Once Upon a Midnight Dream....

Holiday Season Message to the Tenants of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village from Tishman Speyer (A Fantasy in One Act)

Dear ST/PCV tenants:

We at Tishman Speyer realize that we've been on the wrong footing with our Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village tenants for a while now. We admit that our management skills regarding this property and you, the tenants, have been sorely lacking. We also admit that we made a mistake in acquiring this property for such a lofty, credit-busting sum as 5.4 billion dollars. Nevertheless, what's done is done. Now, as the new year approaches, we have decided to turn over a new leaf, as it were, and rework our relationship with you and set in place a new commitment of service and dedication.

We will value all tenants--the market rate tenants, as well as the rent stabilized tenants. This means that market rate tenants will not see exorbitant raises in their leases and that rent-stabilized tenants will not have to fear unwarranted Golub notices or spying, via Key Cards, to make sure they are where they are supposed to be.

We will not cultivate an attitude toward our seniors of waiting with impatience to see them move on to the great beyond so that we can turn their apartments to market rate ones. We particularly value our seniors who have worked and struggled in this city, and have brought up ST/PCV families here. These seniors are the golden treasures of our complex, and we wish them many healthy and prosperous years to come. Seniors, we will always be there for you and your concerns.

Oh, and those Key Cards--forget about them! We are doing away with them and going back to the traditional method of opening doors--with a key. No more will you have to drudge over to the far end of Stuyvesant Town at Ave C to pick up a card for yourself or your guest, and wait among the crowds--or worse, be shut out half an hour before closing because the staff there do not want to work overtime.

We will work closely with the Tenants Association and form a partnership with them, so that all the issues that affect you--from laundry room problems to filthy hallways, from lack of heat to overheating--will be dealt with correctly and expeditiously. We will have management do periodic reviews of the interior of each building to make sure it looks like a decent place to live. Expect fresh coats of paint and easy to clean faux-marble floors where there now exists stinky and dirty industrial carpeting.

We make a commitment to you to listen to your problems and respond to your phone-calls, instead of ignoring them, as we have been wont to do. So, if we can't respond to you right then and there, expect a return call that day--or the next at the latest. We will stop outsourcing our billing questions to foreign countries where none of your questions can be answered, even after a dozen attempts.

We will decrease the amount of NYU students here. It's not that I, nor you, dislike students (we all were students once and some of us have children who are students), but we have begun to realize that having an influx of this type of transient element here is destabilizing to the tenant environment we wish to cultivate. There's a reason for the existence of dorms and Stuyvesant Town was never intended to be a dorm.

We will set aside 5% of newly available apartments to returning veterans from the Iraq War. Their rents will be the medium rent of current rent-stabilized tenants. This will be our company's way of not only saying thank you to these service men and women, but will reflect upon the original values of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village, built as a haven for veterans after World War II. Furthermore, in an effort to continue the honorable tradition that Stuy Town was founded on, we will stop market rate tenancy at 50%. The remaining 50% will be secured for affordable middle-class housing, to include the veterans already mentioned. The middle class is the true heart and soul of New York, and we do not want to lose such a class forever.

The Oval Essentials have been a bust, and rightly so. We created these to sell the complex to upscale prospective market rate tenants, but these essentials have created division, while eliciting cruel laughter, also. We cannot do away with these spaces at this point, but we will free up the Essentials, with periodic open houses and a rotating plan of availability of use for all tenants.

To celebrate the New Year and our new commitment to you, there will be a New Year's Eve party for Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village tenants at the Oval, catered by some of the best food establishments in the city. We promise not to serve soggy wraps or luke-warm lasagna at this event, and will provide fresh baked goods from Veniero's and De Robertis Pasticceria.

Unlike other events that were, we admit, used for promotional purposes, this one will not have our photographers or video people present, nor will we try to sell you anything. So goodbye to that ever-present red Verizon FiOS stand. This event is for you, period.

This will be an expensive party, to be sure, but it is our way of thanking you for putting up with all the construction this past year, the confusion, and the disregard we have had for you.

Above all, we want to establish a new partnership with you, as we value all of you, not only as tenants, but as human beings. We hope that as we show that we value and respect you, that you will return the favor. All of us, united, can move forward in these troubling times with decency and concern for our fellow man.

All this is our commitment to you.

Thank you, and have a Happy Holiday Season and a Great New Year,

Jerry & Rob Speyer

Alert: Rally to Repeal Vacancy Decontrol - Tuesday 6:30 - 8:30 PM at 64th St. and C.P.W.

