent.
Does Rick realize what a joke he is amongst tenants? The old ladies may love him, but to most of us he is a joke!
It makes no sense that a TA Board member is a senior person at the legal aid society and stuytown tenants and the tenant association board never win any mci fights unless they are deliberately losing which it looks like is the case. All the legal aid society lawyers are corporate lawyers. The homeless problem is growing. The corporations are pushing out the small businesses and buying up all the housing. The legal aid society is failing. The tenant association is failing. Unless their real goal is to grow corporate profits then you could say they are succeeding. The tenant association board resumes makes it look suspiciously like they are deliberately failing tenants and the legal aid society resumes look like they are deliberately failing the poor. There is a lot of money and handouts from the city to the corporations who are flourishing. This is messed up and corrupt.
I am getting messages that I have to bounce as part of them uses inflammatory language. That said, I am investigating certain people (and, yes, I am on Linked), so the information is noted by me....
"I am getting messages that I have to bounce as part of them uses inflammatory language. That said, I am investigating certain people (and, yes, I am on Linked), so the information is noted by me...."
Ooooh! Sounds juicy!
A major part of Blackstone here is to sell (and expand) the apartments. So don't expect the "truth."
For instance, the outdoor gym. Now who is using it once the weather has turned cold or lousy. No one. This was predicted. But it is used as a selling point, an amenity. A photo, with included Rick, was used to sell that new gym with a "run." I'd like to see any of the Blackstone reps or their cheerleaders use that gym now.
This is part of the BS that is used to sell the apartments to outsiders and to keep the cheerleaders satisfied. But it is NOT a realistic selling point.
Take also that ice rink. Major selling point. But have you heard the noise made by the hockey players in the morning? I have when I go by. Luckily, I don't live nearby, but if I did no amount of bitching and complaining would do anything to make that sharp and loud noise go away.
Let's face it, Management is a bunch of assholes and the TA is cut from the same cloth. If this was a NYCHA property it couldn't be any more mis-managed, but it would probably have a very vocal and effectual tenants association. I don't know what NYCHA tenants pay for tenants association dues (or if they have to pay any), but I do know that the leaders of those TAs are tenants themselves, usually not politically-connected and they have mouths that they are not afraid to open. And, best of all, they get things done! It may take time and effort and they don't get results overnight, but that puts them light years ahead of our so-called TA which does absolutely nothing beyond saying "Email Rick."
The Tenants Association here should just admit it's a non-entity as far as an advocate for tenants is concerned and just go away. We don't need them because they do nothing. Most of them are pathetic coattail-riders and social climbers (if you consider politicians the type of persons one would want to socialize with!) and they just simply do nothing. They haven't won an MCI battle in eons; they haven't helped any tenants resolve issues with Management and they totally ignore the quality of life degradation that is ongoing and worsening.
It really is time that a watchdog was appointed to look into their finances, but that is unlikely because they are so far up the politicians' (who they love to pander to) assholes that said politicians are complicit in the TA's malfeasance, if there is any. And many of us suspect there is plenty of malfeasance! Maybe they are just useless and not corrupt, but how would we know considering that they never open their books. I don't know if the Freedom of Information Act would apply to the TA. It applies to other legitimate non-profits, but somehow I think they get away with avoiding such scrutiny, and that is a sure sign they have something to hide.
As a tenant that indeed lives 'nearby' the rink it should be known to all that the offensive noise is only compounded by the obnoxious rink employees that never close timely and stay open way past rink hours and even as I type this are playing hockey 5 min past close...two adults that have no regard that many people suffer for their silly hobby.
I think we need to find a tenants rep attorney that can let us know our rights in terms of getting the TA to open it’s books. It absolutely can be done, but I agree with 4:22, they probably have political backing to block it. If they were to block a request to open their books, it would absolutely show that they are hiding things. Probably a lot of things.
So, do we have any attorneys who know what we can do?
http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/incorporation-and-legal-structures/nonprofit-financial-statements.html
Yes, nonprofits need to open their financial statements to the public.
Now the question is whether the TA is a nonprofit?? I did a quick scan of the website and did not see it listed as a nonprofit anywhere. My guess is that they were, but switched designations when they started doing things they wouldn’t want the tenants to find out about.
As the co-owner of a nonprofit, my organization disclosed all financials and meeting minutes at the end of every year to our members. The fact that the TA does not disclose this information is telling of their intentions to keep things hidden.
Folks here ascribe way more power to the TA that it actually has or ever had. They were NOT in on the deal to sell this place to Blackstone and its partner. In fact, it was a done deal prior to the TA being infomed that the place had been sold. Ditto with Garodnick. Di Blasio is the one who made this happen and it was going to happen whether the TA or Garodnick liked the deal or not. Also, without a willing partner, the TA has limited power in what it can get the owner to do. So, if the owner doesn't want to do something that the TA thinks it should do, it's unlikely to happen. The TA doesn't have the means or even the law on its side to take the owner to court over every little thing that happens here that shouldn't be happening. The TA does the best it can, but its power is limited. That being said, I still want there to be a TA to oversee what goes on here and to meet with Management to try to make things better. One needs to be more realistic about this organization than some folks are on this page.
the new dorm room next to ours has new tenants. they claim they will borrow from the other dorm room in the building they have friends on all floors now carpets for their inspection.
When the Tenant association is investigated it will be telling to see how many of them have other homes. One of them actually lives on Long Island and is out there all the time.
PS needs to do something about kids hanging in hallway and playing and whatnot. Small kids big kids what the F.
I look at the TA Facebook page, and I wonder how nobody has yet to call out Peter Stuyvesant for the ridiculous alias they hide behind. They are elected to serve us, the tenants, just as politicians are elected to serve us, the constituents. I hate most politicians, but you don't see them hiding behind fake social media accounts when addressing us. The TA is led by a bunch of weak leaders who are too afraid to address the concerns of the tenants head-on, so they use Peter Stuyvesant instead.
I think the tenants need legal representation against the TA. Enough is enough.
Oh, heck. I wish the sirens on 1st Ave had a schedule. They don't. Can't someone create an app for that?
8:18
Then Susan needs to stop showing up for every management photo-op that comes about. Susan was right next to DeBlasio and Garodnick when the sale press conference happened. She was hand-in-hand with management for the solar panel introduction photo-op.
You are obviously a TA member, possibly even a board member. A TA that cared would’ve doing something to help us. They are virtually nonexistent. If they were at least trying to take on management on some things, like noise, heat, dormification, Airbnb, then I would give them some credit. They don’t speak up on a damn thing, so the limited power you talk about is a farce.
The TA does not have limited power. They just don’t want to cause problems with their political friends, who are in the pockets of REBNY. Look at the lady who won the case against a former owner for the building of the bunker. This was one person alone who won a case against a huge equity firm. Why can one person win something, but our TA has limited power.
8:18 When the TA opens up its books to show the tenants their financials and meeting minutes, then I will believe they have limited power if that’s what the books show, until then they will just continue to be seen as an organization that cares more about their relationships with politicians and management than they do the tenants. This includes Susan (without politicians) holding press conferences on First Avenue to call out management for the NYCHA like conditions that many are facing this winter.
Are you kidding me 8:18??? I was a member of the TA for 20 years, until 2015, when I just couldn’t take it anymore. I should have left the organization in 2006, which was when they became irrelevant.
All of the things you mention that the TA can’t do because of some BS limited power argument, the TA used to do. They CHOOSE to play a limited role, which is very different than what you speak of. I am friends with former TA presidents and board members, and they are embarrassed by the current group of “leaders” that have done nothing over the past decade.
If the TA was legitimate, they wouldn’t have limited power. They tie themselves in with politicians, lobbyists, PR firms, mayoral aides, etc. that all have strong relationships with big Real Estate, which is the real reason they are limited - because they are told to be. Your arguments are crap, and you sound like you are probably Susan writing that post.
"They were NOT in on the deal to sell this place to Blackstone and its partner."
Not according to Blackstone. They specifically said that they had the blessing of the TA and disappearing Dan. The TA certainly could have taken a stand against it, but they overtly supported it. I understand and agree that they are ineffectual, but that's kind of irrelevant. The bottom line is that they betrayed the tenants living in this project.
Yes to us getting an attorney/ yes to demanding BS carpet all units before renting/ yes to investigation of fake overcharges + phony MCI.
When I go deeper into the TA Facebook, I saw three people listed as Adims and Moderators: "Peter Stuyvesant," John Marsh and someone I never heard of until now: Sandro Sherrod.
We have a weak and ineffectual TA, for sure.
The TA used to be a force for good, but now it is just part of management and the cronies of politicians. We are suffering from a freezing cold winter with indoor temperatures at record low levels. We are, indeed, facing the same conditions that NYCHA tenants are unfortunate enough to have to deal with all the time. The TA does nothing. Management is withholding heat during the deadliest cold winter in a long time. Tenants are having to use space heaters 24/7 for their apartments to be bearable. The very elderly and sickly in this dump are the most affected. Makes me wonder if this is part of Blackstone's evil plan to grab real RS apartments?????
The TA has a Facebook page where it allows people to speak, so long as they don't get too critical of management or the TA itself. As for actions, it does NOTHING! It is only a nominal organization at this point and shouldn't be taken seriously by tenants. Certainly nobody should fork over any money to this non-entity!
Someplace else, I also see Steven Newmark as an Admin.
BTW, why is it that the Classified Facebook presence for Stuy Town has loads of photos showing bare floors???
@8:18 the TA has been on the wrong side of history too often, the Roberts outcome was clearly the result of a corrupted court system - TA response was “c’est la vie”; the Blackstone sale was a loss for all but Blackstone executives, both travesties should have elicited some level of dissent or protest against such a transparently corrupted mayor/court system enabling such a pro/RE - anti tenant deals, but, TA response was to urge collaboration. Good grief.
Loads of photos of bare floor as management:Mismanage dint care In fact we go so far as to say they want and desire annoyed tenants hoping and hoping beyond all hopes that you and we will move out.
"Sandro Sherrod."
Current TA Board member.
"Former CB6 chair enters Assembly race:
https://town-village.com/2018/01/12/former-cb6-chair-enters-assembly-race/
http://www.stpcvta.org/leadership
"BTW, why is it that the Classified Facebook presence for Stuy Town has loads of photos showing bare floors???"
Because there really is not a policy or a rule that requires carpeting. That little clause in the lease is a nod and wink clause.
January 15, 2018 at 10:45 AM Beware, he works for deBlasio. Pushes deBlasio agenda on this community and on tenants. Carries out deBlasio orders. Not a tenant advocate at all. Strictly a deBlasio soldier. If he is Admin on Facebook that means deBlasio City Hall are blocking us from comments so the Facebook fits with the deBlasio agenda. The tenants are wiser and so is the press and they are onto the truths and lies.
