The Oval looks a little too pristine. Makes me nervous. Let's mess it up.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
I'm So EXCITED!!!
Property Update from PCVST informs us that the former space at the Oval for Public Safety will be relaunching as... Oval Studio! This "dynamic" space will host such novel activities as....
Yoga
Pilates
Children's Music and Sing-a-Long
Children's Dance
Way to go, CWCapital!
The new Oval Studio should be finished in two months, long before all the Sandy affected buildings in Peter Cooper Village get back to 100%.
No word yet if "Dog Yoga" will be part of the programing, but we hope so!
About those apartment renovations....
Interesting thread on noise and apartment renovations in this forum.... Of course, there's the typical "this is New York, so get used to noise or move" response from some of the commentators.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-york-city/1779068-construction-noise-demo-renovation-apartment-above.html
This is even more interesting, because the tenant confirmed that there was also an asbestos problem with the renovation. The hoops the tenant had to go through will make you depressed.
http://www.tenant.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8616&sid=29cb5691789e4762e030706cab965aba
http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-york-city/1779068-construction-noise-demo-renovation-apartment-above.html
This is even more interesting, because the tenant confirmed that there was also an asbestos problem with the renovation. The hoops the tenant had to go through will make you depressed.
http://www.tenant.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8616&sid=29cb5691789e4762e030706cab965aba
Monday, March 3, 2014
Citywide Housing Campaign Launch - Thursday, 11am, City Hall
A STR reader alerted me to this, so for what it's worth....
http://metcouncilonhousing.org/
- TIME TO TAKE BACK OUR CITY -
http://metcouncilonhousing.org/
- TIME TO TAKE BACK OUR CITY -
A
broad coalition of labor unions, community based organizations, tenant
associations, and other housing advocates will launch a citywide housing
campaign on the steps of City Hall, Thursday March 6 at 11am.
The campaign will focus on key issues and opportunities to show how city government can increase real affordability in housing for all residents. This coalition will build power to move campaigns that focus on preserving affordable housing, ending homelessness, and the responsible development of new affordable housing.
The campaign will focus on key issues and opportunities to show how city government can increase real affordability in housing for all residents. This coalition will build power to move campaigns that focus on preserving affordable housing, ending homelessness, and the responsible development of new affordable housing.
|
This
is a campaign that will prioritize the New Yorkers left behind by
Bloomberg’s housing and development agenda. It’s a campaign to enable
our communities to gain access to permanently affordable housing. It
will be waged through organizing, major report roll outs, and
hard-hitting media work. The
coalition's launch will feature a report documenting Bloomberg's
housing failures, and show that his "affordable housing" agenda shut out
those in need of real affordability.
The campaign launch will cap off an amazing week for tenants: on March 4, tenants are planning a protest of real estate baron Joe Sitt at the LandlordsNY Symposium (contact jdelvalle@fifthave.org for more info) and a demand for Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning (contact ericka.s@anhd.org tor rsvp). But whatever you do, don't miss the launch of the citywide campaign that will win Real Affordability for All!
What: Citywide Housing Campaign Launch
When: Thursday, March 6, 11:00am
Where: City Hall Steps
The campaign launch will cap off an amazing week for tenants: on March 4, tenants are planning a protest of real estate baron Joe Sitt at the LandlordsNY Symposium (contact jdelvalle@fifthave.org for more info) and a demand for Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning (contact ericka.s@anhd.org tor rsvp). But whatever you do, don't miss the launch of the citywide campaign that will win Real Affordability for All!
What: Citywide Housing Campaign Launch
When: Thursday, March 6, 11:00am
Where: City Hall Steps
For more information, contact us at jaron@metcouncilonhousing.org.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
The Oval: RIP
I have a feeling I may already have titled a post "The Oval: RIP," or something similar, several months ago, but today's impression, when I saw how the new Public Safety office looks from across the Oval, solidifies the harmful, negative change that CWCapital has burdened this community with. No more is the Oval a haven, no more a tranquil area where one is not aware of being in Manhattan. A good part of this change occurred in the summer when all the lush foliage around the Oval was removed and replaced by scattered low plantings, but now we have the Public Safety office, from which there is no visual escape, except if you hug the most southern central part of the Oval. The new structure simply dominates the Oval.
The photograph below doesn't do justice to this visual intrusion. You really have to be in the Oval to get a sense of how intrusive is the Public Safety office, with its outside generators and "parking lot"--all of which are built upon a rise, making the entirety that much more visually dominant. The Oval has never seen such a dominating structure before. They even capped it with a white-silvery top that calls attention to itself.
And because of the eradication of high foliage last year, there will be no cover, even when things start blooming again around Stuyvesant Town. Click on photos to make them larger.
BTW, do note that the Christmas decorations on the pine tree are still up!!!
