Streetlights on the West side of Central Park have been on for months, even during the daytime.
December 26, 2016 Weather: Cloudy and rainy, with a high of 47 degrees.
Notices:
Concerts, meditation and many more local events are on our calendar.
News:
The Kleeberg Mansion on Riverside Drive between 72nd and 73rd fetched more money than expected at auction, selling for $18.5 million. But it’s still a steep discount from what the owners had initially expected. It had first gone on the market in 2012 asking $40 million.
Why have streetlights on the West side of Central Park been on for months, even during the daytime? One local spent six months trying to find out. Apparently, they run on the same wiring as the police cameras in the park, so they can’t be turned off.
Police have doubled the reward for info on the mysterious explosion that injured a tourist this summer. “Law enforcement officials continue to believe the blast may have been the result of an amateur’s experiment with homemade explosives. But they have yet to determine why the explosive was in the park or to identify a suspect or make an arrest.”
An apartment on 92nd Street has welcomed a rotating cast of female roommates for much of the past decade. “They split the bedrooms as sisters might, with twin beds separated by a shared night stand — a tradition that has been passed down with the apartment itself, as roommates, who have been mostly modern-Orthodox Jews over the years, leave to marry or attend graduate school.”
An 80-year-old woman living on 78th Street sued her landlords, claiming she was duped into leaving her apartment over the holidays.
A church on 82nd Street will get a major renovation starting next year. “Developed by CMC Development Group and Epstein Development Group, and designed by DXA studio, the plan is to renovate the 19th-century Romanesque Revival church at 140-142 West 81st Street—known as the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church—to include both residential and worship space.”
A ceremony on the UWS honored 144 homeless people who died this past year. “One after the other, the names were read and honored with the strike of a bell as the light from dozens of candles brightened the dimly lit room.”
The city will retest all school buildings for lead in the water after its prior testing regimen was criticized because officials had used a method where they flushed the taps prior to testing. “City health commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said New York has a ‘rigorous, longstanding’ water testing system but that ‘retesting drinking fountains at school will give parents additional information about the high quality of water used by their children in school.'”
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“Days after she signed, the landlord cut off the heat…But now she has been out more than a year.”
nasty, inhuman landlord
(am i being too generous?)
Are they using, ‘But now she has been out more than a year,’ against her, as in she didn’t move back in when she had the chance?
I’d take a step further and say despicable excuse for a human landlord.
Let’s see.
We have a woman living alone in a rent-controlled two bedroom apartment with two fireplaces in a luxury building in one of the best parts of the UWS and paying pennies in rent.
In another article there are four young women crammed into a two bedroom apartment in a not so nice part of the UWS and paying close to $4K a month in rent.
This is also “inhuman”.
NYC liberalism at its best!
There you go again….
You know nothing about this woman’s life other than her age, and where she (once) lived.
Do you know for fact this woman spent forty or whatever years in that apartment “alone”?
Just so you know in order for this apartment to have been under rent control (not stabilization) the building must have been built before 1947 *and* the same family must have been in residence since at least 1971.
Even if this tenant moved into that apartment in 1971 (at age 35) she would have spent most of her entire adult life in her *HOME*. You’d force this elderly woman out of her home because it no longer suits your idea of properly used housing resources?
Would hate to be your elderly mother or father living alone in a large house or apartment.
Sherman: “Sorry Moms (or Pops)this house is just too large for one person and is an inefficient use of space. It would be much better occupied by a larger family, and *YOU* would be far happier in some smaller place elsewhere”. I’ve made arrangements at a nice place called “Shady Pines”…. You’ll like it there…..”
Sherman,you sound like a very jealous,spiteful person….can we hear the side side of this story…can we hear what Peabody has to say about this.
Sherman…
Was that you behind a similar snide remark about RC apartments in last Sunday’s NYT comment section? It was posted under response to a previous article regarding Christine Quinn and her work with the homeless and signed “Upper West Sider” or some such.
I can’t stand Christine Qinn but no, I didn’t write any letter to The NY Times.
I’ll have to look for it.
Thanks!
IIRC comments were posted in the “Metropolitan” section as response to this article from 17 December 2016:
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=christine+quinn&tbm=nws
Someone had to go and mention rent control to apartment-poor Sherman.