January 15, 2018 at 9:40 AM Everything indicates that you are 100% correct.
January 15, 2018 at 8:46 AM Everything indicates that you are 100% correct.
January 15, 2018 at 7:23 AM Everything indicates that you are 100% correct.
What is wrong with this? Family living in a one bedroom 2 kids and 1 parent. Jumping mostly all day why dont they go out & enjoy our property - running around the apartment screaming like they are on a soccer football field and when we call stuytown Public Safety we get now where. They have not put rugs down. Why are there multiple people like this living in one bedrooms shaking the walls and those living below are tortured day and nights. Why is it when we call peter cooper-stuy they insist they have rugs? We asked the nanny who changes weekly to help she spoke no english and probably cannot. Why why why why why why why why. Our rent is externally high and stuy accepts the breaking of the lease. And i am not paying their fucking penalty.
You hit the nail on the head 9:40! The TA and Dan gave this deal their blessings, and have been nonexistent since. Granted, they were nonexistent before this sale, but now they are more so than ever before.
How can the tenants possibly expect to get a fair fight from the TA when it’s board and biggest influences are a politician/lobbyist with ties to REBNY, an aide to our mayor who has ties to REBNY, a former councilman with ties to REBNY, attorneys with ties to REBNY...
This group chooses not to fight, because it’s overseers tell them not to.
It’s time for the tenants to take back it’s Tenant Association, and rid the group of politicians and corruption. It’s the only way to fight this management group.
STR, I think you should start a thread where the people in this group can have a discussion about starting an actual TA. I think the people that follow your blog could get things going through here, and then eventually lead to something formidable.
So the list of political persons involved in the TA continues to grow, as Sandro Sherrod is vying for Kavanaugh’s vacated seat. Seriously, when will this end with the TA and politicians???
"When the Tenant association is investigated it will be telling to see how many of them have other homes. One of them actually lives on Long Island and is out there all the time"
Yeah and? What the frig is your point? Rumor has it they actually own automobiles and take yearly vacations to Miami Beach as well.
""When the Tenant association is investigated it will be telling to see how many of them have other homes. One of them actually lives on Long Island and is out there all the time"
Guess you are a fan of Golub notices, SPS Troll?
I could care less about where the TA board members live. If Blackstone is ok with losing money, which I doubt they are, than that’s on them. What I’m concerned about is the complete lack of drive to do a damn thing to help the tenants.
And for that I have a question for the TA members/sympathizers that read this blog:
Name 1 thing the TA has done in the past 5 years to justify their existence. All I’m looking for is 1 thing.
The soda snack machines on the property in the laundry room and oval bathroom are broken and haven't been repaired or filled for months. bit gross very gross honestly real tenement style LMAO
Nobody goes to Miami Beach. They go to Vegas!
I think that most of the Board of the TA are politically-connected and big fans of DeBlasio. There is no impartiality or independence involved with that group of people. They take their orders from the politicians. It's pure crap to say that they represent tenants in any way, shape or form. They did at one time, but not for a very long time. After the end of the MetLife era they became co-opted by the politicians and have remained that way. It's a shame, but that's the way it is.
8:18 here.
I'm not going to convince any of you who think otherwise, but the TA was informed AFTER the fact that Blackstone had bought the place. So, whatever "blessing" may have been given to the deal by the TA was not a meaningful blessing in any real sense of the word. What would have been the point of objecting after the fact, especially when you don't know how good or bad a new owner is going to be? If I were Susan Steinberg, I would have show up at the press conference announcing the deal, too. Better to try to get in good with a new owner than not. FYI, the tenants never had a realistic shot at buying this place after it was sold to Tishman, fell into CWCapitol's hand and the real estate market improved. I'm not a big fan of Blackstone's, but the truth is that we could have done a lot worse than them. If you think your life is miserable now, most probably it would have been many times worse with one of the many real estate predators who were circling the property. If anyone here thinks they can do better than the current TA board, you have until January 21, 2018 to submit an application for election to the board. It's easy to come on here and complain, but change takes action and dedication, among other things. Now's your chance to make the board over in an image you approve of, so I hope you take it.
TO ALL OF YOU LIVING WITH UNBEARABLE CONDITIONS:
Whether you are suffering from lack of heat, "kids" using hallways as their private space, neighbors making noise, or so many other noxious conditions:
Please, please, please: fight back. I've posted this several times now.
I deal too much of the time with noise, lack of hot water, mold, occasional lack of heat, neighbors creating fire and other hazards, jackasses on bikes/scooters/skateboards, employees in vehicles on sidewalks, etc.
Sometimes I take matters literally into my own hands. It has become clear to me that even Blackstone employees, such as some of the Security people, are put under steadily increasing pressure to do damage to the residents. Period.
"Stand down," "be their friends," and that brand of crap has been dinned into the heads of Security. "Management" has come up with idiocy such as "Today is better than yesterday and we are all good neighbors."
I have read that I am not alone in recently receiving lies, sneers, sarcasm and sometimes outright nastiness from too many Security people. Until about a month ago, that seldom happened to me. I believe that it is systemic and symptomatic of accelerated deterioration of conditions here - DELIBERATELY CREATED AND PUSHED BY BLACKSTONE AND THEIR MINIONS.
I don't know that anyone has any true idea of the scope of the harm, destruction and extreme misery which is being DELIBERATELY enacted, along with just plain expanding stupidity, incompetency, and inability to reason.
Take your pick: "Management," the clinically sick psychopaths who own Blackstone and issue orders, too many of the employees here, much too many of the "residents," our neighbors (including illegal students - they are all here illegally), "families" with their heads up their behinds, "young professionals" with no clue how to behave, the elderly who have decided to join the party and forget their values to turn into the same selfish, obnoxious bastards that the young ones are . . .
It is a hellhole, often literally, as so many of you write: a shithole. Hell, not only don't the dogs belong here, but most owners are clueless and don't give a good goddamn for their dog/ornaments.
CALL MANAGEMENT. CALL THE LEGAL DEPARTMENT (they hide and try to block access to them 100% of the time). SHOW UP IN PERSON AT RESIDENT SERVICES. E-MAIL EVERY ADDRESS YOU CAN FIND RELATING TO THIS "HOME." CALL SECURITY. DOZENS OF TIMES.
DIRECTLY DEAL WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS WHO ARE DESTROYING YOUR SLEEP, HEALTH.
Life generally everywhere and anywhere is worsening daily. But we've the ability here to say NO very loudly and continuously.
"If anyone here thinks they can do better than the current TA board, you have until January 21, 2018 to submit an application for election to the board. It's easy to come on here and complain, but change takes action and dedication, among other things. Now's your chance to make the board over in an image you approve of, so I hope you take it."
Last I checked, I don't qualify. Yes, the TA learned about the "deal" later. That does not mean that the TA does nothing or very little. As I said before, the TA is kinda dead to me, except for the "complainers" on that site. I believe that right now some members on that page are looking for a good hairstylist. Amazing, but true.
I don't see anything wrong with people looking for a good hairstylist on the TA's FB page. I've found that page to be a great source of information about lots of different things over the years. It's not as if that page is full of nothing but trivial posts and comments and this is just another one. On the contrary, there are lots of astute tenants on that page who call out things that need to be called out.
What I would like to know from you, STR, is what you can think the TA can do in situations where Blackstone isn't a willing partner. If Blackstone isn't willing to deal with the lack of rugs in apartments problem, what exactly do you propose that the TA do about it?
I was on line at Associated early today when it was quite crowded. Some ladies ahead of me in the line were talking about how cold their apartments are. One of them commented that she and her husband had called several times and someone from Management had come over and said there was nothing wrong with their stone cold pipes and given them a thermometer. A gale of laughter followed that statement and they all said "Yes! They gave us thermometers, but no heat!" (or words to that affect). I butted in and asked if they lived in Stuyvesant Town (already knowing the answer, but wanting to be sure) and the all assured me that they did and they were freezing their jaxies off and having to buy space heaters. They were quite good-natured about it and one lady said she didn't want them coming into her apartment because she had purchased her own fridge and didn't want them to see it. She said "It's a Catch 22 situation." The other said that there was no point in letting them in because they don't fix anything, but will give you a free thermometer.
Then, a young lady (twenty-something, I would say) interjected and said: "I am from Michigan and my roommate is from Oregon. We are used to cold winters, but neither of us has ever had to sleep in such cold bedrooms in all our lives!" I asked her if she was a student and she said she was a grad student and that her roommate was, too. She said that some of the undergrads she knew were looking to get into real dorms because they were so cold and had complained to their parents that this living arrangement was nothing like what they had been lead to expect.
Seems that The Sty is gaining a bad reputation even among the student population. Let's hope the word spreads. It may be the one and only upside of this place being turned into a dorm.
6:36 and 8:18
The time has come for an entirely new TA. As long as there continues to be a heavy political influence over the group, it won’t matter who gets elected. Also, they only allow TA members to vote in these elections, so once again it will just be the same old same old getting pushed forward. There is nothing democratic about the way the TA holds elections- it would be like us having to pay a fee to join a group to vote for the president. I can all but guarantee the winner of this vote will be someone already on the TA inner circle. Open it up to all tenants (as it should be), and then we can start making changes in the way the TA is run.
6:36, obviously a TA board member! How else would anyone know when the TA found out about Blackstone buying the property??
I have no interest in your farce elections. Instead I will work to change this property for the better, and there’s no better time than the present to get a group of tenants together to fight for the rights of the tenants of this once great property. That is something that will never be done with our current TA.
>>I don't see anything wrong with people looking for a good hairstylist on the TA's FB page. I've found that page to be a great source of information about lots of different things over the years. It's not as if that page is full of nothing but trivial posts and comments and this is just another one. On the contrary, there are lots of astute tenants on that page who call out things that need to be called out.
What I would like to know from you, STR, is what you can think the TA can do in situations where Blackstone isn't a willing partner. If Blackstone isn't willing to deal with the lack of rugs in apartments problem, what exactly do you propose that the TA do about it?<<
1: I don't think a TA is about hairstylists, but I could be wrong.
2: The TA should be vocal, at least, about what goes on here, both the good and the bad. It seems the TA is interested in not doing much of anything except sending those buses to Albany and engaging our landlord about the newest MCI. And by engaging, I don't mean really engaging.
11:05 - the TA needs to speak up and fight them. They shouldn’t give up as easily as this group does. I have never heard them address heat, noise, dorms, etc. so how are we to know that they are fighting these things and management isn’t a willing partner?? I think we can all agree that the silence of the TA is deafening.
