Stuyvesant Town leasing office (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot
A federal court judge has decided that the lawsuit against CWCapital by a group of junior lenders involved in Stuyvesant Town should be handled by a state court, as the lenders had been hoping.

It was on Monday when United States District Judge Alison Nathan remanded the litigation to the New York State court where it was originally filed.

In the decision, Nathan wrote that “this case invokes no comparable federal interest, scheme or agency. Rather it is a contract dispute between private parties, turning almost entirely on construction of a private contract, and failing to present any dispositive question of federal law.”

The lawsuit was filed last summer after CWCapital took ownership of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper through a deed, rather than holding a planned foreclosure sale on mezzanine debt. A group of lenders represented by Centerbridge Partners had hoped for a chance to buy a key piece of the mezzanine or junior debt and accused CW of violating an intercreditor agreement. The deed-in-lieu of auction wipes out the value of the junior debt, they’d argued, allowing CW to reap an “unearned windfall” when the property is sold.

They also accused CW of inflating the interest it was owed to calculate the total senior debt at $4.4 billion.
However, in its arguments, the lenders said that even though they believe CW’s figures are wrong, they still stand to “reap windfall profits regardless of how the interest rate is calculated on the senior loan.”

Even when using CW’s “incorrect and vastly overstated senior loan payoff amount of $4.4 billion, the value of Stuy Town is still worth hundreds of millions of dollars more,” the lenders said.
News of the court action was first reported on Tuesday by Law360, a legal news service.

Michele de Milly, a spokesperson for Centerbridge, declined to comment on the latest court action. Brian Moriarty, a spokesperson for CWCapital, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Last month, the total amount of debt as calculated by CW reached $4.7 billion, a figure announced at a Tenants Association meeting by Council Member Dan Garodnick. He explained the amount was due to interest and fees. It’s also the amount that was reportedly being prepared as a bid by CWCapital’s parent company, Fortress. The Tenants Association has since said it is still hoping for a tenant-led condo conversion with partner Brookfield.

Following the suit being remanded, Susan Steinberg, chair of the ST-PCV Tenants Association said it basically just means more waiting around for would-be buyers.

“The decision to remand the case back to state court means that if CWCapital is waiting to settle with Centerbridge et. al. before proceeding with plans to sell, it will have a longer wait,” said Steinberg. “Ultimately, so will would-be buyers, including the tenants here. Whether the remand is a good or a bad thing for either the plaintiffs or the defendants will depend on which judge the case comes before. We will stay tuned.”

Stuyvesant Town tenants Arlene Dabreo and Marina Metalios were among hundreds protesting Airbnb outside City Hall before a legnthy hearing attended by Airbnb execs, hosts who use the service, tenants and politicians. (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot

Airbnb, the controversial home sharing listings site, was the subject of a lengthy and contentious hearing on Tuesday that consisted mainly of accusations being traded between politicians and the company’s director of global policy.

At the heart of the conversation was whether Airbnb was making efforts to comply with state law that forbids short-term rentals in most residential buildings, which the hearing’s chair, City Council Member Jumaane Williams, said he doubted. Meanwhile, Airbnb’s representative, David Hantman, threw in — at every chance he could get — a chance to defend Airbnb users who rent their homes out infrequently, who he said make up the bulk of the service’s users — and asked repeatedly why the law couldn’t be changed to exempt them. Instead, he argued, the law should just focus on “bad actors,” tenants or landlords who regularly rent apartments to tourists for short-term stays, making life hell for neighbors.

Most of the people in attendance were tenants opposed to Airbnb, due to illegal hotel activity in their own buildings, but there were also a few dozen supporters of the company, including hosts, with both groups demonstrating outside before the hearing. Those against the company carried signs with slogans like “I don’t want strangers for neighbors” and “sharing = selfish.”

A couple of demonstrators in that camp were Stuyvesant Town residents Arlene Dabreo and Marina Metalios.
Both said they’d seen suspected illegal activity in the community.

“We’ve seen it for sure, definitely in the past year,” said Metalios. “A lot of people coming in with suitcases and garbage being kept in the wrong place.”

Also at the event was ST-PCV Tenants Association Chair Susan Steinberg, who’d hoped to speak about illegal hotel operations in Stuy Town, but finally gave up at around 5 p.m. since she had a meeting to go to. At this time the hearing, which began at around 11 a.m., was still going on. Since the City Council chambers were filled with around 200 people, some of them standing, the rest of the attendees, like Steinberg, had gotten herded into an overflow room.

Had she been able to give testimony, Steinberg said she would have focused on how, when residents’ use of Airbnb started to take off in 2011, it coincided with an uptick in bedbug infestations in Stuy Town buildings where short-term rentals were taking place. Following meetings with company reps alongside reps from CWCapital, illegal hotel activity in the complex has decreased, though it hasn’t ended completely.

Steinberg also had included in her testimony how the TA had heard concerns from neighbors about their safety when they challenged short-term renters who wanted to gain entry into buildings. In one case, an irate guest “just pushed their way into the building.”

One tenant who did get to testify at the hearing was West Side resident Audrey Smaltz, who said she’d lived in a penthouse apartment in her building since 1977, always feeling safe with the same neighbors for many years. But in recent years, this changed, with the owner renting vacant units as hotel rooms. “The entire fourth floor is for short-term rentals and (there are) many units on other floors,” she said.

As for Airbnb supporters, not too many had signed up to testify at the hearing, which Hantman had explained as being because they’re working people who can’t afford to wait around five hours.

“They have jobs; they have no voice right now,” he said.

However, politicians seemed less than sympathetic about the plight of New Yorkers resorting to home-sharing to help pay their own rent.

Council Member Corey Johnson, who represents Greenwich Village, said he lives in a tiny studio apartment for which “the rent is too damn high,” but added with what New Yorkers pay in rent, they should have the right to not be surrounded by transients.

Another Council Member, Robert Cornegy of Brooklyn, asked Airbnb for their revenue in 2014 and projected revenue for this year, which Hantman said he wouldn’t be allowed to provide. “I’ve got to FOIL that?” Cornegy asked him. “You’ve got to go to our finance people,” Hantman responded.

When questioned about how the attorney general had found that 72 percent of Airbnb rentals to be illegal, Hantman said this was “inaccurate,” especially since Airbnb has since removed thousands of listings by users who don’t provide a “quality” experience.

In response, Williams blasted Hantman for mentioning the word “quality” more than once when discussing hosts’ renting practices.

“You keep mentioning quality — you never once mention following the law,” said Williams. “I’m sure you have lobbyists that can try to change the law, but I don’t know how you can be a business person and never mention state or federal law. You only mention quality of experience. That’s not an effective business model in the City of New York.”

Hantman had argued that very few Airbnb rentals turned out negatively out of two million people using the service to stay in New York over the past few years. He also said 1400 of those people had found places to stay when they were impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

Council Member Helen Rosenthal, who represents the Upper West Side, asked about quality of life issues related to short-term rentals, when Hantman mentioned Airbnb has a neighbor hotline that can be called if a resident wants to report problems with an Airbnb guest or host. Rosenthal challenged this, asking “How would they know?” if a neighbor is in fact an Airbnb user as opposed to a client of some other home-sharing service or that the number even exists for the reporting of such issues.

