MORNING BULLETIN: RESTAURANT WEEK, MADONNA FIGHTS HER CO-OP BOARD
The sun sets behind buildings on West 96th Street.
July 25, 2016 Weather: Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain and high of 95 degrees.
Notices:
Riverside Park hosts a free screening of 70’s classic Dog Day Afternoon.. That and many more events are on our calendar.
Restaurant Week begins today, and there are 23 restaurants offering deals in the neighborhood. Check them out here! The “week” runs from July 25-August 19.
News:
An engineer who signed off on a phony inspection report of The Esplanade on West End Avenue got two years probation. A piece of the facade fell last year and killed a 2-year-old girl.
The Material Girl is not getting along with her co-op. “Members of Madonna’s ritzy Upper West Side co-op want a Manhattan judge to force the Material Girl to play by the rules. The aging pop star sued the board of the Harperley Hall co-op at West 64th Street and Central Park West in April for trying to enforce a rule that requires her to be “in residence” at the $7.3 million pad when any members of her family or staff are staying there.”
The Orbach Group, which has drawn criticism from tenant advocates, bought another local building on Manhattan Avenue between 102nd and 103rd Streets. “The New Jersey-based multifamily investment firm bought the building at 50 Manhattan Avenue from the Wick Holding Corp. for $25.8 million, according to property records filed with the city Wednesday…Tenant advocates last year accused Orbach of installing metal gates outside one of its Upper West Side buildings and hiring a private investigator as a way to harass renters.”
A tour bus crashed on 5th Avenue just off of Central Park on Thursday, injuring 13 people. “Police said the GO New York Tours bus was going south on Fifth Ave. and the driver told them he was trying to avoid a taxi he claimed cut him off. The bus then mounted the curb and hit a tree.”
That is awful that the engineer gets only 2 years probation after his actions (part of the plea deal he had I suspect). I am curious if he still gets to keep his license or not. Also note the company he worked for, Blue Print Engineering is still doing business.
ITA about this and people should be focusing on the engineer getting a plea deal and probation for killing a young child, instead of Madonna’s life style. He’s not the first person to get probation after killing a little girl in this neighborhood (I think we’re up to 3 now), and it really accentuates how little their lives were valued.
Anyone know what happening at 301 W 96th St New York, NY 10025? There’s a curtain over the building.
Save the trees! (see ‘Tour Bus Crashed”).
How’s about that Paul Krugman?
“The aging pop star sued the board…” Why is the word “aging” used to describe her? Seems like an attempt to drag her for something that every human being goes through on the planet. I wonder what the reaction would be if someone else was described as a “black pop star” rather than just “pop star?” I realize the quote probably isn’t something West Side Rag wrote, but just wanted to point out that whoever wrote it is being a bit of a turd.
What you say is true and she is possibly the most annoying person on the planet.
TruDat!
WSR..what was the point of calling Madonna an aging pop star? Does it have anything to do with her fighting her coop board?
This was a quote from the article, not our phrasing. WSR
So without proper citation, it’s plagiarism. The least you could do is put quotation marks.
It has quotation marks and a link to the source material!
The “in residence” rule is what keeps the apartment from becoming a crash-pad for friends – also keeps it off Airbnb. It has been reported she actually lives in a different building in Manhattan.
I have a friend who lived in Madonna’s building until recently. She was a most annoying neighbor. Among other things, she regularly practiced her singing and dancing before six in the morning, but complained at everybody else making any kind of noise in the early evening. She sent her maid to the board with her never-ending complaints.
What did she wear?
Who?
“She”
It’s not a crash pad. The issue is the rule requiring her to be “in residence” at the $7.3 million pad when any members of her family or staff are staying there.” If she’s touring then her children and their nannies,and staff should still be allowed to stay in the residence to care for them. Why make the children leave their home because mom is off working? I know dozens of families who live like this and don’t understand what the problem is. And their not all pop stars either, but I think this is the reason Madonna in particular is being singled out.
She has multiple residences around the world. She herself actually lives on the UES. Her extended family lives in this one. Face it they can’t stand her.
It is truly disgusting that this engineer gets off with a mere slap on the wrist after that little two year old died. It was because of his dishonesty that the building was not safe. Who did he pay off to get a nothing sentence? He is the same as a murderer and should be doing some hefty jail time.
Re Madonna:
I instinctively resist efforts by co-op boards (including my own) to limit visitors and guests to a resident’s apartment. They don’t stop collecting maintenance or special assessments when I am not ‘in residence’. So if my sister and brother-in-law want to stay in my apartment over the weekend on a trip to NYC when I’m not there, it rankles me to have to notify a management company, let alone “get authorization”. In general, I think that wise boards and management companies would do well to apply these rules flexibly and judiciously.
On the other hand, it occurs to me that an aging pop star like Madonna might be precisely the type of person to push the envelope and test the limits of this type of rule (as well as the patience of her unfortunate neighbors). I have seen residents in my own building need to be reined in on having unrelated visitors stay in their apartments, so I am aware of the potential that exists for abuse.
It’s difficult to say without more facts.
“On the other hand, it occurs to me that an aging pop star like Madonna might be precisely the type of person to push the envelope and test the limits of this type of rule (as well as the patience of her unfortunate neighbors).”
Is that because she’s aging so, nearing death, she has less to lose? That is very, very “Contrarian”.
Like a sturgeon touched for the very first time?
My condo has a rule that we put people staying in our apartment when we are not into a ledger. That allows friends to stay and take care of our cats and plants, etc.
There has never been a problem.
Perhaps that’s the difference between a condo and a co-op.