Also, STR, you are giving the TA too much credit... they don’t even plan trips to Albany anymore! I used to go on those trips, but it’s been years since they did that. Probably don’t want to ruffle their political friends feathers.
So once again I ask the TA sympathizers: Name just one thing the TA has done in the past 5 years to justify their existence? All I’m looking for is one!!
January 15, 2018 at 2:28 PM with his track record of holding positions of all the right jobs while accomplishing nothing for the Public Good and everything for the Private Interests he will fill Kavanagh's shoes quite nicely as Kavanagh goes into the senate where he fits right in after the senate and assembly deliberately failed this community of constituents so they can advance their own careers while they enrich themselves too from developing this land. Another tool of the system who has no real achievements for Public Good while having all the right credentials on his paper resume (that is not worth the paper it is printed on). When will the democrats ever put real, accomplished, achieving candidates on the ballot?
8:18 and 6:36 here again.
Nope. Not a board member, but I'm an interested and concerned tenant who keeps my ear to the ground and that's how I know, for a fact, that the TA didn't know about the sale to Blackstone before it happened. I also know for a fact that the TA meets regularly with Rick Hayduk and agitates for change behind the scene. However, many times they do not have a willing partner in Rick/Blackstone. So, start a new TA if you like and when you do please report back what your success rate is. I highly doubt that it will be better than the current TA's. Without the owner being a willing partner, change will not happen here, unless the issue in question is a legal one that can be litigated and decided on by a court and the court finds in we tenants' favor.
I agree with 11:20. I will not apply to run for an “elected” TA position as long as there is such a strong political influence over the group. How can one expect a fair shot when the group is influenced on the inside by a city council member and an advisor to the mayor? It’s not possible, and don’t try and tell me that it is.
Are you kidding 11:05? What’s the TA to do with an unwilling partner? They fight them. They force the issue and continue to force it some more.
This was what our TA used to do. There was fight until about 10 years ago when our spineless leaders allowed the politicians to take over. This isn’t a case of an unwilling partner in management, it’s a case of a spineless TA.
Prove me wrong. I need proof showing that management is an unwilling partner. The TA’s books with meeting minutes should do that. Open them up and show us that you’ve been fighting and that management is unwilling.
I won’t hold my breath.
The problem with the TA having other homes is that they made a big deal about going after tenants who do the same things or they pretended to make a big deal attacking tenants with the whole New York Times article on against Airbnb when the TA law firm protected Airbnb in court and the TA PR firm promoted Airbnb to politicians. The TA went after tenants who are doing the same things the TA are doing themselves. That is the problem. Most of the tenants the TA went after with their whole Airbnb PR New York Times publicity stunt were not subletting for hotels and do not own other homes. The TA board and Brookfield partner members do though. The TA has done nothing for tenants but they sure do a lot against tenants.
Say what you want but the last MCI "negotiation" was an arrangement by the Brookfield partner condo buyers who all want to increase the property revenue with their partners in property services who needed to increase the revenue, the same property managers that are running this place today.
Having rent stabilized tenants pay more than their fair share so market rate apartments can get subsidized by rent stabilized tenants on MCI charges - essentially having rent stabilized tenants pay more for the same services than the market rate apartments leased by billionaire corporations, universities, etc is quintessential corporate greed. Stealing the money from the middle class to enrich the 1%. These are not business leaders or business experts.
They are thieving frauds stealing from the middle class still.
That MCI arrangement by the TA board goes on still with rent stabilized apartments paying more than their fair share to subsidize the richer tenants.
The DHCR accepting that agreement between the Brookfield condo partnership and the landlord condo developers shows how corrupt the system is and how deeply, fully immersed the TA Board and Partnership members are.
MetLife, Tishman Speyer, Disney and StuyTown
MetLife, Tishman Speyer and Disney have been in the development, real estate business since at least the middle of the 1980's when they built this hideous convention hotel Florida resort.
Tishman Speyer did not "buy" Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village from MetLife. The two have been in development deals together and they moved $5 billion dollars from one partner to another with the promise of clearing out the tenants, raising the rents, combining the apartments then demolition of the buildings for a Disney convention resort who is their third partner since the 1980's / 1990's. $5 billion price tag that is so unjustifiable, two equally corrupt city hall administrations deceptively, deviously and dishonestly finagled the resale to another partner.
These three are lurking in the background on developing the StuyTown property into a Florida-like resort for over 30 years while MetLife pretended to value the community they really have been valuing the insanely jacked up $5.4 billion price they could get once they destroy the community as thieving frauds with the Golubs.
The Tishman Speyer assault on the community with the golub challenges are brought to you by these three, Disney, Tishman Speyer and MetLife. Anyone who thinks Tishman Speyer walked away from this property is a fool. The dirty hands on this deal still include at the top of the list the Tishmans and the Speyers. Anyone who thinks Disney is in anything other than the convention money from corporate boondoggles business is being fooled.
Tishman Speyer, Disney, MetLife are the real thieving frauds and not any of the StuyTown Tenants living here.
" [Walt Disney World Dolphin]
The Walt Disney World Dolphin is a resort hotel designed by architect Michael Graves located between Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios in the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, next to Disney's BoardWalk Resort area.
It opened on June 1, 1990 and is joined to its sister hotel, the Walt Disney World Swan (also designed by Graves) by a palm-tree lined covered walkway crossing a lagoon.
The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company, Tishman Hotel Corporation, MetLife and Starwood Hotels and Resorts.
The land the resort occupies is owned by the Walt Disney Company, while the buildings themselves are leased by Disney to the Tishman Hotel Corporation and MetLife but operated by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide under the Sheraton Hotels brand.
The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin are a part of the Walt Disney Collection of resorts; because of this they are Disney branded and guests of the resort have access to special Disney benefits available to Disney Resort Hotel guests only."
https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Walt%20Disney%20World%20Dolphin
https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/who-owns-the-swan-and-dolphin.16269/
This article's photo even includes a ferry for the hotel guests as special transportation is part of the real estate deal the politicians are spending taxpayer money on to curry favor with the corporation owners. Think about that every time that ferry whistle blows and hoards of foot traffic floods this once serene community.
https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/blog/2015/11/disneys-swan-and-dolphin-among-11-hotels-part-of.html
https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/who-owns-the-swan-and-dolphin.16269/
This is not a historic real estate deal.
It is a few wealthy people and their corporations moving money from one partner to another and then back to each other courtesy of a few dirty, rotten politicians who passed the laws for the developers while passing no laws of protection for the people, then orchestrated the deal themselves. The con is as simple as that.
>>I also know for a fact that the TA meets regularly with Rick Hayduk and agitates for change behind the scene. However, many times they do not have a willing partner in Rick/Blackstone.<<
Then this should be reported by the TA and not hidden.
7:03, I do not believe you. If they were meeting regularly with Rick, than they should be reporting that back to us. NOT ONCE have I heard them say they have met with Rick and he was not willing to cooperate. NOT ONCE! If this were happening, as you say it is, they should be telling us they met with Rick to discuss heat, noise, etc, and he turned them away. It would at least show that they are doing something.
Again, when they open their books I will believe they are doing something. Until then you are just a TA sympathizer who still can not give me ONE reason for their continued existence.
Exactly STR! If they were doing the things this person says, than they would be reporting their meetings with Rick and his unwillingness to cooperate with the TA.
BTW, seen twice, yesterday and this morning, mattress dumped on the loop, right near Management, that were not covered as dictated by the city. I passed by and, as usual, noted the fact. Now someone who is getting PAID must have seen these mattresses. But no one it seems reported it or the response was pretty tardy. And that is what we have: People who are paid, including our friends at Management, not doing something about it. If they do not care, why should we, the tenants?
Sorry, but Management should care for several reasons. I've already sent photos of mattresses not covered. I can't do that all the time or anymore, as I get a sense that Management doesn't really care. The impression is that the "troublemakers" who voice concerns will go away after a while. This impression is correct. I go by these mattresses, and a few seconds later I'm in another world.
There is a reason why the mattresses have to be covered - to protect the people handling them from bedbugs and any other infestations. The fact that they don’t even enforce this says a ton, like hey, we don’t care if our employees that handle these mattresses get bedbugs. The employees really don’t even have a leg to stand on in terms of going against management on this, because if they don’t do it, they will find someone who will.
Let's face it, Management doesn't care about anything except churning the apartments and pulling in the gelt. They are not a "Management" in the sense of being custodians of the property, attuned to the responsibilities that go with managing a residential property. They haven't got a clue as to how a residential property (especially one this size) should be run and they are not interested in getting a clue. Rick Heyduk is nothing more than a PR face of the property and in no way does he actually "manage" the property.
It's nothing more, these days, than an overcrowded dorm, transient/short-stay furnished rooms enterprise; security is minimal; noise and filth are problems that are not addressed and the only things that Management care about is marketing the gimmicks and thinking up more atrocities to drive out the tenants who really call it "home." The porters are overworked and underpaid; the recycling rooms are absolutely abhorrent, especially after a long weekend. Personally, I only recycle glass. Everything else goes down the garbage chute because I honestly don't believe that it ultimately gets recycled. The recycling plants don't sort garbage - they reject it and it goes into the landfills. Might as well speed its destination by putting it down the chute in the first place and give the porters a break.
>>I also know for a fact that the TA meets regularly with Rick Hayduk and agitates for change behind the scene. However, many times they do not have a willing partner in Rick/Blackstone.<<
Then this should be reported by the TA and not hidden.
The TA is trying to work WITH Blackstone behind the scenes. Outing Blackstone would only make the relationship between Rick/Blackstone and the TA a contentious one. And it probably wouldn't change anything, except possibly for the worse. Do you really think that Blackstone is going to devote the massive manpower that would be needed to inspect thousands of new tenants for rugs every year? They are not. Think about it this way. It's a known fact that Rick/Blackstone/SPS read the TA's FB page, so they obviously see all the complaints about, for example, tenants, the news one in particular, not having their floors covered. And Rick's Chief of Staff, Amanda Block's answer, as per a posting on the TA's FB page, is to try the "soft touch" by making a phone call to new tenants and "reminding" them of the rule regarding covering their floor. We all know that probably won't get the job done, but, again, Rick is not going to devote massive manpower to solving the problem in the right way and in the shortest amount of time. So, the TA wants apartments inspected for rugs and the tenants clearly want apartments inspected for rugs and, yet, it doesn't happen. And it isn't going to happen no matter who bitches or how much we bitch. It's an economic decision affecting Blackstone's bottom line that Rick/Blackstone have made and are highly unlikely to change. So, we tenants suffer, as a result. You may think that the TA publicly hounding Rick/Blackstone will get them to change their minds, but I don't. Rick/Blackstone are publicly outed on the TA's FB page EVERYDAY and it has made ZERO difference in their rug inspection policy. So, folks, stop piling on the TA because you're frustrated by what goes on here. We tenants do not own this property and have limited say in what happens or doesn't happen here. I know you don't like hearing that, but it's the truth.