When accused of putting tenants at risk for eviction for hosting, Hantman said the company does have a pop-up on its site for New York City users warning them hosting may not be legal in their buildings or allowed in their leases.

“We know how much they earn, but we don’t know what their lease is,” he said. “We ask our hosts to obey the law.”

One host there to support the company, Lee Thomas, told the panel about how after he became ill with cancer, his high-paying career on Wall Street came to an end and the only means he had of supporting himself was by renting out his getaway cottage. In response, Williams told him the illegal hotels law didn’t even apply to him because it applies to multi-family buildings while his property was just a two-family one.

Along with Airbnb, also getting quite a bit of criticism was the city office tasked with investigating illegal hotel activity, with Council members accusing its director of not doing enough or having the resources needed to adequately deal with the ongoing problem.

Elizabeth Glazer, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, kept saying she believed her office was doing a good job at keeping up with complaints, but politicians countered that the system shouldn’t just be complaint-driven. Rather, Rosenthal said, it should be proactive enough to keep up with any suspicious short-term rental listing. This was after Glazer had said her office last year had received 1,050 illegal rental complaints, up from 712 in 2013. In response, Rosenthal told her there were over 2,000 listings in Council Member Antonio Reynoso’s district in Brooklyn alone.

“I publicly take issue with what you’re saying,” said Rosenthal.

When asked how the office investigates tips of illegal activity, Glazer said there is “an array of techniques that we use,” but she declined multiple times to say what they were.

This answer didn’t impress Council Member Peter Koo, who threw back, “I don’t see you using them though.”

He told Glazer about how he’d seen an inspector show up at an address where there was suspected illegal activity and knock once. When no one answered, the inspector knocked again. Then, after a few minutes more, when the door remained unanswered, he was gone.

“How come it’s so hard to open a door?” asked Koo. “Pretend you’re a tourist. Send a decoy. Tell them they’re here to give a massage.”

Despite getting some chuckles from the audience, Koo was then cut off by Williams. Koo said he represents an area in Flushing that’s become a “gateway of Asian tourism.”

Also sitting in at the hearing were the authors of the 2010 illegal hotels law, State Senator Liz Krueger and Assembly Member Richard Gottfried. Krueger said what she hoped would come out of the event would be more and not less enforcement of the law at the city level.

“Without enforcement at the local level, it’s as if we didn’t pass it,” she said.

According to Glazer, out of the 1,050 complaints received in 2014, 883 resulted in inspections and 495 violations being issued.

Council Member Dan Garodnick, who was not at the hearing since he is not a member of the housing committee, later said he does support “more aggressive enforcement” of the law.

Bedroom alcove of studio apartment (photo from pcvstliving.com)

By Sabina Mollot

Last month, Town & Village reported that Stuyvesant Town’s newly built studio apartments had finally hit the market. There were five to choose from with prices for the units—none any larger than 500 square feet — ranging from $3,162 to $3,420.

However, the five units are still available, according to the property’s official website, and at a few hundred dollars less than what they were originally listed for.

As of Martin Luther King Day, the units were available at rents listed as “starting at” $2,640 for a 393-foot unit, $2,730 for a 465-foot unit, $2,750 for both of two 500-foot units and the highest priced pick, $,2950 for a different 465-square foot unit. The apartments on Avenue C all feature platinum upgrade finishes and all except one include in-wall (under window) air conditioning. It wasn’t clear from the listings, which units, if any have terraces.

The listings did note, however, that the prices include “all incentives and special offers.”

Like the rest of the apartments in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, they are rent-stabilized at least until the property’s J-51 tax program expires.

In September, Town & Village first reported on the soon-to-come studios, a first for the complex, along with several terraces (another first) to be included in a total of 11 new apartments. The apartments are in the building that formerly housed the management office.

The date of the apartments’ availability has also been postponed by a couple of weeks to February 1.

A spokesperson for CWCapital did not respond to a request for comment on the reason for the price change.

By Sabina Mollot

While Stuyvesant Town has become known for its wildlife, in particular its famous black squirrels, on Sunday morning, the complex was visited for the first time by a coyote.

The coyote, a young female, which has been named Stella by Parks officials and has since been captured and released into a wooded area in the Bronx, had likely traveled south into Manhattan.

She was captured on the property on the Avenue C side by police officers, who then brought her to Animal Care and Control, where she was given a clean bill of health.

Meanwhile, a Parks official T&V interviewed about the incident said that coyote sightings in the city are becoming more common, and she expects that this trend will only continue. Just a couple of weeks ago, another coyote was found in Riverside Park, and in 2011, another coyote had wandered into Tribeca.

Sarah Aucoin, director of NYC Parks’ Urban Park Rangers, said the coyote’s visit last weekend was “not entirely unexpected.

“We know that many coyotes have been expanding their range,” she said. “Not in Stuyvesant Town obviously but New York City provides a good habitat.”

While it may seem like the traffic and other city related hazards would scare off the wild canines, “coyotes are adaptable,” said Aucoin. “They’re opportunistic like raccoons and squirrels and thrive in close proximity to humans. They also can be attracted by huge rodent populations because that’s their primary diet, small mammals and birds.”

Since they’ve been moving into cities throughout the northeast, the intelligent creatures have even come to understand what it means when traffic lights change, Aucoin said. In New York, coyotes tend to live and breed in the Bronx and Westchester.

Typically when they wander into areas heavily populated by humans, it’s unintentional as generally coyotes see humans as predators and will try to avoid them. Usually this is done by young coyotes who’ve only recently left their families to branch out on their own. Coyote pups remain with their mothers until they’re eight months to a year and a half old.

“Usually they head north, but the few we’ve seen in Manhattan have headed south for some reason,” said Aucoin.

As for the one who visited Stuy Town, Stella was an adult, but a small one at around 30 pounds.

Aucoin said it isn’t likely that the coyote traveled downtown along the East Side but more likely got to Manhattan from the West Side, then traveled east at night. While she wasn’t injured during her adventure, she was tranquilized and later microchipped.

Aucoin wasn’t personally involved in her rescue or transfer to an area in the Bronx — which she declined to identify — but said she heard later that Stella was very happy to be released and away from humans.

Stella’s presence, as with other coyote sightings, was reported by New Yorkers, since, despite their resemblance to dogs, they’re still pretty distinct looking.

“Generally a coyote gets big; it doesn’t look like a German Shepherd,” said Aucoin. “It looks like a coyote.”

Because park rangers have seen an increase in urban sightings in recent years, the department has a few recommendations in the event New Yorkers come face to face with one.

Don’t approach it. While coyotes will usually try to avoid humans, if one does approach, the best way to respond is to try to shoo it away. “Make a loud noise; scare it away,” said Aucoin. “The best way to keep a coyote safe is to keep it afraid of people, keep it wary of people.”