From the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village
Tenants Association:

- All Buildings

Greetings!

Tenant Announcements

To know your neighbor is to keep your neighbor. Market Rate neighbors don't have a chance to stay your neighbor. Help give them that chance and help preserve affordable housing for future generations of all New Yorkers. Support, demand, and rally for the repeal of Vacancy Decontrol.

Tenant friendly State Senators now control the Senate
for the first time in 43 years.

The Gang of Three have settled, yielding Senate leadership to Malcolm Smith (D) of Queens. More below ...

The tide is turning. Make it happen!

NEXT WEEK!

12/9: Mass Rally to Repeal Vacancy Decontrol

Mass Rally to Save Rent-Regulated Housing!
Close the Vacancy Decontrol Loophole!

Tuesday, December 9th, 6:30pm-8:30pm - 64th and C.P.W.

ST/PCV-TA endorses this event and will have a delegation. Please help make it a big one by showing up.

Join a thousand tenants and allies in demanding our state politicians end vacancy decontrol and preserve rent-regulation.

Vacancy decontrol is the greatest threat to New York's affordable housing. This winter, we can end it and save 100,000 rent regulated units on the verge of elimination.

Through vacancy decontrol, landlords can take a vacant apartment out of rent-regulation when the rent-regulated tenant vacates.

Location:
Society for Ethical Culture
2 West 64th Street at Central Park West
1 train to 66th St; A, B, C, D to Columbus Circle
traducción espanol
wheelchair access
childcare provided

To RSVP, for more information, to volunteer, contact:
danielle AT housinghereandnow.org or 646-202-3962
http://newyorkisourhome.blogspot.com

****************
12/12: Annual New York State Policy Conference

Including a panel on repealing Vacancy Decontrol

Our allies at The Center for Working Families are hosting their annual New York State Policy Conference. Elected-officials, community advocates, constituency-based organizations and policy experts will gather to develop and unite around a common vision for progressive action in 2009. Join them and bring your voice to the table for housing justice.

"In This Together": Policies for the Common Good
Friday, December 12th, 9:00am to 3:00pm

Kimmel Center, New York University
60 Washington Square South, New York, NY
PLEASE RSVP Space is limited
Altaf@cwfny.org
(718) 222-5754, Ext. 240
Issue Panels include:
NYS POLICY SOLUTIONS FOR TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES * GREEN JOBS CLIMATE CHANGE * HOUSING * EQUITABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT JOBS * CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM
Speakers include:
Keynote: Steve Fraser, author, Wall Street: America's Dream Palace
Honorable Richard Brodsky, NYS Assembly
Andrea Batista Schlesinger, Drum Major Institute
Elisabeth Benjamin, Community Service Society
Annette Bernhardt, National Employment Law Project
Honorable Neil Breslin, NYS Senate
Carrie Brunk, New York Jobs with Justice
Lavon Chambers, Laborers Local 10
Peter Colavito, SEIU32BJ
Honorable Richard Gottfried, NYS Assembly
Adriene Holder, The Legal Aid Society, Tenant Member RGB
Keynote: Honorable Malcolm Smith, NYS Senate
Brad Lander, Pratt Center for Community Development
Myles Lennon, Urban Agenda NYC Apollo Alliance
Honorable Vito Lopez, NYS Assembly
Jim Tallon, President, United Hospital Fund
Bob Master, Comm. Workers of America
Frank Mauro, Fiscal Policy Institute
Mike McKee, Tenants PAC
Ed Ott, NYC Central Labor Council
Karen Scharff, Citizen Action of New York
Elizabeth Yeampierre, UPROSE NYC Environmental Justice Alliance
And many more!

***************

More on the Gang of Three settlement

More Albany News

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***********
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Please help defer the cost of legal, communication, and meeting expenses and save time and effort. Donate online.

The Case of the Missing Cabbages Still Not Explained

The Thursday edition of TOWN & VILLAGE contained an article "Disappearing plants in ST explained," which addressed the mystery of the disappearing plantings in front of Stuy Town's Community Center. According to a representative of Tishman Speyer in the by-line free article, "The begonias were recently removed as scheduled in order to protect them from exposure to the cold. They will be replaced this week with plantings that thrive in winter months."