Are you kidding 11:05? What’s the TA to do with an unwilling partner? They fight them. They force the issue and continue to force it some more.
This was what our TA used to do. There was fight until about 10 years ago when our spineless leaders allowed the politicians to take over. This isn’t a case of an unwilling partner in management, it’s a case of a spineless TA.
Prove me wrong. I need proof showing that management is an unwilling partner. The TA’s books with meeting minutes should do that. Open them up and show us that you’ve been fighting and that management is unwilling.
I won’t hold my breath.
Blackstone absolutely is an unwilling partner when it comes to certain things. However, for all the reasons I just gave in another post, the TA isn't going to out them. The TA CAN fight an unwilling partner/owner, but, in the end, just like with Tishman and CWCapital, it won't go anywhere, unless what's involved is a legal issue that is resolved in the tenants' favor by a court of law. And, by the way, you already have all the proof you need that management is an unwilling partner if you read the TA's FB page. Legitimate complaint after legitimate complaint, yet, no satisfactory resolution to many of the most persistent problems brought up on there. If that' s not good enough proof for you, I don't know what else to say.
Again, 2:22 and 2:32, the TA needs to open their books. You are obviously a board member based on all the “insider” information you claim to know. A TA is meant to ruffle feathers, and it’s what this TA did for a very long time and was successful at it. I’m guessing they don’t want to report out on these “meetings” with Rick, because Rick and Blackstone would call them out for being the liars they are.
As you sit here arguing me and others, I still wait for you to give me ONE THING to justify the TA’s continued existence. Just one!!!
Isn't this the tenant association that brags about how it is the biggest tenant association in the country? Guess that is a useless, meaningless, powerless joke of a brag. Just because the property is the largest resident population does not mean the tenant association is the largest. That must be another PR trick they are using to look like they are really something when they are pitifully nothing, and accomplishing nothing.
>>So, folks, stop piling on the TA because you're frustrated by what goes on here. We tenants do not own this property and have limited say in what happens or doesn't happen here. I know you don't like hearing that, but it's the truth.<<
I just have to respond to this. First off, it is part of Management's duty to make sure the rules are followed. To ignore that duty brings disrespect from tenants. That is obvious. As for spending money, is Blackstone poor or nearly poor, so that spending some more money here is going to "break the bank"? No. So it is Management's duty and financial responsibility to get the job done. Period. That they are NOT doing it for certain problems indicates that they have other priorities, like seeing apartments here sold and bs-ing outsiders to think this place is perfect (and some cheerleaders here, too).
As for piling on the TA.... If the shoe fits, wear it. The TA has lost its tenants and that is not surprising. The TA does close to NOTHING. "See Rick or contact PS" is the expected response. And WHAT is this love affair with keeping things a secret? I never understood why the TA is not for transparency. What are they afraid of?
Susan, is that you???
I have no idea who else would defend that corrupt group of do-nothings.
It's unfortunate that the majority of the members of the TA Board are political hacks and political groupies. I can understand them trying to cultivate good relationships with the politicians if it means that tenants will benefit, but apart from the two rent freezes we had (and that applied to all RS tenants, not just the ones on this property), I don't see that De Blasio has done any good for the tenants here or anywhere else in the City. He is beholden to developers and is gung ho about building more densely and taller than ever before, but that is not going to benefit anybody but the developers and the wealthy who can afford to live in those buildings. The "affordable" aspect of the overbuilding is all smoke and mirrors.
I think that when Garodnick floated the idea of a tenants purchase of this property the TA fell for it hook, line and sinker and earned themselves the title "Wannabe Owners Association." This alienated them even further from the long-suffering tenants they purport to represent. I don't think anything is going to improve here and I see no reason why the TA should even exist now. Since the illusionary purchase dream fell through, they have no mission. The fact that so many members of their board harbor political ambitions, and one succeeded in getting elected to the City Council with a lot of ballyhoo, aggressive campaigning and support from the TA, it seems that their energies are all directed toward the advancement of political careers and that makes them very conflicted.
That is perfectly said 5:31!
First off, it is part of Management's duty to make sure the rules are followed. To ignore that duty brings disrespect from tenants.
Yes, it is and yes, it does. And clearly Management doesn't care because they don't enforce most of the rules around here. And, frankly, the TA is powerless to make them enforce those rules if they don't want to. Unless the issue is a legal one that a court can rule on, Management can do whatever it wants here. I know it's a bitter pill to swallow, but it's true.
As for spending money, is Blackstone poor or nearly poor, so that spending some more money here is going to "break the bank"? No. So it is Management's duty and financial responsibility to get the job done. Period. That they are NOT doing it for certain problems indicates that they have other priorities, like seeing apartments here sold and bs-ing outsiders to think this place is perfect (and some cheerleaders here, too).
Clearly, Blackstone has other priorities and there's nothing you can do to change what those priorities are, unless there's something illegal about what they're doing. They churn apartments like crazy and will continue to do because it makes them money. We all know that Blackstone isn't poor, so that's not the issue. The fact is that they just don't want to spend the money necessary to do what should be done here and, again, unless it's a legal issue, no one can make them. So, tenants are simply out of luck because Blackstone is an unwilling partner.
7:10 and all of your previous posts, I will ask it yet again... please name me just ONE accomplishment of the TA over the past 5 years that justifies their existence.
>>The fact is that they just don't want to spend the money necessary to do what should be done here and, again, unless it's a legal issue, no one can make them.<<
I've swallowed many pills in my time, this one included. Yes, I realize what you are saying BUT a TA is not to buddy up to this infraction (minor or major), but to fight it. Does't matter about the success (and I have and will continue to look at various illegalities). If something is wrong, then it's the duty of a TA to speak up, "success" be damned.
Also the TA is much stronger than one individual. The fact that the TA doesn't nothing, or close to nothing (and their "secret" meeting with Management is troubling) is abdicating their responsibility. Think of the TA speaking forcefully about some of the infractions around here. Just the fact that the "largest tenants organization" takes a firm stance is newsworthy. Meanwhile, Blackstone is using its good press to sell rooms and more here. Why not the TA using the press, too?
STR, it’s easier for them to do things this way. Send someone to a blog claiming that the TA is having these secret meetings with management, which is extremely disturbing, and that management won’t listen to them. A true TA would be doing what you are saying, fighting them regardless of what’s going on. Go to the press when management doesn’t cooperate.
DO SOMETHING AND FIGHT THEM ALREADY!!!
As a 25 year member of the PCVST TA, 2018 will be the first year that I’m not renewing my membership since 1993. I am friends with current members of the board, as well as previous board members and presidents.
I have made my reasons for leaving known to the current TA board, and their reaction to me leaving was nothing short of not giving a damn. I can agree with the person saying that Blackstone is an unwilling partner, but that does not excuse the lack of action from the current TA leadership. Former owners of this property were unwilling partners, but that did not stop the TA from fighting for the tenants that they were elected to serve and protect from management.
As has been said on here, the political influence on the group has changed the focus of the group drastically, and the political oversight of the group by our local leaders has absolutely 100% played a role in the extremely diminished fight that the TA puts forward.
As has been discussed on here, TA membership numbers are extremely low, with less than one percent of the 11,250 apartments paying membership dues. Yes, it is Common knowledge that there are less than 110 paying members among anyone who is part of the group.
I do not foresee this changing anytime soon, because this passive attitude has totally taken over the TA leadership. I am still in close contact with a former TA president, and it sickens him the way that the TA is being run these days, but the current leadership doesn’t care.
For the person continuing to ask for one thing the TA has done recently to justify their existence, I can honestly say that as a member of the TA from 1993 through 12/31/17 I can not give you a single thing this group has done since the retro-MCI victory back in 2006. I would say that starting a Facebook page is about it.
If the TA would stop buddying-up to Management and adopted a more challenging approach, they would probably appeal to a lot of the tenants. People would be willing to pay the $50 to an organization that actually represented them and there would probably be more attendance at TA meetings. The TA rarely has a meeting now and I think that is because so few tenants bother to attend. The meetings always turn out to be rah rah events for politicians, many of whom the tenants despise! If the TA would put aside its political ambitions and ass-kissing of politicians and really challenge Management, it would become very, very attractive to us tenants.
A few years ago, when I first moved here, the TA was quite formidable. I think the person who led it at the time was Jo Ann Polise. I don't know what happened to her, but she was tough and no-nonsense in her approach. It can't be easy to stand up to Management, but in the past the TA has done just that - and prevailed. I recall when MetLife's sleazy lawyer (Belkin, I think his name is) demanded that the TA hand over a list of its members and the TA refused. I forget what Management was trying to do at the time, but they were definitely trying to screw us. MetLife was not the benign entity that some of the old-timers make it out to be. It was a very shrewd and, at times, ruthless entity and they tried a few sleazy moves on us. Remember, they are the ones who put in the faulty windows and charged us (and we continue to pay) an obscenely large MCI. An MCI for garbage! The TA challenged them, did not prevail, but at least they had a go! I remember when MetLife had the whole project wired for RCN and there were some financial shennigans going on there and the TA challenged the landlord. There were some victories in the past, not as many as we would have liked, but at least then the TA used to try! They were the bane of MetLife's life and we loved them for that! I wish they would get their balls back and get back to representing tenants and NOT political ambitions!
I simply DO NOT UNDERSTAND people rolling over and playing dead. "It's their property, they can do what they want, we have no rights, etc."
Stand the hell up and FIGHT BACK! It is your damned home! Why isn't anyone taking any action??? Why do you assume that these sociopaths are entitled to deliberately cause suffering to you??? Hundreds of billions of dollars. Billionaire psychopaths living off you. Look 'em up, look 'em up, look 'em up!
Blackstone: look them up, for god's sake, for YOUR sake! They are known worldwide as people who destroy lives by destroying people's homes. Spain, Ireland, other countries; all over this country. Plenty of names: Stephen Schwarzman, Jonathan Gray, Tony James, David Blitzer for a start.
Try researching the woman listed as Managing Partner in charge of New York real estate - Olivia John Hamlet. Read all about her Vogue storybook wedding in a 12th century French castle.
Wise up: this is the current version of the feudal lords living off your toil.
They are entitled? It's okay; it's "their" "property?" Then what are you? What are we?
People in this country, long ago, 50 years ago or more, occasionally fought back, stood up, organized, struck, shut down services, industries. What happened to us?
Unless the Tenants Association OPENS up their books, as they are legally required to do, don't be surprised if you see Susan and her cohorts doing the "perp walk."