Don’t try to feed it. “People want to feel like they’re doing good and it’s fun for the kids, but as soon as they think, ‘That person’s nice. That person has food for me,’ that’s when we have a problem. As soon as they start begging, they go from being wildlife to being a pest.”

Keep your dog on a leash at all times and don’t feed pets outside.

Report aggressive or fearless coyotes immediately.

Immaculate Conception Church (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel
Brooklyn resident Michael Torres is being charged with burglary and criminal mischief to be prosecuted as hate crimes after police said that the 20-year-old vandalized Immaculate Conception Church at 414 East 14th Street last Wednesday night.
Local blog Bedford and Bowery originally reported the vandalism last Thursday, noting that Torres was caught on camera leaving an AA meeting at the church earlier that day and reportedly returned later in the evening, forcing the front door open. John Matcovich, the parish manager at the church, said that the side doors of the church were also badly damaged, but from the inside.

“He must have thought those were rooms but they’re just other doors that lead back outside, to the courtyard,” Matcovich said.

Torres had allegedly used the end of an incense holder as a battering ram to break through the side doors. Although the church is in the process of sorting out the cost of the damage, Matcovich said that the administrators made sure to fix and secure the doors as soon as possible.
In addition to the doors, the vandalism was originally reported to cost $100,000 in damage but Matcovich said that once everything is finalized with the insurance company, it will likely be more. He noted that all 14 of the Stations of the Cross had been destroyed and those alone were worth more than $3,000 each.
The blog noted that a number of statues at the church were destroyed, including a plaster statue of the Virgin Mary that was over a hundred years old and had been moved from Mary Help of Christians shortly before it was demolished in 2013. An icon depicting the Virgin Mary holding a baby Jesus was also destroyed.

Matcovich noted that due to the mess from the vandalism, mass had to be held in the parish basement on Thursday but he said that partially due to the quick work of the insurance company in documenting the damage, the church was able to reopen on Friday.

“That was really important to us,” Matcovich said.

Matcovich will be putting a list together for the insurance company once church officials know what can’t be salvaged, but he said that a fund is being set up if community residents or parishioners want to contribute. Checks can be made out to Immaculate Conception Church but with a note in the memo that the donation is for the vandalism relief fund.

Bedford and Bowery noted that Torres was caught by police after he found himself locked inside the church’s cloister and he was arrested shortly before 11 p.m. He was being held on $10,000 bail or bond but the Department of Corrections said that he was released on Tuesday because his bail had been paid.

Torres’ attorney Steve Hoffman said that his client was currently being psychiatrically evaluated and since Torres made bail, his family has been taking care of him.

“We’re hopeful that he gets the help that he clearly needs,” Hoffman said.

State Senators Liz Krueger and Brad Hoylman say reports of corruption in Albany make people think all politicians are the same. (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot
Just eight days after the arrest of one of Albany’s famed three men in a room, came the news that another one in the power trio, Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, was also being investigated. U.S. Attorney Preet Bhahara, whose investigation into Sheldon Silver led to his stepping down as Assembly speaker on Monday, is looking into Skelos’ ties to real estate and outside income from a law firm, the New York Post reported.
Skelos, of Long Island, has since reportedly laughed off the allegations.

Meanwhile, at the ribbon cutting for the new Asser Levy Playground in Manhattan on Friday morning, Town & Village cornered a couple of local state senators as well as a few community leaders to ask for their thoughts on the latest scandals from the Capitol.

Senate Senators Liz Krueger and Brad Hoylman both told Town & Village that it’s a shameful day in Albany any time there’s news of alleged criminal activity.

“Everyone who’s in elected office knows that they’re supposed to be held to a higher standard,” said Krueger. “The vast majority of us believe in good government, and when this happens, people think, ‘A pox on all your heads.’ Who’s going to want to run for office if everybody thinks you’re a criminal?”

When asked if she was just relieved it was a Republican on the hot seat this time, the Democrat senator insisted she wasn’t.
“No. I think any time there’s an elected official in Albany that gets indicted, the general public believes ‘they’re all corrupt and there’s no point in government.’”

Hoylman agreed, but also said the resigning of Silver as he battles the charges against him is likely to have the positive effect of reform in Albany. This, he added, could work to tenants’ advantage when the laws are up for renewal in June. Hoylman said he believes the laws will be strengthened, but he felt that way even before the race for a new speaker began.
“I was optimistic about this legislative season, anyway,” he said.

When reminded of the Republican-dominated State Senate’s history of shooting down tenant-friendly legislation, Hoylman was quick to pin the blame on Housing Committee Chair Cathy Young and other upstate politicians who have few renters in their districts.

“The chair of the housing committee lives closer to Cleveland than Manhattan,” said Hoylman. “We don’t even know if she knows what multi-family means because she doesn’t have any in her district.”

Krueger noted how “we all have a list” of tenant issues to bring up in June including major capital improvements (MCIs), individual apartment improvements (IAIs) and vacancy decontrol. Hoylman then referred to the leverage tenants have, the tax breaks landlords are hoping to get renewed such as the 421-a and J-51 programs. “These are the bargaining chips,” said Hoylman.

Krueger added that she suspects the change in Assembly leadership (Carl Heastie has been named the new speaker) would lead to some delays in Albany, possibly on this year’s budget.
“There are always delays,” she said, “and some startup changes.”

Missing in action at the event was Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh, who also hasn’t been reachable for comment on the state of the Assembly since Silver’s arrest.

But a few tenants shared their thoughts on the subject of the cesspool in Albany.

Anne Greenberg, ST-PCV Tenants Association board member, and Susan Steinberg, Tenants Association chair (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

Susan Steinberg, chair of the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association, said she had a recommendation.

“They should disband the whole legislature and start afresh,” she said, adding, “It’s a shame for tenants.”
Steinberg explained, “We had a champion of sorts (with Silver) and we don’t know what the future is going to hold.”

Upon overhearing this, Anne Greenberg, a Tenants Association board member, chimed in, “Maybe he wasn’t such a champion. Landlords have expressed surprise that he didn’t do more for tenants.”

On Silver’s stepping down, Janet Handal, president of the Waterside Tenants Association, said, “Change is a good thing after so many years, and I would say the same thing about Skelos. I think it gives the opportunity for new ideas.”

Waterside Tenants Association President Janet Handal (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

Jeff Ourvan, the president of the Peter Stuyvesant Little League who’s also an attorney, had more of a wait-and-see attitude with regards to Silver.

“If it’s corruption, he should be made accountable,” said Ourvan. “If he didn’t, then he shouldn’t be. It’s kind of amazing, to hold such influence, but we’re all equal. If he isn’t guilty, it’s a terrible burden on him.”
He declined to discuss Skelos, saying he wasn’t familiar enough with his situation.

