The TA Petition to de Blasio

Can't hurt to sign it:

http://www.change.org/petitions/bill-de-blasio-appoint-tenant-friendly-members-to-the-rent-guidelines-board-3

So What Came Out of the Tenant-CW Meeting on the Construction of the New Management Office?

It appears, not much, if anything.

I wasn't there (though I wish I could have been), but according to the Town & Village article on the February 18th meeting, "End in Sight for Construction Project," no vital information was forthcoming. Just the title chosen--"End in Sight for Construction Project"--was not eye-opening, as, of course, the end is always in sight for any project here in Stuy Town (except fixing the buildings affected by Hurricane Sandy), and it was already known that the spring or summer would be the "end in sight" for this particular one. So yawn on the title.

Apparently, "major construction" will be finished in May, with completion set for August.

And you can bet disruptive work will be done on Saturdays eventually:

"Andrew Kane of CW Capital said that updates are now being posted in individual buildings and that work starts at around 8:30 a.m. during the week. While they are trying to push all their work to during the week, weekend work is sometimes unavoidable, said Kane."

Questions about rent rebates during this time were not answered by CW and Compass Rock representatives, but this info wasn't in the Town & Village article. And nothing at all was mentioned about Councilman Garodnick challenging the acceptance of Saturday work hours for this project. (Which may mean that he didn't challenge such potential plans, despite being a sponsor of legislation to rein in such abuses.)

A couple of days later, a blue tarp covered a contaminated area of soil (soil samples were taken to be tested a week earlier), but nothing about this test appears to have been mentioned at the meeting. One wonders if CWC and CR knew the results as they were speaking to tenants on February 18th.

Councilman Dan Garodnick stated of CWCapital and CompassRock after the meeting that, "It’s important for them to share information about the project."  Which means that tenants should already know the results of the soil testing and why a blue tarp was necessary over part of the ground.

Welcome to My Nightmare

A comment on the TA Facebook page about the above new Public Safety Office located at the Oval:

"We are directly above them on the M level. That's our apartment right above the green monster. There are 4 HVAC units directly beneath our bedroom/bathroom windows. They've been testing those units out and the noise level prevents us from opening our windows, not to mention the exhaust fans that are on top of each unit. We used to look out at a green hill with trees - now we see an industrial park...bleak, noisy and toxic. We've lived through hell since the middle of November, with all of the deafening construction and toxic fumes that came up through the bathroom riser. We've contacted the management but so far no response..."

Real Estate Developers to de Blasio: "Just get out of the fucking way."

Can we get some new architects at least? These are as ugly as the souls of their real estate developers.

Another read-it-and-weep (or gnash-your-teeth) article about what's been happening to this city and who the real power players are.  And the definition of "affordable housing" is a joke, but even the people who qualify for "affordable housing" have to use the poor door.  (Thanks to a STR reader for alerting me to this important and well-researched article.)

http://observer.com/2014/02/is-manhattan-for-everyone-the-pied-a-terre-and-the-poor-door/

We, and New York City, are Screwed

We've already pointed out the pal relationship between the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) and our politicians, and here's the smackdown:

 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sky-limit-affordable-housing-mayor-de-blasio-article-1.1620714

Get ready for even taller skyscrapers and more densely packed neighborhoods.

Mayor de Blasio told a closed-door meeting of real estate barons Wednesday that he has no “hangup” about allowing them to supersize their developments if it means creating more affordable housing.

“As we get to know each other . . . I hope people hear me loud and clear that the only way I can achieve my goals is if we are building and building aggressively,” he said.

“I’m deadly serious about 200,000 units of affordable housing.”

Leaving no doubt what he meant, de Blasio said reaching his housing goals would require erecting the biggest buildings possible.

He called it a “willingness to use height and density to the maximum feasible extent. This is something I’ve said in our previous meetings I don’t have a hangup about. I think it’s necessary to do what I’m here to do.”

De Blasio made his remarks to the executive board of the Real Estate Board of New York, known as REBNY, where he was warmly received.

"Stuy Town is a campus"

Well, I guess we knew that, but here's confirmation, nevertheless.  (Hat tip to STR blog reader.)

http://nyunews.com/2014/02/20/stuytown/

Do note lack of mandated 80% carpeting, btw.

The comment section is priceless. There is, so far, one response from a NYU resident:

"I think all of the old residents on this page need to chill. I'm an NYU student and love Stuy town minus the gumpy tenants that are posting here. Jon, did you really say no drinking? What is Stuytown Amish now? Did I miss something?

"So what if I like to have some fun with friends past 8pm (aka your bedtime)? I pay full price for my apartment unlike all of you rent controlled dinosaurs. If I want to tan on the Oval, I'll tan on the Oval. And Gilbert, if you're ball 'accidentally' finds it's way to my eye, me and my bro's fists might just 'accidentally' find it's way to your face."

Though I'm sure this isn't the attitude of most students living (temporarily) here, I bet it's one that's held by many, particularly the macho bros.

The scandal is that renting to transient residents like students increases legally the rents in PCVST. The landlord(s) know this and work it to best advantage.

The Repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act

There's a view that the repeal in 1999 of this Depression era act led to our country's financial crisis and, also importantly, took away criminal offenses from what entities like Tishman-Speyer tried to do with PCVST.

The repeal was supported by both Republicans and Democrats.



An opinion piece at US News & World Report explains further:

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2012/08/27/repeal-of-glass-steagall-caused-the-financial-crisis

Urstadt

The article is a few years old, from 2010.

The man behind the law:

http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_357/urstadt.html

The money quote, to me:

"Urstadt said City Councilmembers and even an ACORN representative have privately thanked him for the Urstadt Law."