Where did the Roberts Settlement monies go? Lots and lots of questions need to be answered. Susan, where are you? Can't hear you?
Newsflash: Lottery apartments available for the rock bottom prices of $2889 for a one bedroom, and $3543 for a two bedroom. Oh, and no broker's fee!
Susan has been here the past few days... hiding behind the argument that Blackstone is an unwilling partner! Hey Susan, if Blackstone is an unwilling partner, that doesn’t give you the excuse to stop fighting.
I believe the truth behind this argument that Blackstone is an unwilling partner has not been disclosed to tenants because there’s no truth to it, and Rick would call them out for lying about having these meetings that the TA is claiming to be having. Why else would they keep these meetings secret, other than the fact they are a lie!
I agree, let’s open the books!!
January 16, 2018 at 9:07 PM A corrupt political establishment deliberately weakened
1. Tenant Rights
2. Tenant Protections
3. Laws protecting tenants (who are the fuel of a billion dollar industry but have no rights)
4. The Constitution
5. In the case of StuyTown the corrupt politicians partnered with the Predator.
The news press reporting that no New York City tenant won a harassment case against a landlord in 20 years indicates the political establishment of the past 20 years which includes the current Mayor, former Mayor, and all the career politicians have done all of the above. It is a disgraceful corruption that outdoes all previous corruption in the history of New York City.
The politicians are the predators. The tenant association are political groupies and wannabes. StuyTown has a senator whose spouse is in business with Tishman Speyer - NYU, a former councilman in business partnering the tenant association with Canadian Brookfield who is tied to an internet company the Feds have been investigating for years TUCOWS, a former Mayor's spouse on the board of Brookfield, a current councilman who lobbied for the Trump Soho real estate fraud that district attorney declined to prosecute for the fraud at the same time the district attorney accepted large donation from the Trump lawyer, a current Mayor who put Tishman Speyer Rob Speyer in charge and co-chairing city departments. The former Mayor appointed rob Speyer to run major city hall initiatives in 2006 the same year all hell broke loose in StuyTown. The current Mayor reappointed Rob Speyer to continue the former Mayor's and Rob Speyer's plans for StuyTown and all the Tishman Speyer development city-wide. Both of the Mayors screwed their constituents. The first one did it using lies of omission and the second Mayor did it using outright boldface lies promising to protect StuyTown tenants while behind the scenes advancing Rob Speyer's development plans.
The moment the second Mayor reappointed Rob Speyer to co-chair alongside the Mayor's wife is the moment they said FU to this community. Tenant association board member who are submissive to the politicians and are employed by the Mayor said FU to this community too.
"Rob Speyer is currently serving the fifth year of his term as Chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), the city’s premier industry association. He is also Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, appointed by Mayor Bloomberg in 2006 and reappointed by Mayor de Blasio in 2014.
Rob Speyer is a Board member of EXOR, a leading European investment firm whose global interests include significant shareholdings in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, CNH Industrial, PartnerRe, The Economist and Ferrari.
Mr. Speyer serves on the Board of Trustees of New York-Presbyterian Hospital and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, where he was Co-Chairman of the Construction Committee overseeing its restoration and renovation. He is also a member of the Shanghai Mayor’s International Business Leaders Advisory Council.
An emeritus member of the Board of Visitors at Columbia College, Rob Speyer graduated magna cum laude from Columbia in 1992 and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society."
It sounds like the problem with the TA board is that too many of its members don't want to take on Rick Hayduk and Blackstone publicly. The sooner they're replaced, the better. We need fighters on that board, not do nothings. And we need transparency about what they're doing. Tenants deserve to know what's going on. Since TA board elections are coming up, hopefully the do-nothings will replaced with people who have backbones. It's time to start making a lot of VERY PUBLIC noise about the way this place is run.
>>An emeritus member of the Board of Visitors at Columbia College, Rob Speyer graduated magna cum laude from Columbia in 1992 and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society<<
He seemed and seems like an idiot to me. One of the major reasons this blog was created.
The Tenant Association and Landlord relationship is not supposed to be a partnership. The unwilling partner is acting correctly and the Tenant Association is being absurd. This leads to the same conclusion as this comment. There is no truth to the absurd "unwilling partner" excuse.
Open the books!
"Susan has been here the past few days... hiding behind the argument that Blackstone is an unwilling partner! Hey Susan, if Blackstone is an unwilling partner, that doesn’t give you the excuse to stop fighting.
I believe the truth behind this argument that Blackstone is an unwilling partner has not been disclosed to tenants because there’s no truth to it, and Rick would call them out for lying about having these meetings that the TA is claiming to be having. Why else would they keep these meetings secret, other than the fact they are a lie!
I agree, let’s open the books!!"
January 17, 2018 at 7:55 AM
10:53
I completely agree with you, unfortunately the current board and nominating committee will never allow that to happen. I am the poster from 8:23pm last night, who left the TA after 25 years.
They will select the most subservient person of the group and tell their close comrades to vote for the person they choose. The people that are still remaining as TA members are very close pals, and will do as they are told. Until these elections are opened up to ALL TENANTS, this cycle will continue and there will be no change. This is how it has happened for the past decade, and I was informally told by board members who I should vote for "if I wanted to see continued progress in the group and the board." I was stupid to listen to them for as long as I did.
The only way we will see actual change is to have a total overhaul of not just the TA board, but the TA as a whole. The group can't continue to operate the way it has and expect the people to regain trust in the group. Trust is completely gone, and can not be rebuilt with the current leadership. Unfortunately I don't see any change happening with this smug group, so the only way to change will be to start anew with a completely new group.
I wish that the promise of a new TA was still around, but it seems to have gone away. What I am seeing is that no one of the new renters is willing to start a new TA. Many leave after a while, as rents go up and up (the scam of "preferential" rents that give the landlord power), and some are just not interested because of the time involved or the feeling that it is useless. I don't know how many people want to truly set up roots here or are just waiting for a better deal someplace else. As for students? Forget about it.
As for me, my time is limited and what I can do, I am already doing. I am willing to join a new TA, as long as "old timers" are not screwed.
TA Board Members are useless! USELESS!!
I do know that the each building has a TA Captain who meets with the TA Board every few weeks (possibly every two weeks). I don't know if anybody from Management shows up for those meetings. They are very close-lipped and don't divulge anything about the meetings. Probably gives them a sense of POWER!!!!
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-newest-new-york-city-real-estate-laws-that-property_us_5a5e44c9e4b0d8c653bbfffb
>>I do know that the each building has a TA Captain who meets with the TA Board every few weeks (possibly every two weeks). I don't know if anybody from Management shows up for those meetings. They are very close-lipped and don't divulge anything about the meetings. Probably gives them a sense of POWER!!!!<<
Thanks for reminding me. One of the major reasons for secrecy is the sense of power the persons holding the secret get. It's very subtle, but it does give someone, like select members of the TA, a sense that "we know what everyone else doesn't." Besides, they rub elbows with Blackstone and politicians that is another power-play. The TA doesn't think of it this way, but it is true. I call bs on that sense of power. Opening things up will do much to bring tenants into the fold, but, no, high-ranking tenants will not let go of this power.
And I am very aware of this bs, having the TA, years ago, ask me NOT to post something so that Dan could post it first.
"He seemed and seems like an idiot to me. One of the major reasons this blog was created."
I think he is an idiot, but he has a very rich, powerful, influential Daddy. Generous donations to a university by Daddy can help get the biggest dopes through. He was a newspaper reporter for the NYDN before he decided to join Daddy in the RE business. He was a failure as a reporter and that was a job Daddy got him because Daddy was a pal of the NYDN owner (Zuckerberg).
The cretinous son's first big RE deal was the PCVST sale. Done well, didn't he? He's a total fuck-up, but he's Jerry's Boy.
I'm the poster that some of you are accusing of being Susan Steinberg. I am NOT Susan Steinberg, so please stop blaming her for what I am saying. Even if you don't like her, it's not right to blame her when she has nothing to do with what I have posted.
So the TA has meetings with select building captains? Are you serious?? This once again shows the secretive and selective nature of this group. My building captain has never made themselves known to me or anyone I know, so I’m not sure whose voice is actually being heard through these people.
The unwilling partner is acting correctly and the Tenant Association is being absurd... I believe the truth behind this argument that Blackstone is an unwilling partner has not been disclosed to tenants because there’s no truth to it…
It sounds like you're saying that it's OK for Rick/Blackstone to be an unwilling partner in trying to resolve problems here. And, because the TA is trying to work with them behind the scenes, that makes the TA absurd?? As I have said before, you only have to look at the complaints on the TA’s FB page that occur over and over and over again to know that Rick/Blackstone are unwilling to deal effectively - or at all - with the well-known and persistent problems around here. Various dog issues, uncovered floors and no heat, to name a few. If you think that Blackstone is a willing partner, then why aren’t these problems getting solved?? As for your Rick would call them out for lying about having these meetings that the TA is claiming to be having comment. NO, HE WOULDN’T. Because he IS having meetings with the TA, whether YOU believe it or not.
4:44
You disclosed very specific information about the TA, letting us know that the TA tries to meet with Rick but he’s an unwilling partner. I don’t care if you are or are not Susan, you are letting us know information that should be told to us by her and her board, and I am going to go after the things you wrote as an anonymous poster and her, regardless of who you are.
The TA should be fighting management regardless of where the relationship stands. All of this falls on Susan. Period. End of story.
4:44 PM, I'm not one of the posters who accused you of being Susan Steinberg and I really don't think that she would ever read this blog!
It is no surprise daddy bought his son a college degree or that his kid is a failure at every job. Jerry's dirty deeds will be exposed if and when we get new politicians who aren't paid off like the current regime.
Stuy Town TA Building Captains? Captains of what? Stuy Town TA Building Captain of the piled up trash in the basement?
Stuy Town TA Building Captain of the University dorms?
Stuy Town TA Building Captain of the corporate hotels?
Stuy Town TA Building Captain of the beer cups in the stairway?
Stuy Town TA Building Captain of the dirty beer stained carpeted hallways?
Stuy Town TA Building Captain of the discrimination in MCI charges to track the revenue of which apartments are rent stabilized to make them pay higher amounts than the TA Brookfield Condo conversion members?
Stuy Town Stuy Town TA Building Captain who knows the building has different levels of service and maintenance depending on your market rate or rent stabilized social status? Hey Stuy Town TA Building Captain why does the next door neighbor who shares a wall with us have different maintenance and service?
Stuy Town TA Building Captains names to include in lawsuits along with any lawsuits against the TA Board! What are the names of the Stuy Town TA Building Captains of each and every one of the 80 Buildings? PUBLISH THAT ON THE STUY TOWN TENANT ASSOCIATION WEBSITE ON THE SAME PAGE AS THE BOARD MEMBERS!