Jeff Jaffe, who owns Pop International with wife Nanette, stands by one of the pieces in the exhibit. (Photo by Frances Sinkowitsch)

By Sabina Mollot

When people think of Dr. Seuss, detailed oil paintings and taxidermy-inspired sculptures aren’t necessarily what come to mind. But the world-famous children’s book author and illustrator known for his whimsical creatures like Cat in the Hat and the Grinch did create other types of art, which he called his “midnight art.” And a number of those midnight art pieces are now part of an exhibit at a gallery in midtown owned by a Stuyvesant Town couple. The husband and wife team, Jeff Jaffe and Nanette Ross, own Pop International Galleries, which has two locations, the flagship in SoHo, and another in midtown’s Citicorp Building. The latter venue will be the site of the Seuss exhibit, called “The Cat Behind the Hat,” which will also feature some of the more well-known images from the artist’s beloved books.

Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, enjoyed a nearly seven-decade-long career and his midnight art, along with the other pieces, are being made available courtesy of his widow Audrey. This was in accordance with Seuss’s wishes that his secret works be shared with the public after his death. No originals will be available for sale but limited edition prints and artist proofs, which are museum quality, will be. Prices on the works range from $500-$35,000 depending on their rarity, and Jaffe, who spoke with Town & Village on Monday afternoon, said five pieces had already been sold that morning alone.

The exhibit, which opens today, Thursday, February 12, will run through the end of the month. It’s timed to coincide with Seuss’s birthday and the 25th anniversary of his last book, Oh the Places You’ll Go.

For Jaffe, the best part of the exhibit is the midnight art, since it shows a side of the artist that most of his fans have never seen.

“What’s great about his personal art is that he loved to do it more than anything,” Jaffe said. However, this is not to say Seuss didn’t enjoy the work he did for his children’s books. Rather than feel stifled as an artist by the illustrative style he was best known for, “he was quite humble that his books had such a profound effect.”

As for how he came to be known as Dr. Seuss, this was his mother’s maiden name “and she always wanted him to become a doctor,” said Jaffe. “That’s how he was. He had a diabolical sense of humor.”

Seuss’s style and the kinds of art he did evolved over the years. He did graphic art and advertising design in his early years and later on children’s books. He also did what he called “unorthodox taxidermy” pieces throughout his career though mostly early on, and ten of them will be on view at Pop International. Jaffe noted how the sculptures, in materials like resin, were fashioned from real bird bills and other parts from animals that had died that Seuss would get from his father who worked at a zoo. No actual animal parts are in the final art pieces, which have the artist’s distinctive style through details like googly eyes on a walrus. “They’re absolutely hilarious,” said Jaffe.

So far, the reaction to the exhibition has been, as expected, huge.

“We get avid, avid art collectors and we have people who just love Dr. Seuss,” said Jaffe. One illustration that’s been especially popular is “Kid, You’ll Move Mountains,” which is from the book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go.

“It’s the sort of thing you’d buy for a graduation,” said Jaffe. “It’s been really quite amazing to see the reaction and emotion.”

As the gallery’s name suggests, Pop International features works by pop artists from newcomers to the most well known like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. A show coming up at the SoHo location in March will feature five street artists with the focus on the Brazilian female artist Panmela Castro. Much of her work has had the theme of awareness of violence against women. Her works will be joined by works by four male artists in an exhibition titled, “We’ve Got Your Back, Girl.” The other artists are Dom, Pattinson, Chris Stain and Joe Ivato, and the show will be done in association with Creative Arts Works.

The Dr. Seuss exhibition will have its official opening at Pop International, 153 East 53rd Street (Citicorp building Atrium), with a reception taking place on February 12 from 5-8 p.m. To RSVP (required), call (917) 302-8404. A catalogue with prices can be requested online at popinternational.com.

Jaffe and Ross have owned the midtown gallery for two and a half years and the SoHo one at 473 West Broadway for 18 years. They’ve lived in Stuyvesant Town, where they’ve raised two children, for 25 years.

Associated supermarket (Photo via Foursquare)

By Sabina Mollot

Now those are some hot peppers!

On Monday, firefighters put out a fire at the Associated supermarket in Stuyvesant Town that had started in the produce section’s pepper display.

Store manager Norman Quintanilla told Town & Village it was a small fire, so small in fact that it was snuffed out just using a fire extinguisher. The cause was apparently a burnt wire that had shorted out behind the produce case.

“It was a small, little fire,” said Quintanilla. “Mostly smoke.”

The fire broke out around 3:30 a.m. when the store was closed but an employee who was on duty at the time smelled smoke.

He called the FDNY, and Quintanilla said by the time he got there at 4 a.m., the fire was out. The FDNY had to break the door to gain entry, but by 5 a.m., a worker had arrived to fix the door. Quintanilla said on Tuesday that the only damage to the store was to a four-foot section of the produce case but he said employees have since cleaned it up.

“There was a slight smell, but now it’s gone,” he said.

A spokesperson for the FDNY confirmed that the fire, which was responded to by 30 firefighters, was electrical. The spokesperson added that the fire was actually extinguished before the department’s arrival. Quintanilla noted that the responders checked out the area behind produce section to make sure it wasn’t smoldering anywhere else.

President Barack Obama (right) with David Axelrod (second to left) and others in the Oval Office (Photo by Pete Souza/ White House)

By Sabina Mollot

David Axelrod, the former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, who’d also helped strategize campaigns for him and a slew of other elected officials, and who worked as an adviser to President Bill Clinton, has recently written a book about his professional experiences. The Stuyvesant Town native, whose introduction to the world of politics began with a historic visit from then-Senator John F. Kennedy to the street where he lived, has called the memoir, Believer: My Forty Years in Politics ($35, Penguin). While in the midst of a multi-state media tour, Axelrod, now the director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago, discussed his book, his background and his career with Town & Village.

What was growing up in Stuyvesant Town like for you?

I grew up reading your newspaper. It was a great experience. It was a different kind of community than it is now. It was pretty modest. A lot of World War II veterans and families, and it was really an oasis in the city. We all got together in the playground. I’m still friends with a lot of people I grew up with. Some of them came to my book event in New York and some of them are coming to my event in Boston. Back then there was a real sense of community in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper. The people you grew up with you stuck with from nursery to high school and ultimately through life. I have a great association with Stuyvesant Town and growing up there.

I was just there a week ago to film a piece for CBS about my book. We walked on 20th. My first address was 622 East 20th Street. We talked about the day in 1960 when JFK came and campaigned in Stuyvesant Town. I was noticing the change in the community, all the high end kind of stores and air conditioners in every window, because we didn’t have that back then. It looked like a very upgraded version of what I remember. When we lived at 622, my parents were mostly still married, but they did split up when I was eight. Then my mom and I moved to 15 Stuyvesant Oval. My mother was a writer and worked in advertising and my father was a psychologist. I had an older sister, Joan. At 622, it was a two-bedroom, so Joan and I shared a bedroom with a wooden divider.

As you know, Stuyvesant Town apartments are small, small kitchens, small bathrooms. By today’s standards, the apartments were very modest, but it seemed comfortable to me. My parents got divorced when I was 13 and my mom and I went to live at 15 Stuyvesant Oval. My sister was gone by then. My mom moved in 1948 and moved out in 2006 to an assisted living facility in Massachusetts. She died last year. (Axelrod’s father committed suicide in 1977.)