Meanwhile, as I was taking the above photo, I was able to see a banned, unregistered dog being casually walked around the Oval, the owner unconcerned:
And three areas of dog crap that were already stepped on and spread about:
The photograph below doesn't do justice to this visual intrusion. You really have to be in the Oval to get a sense of how intrusive is the Public Safety office, with its outside generators and "parking lot"--all of which are built upon a rise, making the entirety that much more visually dominant. The Oval has never seen such a dominating structure before. They even capped it with a white-silvery top that calls attention to itself.
And because of the eradication of high foliage last year, there will be no cover, even when things start blooming again around Stuyvesant Town. Click on photos to make them larger.
A zoom in:
BTW, do note that the Christmas decorations on the pine tree are still up!!!
Meanwhile, as I was taking the above photo, I was able to see a banned, unregistered dog being casually walked around the Oval, the owner unconcerned:
And three areas of dog crap that were already stepped on and spread about:
Stuy Slum Lives!
If I were steward of this place, like CWCapital is, I would be supremely embarrassed by photos such as these. But I guess they have no shame. Because nothing is being done to alleviate the situation of banned breeds being walked in the complex and the many areas of unpicked dog crap.
Meanwhile, the next item of interest will be to see what will take the place of the former Public Safety office:
What's the betting that it will be a money making venture?
If I were steward of this place, like CWCapital is, I would be supremely embarrassed by photos such as these. But I guess they have no shame. Because nothing is being done to alleviate the situation of banned breeds being walked in the complex and the many areas of unpicked dog crap.
Meanwhile, the next item of interest will be to see what will take the place of the former Public Safety office:
Saturday, March 1, 2014
A Walk Through "A Park Runs Through It"
STPCV was promoted during the Tishman-Speyer days as "A Park Runs Through It," so I thought it would be nice on this sunny Saturday to take a brief tour.
The fencing around the construction of the new management office now contains Orwellian/The Village (a la "The Prisoner") signs that are quite amusing...
The fencing around the construction of the new management office now contains Orwellian/The Village (a la "The Prisoner") signs that are quite amusing...
"More Convenient. More Attentive." Promises, promises.
Not to worry: "More Family. More Fun"!!!
The artist makes the new playground look like the size of a football field!
What's behind the fence.
Meanwhile, nearby, dog crap!
A new place to dump garbage, it seems: the back of buildings!
Throughout the complex, fences are in ruins.
I don't think the wind did this. Perhaps it's the entrance to a make-shift dog run.
"A Slum Runs Through It"
If it's vandalism, our award-winning security system, for which we all are paying an MCI, must have already tagged the culprits.
PCV: Now if I see this, why can't management? public safety? maintenance? Hello, is anyone there?
Of course, if we had "boots on the ground," something like this would have been spotted and repaired within half an hour.
Nearby... dog crap again!
Yes, Councilman Dan Garodnick's garbage is still being placed outside his luxury PCV building.
I've never seen it so bad here....
I've never seen it so bad here, so mismanaged with an obvious disdain for tenants from management. And there's hollow silence from the TA and our councilman (who, I believe, still has to take his garbage outside of his PCV building) on several key matters of concern. Perhaps, in the spirit of "need to know," things are "in the works" from the TA and Garodnick that we are not being told about. We do know about the years-long-held fantasy of tenant ownership of this complex. The answer to all our problems, they say.
The TA Facebook page is still a valuable source of tenants' frustrations, however. We read that noisy work on the new Public Safety office was being done even at 10pm (that's not a typo), that an important notice about storage units was handed out with just a three-day window of opportunity for affected tenants to act on, that there's been no progress on the MCIs, or if there has been, it's--surprise, surprise--a secret, that locked bicycles have been removed without notice from management and other bicycles stolen with no clue as to the perpetrators, despite the fact that we have an award-winning security system in place, that maintenance workers are now being used tospy on check apartments for lease violations. And no one knows anything about the soil samples and possible contamination of soil at the area where the new management office is being built. (The website that was monitoring this has slowed down to a stop.) Of course, we still have dog crap about the complex and outsiders walking their pit bulls and German shepherds through the complex with Public Safety seemingly oblivious to the fact, or, by now, just not caring anymore. We still have nighttime noise coming from partying students, etc., etc.
But we all are getting candy vending machines in laundry rooms.
The TA Facebook page is still a valuable source of tenants' frustrations, however. We read that noisy work on the new Public Safety office was being done even at 10pm (that's not a typo), that an important notice about storage units was handed out with just a three-day window of opportunity for affected tenants to act on, that there's been no progress on the MCIs, or if there has been, it's--surprise, surprise--a secret, that locked bicycles have been removed without notice from management and other bicycles stolen with no clue as to the perpetrators, despite the fact that we have an award-winning security system in place, that maintenance workers are now being used to
But we all are getting candy vending machines in laundry rooms.
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