Where on the Stuy Town TA website are the names of these Building Captains? If they are representing the tenants then their names ought to be known to the tenants.
If they are representing property services and the TA as an arm of property services and their purpose is to track tenants as the TA did during the 2011 Stuy Town TA Brookfield Partnership condo conversion then tenants ought to know the names of these Building Captains so the rent stabilized tenants can protect themselves from being tracked.
If the names of the Stuy Town TA Building Captains are not listed then why the secrecy of these Stuy Town TA Building Captains and what is the true purpose because it surely is not to protect and represent the livability rights of the tenants to a clean, safe, peaceful, quiet enjoyment of home.
Walking my dog this morning and that woman from building 21 almost hit us, as she was zooming by on her scooter. I did not have my phone on me at the time. Anyone else witness this idiot?
These people that are here to defend the TA are digging the TA into a bigger hole!
Do you seriously think that having a Facebook page solves a damn thing?? It doesn’t, and the fact that management and Rick reads that page and doesn’t act to improve upon things just means that the TA NEEDS TO FIGHT HARDER! Enough of this unwilling partner BS.
There are building captains? I would like to know who my building captain is immediately. Why is this a secret???
7:45
Than why aren’t the discussions of these meetings made public to the tenants? For me to believe a damn word you are saying, I NEED PROOF. Until I see actual meeting minutes, these meetings are nothing more than a made up fantasy by an anonymous blogger defending a group that hasn’t defended tenants in years.
If I were on the TA, I would be blasting the fact that these meetings are taking place and that management isn’t doing a damn thing.
FYI - Building captains have been used by the TA for many years. They are volunteers who do things like put notices from the TA under your doors. They are not building SPIES and they do NOT represent Stuyvesant Property Services (SPS), better known as Management. Unfortunately, the kind of craziness that is getting spewed on here about who building captains are and what they do is why many people I know don't read this blog. And when this kind of out of control flaming gets going, I stop reading it, too.
Haha 8:54, that’s a funny one. You can’t seriously believe that Susan, the TA board, local politicians, and management don’t read this blog. The same way that management reads the TA Facebook page to see what people are saying, the same can be said about people reading this blog. STR knows for a fact that management reads his blog, and I would bet my RS apartment that Susan and crew are on here frequently monitoring.
>>FYI - Building captains have been used by the TA for many years.<<
I know that the TA has people who put notices under the door, but "building captains" was used (and not by me), so therefore who are these captains? Just to place a notice from the TA under the door? That's not my definition of a "building captain," but if that is the only thing they do, another description may be appropriate.
>>Unfortunately, the kind of craziness that is getting spewed on here about who building captains are and what they do is why many people I know don't read this blog. And when this kind of out of control flaming gets going, I stop reading it, too.<<
People are always free to choose. But, I'm afraid, that nothing will stop me from speaking out, including your words. And we have much activity, thank you. ;-)
There are obviously a number of TA defenders on here recently, so I ask for like the 10th time:
Name one thing the TA has done recently to justify their existence (let alone their $50 membership fee). Just one.
9:42
Please, stop reading this blog. Go back to your fantasy world where things are great. In the meantime I will come here for the truth, and fight back against management on lack of heat and extreme noise ON MY OWN.
And for the latest adventure over at the TA Facebook: A political link has been provided by "Peter Stuyvesant" (whom we know is a racist--the original one, that is), that goes to another political link, but the commenting has been turned off...by "Peter Stuyvesant."
Either you don't post something nationally political (which I can understand as it can easily derail a Facebook), or you post it and allow commentary.
Listen, I completely understand that Blackstone/Rick/SPS May be an unwilling partner. The Blackstone website clearly spells out what they do with their real estate - buy, improve, sell. They very well could have an aggressive timeline for this property, and dealing with the constant issues that the TA brings to the table is not part of their plan and slows down their turnaround time to sell.
I get it, but guess what, I don’t care. This does not excuse the TA from fighting until they are blue in the face. I also don’t care if they’re volunteers. They knew what they were getting themselves into, and if they don’t have the fortitude to fight, than they need to step aside and let others take control of the fight. If I wasn’t working 90 hours a week to afford my rent, I would be making my voice heard.
BUILDING CAPTAINS? Now THAT'S funny!
There's nothing secretive about the fact that the TA has "building captains." These are simply grunt volunteers who distribute TA literature in their buildings and meet from time to time with the TA to bring their attention to ongoing problems (heat, noise, etc.) to the attention of the TA. Nothing actually gets done, as is obvious, but the building captains are just regular tenants who volunteer for that job and do nothing more than grunt work. I know a couple of them and they have no power or influence whatsoever when it comes to shaping policy. I'm sure it's a thankless job and I don't understand why anybody would want to do it, but these are good souls who strive to get Management's ear - via their meetings with the TA - and get some of the negative things changed.
Who are these people? By definition a Captain has a team of subordinate minions. This means in every building is a Captain and the subordinate minions who are carrying out who knows what. It is a safe and sure bet the Building Captains are all Brookfield Tenant Association Condo-conversion Partnership Members just like it is a solid bet the subordinate minions are all Brookfield Tenant Association Condo-Conversion Partnership Members.
Who wants to take a bet that all the Captains and Minions are Brookfield Tenant Association Condo-Conversion Partnership Members with a mission to eliminate 90% of the rent stabilized tenants so they can convert to condos? Isn't that the legal number, 90% market rate for a conversion to condo?
>>And for the latest adventure over at the TA Facebook: A political link has been provided by "Peter Stuyvesant" (whom we know is a racist--the original one, that is), that goes to another political link, but the commenting has been turned off...by "Peter Stuyvesant."<<
So the TA never comes over here? LOL.
Guess who has had a change of mind? "Peter Stuyvesant"! Now, comments are being let through.
What a farce.
January 16, 2018 at 9:07 PM
Amen.
The problem with "banding together to fight the enemy" is that many of your neighbors are a$$holes. they are the enemy. the partying students, the self centered parents, the smokers, etc etc. They're the problem. of course they're not gonna be part of the solution.
regarding security etc., I almost got hit by one of the maintenance vehicles speeding along behind me the other day. I'm young and nimble and not gonna break a hip so I don't really care, but it's definitely indicative of the attitude that is being fostered among the maintenance and security workers here.
take out your phones y'all, and have them at the ready. every car has an ID number on it. even just the threat of being reported will slow them down.
Another batch of comments come through, and here I sit waiting for someone to answer me about one thing the TA has done recently to justify their existence.
If you can come on here and defend them, you should be able to name one thing they have done for the tenants recently.
Can someone help me understand something?
Blackstone is all about making money, right?
This has been a particularly cold winter. And the heat in my apartment has been particularly bad (I guess it has been bad since they installed the new computer controlled system, but I am getting old so maybe I feel it more). So I finally invested in a couple of electric space heaters because I was fed up with being cold. I am willing to bet many other people have also. Wouldn’t it make sense for them to increase the heat a few degrees rather than having space heaters running all over the complex. The extra electricity has got to cost more than a minor increase in the heat.
It doesn’t make financial sense to me.
>> every car has an ID number on it<<
Those carts? I don't see any specific ID, just that is from this or that department. If there is something to identify a particular vehicle, I need to know.
>>Can someone help me understand something?<<
I think it depends on where you are. My apartment is generally okay, but there have been times when the pipes are not offering any heat.... Particularly, if the temperature outside is not too cold...
What makes you think that the comments were turned on because of YOU, STR? Bit arrogant don't you think? Maybe it happened for some reason having nothing to do with you. Sheesh.
it seems to me that the number on the front hood of the maintenance vehicle, in gold stickers, is a unique ID for each car. haven't examined them carefully tho.
I mean I suppose you could also snap a picture of the guys driving the car, if you really want to start getting in their face.
as for TA involvement--I remember a TA captain for a building announcing her new role a few years ago. that was the end of it. heard no more since then. she's done nothing, as far as one can tell. additionally, she was a person who blasted music for hours at a time, I mean seriously loud, loud enough to be heard in the hallways a floor away from the apartment. supposedly it was because she was always drunk.
ah well. XD what can ya do.
I'm sayin, I don't know that there's any conspiracy or conniving with management or whatever. I don't think they (the TA) have the brains or the energy to do that. I think its just laziness and incompetence over there, all the way down.
wait a minute, the woman with the scooter is from 21? CALL PS NOW TO REPORT THIS.
>>What makes you think that the comments were turned on because of YOU, STR? Bit arrogant don't you think? Maybe it happened for some reason having nothing to do with you. Sheesh.<<
If the shoe fits....
>>it seems to me that the number on the front hood of the maintenance vehicle, in gold stickers, is a unique ID for each car. haven't examined them carefully tho.
I mean I suppose you could also snap a picture of the guys driving the car, if you really want to start getting in their face.<<
I will check. Thanks.
Another day has gone by, and another day where the TA board/defenders that come on here ignore my request:
Please name just one thing the TA has done recently to justify their existence. JUST ONE!
You can come on here and defend them, but you can’t even name one recent accomplishment. I don’t see how people can defend a group that they cant name a single accomplishment for.
>>What makes you think that the comments were turned on because of YOU, STR? Bit arrogant don't you think? Maybe it happened for some reason having nothing to do with you. Sheesh.
If the shoe fits....<<
Only in your mind, STR. I suspect that commenting was accidentally turned off and when that was discovered, it was turned on. Is everything related to the Tenants Association some kind of conspiracy on this page? Sheesh, again.
>>Only in your mind, STR. I suspect that commenting was accidentally turned off and when that was discovered, it was turned on. Is everything related to the Tenants Association some kind of conspiracy on this page? Sheesh, again.<<
Sheesh back to you!
But, perhaps if it is a mistake, one of those captains we keep hearing about can help?
The Tenant Association Building Captain is the person who came to your apartment uninvited to get information about whether or not you are buying your apartment just after the Brookfield Partnership announcement. Comments on this blog exposed the Tenant Association for keeping a grid of who is buying and who is not.
Then suspiciously management sent golub notices to those who told the TA Building Captains that they were not planning on buying their apartments. More aggressively and mean-spirited other nonbuyers were harassed by management leasing neighboring apartments to the frat house that had loud parties to force the nonbuyers out. The frat house suspiciously was always next door to those not planning on buying their apartments.
Nobody has named a single thing the Tenant Association has done for tenants in over 5 years but the list of things the Tenant Association has done for condo developers is very long.
You can't "accidentally" shut off the comments on Facebook. There are steps that need to be taken to disable the comments, so this wasn't some mistake or accident. Whether it was coincidental that the comments were turned on after STR said something is anyone's guess, but they weren't accidentally turned off initially.