There was a lot of activity and my group was the Playground 10 group. There were parts of Stuyvesant Town that were predominantly Jewish and parts of Stuyvesant Town that were predominantly Catholic and parts that were predominantly Protestant, and the playgrounds roughly followed those ethnic divisions. Like Playground 9 was where the Catholic kids hung out. There were very few minorities back then.

I went to PS 40 and Junior High School 104 and Stuyvesant High School when it was still on 16th Street. In my day they were excellent public schools. I still have a teacher in my head who played a formative role in my life. It was at PS 40 and her name was Lee Roth. She brought poets to our classroom, well-known poets of the day, like Ogden Nash. In the classroom, she would engage us in discussions on current events. It really enriched my life and I feel a debt of gratitude to all the people like her.

When JFK came to Stuyvesant Town in 1960, David Axelrod was in attendance. This photo, originally published in Town & Village, also appears in his book.

What made you relocate to Chicago, college or another reason?

I went to Chicago to go to University of Chicago, intending to come back, and then I got a job. In college I got an internship that led to a job at the Chicago Tribune and I ended up with a woman in Chicago. Between falling in love with my wife and falling in love with the city, I never made it back.

How did you come up with the tagline “Yes We Can” for the 2008 presidential campaign?

It was really the tag line for the Senate race in 2004 and I came up with something that was positive and spoke to possibility and what could be accomplished and (included) all of us. I was writing for our first television ad and he (Obama) was worried that it was too corny. I told him why I didn’t think it was corny and he still wasn’t satisfied. Michelle was there and he turned to her and said, ‘What do you think?’ and she said, ‘It’s not corny.’ So I was his consultant but he had to hear it from his wife before he okayed anything.

The divide between Democrats and Republicans seems wider than it’s ever been. I’m sure you and the president have had many conversations about it.

We’ve had lots of conversations about it. A lot of it was a strategic decision on the part of the Republican Party to make the president go it alone and the Democrats alone in a lot of the issues that he inherited. It was an irresponsible but an effective (way to make the president act in a partisan way to) act on problems.

Do you see any way out of this gridlock?

No. I think the only way that’s going to change is if the voters demand that it changes. There are rewards for continued gridlock. There’s not a lot of impetus for people to work across party lines. It’s not an easily solvable problem.

I’m sure you’ve heard all about the investigation into Sheldon Silver. What advice would you give to all the politicians in Albany right now?

They need to operate with transparency and in an ethical way. Clearly a signal has been sent that the old ways of doing things — private arrangements — is not going to be tolerated. I think that they need to operate with greater transparency and greater ethical stricture and I expect that they will.

You mentioned (in an excerpt of your book) that certain politicians you worked with made you ashamed. Did you mean (disgraced former presidential candidate) John Edwards or Rod Blagojevich (the former Illinois senator convicted on corruption charges)?

Certainly Blagojevich, how he ended up was a huge disappointment. He was no longer my client, but it isn’t always about a scandal. It can be about folks that are inconsistent with my expectations. You deal with a lot of disappointments in politics, but you’ve also got to dwell a little bit on the benefits like people who have healthcare because of the actions of the president or the fact that there are auto workers working today. It (politics) can be very frustrating but at the end of the day if you want to have change you have to do something big to help people. And they often do. I don’t want to leave a dark picture of politics.

David Axelrod with President Obama and Axelrod’s wife Susan on Obama’s inauguration night (Photo by Pete Souza/White House)

What made you want to get it all on paper, or were you approached by a publisher?

It was my idea. I wanted to deliver a message that there was meaning in politics and value beyond the grandiose of politicians. Secondly, I wanted to get my life back essentially. When you work for someone as celebrated at the president, you’re associated because of that, your identification is with him. But I wasn’t born in 2007, I was born in 1955, and I’ve learned a lot of lessons and I want to claim that part of my life. I also wanted to show people that that there is meaning. The book is called Believer because I believe politics is the way we organize ourselves and… a better future. I want to convey that.

You covered a lot of politics for the Chicago Tribune. Do you feel that helped prepare you for the world of politics as an insider?

I believe journalism was a great predicate for work in politics. To work in politics you have to understand what people’s attitudes are and you have to understand who you’re working for and that includes asking questions, probing and trying to get to the core of people. It’s what journalists do and it’s such a great skill to have. Journalists tell stories and that’s what campaigns are. Candidates have to tell a story. I have covered a lot of politics so I saw a lot of strategy develop.

What advice would you give to anyone running for office or working for someone who is working for office?

Do not run for public office or for someone running with the idea that it’s a business proposition or something to do. Run for public office or work for someone who is running for public office because you want to do something meaningful to enrich your country or the world. Make sure you believe in what you’re doing and that it’s authentically you.

You’ve mentioned that once when preparing Obama for a debate (with Mitt Romney), he didn’t appreciate your criticism and used some choice language with you. Was that very difficult for you and did he get that way often when he’s nervous?

No. He doesn’t get nervous very often. There wasn’t anything like that before or since then. I felt he had to correct some things and I think he was unhappy with that because he knew we weren’t where we should have been.

You’ve advised Hillary Clinton. Do you think she will be our next president?

She very well could be. She has a very good chance. If she ran the right kind of campaign, she has an excellent chance.

What’s different this time?

Times are different. She’s got additional experience. Back in 2008, we were at war. (She supported the war) and Obama stated his opposition to it. People were looking for someone who would really challenge the system in Washington and Obama symbolized that. Now people are looking for someone who can manage the system in Washington.

The Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association, via an email blast sent out late Thursday, is urging residents to attend a rally at City Hall on Monday at 9 a.m. Read on for details.

Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association Chair Susan Steinberg with politicians including Council Member Dan Garodnick, Comptroller Scott Stringer and Senator Charles Schumer, at a rally at City Hall in June (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

Is your rent more than $4,000 . . . less than $2,500 . . . or anywhere in between?

THIS AFFECTS YOU

On June 15–less than four months from now–all rent protections will end unless renewed by the state legislature and the governor. By March 11, New York City needs to renew the rent laws too. Without renewal, you may not be able to afford your rent. Every one of us is affected.

Ambushed by a massive rent increase on renewal?
Tired of paying MCIs forever?
Want this to change?

Kickoff event: Monday, March 2, at 9 a.m.
Rally on the steps of City Hall.
Attend hearing afterward, City Council chambers, 2nd floor.

Next step: Pressure the state legislature, the new Speaker of the Assembly, and the Governor:

• write letters (by hand, if you can-it shows politicians you care)
• sign postcards
• complete online and hand-signed petitions
• attend rallies and hearings

We’ll be sending you more information soon.

If you don’t act . . .

• Without rent stabilization, there will be no limits on rent increases and no automatic right to a lease renewal. We could all face eviction at the landlord’s whim.
• Without renewal of rent stabilization, Roberts means nothing and SCRIE/DRIE will disappear.

We can win only if you participate. Want to do even more? Let us know by phone or email.

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Have you considered volunteering with us? If you have special skills or want to help distribute flyers and talk to neighbors in your building, let us know by calling the Message Center at (866) 290-9036 or signing up at: http://stpcvta.org/neighbor.network.