Yes, but it wasn't begonias we were talking about. The cabbages, which thrive in winter months, arrived one week and were gone the next. So why was the cabbage patch put there and removed so quickly? If it's a mistake, say it's a mistake, and be done with it. And, yes, now the barren piece of ground is covered by different plantings.

The Case of the Missing TA

Have you heard from your Tenants Association? Have you seen its message board? Have you read on the main page of the TA's website an explanation of what the problem is?

The Case of the Missing Cabbages

There were thousands of them, all over Stuyvesant Town. Cabbages being planted either for their aesthetic value or for food for the Speyers when the economy really tanks and even the multi-millionaires will have to wait on the soup line.

A couple of weeks ago, Stuy Town workers were planting a nice cabbage patch covering the entire island area picture above, in front of the Community Center. One week they were there--all new plantings--and the next week they were gone!!!

Here today, gone tomorrow. But why?

There is no reasonable explanation for planting something one week and removing the plantings the next. Work hours, time, money, sweat wasted.

So, some "planner" screwed up, or else a new fact emerged about the cabbage patches. Perhaps it was found out that they are an excellent breeding ground and food source for vermin--like rats and mice. (I don't think we have any bunnies hopping around here in Stuy Town.)

There are still cabbage patches all around Stuy Town, but some have mysteriously disappeared after being newly planted. The people have a right to know why! At least for a good laugh at management and confirmation that these chumps have little idea what they are doing.

Tenants Association Problems

The Tenants Association message board has been down for maintenance (supposedly, that's the reason) for what seems three weeks. Initially there were promises of it being offline just for several days, but then the end day kept being progressively pushed back when the expectation never met the reality. It's still down, as of today.

I know some basics about message boards, but at this point I've no idea what is keeping that board offline for so long. It could very well be that one person is handling it all and doesn't have much time to spare to work on it. Or something else may be up.

Whatever the situation, the Tenants Association has been recently catching some flack from a small group of people over its perceived inactivity in the face of numerous concerns of the people who live in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Knowing what I know about such matters, it is my educated guess that the persons doing the work at the Association are limited in their time to handle all the matters that are either placed before them or that they can see for themselves. Perhaps the Association needs something as simple as volunteers, so that the gears can move more quickly and expeditiously.

There are, however, some genuine communication and transparency problems that should be addressed. Though I belong to the Association, I don't have a grasp of how decisions in the organization are made and who makes them. When the Tenants Association has a meeting, it is usually with politicians, who listen and address tenants concerns. And nothing gets done. What the Tenants Association should have are periodic meetings (certainly once every three or four months) for just the tenants, in which problems are brought up and potential solutions and strategies discussed and some hopefully set in motion.

The idea of tenants picketing Stuy Town's leasing office is a good one, but there are no voices in a tenants group situation, or leaders, who can chart a course for something like that without there being some get-together of tenants as I've suggested above.

Some of the problems with the TA have to do with the transitory nature of a good number of tenants in Stuy Town and Peter Cooper. NYU students, for instance, could care less about what happens here in five years or in one year. I even wonder how many market rate tenants are sincere about living in this complex for its duration, or if they have a sense that they may be transitory, too, given how much they are at the mercy of the landlord regarding their rents.

TA meetings are chiefly attended by seniors, which is unfortunate. Not because these are seniors (seniors can give Tishman Speyer more fight and hell than the youngesters can), but because we need everyone at those meetings who can possibly make it. Perhaps many people don't come because they have surrendered to the feeling that nothing can be done and that no positive change can occur. Which is also unfortunate. Because I do believe that with numbers and with planning we can accomplish much to make Stuy Town and Peter Cooper a better community than it currently is and where Tishman Speyer wants to take it.

Tishman Speyer to Hit ST/PCV with Huge MCI for Plantings

No, I haven't heard anything official, but it is a certainty that Tishman Speyer will ask for a huge MCI for the plantings the company has been doing (and in many cases redoing) all year. This massive project involved at least 200,000 plants, 10,000 trees and more than 3,000 shrubs, and it is still continuing, with newer plants, trees and shrubs either replacing earlier plantings (some of which have died) or filling in areas that lack such greenery. According to MCI law, TS cannot ask for such a MCI unless it is combined with considerable repaving work--and, of course, we know that's been happening all summer, and now fall, long. While a MCI cannot raise rents of rent-stabilized tenants more by 6% per year, it can, if large enough, be spread over several years. So RS Stuy Town/Peter Cooper residents can look forward to an 18% increase in their rent, if this MCI is allowed to happen. Market-rate tenants are not safe from an increase, either, as surely Tishman Speyer will raise the rent on market-raters, justifying such an increase by the "renovations" it has done to the complex. Tishman Speyer will also use tales of property owner woe in these troubling economic times to try to rationalize even further that the huge MCI increase needs to happen to save their investment (actually, the investment of other people's money, but that's another issue).