The plans to Disneyfy New York City with Food Network Tourist Traps are under investigation. MetLife, Disney, Tishman Speyer can't be far behind the Kushner Deutsche Food Network probe.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-19/kushner-s-deutsche-bank-backed-property-stung-by-tenant-troubles
To the person continually asking for accomplishments of the TA, here are a few:
1) Accepting money as part of the Roberts settlement, and not disclosing what was done with those funds to the tenants. Why do you care if that money is going towards tenant issues or to other non-disclosed activities?
2) Accepting funds from the city council/Dan Garodnick coffers, and not disclosing what was done with those funds to tenants. These politicians are our friends and everything they do is legit, so we really should be grateful that Dan and the city council are remembering our hardworking TA when shelling out taxpayer money!
3) Running a Facebook page. I mean, do they really need to do anything more than this? This is a major accomplishment in and of itself.
4) They prepare to challenge MCI's, but realize that they are going to lose yet again so they just make it seem like they put up a fight. Hey, it's the thought that counts, right?
5) They hold super-duper secret meetings with management, and don't disclose what is discussed with the tenants. Why do you want to know what's discussed anyway?? It's not like you live here or anything like that.
6) Because management is an unwilling partner at these super-duper secret meetings, they have to fight them tooth and nail on everything. Don't forget, these fighters are volunteers, so we shouldn't expect them to fight as hard as someone who was getting paid would fight.
7) They are totally transparent. From opening their books on a yearly basis to using their real names on Facebook (I guess sometimes it's just easier for them to use Peter Stuyvesant), transparency is at the forefront of everything they do.
8) Are you having a problem with heat, noise, dorm construction, etc.? Call Rick! How much more proactive could you ask for? They don't have time to deal with your silly complaints, so just talk to Rick. I mean Rick told you guys to go directly to the Con Ed plant with any heating issues, so the TA is just following his lead and sending all of us to Rick. You'd be surprised how much time that frees up for them to get to the bottom of the real issues that the tenants here face.
9) They put together a bid with Dan and the nicest of all real estate companies, Brookfield, to buy this place. Like with the MCI challenges they came up just short, but we have peace of mind knowing that they teamed up with a great company.
10) And finally, they have meetings!! There is nothing I like better than to spend my Sunday at JHS104 listening to them praise themselves, the politicians, and Blackstone. Do we really need peace-and-quiet and heat when we can all just be a part of these lovefests? I know I don't.
Now that I have gotten the ball rolling, I hope others will join in and add any TA accomplishments that I may have forgotten. I'm sure I forgot plenty.
Again I repeat ad nauseum, the TA is REQUIRED to open their books.
Where did the Roberts Settlement monies go?
Where are the minutes to the board meetings?
Who are the Building Captains?
Why the SECRECY?
A fraudulent, possibly criminal organization?
>>Now that I have gotten the ball rolling, I hope others will join in and add any TA accomplishments that I may have forgotten. I'm sure I forgot plenty.<<
You are joking, right? Or just provoking? If those are answers, they are pretty pathetic.
>>Why do you care if that money is going towards tenant issues or to other non-disclosed activities?<<
Amazing response. Must be joking....
Yes STR, my post with the 10 TA accomplishments is 100% satire!!
I figured it would give the person who keeps asking for a TA accomplishment a little chuckle. It should also be noted that the 10 "accomplishments" I mentioned are actually thing that trouble me a great deal about this group.
Yup. Money, money.
https://nypost.com/2018/01/18/cuomo-panel-to-unveil-traffic-congestion-fee-plan/
The Tenant Association Building Captain is the person who came to your apartment uninvited to get information about whether or not you are buying your apartment just after the Brookfield Partnership announcement. Comments on this blog exposed the Tenant Association for keeping a grid of who is buying and who is not.
Then suspiciously management sent golub notices to those who told the TA Building Captains that they were not planning on buying their apartments. More aggressively and mean-spirited other nonbuyers were harassed by management leasing neighboring apartments to the frat house that had loud parties to force the nonbuyers out. The frat house suspiciously was always next door to those not planning on buying their apartments.
Are you seriously suggesting that the TA was in bed with Management to try to remove tenants living here?? Let's see your concrete, verifiable proof of that. Don't have any? That's because it doesn't exist. Why? Because it never happened. Anything nefarious of that kind was done SOLELY by Tishman or CWCapital. Tishman hired a private detective who used public records (and, who knows, maybe some not so public records) to find out who had homes elsewhere, which isn't prohibited under rent stabilization, and then proceeded to send those people golub notices, whether they were legitimately, legally allowed to do so or not. I know it's easier and more fun to trash the TA than to get your facts straight, but you just end up looking like a fool with your baseless accusations when you don't. And it was also SOLELY Tishman and CWCapital's tactic to actively harass rent-stabilized tenants living here by subjecting them to all kinds of disruptive neighbors and then doing nothing when the affected tenants complained. Again, get your facts straight. You don't seem to have a clue about what really happened here and are spewing mis-information due to your ignorance.
"Who wants to take a bet that all the Captains and Minions are Brookfield Tenant Association Condo-Conversion Partnership Members with a mission to eliminate 90% of the rent stabilized tenants so they can convert to condos? Isn't that the legal number, 90% market rate for a conversion to condo?"
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. The "building captains" are long-time tenants who are doing a volunteer job for the TA. The term "building captain" came about many years ago when the TA was a true representative of tenants. It's just an old-fashioned term for volunteers who undertake to deliver TA material in their buildings. If you look at the TA official site (not the Facebook page) they ask for volunteers they ask for volunteers to become Building Leaders. They don't use the term "Captain" anymore. So calm down. I have cut and pasted the blurb from the TA site that covers this topic.
"The ST-PCV Tenants Association does not have paid staff. We rely on the hard work of dedicated volunteers.
Volunteers are deeply engaged in our community and fulfill important roles within the TA including petitioning, phone banking, distributing handouts, assisting with rallies, and assisting with our Message Center.
Become a Building Leader
Building leaders have a critical role in community outreach efforts by fostering relations with tenants, and recruit and maintain a network of floor volunteers within their own building. For those interested in being a building leader please indicate it in the comments section of the volunteer sign-up."
Regarding the post on the TA fb page that had the comments turned off and then back on: I suspect it was because there was reference to Donald J. Trump and the TA didn't want to start a thread of political comments and the inevitable rancorous arguments that would ensue. I'm not a fan of the TA, but sometimes the conspiracy theories floated on this blog get a bit ridiculous.
January 19, 2018 at 9:48 AM - your post made my day! It really did give me a chuckle. Loved it!
Again 1;47, you must be able to name me one recent accomplishment of the TA? You certainly have long winded responses in their defense, and you can rattle off all the things they don’t do.
I have a very very tough time believing that you keep defending a group who hasn’t defended the tenants in years, and are not a member of the TA board.
1. CLASS ACTION ie. Roberts
2. Overcharges - why is there a J51 on apartments that cost over 4500 dollars a month? Does Blackstone legally accept this rent under J51?
3. Fake MCIs
Actually we did have to meet the legal requirement of the property composition to be 85% buyers and 15% renters for the conversion. That is actually true.
It's seems that regularly I have to call attention to this, atop on the main page:
NOTE: Comments reflect the opinions of the person writing them and should not be assumed to reflect the opinion of the blog.
I asked at least 10 neighbors in my building today if they knew anything about a building captain. Each person said NO! How in the world is this captain supposed to report back to the TA board on issues and concerns of the building if nobody in the building knows who this person is?
This can not be information for a select few, it needs to be made aware to all. Again, if it is not something the volunteer can handle, than they should step aside and let someone who can handle it to do the job.
3:40
Do you have one recent TA accomplishment for me??? I still wait while you continue to defend the group, furthering my belief that you are on the board. Why anyone else would defend a group that they can’t name a single accomplishment for is beyond me.
4:33, those are not recent. Those are not even remotely recent. I am well aware that the TA used to be successful at fighting the fight, but I need a success story from the last decade. Roberts settlement and MCI challenges do not fall under the recent TA leaderships.
Nice try though!
Check out T&V article about the opening of the new Mount Sinai facility. Susan Steinberg is there, along with a bunch of politicians. That woman would show up for a photo-op with politicians if it was at the opening of a drain. SMFH. What a loser!
8:07 PM
Hope you're planning to run for seat on the TA Board. If you want to see change, that's the way to do it.
If Susan were having press conferences on a monthly basis to go after management for the issues we face every day, I would be all for it. Hell, I wouldn’t mind if she showed up for these pressers in conjunction with press conferences regarding tenant battles, but there is none of that. She hasn’t addressed a damn thing in a long long time, but will show up for any press conference that she can. She also makes sure she is front and center in all of them. Talk about someone with an ego!
If only the vestibule rapists were merely “virtual”!
8:18
I have no interest in being a part of this board. I just left the TA after 25 years, why would I want to go back? As I’ve stated, I personally know how they work, and unless there is a complete overhaul of the board, there is no way to make inroads with the current group in charge. They will push the person they want to win. They will tell the members of the TA (almost all their friends) who they think is the best candidate and that person would get voted in. I’ve seen it happen for 10 years now, so please don’t try and tell me that this is not how things happen, because it is.
And if a newbie with great ideas were to get voted in, they are still in the minority, therefore rendering them useless. Give me a whole new board, which does not include our city councilman and a mayoral aide, than we will talk about change.
More people complaining about lack of heat, and although it is fairly nice outside, that does not mean that the heat should get shut off. Some older tenants and babies need that heat. With that being said, hopefully that woman isn’t expecting any results from posting on the TA Facebook page, because she ain’t gonna get any.
>>Hope you're planning to run for seat on the TA Board. If you want to see change, that's the way to do it.<<
I don't know to whom to comment is addressed. If it's to me, I've already stated that I don't meet the requirement. There are other reasons, of course, but that stops me before anything else.
I know very elderly people who live here and they are shivering in their apartments and just cannot get warm. It is dangerous for a very elderly person to put the oven on to keep warm and if they have space heaters there is a bigger risk of a fire because the elderly tend to keep a lot of newspapers and paperwork around. I've noticed that that is a bit of a "old-age habit!" There is a greater risk of fire in an elderly person's apartment.
In apartments with babies and young children, space heaters are a hazard as tiny hands are all over everything from the moment they start to crawl!
The only people who are probably not affected (or don't mind) are the students because they are young, healthy and usually outdoors a lot of the time. Their apartments are so overcrowded, the body heat probably keeps them warm.
This landlord is the biggest cheapskate when it comes to heat. It rivals NYCHA and Scrooge!