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Please consider additional financial support to help bolster our legal fund by donating at http://stpcvta.org/donate

Workers in the repair and cleanup effort in Peter Cooper Village in November, 2012

By Sabina Mollot
It was 28 months ago when the wrath of Hurricane Sandy caused the East River to rise 14 feet and barrel its way into Manhattan’s East Side. In Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, the gushing water caused unprecedented damage, destroying the management office and flooding basements and garages. But according to CWCapital, its insurance company has still not paid over a third of what the owner believes is owed for the damage.
The suit, filed last Thursday, said Lexington Insurance Co. has only paid $60 million of the repair costs and estimated losses that the owner has claimed were actually over $95 million. Adding insult to injury, the insurance company is also trying to bring the entire amount, including what has already been paid, to appraisal.

In its complaint, which is over 100 pages long, CW said the insurer, despite having its agents examine the damage on site, has “capped what it was willing to pay, regardless of the costs of repair.” Additionally, “Lexington simply ignored PCV/ST’s pleas for payment while at the same time, acknowledging that they were covered.”

The suit, which was first reported by Law360, noted how employees on the property immediately started work on the repairs to minimize the inconvenience to residents, which CW said served to minimize business interruption losses.
CW had hoped to get the insurer to agree on a $100 million settlement but Lexington and agents for Lexington from an insurance industry adjuster called Vericlaim “rebuffed those efforts.”

East River water buried cars outside of Stuyvesant Town when Hurricane Sandy hit. (Photographer unknown)

CW said it has since refined its estimate to reflect newer information and now believes the actual costs from repairs and losses amount to $95,296,483. The owner said the insurer has been provided with access to the property’s employees as well as the related documentation. “PCV/ST has responded to reasonable, and many unreasonable requests for information by Lexington and Vericlaim,” CW wrote.

CW also wrote that the refusal to pay the full estimate is the result of an “incomplete” inspection that was conducted in 2013 by an insurance industry construction consultant called Wakelee Associates. “Based largely on Wakelee’s results,” Lexington informed CW that the loss and damage amounted to about $60 million. Close to $53 million of that has actually been paid out, which, with the $7,500,000 deductible, reflects Lexington’s $60 million estimate.

CW also said some of its costs have been challenged in cases where equipment had to be replaced rather than just repaired. CW defended its actions though, citing in one example the property’s heat controls. The system had controllers that were destroyed in many buildings when Sandy hit. A different type of system was then installed since the original one was no longer commercially available.

CW gave some other examples of not receiving all it believes the property was owed, including in work relating to replacement of all the buildings’ cast iron drain pipes, which had all gotten clogged with water and debris. When dozens of onsite plumbers couldn’t unclog them, contractors had to be hired to saw through concrete basement floors, which meant additional costs to replace floors, drywall, tile and other property. A year later, Wakelee “took the position they could have been unclogged,” said CW, adding that there were no objections when the work was being done. CW said Lexington also accused the owner of having a “premeditated plan” to replace them.

Workers clean out an Avenue C garage in November, 2012 (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

The document went on to list other things CW was stuck footing all or some of the bill for such as replacement of steel window and door frames that had been exposed to river water and had corroded, work at the old management office, now converted into apartments (specifically installation of equipment and furniture), damaged fire mains, asbestos removal from buildings, reimbursement for employees’ cleanup/repair work (since they were diverted from their regular duties to do it) and income loss from laundry rooms, garages and the fitness center.
CW is also attempting to block Lexington from pursuing appraisal.

A spokesperson for CWCapital said he couldn’t comment on pending litigation, and a spokesperson for Lexington didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Council Member Dan Garodnick discusses new legislation inspired by complaints from Stuyvesant Town residents about lack of notice for inspections and non-emergency work in their apartments. (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot

For tenants in Stuyvesant Town, getting a notice that one’s apartment is going to be inspected by management or partially torn up by a maintenance crew as part a neighboring apartment’s renovation is a bit like being summoned for jury duty. A disruptive pain, but also an unavoidable fact of life if you want to be law-abiding.

However, this week, Council Member Dan Garodnick said he plans to introduce legislation that would give tenants on the receiving end of such notices more lead time, and more information as to the nature of the work. While owners are allowed by law to inspect apartments or gain access for work the owner deems necessary, there isn’t always much in the way of notice for impacted tenants. On Monday, Garodnick, while surrounded by tenants on First Avenue, said his bill would change this.

Currently, the law says an owner must give a tenant 24 hours notice prior to when an inspection is conducted. The bill, if passed, would change that to 72 hours. It would also increase the amount of notice that must be given for non-emergency work, currently one week, to two weeks. Additionally, tenants would have to be notified of the scheduled visits by notices delivered by hand as well as by email, if the tenant has provided an email address. The notices would also have to be bi-lingual and include the reason for the requested entry and how much time would be required in an apartment. The notice would also have to include information about the legislation.

“We want to reduce the number of situations where tenants are surprised by an inspection or repair work,” Garodnick said, “and we want to make sure that proper notice is given.” He also noted that some tenants have been upset about not having the opportunity to be present during the appointments.

CWCapital has conducted many inspections of ST/PCV apartments in the past couple of years with workers looking at things like appliance types and checking for room dividers, which has led some residents to wonder if those in unrenovated units, paying lower rents, were being targeted. Garodnick said he’s heard these concerns, but has not seen any evidence that would back up such claims.

He also said he hadn’t heard of any recent wave of inspections, although inspections are still an ongoing process.

Also on hand during Monday’s announcement was Tenants Association Chair Susan Steinberg, who called the current inspection process a “pervasive abuse” of tenants, citing an instance when a resident, after getting out of the shower, was caught by surprise by the arrival of maintenance workers and another time when a tenant’s teenage daughter, home alone, was walked in on. She said she’d also heard of tenants leaving town, “only to come back to find the apartment in shambles.”

Garodnick said the bill would be introduced on Wednesday and that he was drumming up support for it within the Council.

He clearly already has some support among neighbors though.

One tenant at the announcement, Peggy Smith, told Town & Village she’d twice been notified that her apartment was being inspected. The first time she was told it was for illegal room dividers.

“I got very little notice,” she said, but she also recalled being able to reschedule at a date that was more convenient than the date management had originally suggested. But then, after the inspection was conducted, Smith was informed she’d be inspected again.

Fortunately for her, when she inquired as to the reason, she learned the notice of a return visit was actually a mistake.

But, Smith said, “It was very stressful, I have to say, because you don’t know what in particular they’re looking for.”

Another resident, a retiree who didn’t want her name mentioned, said just this week she was visited by someone claiming to need access to her apartment for an inspection. The inspector came before 8 a.m. when she wasn’t yet fully dressed, so the woman said she refused him entry, explaining that the timing wasn’t convenient. In response, she said he “was very polite” and left. Two days later, she received a notice in the mail that her apartment was to be inspected on Monday, March 16 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

A spokesperson for CWCapital did not respond to a request for comment.