“At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge, … it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.”
“Are there no prisons?”
“Plenty of prisons…”
“And the Union workhouses.” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”
“Both very busy, sir…”
“Those who are badly off must go there.”
“Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.”
“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
And free up those two-bedroom apartments (with fireplaces!) Sherman craves so desperately.
(Dickens, A Christmas Carol, of course.) (And a hearty Bah, Humbug! to those who want to remain in the only homes they’ve known for decades, right, Sherm?)
One elderly woman was conned out of her home (not just an apartment, her HOME), and several young women have chosen to have roommates and continue a tradition until they graduate or get married. No one forced them to live this way.
Your youth must have been very different from mine if you think that four young women, happily living together in a two-bedroom, is cruel!
I’m assuming that you are shedding all your unnecessary belongings and moving to the smallest possible quarters (or are there already), and giving away all your excess money, as quickly as possible, right? That is clearly the best thing for the most people, and as someone who is willing to move elderly people out of their homes for the good of the many, I’m sure you are voluntarily doing the same. As someone who has not done so, I thank you for your generosity!
Not everyone disagrees with you Sherman. NYC liberalism is great isn’t it. Not only do you get free apartments but you only have to a work a couple of years and then you get to retire.
I’ve been working since I was 14, got my own room in a rooming house when I was 16, I’ve rented a series of apartments around the city on my own since I was 18. Only had a roommate once, have always lived in walkups, usually studios or 1 bedrooms, and I’ve never had any kind of assistance. I’m 63 years old and I do not see retirement in the near future (or any future). Please tell me where these free apartments with a retirement plan are located. Assuming their for liberals only I’d like to apply.
“Not only do you get free apartments…”
can anyone provide any truthful arguments, must it all be deceit?
kind of ends our conversations.
Come on DB, as a teacher you should know hyperbole when you hear it. or did you get to retire after a couple years too…with full pension and benefits of course. NYC style. must be nice. not to mention the subsidized apt.
Oh, by the way, how was wintering in South America?? must be nice. do you have a little place down there? Anyway…
Happy Holidays to all the working stiffs out there, contributing to our wonderful society.
I taught in the Bronx public schools for 7 years. No pension.
sorry to burst your illusions.
I love watching the responses from jealous people.
Jealous of a pension.
Jealous of retirement.
Jealous of people who can travel.
Suck it up.
for those who are always talking about how rent stabilization means an inefficient use of housing, this from the story about the 80 year old who was swindled by the ling landlord:
“The landmarked building, across Columbus Avenue from the American Museum of Natural History, was sold in 2012, and the new owners are converting its 43 rental units to 24 condos and building a penthouse.”
… and many of those 24 units will be pied-a-terres for the rich.
just sayin’…
Wouldn’t it be “pieds-a-terre”?
“And many of those 24 units will be pied-a-terres for the rich”
I guess you know this because you interviewed prospective purchasers of these apartments.
Just to be clear, 101 West 78th Street was originally purchased by company called “Newcastle Realty Services” lead by Margaret Streicker Porres , who apparently is some piece of work.
Reading the Yelp.com reviews of buildings owned/managed by Newcastle, have no qualms they would try to pull a fast one against an elderly person.
It is she and that company which forced out RS tenants and engaged in deceptive practices to the extent the NYS AG got involved. Newcastle seems to have a history doing such things: https://www.propublica.org/article/new-york-isnt-telling-tenants-they-may-be-protected-from-big-rent-hikes
https://therealdeal.com/2013/01/15/upper-west-side-rental-property-sells-for-50m/
https://therealdeal.com/2015/01/13/judge-halts-construction-on-uws-condo-conversion/
GTIS Partners has since taken over the property and completing the conversion.
https://therealdeal.com/2015/12/23/seafood-restaurant-owners-claims-constant-construction-killed-their-business/
Persons who care about “saving” RS or RC apartments are largely silent on buy out offers. Perhaps because everyone is looking for that “lottery” ticket of getting a huge payout their apartment.
However these buyouts are part of the reason for the dwindling supply of rent controlled units. Worse you often have situations where the elderly, naïve, not financially savvy or whatever are surrendering something of extreme value without realizing the consequences.
These buy out offers are all private deals with no requirements for tenants to have legal representation and or even go though the courts.