The Tenants Association and tenants need to coalesce and fight this MCI request when it happens. These plantings were not necessary. In many cases, they were wrongly done and money was wasted (and still is) trying to correct mistakes. In other cases, older groundskeeping was purposefully let go to waste, so that an "improvement" would be mandated. (Case in point: the Oval area, which was beautiful when Met Life left, but deteriorated badly under TS management.) In many areas, pavings of roads and pathways also were not necessary, or if they were, they followed fairly recent previous pavings that were sloppily or inadequately done. Tenants should not have to pay for the bad work done by firms hired by the landlord.

The joke is that not long ago previous landlord Met Life decided to cut down trees in order to "open up the oval for a more expansive view." You can read about this project here. So continues the bizarre planning at Stuy Town/Peter Cooper. One project accomplishes one thing, the next project overrides that project, then a new project destroys that project, and on and on it goes. The only thing that is a constant is that the tenants suffer.

Democrats to Control State Senate - What We Must Do

A face you can trust? State Senator Tom Duane (D).
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The election is over. Next year the Democrats will control the State Senate. According to the frequent pronouncements from State Senator Tom Duane (who at tenant meetings would repeatedly raise his index finger--1--to state what was needed for Dem control of the Senate and salvation), this will mean that pro-tenant legislation will get passed and that we will have a tenant friendly Senate representing us. Stuy Town Reporter will try to stay positive for now, and take Duane and other Democrats at their word. But in order for them to be reminded of their promises, it's good to call or e-mail them every once in a while, beginning with now.

This is what we have been promised:

1) The repeal the Urstadt Law (which would place rent decisions back in the hands of the city, rather than the state)
2) A reversal of vacancy decontrol laws
3) The abolishment of MCIs that result in perpetual rent increases

In a Stuy Town/Peter Cooper Village tenants' meeting on October 19, this was part of the exchange between tenants and Duane and Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh:

Speaker #1: Senator Duane, how quickly will we see a repeal of the Urstadt Act?

Senator Duane: If Democrats succeed in winning the State Senate, it should happen in the first term.

Speaker #2: The law regarding MCIs (Major Capital Improvements) is flawed. There is a reverse incentive for doing things economically, because the more you spend on a project the more you can charge back to tenants. You could let a property run down completely and get an MCI to improve it and benefit from it. Also, regarding the rent exceeding $2,000 with a household income of $175,000; there have been contradictions. Please explain.

Duane: Up until now it has been slow going working with the DHCR [the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, which handles MCIs] but the Democratic Minority has been working with Senate Majority members on trying to reform the regulations on MCIs. Let me say that with Democrats in the majority, we would have more influence with the Governor’s agencies because the Majority would be controlling their budgets.

Assemblyman Kavanagh: The household income has to be $175,000 for two consecutive years. With a strong Democratic Majority in the Senate, we expect to be able to change that. The cut off rent would be increased and the household income would be raised to around $325,000. There would also be a very strong bill to change MCIs from permanent to temporary.

These are the contact e-mails:

duane@senate.state.ny.us
KavanaghB@ assembly.state.ny.us

Getting pro-tenant legislation passed is imperative. Otherwise, the middle-class will be completely driven out of the city (certainly Manhattan), neighborhoods will disappear, and all we will be left with are sliver condos dotted on the ground floors with Starbucks, banks, and mega drug stores. Don't let this happen to our city!

Next year it will be imperative to also get rid of Mayor Bloomberg. Not only did the Mayor spit with complete disregard on democracy (along with 29 city council members), but he is pals with real estate developers, including Jerry and Rob Speyer, who are running Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village (into the ground). In fact, the New York real estate website, THE REAL DEAL, reported that Jerry Speyer is a "frequent advisor to Mayor Michael Bloomberg." No wonder Bloomberg took a drop-dead Stuy Town/Peter Cooper hands-off approach to the sale of this complex. As long as Bloomberg is in office, we will continue to be screwed as middle-class tenants. Get this lying and manipulative Boston-born and bred bum out of office!