An actor dressed as a town crier sings Tenant King’s praises as the company attempts to market its services to Stuyvesant Town residents. (Photo courtesy of Tenant King)

By Sabina Mollot

A new social networking site for residents of specific neighborhoods has recently expanded its reach to include residents of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

Tenant King, which began including the neighborhood last September, is aimed at helping people interact with neighbors online in a way that encourages talk about local businesses and also offers a way for people to buy and sell things to neighbors through a listings section.

The contents of the site only becomes available to a visitor after he or she has provided proof of an address that coincides with the right network/neighborhood, of which currently there are just a few. Along with ST/PCV, there’s also Tribeca, Battery Park City, the Seaport, the Financial District and Long Island City. Without signing up, access to information on the site, tenantking.com, is pretty limited.

So, as the company, which was co-founded by two Long Island City residents, boasts on the site, there are “No stalkers, no marketers, no bots, no management companies, just you and your fellow tenants.” Of the two founders, one is Mihkel Noormagi, an Estonia native who’s lived in New York for the past five years. The other is Hungarian-born Patrik Misko. The two met when working at Elegran, a midtown real estate firm.

It was after moving to the neighborhood, that they came up with the idea for Tenant King, “because they saw a need,” said Meena Ziabari, a spokesperson for the company, “for a way to meet people in your neighborhood that might share interests with you.”

The most popular feature so far seems to be the listings, which was created as a locally oriented alternative to Craigslist. So far, it seems to have worked, with people using the section not only for commerce but for things like giving away furniture and starting book clubs. There’s also been a lot of debate online on issues affecting the different neighborhoods; a recent thread among Stuy Town neighbors revolved around the rudeness of a dog owner who’d left the pooch’s pee in an elevator. Another dog-related conversation started when a user offered to walk other people’s dogs for them.

“She runs in the morning and said, ‘I would love to help,’” said Ziabari.

Membership on the site is free, and while Tenant King is hoping to form partnerships with businesses in their areas of coverage and eventually be able to collect some sort of fees that way, the website and service have yet to be monetized. Meanwhile, businesses are not allowed to join as members, which is a rule aimed at discouraging self-promotion. Individual service providers, such as dog walkers and baby sitters, however, are an exception.

As of this month, Noormagi said there are close to 4,000 members of Tenant King in the participating neighborhoods, mostly in Long Island City. Around 700 members are from ST/PCV.

In other recent developments, Noormagi noted that the company has been shooting member video testimonials and has started actively looking for investors.

So far, there hasn’t been too much in the way of promotion, although actors dressed as medieval town criers did prance through the Oval on one afternoon last fall to hand out invitation codes. The effort, Ziabari recalled, delighted the kids. “They had a lot of families coming up to them, asking how they got there, by time machine?”

Responding to invitations, which can also be sent by mail upon request is one way would-be members can verify their addresses. Another way is to send a scan of an ID or debit card.

If things take off, the company hopes to eventually expand its services. “We would love to do it across the country,” Ziabari said, “but for now, this is for New York City.”

Madeleine Noveck, at home with some of the cookies she’s sold, her business card and her teddy bear (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot

This budding saleswoman is one tough cookie!

An eight-year-old from Stuyvesant Town, who last year had the third highest cookie sales in the entire city, has done it again, also becoming the top seller of Girl Scout cookies in Manhattan. And this time, she’s beaten her previous record of 1,403 boxes of cookies with 1,728 boxes. However, that amount doesn’t even include the amount of cookies she sold after an official sale period of December 12-January 19, on her own as well as at a recent booth sale with her troop in front of the Stuy Town Associated supermarket.

At a recent conversation at her family’s apartment, Madeleine Noveck, better known as Maddie, discussed her success and the fun she’s had going door to door for what is actually America’s second best-selling cookie. (Girl Scout cookies are just behind Oreos.)

This year, Noveck’s efforts won her an iPad Air – although for her it’s just another one to throw on the pile. She also won an iPad mini two years ago and another iPad last year that she gave to her brother. But even without the prizes, for Noveck, selling cookies is the best part of being a Girl Scout and it’s why she joined. That was in kindergarten, and she didn’t start selling right away, but when she did it was with a passion. Two years ago, she succeeded in selling over 1,000 cookies, which, this year, was accomplished by only 18 girls in New York City.

Armed with a pitch about the vegan deliciousness of Thin Mints (her favorite cookie), Noveck sold the bulk of her traditional treats to neighbors in Stuy Town. Noveck’s mother Rebecca Carroll, who would accompany her daughter as she knocked on doors, estimated that she only got turned down about 10 percent of the time, and, added Noveck, “Everybody was nice.”

But it may have also helped that Noveck could be pretty persuasive. When people weren’t initially interested in shelling out $4 for a box, Noveck would quickly remind those who were on a diet or diabetic that they could choose to have cookies sent to overseas troops or Manhattan’s St. Francis Xavier family homeless shelter. The majority of the time however, “People’s eyes got big” when she told them she was selling Girl Scout cookies.

“Cookies make people smile,” she added. Noveck would also enjoy the interaction, playing with people’s babies or puppies while they decided which cookies to order. She also used the opportunity to train other Girl Scouts on the art of the deal and even met another girl, who, upon seeing Noveck selling, asked her mother, if she, too, could join Girl Scouts.

“Maddie was very comfortable knocking on strangers’ doors,” recalled Carroll. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.” The impressions her daughter made were clearly positive though, with one neighbor who works for a well-known consumer-review website even telling Noveck he’d love to hire her.

“He said, ‘Would you like to come and work for me in 15 years?’” she said.

Typically, Noveck and Carroll would head out for an hour each day to different Stuy Town or Peter Cooper buildings, which they did on 39 separate occasions this past winter.

But Noveck also peddled her products solo at other places such as her school, PS 110, and even the doctor’s office. Additionally, for the first time, she as well as other Girl Scouts had the option of selling cookies on their own online stores. This allowed customers to get their orders delivered to their homes early, if they didn’t mind paying for shipping, and Noveck sold close to 300 boxes that way.

The most popular cookie this year was the Thin Mints, followed closely by Samoas, which are caramel-flavored. While some people would just get one box, others took the opportunity to buy the seasonally available cookies in bulk, five or ten at a time, with one customer even ordering 55 boxes. “They wanted to donate some to the troops and have 10 for themselves and 10 for the shelters,” said Noveck.

Now that the selling season is over, the active third grader is hoping to be able to go on a trip with her fellow Scouts in her troop, which can be earned through cookie sales. Currently, Noveck is hoping her troop (Brownie Troop 3051) has sold enough to go on a trip to a camp ground in Savannah, Georgia, where she’s been before and loves. Other activities Noveck enjoys are drawing, playing chess and running, the latter of which she does through a program at her school called Girls on the Run. She recently completed a 5K at Randall’s Island.

Noveck’s a lifelong resident of Stuy Town, where she lives with her mom, her brother Stephen Noveck, whose Cub Scout activities were what inspired her to join Girl Scouts, and her father, also named Stephen Noveck.

Correction: An earlier version of the story said Noveck was also the top seller in Manhattan last year. While she had the third highest sales this year and last, it was her first time as top seller in Manhattan this year.