To be living in a rent-controlled or
rent-stabilized apartment, one must have
moved in quite a long time ago. I myself
moved into a stablized apartment back in
1974, and at 67 I am one of the younger
such tenants. Most of these apartments
have been “renovated” into market rate apts,
when their tenants moved out or (more commonly) died.
In my building, as in most such buildings, the landlord was not likely
to get a higher rent at those times, because
the building was old, in need of upgrades
that it did not get, and the neighborhood
was far from safe. There were four SRO
hotels within two blocks of me for decades.
People like me kept the area habitable
and kept the landlord paid, so that it
could be maintained instead of standing
derelict.
One reason that wealthier people than
me can now live in the “renovated” luxury
market-rate apartments in this now-lovely
building, within this gentrified neighborhood, is that people like me
paid “affordable” rents for decades while
rich people would not deign to live
on our blocks. We paid the dues of
living here when others did not want to.
I think we are owed the right to stay
in our homes, at our affordable rents,
while we still can breath. The affordable
housing that is being built now, is hardly
affordable to us. We moved in when this
was NOT luxury, except for the few on
CPW and a few special buildings.
If you really want space at an
affordable price, do what I did in
my twenties: find an affordable apartment
in a rough neighborhood and stay put
for the many years it takes before
it gentrifies.
Cassandra, I’m happy for you! You found a home years ago and stayed to build a life and community. You’ve paid your legal rent for years, no one is “giving” you anything. I don’t begrudge you. (And I’m not even liberal:)
Pay no attentjon to the angry, clueless commenters. They’re just silly rants from desperate people. Opinions– even loud, rude, frequent ones–aren’t facts.
Aloha everyone!
You’re not some kind of pioneer who bravely and altruistically kept the neighborhood safe.
You were a person taking advantage of an artificially low rent.
One of the reasons the UWS was so delapidated and run down for so many years was because of people like you. Landlords had no cash flow or simply no economic incentive to maintain their buildings properly because they couldn’t collect enough rent.
My father still lives in the house I grew up in the suburbs. He wants to move to a smaller place because property taxes keep going up and it’s very expensive to live there. He’s not arguing that the town should lower
his taxes and keep his housing expenses low simply because he’s lived there so long.
Nobody owes him anything and nobody owes you anything. You’ve been taking advantage of a corrupt system for years. If you can’t afford to live on the UWS anymore then move to Staten Island.
Wanting to send “Casandra:,(age 67) to Staten Island, Des Moines or Scottsdale make you Big Internet Tough Guys.
who’s bigger?
Wouldn’t it be “dilapidated”?
Your opinions, sir, are not facts simply because you state them rudely, emphatically and frequently.
Id like to add to this that if you wanted permanence, not to mention participating in the upside of the inevitable appreciation…you should have bought something. You know , put your money where your mouth is..or was.
If this lady was here for decades and didn’t purchase a property (for pennies I might add) thats on her. Sorry for your lack of business acumen. Someone should have taught you some basic life skills instead of just being dependent on the government and other peoples money and kindness.
Nobody owes anybody anything. Period. This is NYC, this is the big leagues baby! no free rides. I hear real estate is really affordable in Des Moines or Scottsdale.
In case you’ve missed the memo, this lady like a few thousand other NYC residents *has* permanency, it’s called rent stabilization or rent control. No one has to “buy” anything.
Thank you!
Don’t think many of these posters with their rants about RC or RS apartments truly realize what a heck hole large parts of NYC were, and yes that includes most of Manhattan.
Pick an area that is “hot” today; Lower East Side, East Village, Harlem, large parts of West Village, Tribeca, Soho, large parts of the UWS, UES/Yorkville, Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, etc.. and you there was no problems finding apartments, because few really wanted to live there.
Watch any television sitcom shot in or supposedly about NYC as late as the 1970’s and you see a common theme; dirt, crime, sleaze and so forth. People had bars/gates on their windows, a few door locks and of course the chain lock.
There was a reason why large areas of the UWS (including along CPW) formed part of urban renewal districts.
UWS even had its own serial killer/abuser of children (male)nicknamed “Charlie Chop Off”
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-upper-west-side-then-and-now/
Anyone who lived on the UWS though the 1970’s (or before) and is still here now deserves their “affordable” apartment.