Most people don’t meet the requirement to run for the board, and that is being a member of that lousy group. I wouldn’t pay 50 cents, let alone $50 just to run for the board. Open it up to all tenants and I think things will be different, maybe.
>>Hope you're planning to run for seat on the TA Board. If you want to see change, that's the way to do it.<<
I don't know to whom to comment is addressed. If it's to me, I've already stated that I don't meet the requirement. There are other reasons, of course, but that stops me before anything else.
If you look more carefully, you'll see that it was directed to 8:07PM (January 19).
@1:40 PM, if we were living in a really well-maintained, decent apartment complex we would not be begging for heat from a bloodsucking, UNIVERSALLY NOTORIOUS, bad (as in really bad) landlord. Blackstone is notorious (make that infamous) throughout the world for buying up properties and putting the tenants through Hell in order to churn the apartments and get more and more rent to the level of beyond what the market will bear for the types of tarted-up, schlock job apartments they offer.
DeBlasio, Garodnick and our corrupt and putrid "Tenants Association" touted the Blackstone purchase as the greatest thing since the invention of penicilin. I'm not blaming them for the purchase because some other bunch of bloodsucking vermin would have done what Blackstone did, but the way the purchase was presented to us as such a good thing and a feather in De Blasio's cap was totally contrary to reality and the way the Tenant Association leaders had orgasmic adoration for Rick the Dick, Garodnick (ugh, makes my skin crawl), De Blasio (as corrupt and thick as drain muck) is what really galls me. We were purchased by a notorious predator that as a corporate entity and to a man, has no conscience or sense of decency whatsoever. We have to live with it so long as we choose to live here (some of us have little choice). Just please don't make me vomit by telling me how great Blackstone is and how hard our Tenants Association works on our behalf. I can take the truth on the chin, but I detest liars.
Ya hear this Susan, and other TA big shots? What I am saying is what many others feel, but don't say. Just disband your silly Tenants Association and go away. You do not speak for any of us tenants and haven't done so for many years.
7:07
If you can name me one recent accomplishment within the past 5 years that this TA has accomplished under this leadership, than I will seriously consider sending over my membership dues and application to run for the board today.
This is the “largest and most powerful TA in the country,” so I’m not sure why this has been so hard to come up with.
Wow, who called in the Gestapo over at the TA Facebook page??? You seriously have to friend request Peter Stuyvesant?? I can’t leave my page private?? This group gets more pathetic by the minute and their craving for power needs to be stopped.
Enough is enough. This tenants of this property need a real TA, not a joke.
I might add this property is the perfect addition to Blackstone. Each time they get rid of a MR tenant or an older tenant the RS weakens and the law goes away. Its in the best interest of Blackstone to have all of us move out. Their ultimate goal is not of any normal landlord. You are missing the point of their strategy. Dig deeper. RS will be virtually gone soon as they hide behind DHCR and Albany.
Vallone, Jerry Speyer, Mario Cuomo, the names of who argued dire straits if Bloomberg did not get a third term even after a second term of little to no accomplishments for the Public. All who made big bank from the second and third terms and what they hid as they argued doom will occur if their Mayor does not get a third term.
https://www.villagevoice.com/2008/11/19/the-transformation-of-mike-bloomberg/
Wow, who called in the Gestapo over at the TA Facebook page??? You seriously have to friend request Peter Stuyvesant?? I can’t leave my page private??
Why are you making such a big deal out of the TA's entirely reasonable approach to joining their FB Page?
From the TA's FB page:
HOW TO JOIN THE GROUP TO MAKE POSTS
(Any Facebook member may view the group.)
Send a Friend request to “Peter Stuyvesant”. Then request access to the group. If you fail to Friend Peter Stuyvesant your request will be denied.
We do this so that only legitimate residents with Facebook profiles that carry significant, verifiable activity can post in this group. (Please see our note to Sockpuppets/Impostors below.) We try to review requests daily, but as volunteers reviews may take longer.
Once you are in the group, feel free to de-friend Peter Stuyvesant. We only look at your profile once to make sure you are not a commercial spammer or a bot.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/stpcvta/about/
2:20 - I am going to continue going after the TA for their shady ways until you can come up with one recent accomplishment. It has been days that I have been asking you this, and you just keep getting defensive. If you aren’t on the board, than why do you defend a group that hasn’t done a damn thing.
As for Facebook, I have lived here for 46 years, and not a thing on my page would show Peter Stuyvesant that I live here. Do a few tough questions like the Stuy Town in the 1950-60’s page to weed out non-residents, but no way should anyone friend request a group of people hiding behind an alias.
Flashback
https://nyulocal.com/trump-considering-buying-nyu-non-dorm-stuy-town-9203da8da429
NYU Local
Feb 1, 2010
Trump Considering Buying NYU Non-Dorm Stuy-Town
By Kenneth Hsu
A week after Tishman Speyer and Black Rock Realty finally announced they would return Stuy-Town to their creditors, several big names have expressed interest in buying or managing the complex, including the ever humble, unpretentious Donald Trump.
According to the Post, Trump said that the Trump Organization was looking at NYU’s unofficial 25th dorm “very seriously.” The Post also noted that Stuy-Town could possibly be renamed Trump Town, but because it’s the Post, we’re not sure if that’s a joke.
Boston real estate developer Winncompanies and billionaire Wilbur Ross have also expressed interest in Stuy-Town, which has over 11,000 units (110 buildings) on the East Side. The downside of buying Stuy-Town, however, is that the new owner would be obligated to pay about $200 million in rent overages from previous legal issues with tenants.
But new, heavily-financed management will likely serve as a long overdue change for tenants, who were supposedly victim to sketchy (mis)management and poor conditions the past few years. As my unidentified Nat Sci lab partner, a Stuy-Town resident, told me, “Dude, I have absolutely no idea what’s going on. We get letters everyday and nothing changes.”
What change in ownership would mean for NYU students is unclear. Vivek explained in this post that “many of the older residents (read: middle-class and retired tenants who were there before Tishman Speyer’s acquisition) long for a return to the simpler and more affordable days of Stuy-Town.” Not to be outdone, commenter Roger Roundly — apparently one of those older residents — suggested that all those NYU tenants should transfer to the University of Michigan, because it’s far from Manhattan but still provides a quality education.
So, University of Michigan: NYU’s newest dorm?
And 2:20, I want to make myself clear about a few things regarding the TA. There are some wild TA conspiracy theories that people spew on this blog. Things like the TA board members having leases at multiple apartments, or that they are somehow working for management and gaining tenant information through building captains. I do not buy any of that crap for a second. I like to arm myself with facts, and as far as I'm concerned there is no validity to some of these wild claims.
Here are some FACTS that make me distrust the TA:
FACT - The TA received a large sum of money from the Roberts settlement - https://town-village.com/2017/03/23/last-of-roberts-cash-will-go-to-ta-psll/
FACT - The TA has still not disclosed where this large sum of money went.
FACT - There is something called the STPCV Tenants Association Foundation, Inc. This group received over $25,000 in FY2016 and FY2017 from the City Council and Dan. I certainly have not seen $50k worth of newsletters sent out, which is what is says the money is for. What exactly is this foundation???
https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2016/05/FY17-Schedule-C.pdf
http://www.nyc.gov/html/citycouncil/html/budget/expense_funding.shtml (Type in "STPCV" in the organization name)
FACT - The TA, along with Dan, praised the Blackstone deal while essentially leaving the tenants out to dry under the guise of saving affordable housing. $3000 for a 1bedroom is not affordable housing, and the pieces of this lousy deal will become much clearer as the years go on.
https://town-village.com/2015/12/18/blackstone-ivanhoe-cambridge-take-ownership-of-stuy-town/
http://www.garodnick.com/dan-at-work/remarks-to-stpcv-tenants-association-10-24-2015
FACT - TA meetings are political grandstanding at its worst!
https://town-village.com/2016/10/21/local-pols-rick-hayduk-will-speak-at-oct-22-st-pcv-tenants-association-meeting/
FACT - They have not won and MCI challenge (at least of any significance) since late 2013.
https://town-village.com/2016/08/22/mcis-for-facade-work-at-peter-cooper-buildings-approved/
https://town-village.com/2014/09/04/dhcr-rejects-tas-objection-to-mcis-for-roof-elevator-projects/
As you can see, the facts are there, and the facts do not paint a pretty picture of this group. And this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of actual facts that are out there regarding this group, and facts don't lie. But again, you can continue defending them as I know you will.
are we never getting a real or new and honest TA?
"no way should anyone friend request a group of people hiding behind an alias."
Very Wise Words.
RE Trump considering buying StuyTown. The StuyTown sale just like all NYC real estate sales are a competition of who's who of who gets to curry favor with what foreign money launderers. No interested buyer was ever going to do anything other than launder money, evict, demolish, develop, flip.
The democrats with the Chinese? The Republicans with the Russians? Not to be left out of course is the Middle East Dubai, Israel who works with both parties. The politicians had two choices: to 1) let StuyTown be another of New York City's foreign money laundering vehicles or to 2) let American citizens living there buy StuyTown. The democrats and the Republicans chose number 1.
SOUND THE ALARMS STR!!!!
Guess what, got my 1099 from JP Morgan interest statement. We are all not going to get a interest check anymore. They are keeping the whole thing now, because they are now entitled to keep 1 percent of your rent security deposit, effective 6/17. Check out RGB FACT SHEET# 9 Security Deposit. This is unbelievable!! You here this Danny Boy? TA?
@ 7:48 PM Over 1,500 other people have done what was asked of them in order to join the TA's FB page, but, if you don't want to, have it your way. You can read their FB page, but you won't be able to comment.
And, just so you know, while I don't disagree with everything that you've said about the TA, you have also said a number of things that are incorrect/misunderstood/distorted. For example, on the MCI challenges. The deck is stacked against tenants in Albany when it comes to MCI challenges. If you know the history of DHCR, the agency responsible for approving MCIs, you would know this. If you want to know more about why we have so much trouble wining MCIs, you should contact the TA's excellent lawyer directly. His name is Tim Collins. http://collinsdobkinmiller.com/contact.html.
Finally, I want to repeat that I am NOT on the TA board. I'm just a concerned, well informed tenant who, for decades, has carefully followed what goes on around here. I also want to say that I won't be posting here again. I can see that there's no point in spending anymore time or energy here.
Does anyone suffer from mildew in their apartment?
Does anyone suffer from mold in their apartment?
Does anyone have "wet wall" in their apartment?
Has anyone endured multiple episodes of extended mildew/mold/"wet wall" or leaks?
Has anyone experienced mildew/mold/"wet wall" or leaks in at least two different areas of their apartment?
HAS ANYONE SUFFERED FROM ALLERGIC RESPONSES TO MOLD/MILDEW?
Thanks
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