Al Doyle, board member of ST-PCV TA (Photo by Anne Greenberg)

The following is testimony given by Alvin Doyle in favor of enacting Intro 685, renewal of the NYC rent regulation laws for another three years, on Monday, March 30.

Good afternoon. I’m Alvin Doyle, a member of the board of directors of the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association and a lifelong rent-stabilized tenant. I’m here to speak in support of Intro 685.

Our united developments contain over 11,000 apartments, and we have been ravaged by rapacious owners and others. We see our once-peaceful, stable, and affordable middle-class community being destroyed.

Vacancy deregulation is the worm within, slowly, painfully, inexorably eating away at our affordable housing stock.
As our neighbors have died or moved out, apartments have been renovated, chopped up to add so-called bedrooms, and stuffed with more adult occupants than they were designed to accommodate or that the infrastructure can support. The rest of the city will soon see this as real estate types seek to add value, as they say, to existing buildings.

By manipulating existing regulations, our owners have jacked rents up so high that they are well above market rate. I’m talking about as much as $7,000 for a one-bedroom apartment in a building that doesn’t even have a doorman. Families trying to put down roots regularly find themselves priced out of their homes and their school district. Young people have to submit to dorm-like living just to get a toehold in this town.

Mayor de Blasio, you have committed to adding 200,000 affordable units, and we applaud that. We have over 11,000 such units, and it’s far easier to preserve than to build. But we need strong laws to do this. We deeply appreciate your making the case in Albany recently. We need your political and moral leadership now to repeal vacancy deregulation, which makes apartments and communities unaffordable and New York City untenable.
We need to keep rent-stabilized apartments stabilized. No taking them out of the program by jacking up the rents and churning the tenants — no more automatic 20 percent increase every time the apartment turns over because with current landlord practices, they turn over frequently.

No more perpetual Major Capital Improvement costs. They should be surcharges, not part of the base rent. Once something is paid for, the cost should go away. It’s outrageous that tenants have to pay in perpetuity for what the landlord can depreciate. Who made that deal?

And we need to stop the landlords’ practice of renting apartments for hundreds of dollars less than the legal rent and then ambushing tenants with renewal increases of double-digit percentages. That underhanded tactic is destabilizing our community.

There should be room in every borough for New Yorkers at every income level. We can’t allow greedy real estate operators to buy off upstate officials to support their plan to turn Manhattan in particular into an enclave for the rich and absent. We want to keep the lights turned on for everyone so that we can continue to attract the young, the energetic, the creative — and house them. And we want those who have lived here all their lives to know they can stay in their homes in the city they have worked hard in and to which they have contributed so much.

Dylan and Terence Hoey (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot

For Stuyvesant Town resident Terence Hoey, intense and unpredictable spasms, as well as crippling back pain, are simply facts of life. They’re both a result of chronic condition resulting from a back injury, which, on a recent morning, sent Hoey to the hospital for emergency treatment.

“People who have lower back pain — that’s a joy compared to what a spasm does to your body,” Hoey said in a recent conversation with Town & Village. And on the morning of Wednesday, March 18th, the day he went to the hospital, Hoey had about 50.

Hoey, who has since recovered from March 18th incident, said it was fortunate that his nine-year-old son, Dylan, was around at the time when he began having a spasm. Dylan, he said, called 911, when he was completely unable, due to feeling like he was going to pass out.

Hoey added that the severe spasms he had in the shower came just three days after another emergency hospital visit. That time, he’d been out of town with his family and a friend was the one to call 911 for his spasms. The more recent time, however, he was back home, and Dylan was the only other person at home when Hoey called out for help.

He recalled how, despite the pain, he managed to climb out of the shower. Dylan, a third grader at Immaculate Conception, quickly rushed to his dad’s side.

Hoey then instructed him to call 911. When Dylan asked if he should use his cell or the apartment phone, his father told him to use the apartment phone.

Dylan then did as instructed but soon found himself in the somewhat frustrating position of having to explain Stuyvesant Town’s street layout, specifically the lack of cross streets, to the 911 operator. “And that’s the first thing they ask you,” said Hoey. “Dylan said, ‘I’ll say it again, there are no cross streets, I’m telling you.’ I could almost hear him saying, ‘Google it.’”

Hoey isn’t sure how long this went on though naturally he feels it was “too long.” However, Dylan was eventually able to answer enough of the operator’s questions to get an ambulance sent to the family’s building near the Oval.

A few minutes after the call, Stuyvesant Town’s Public Safety officers arrived as well as police officers and emergency medical technicians.

“They rallied all the troops,” said Hoey, who described his state at the time as “semi-conscious.”

Dylan remembered that his father “was having trouble breathing. Air wasn’t getting to his head.”

But, Hoey noted, Dylan remained calm, answering responders’ questions and gathering his father’s military ID cards. Hoey, who now works as a regional law enforcement liaison for the Department of Homeland Security, is also a retired Navy master chief petty officer (MCPO).

Dylan later told T&V that he had just told himself over and over, “Be calm. Don’t worry.” When asked if this trick really worked, he admitted, “No.” But Dylan added that he had suspected his father might have spasms that day because his back pain was worse than usual.

“His back was really sore,” said Dylan. “I knew it was going to be really bad.”

Hoey, who doesn’t particularly enjoy discussing his back pain, said he agreed to discuss the latest bout in order to give credit where it was due. That would be to his son for “remembering his father-son training” and “springing into action” and also to Stuy Town’s Public Safety officers, who, he said, are always reliable.

“We’re very fortunate to have such a dedicated Public Safety Department,” said Hoey. “They’re always willing, ready and able to respond to such emergencies. We’re very grateful for the great work that they do.”

On the matter of the confusion over cross-streets, T&V reached out to the NYPD, the FDNY and the mayor’s office to ask if emergency responders were familiar with the layout of Stuyvesant Town, since any confusion during a 911 call could delay a response. Of the three agencies, only two responded. A rep for the mayor’s office admitted, as of T&V’s deadline, that he didn’t know, but would look into it. A spokesperson for the FDNY responded to say, “FDNY units are very familiar with the layout and addresses of Stuyvesant Town.”

By Sabina Mollot

On Sunday, families in Stuyvesant Town gathered at noon for the traditional Easter activities, including an egg hunt and a visit from the Easter Bunny. There were also additional activities, including a craft table for making egg crowns, face painting and Imagination Playground, a play system made up of foam mats, blocks, wagons and other parts that can be used to build things.

This year, the egg hunt was held on the Oval lawn, a much larger space than the two playgrounds where the sport has normally taken place. Still, it took no more than 10 seconds for the young participants, after being let loose on the grass, to collect all the brightly colored eggs the eye could see.

With the kids not being separated by age this year, naturally, the older kids swooped up more of the prized treats, but some made sure to share with younger, egg hunting rookies who didn’t collect any of the plastic-covered candies on their own.

The egg hunt was the first event to take place this spring in Stuy Town. Next up is a gardening event for kids on April 25 from 1-3 p.m. There will be live music by apple seeds songs for seeds band and the chance to plant saplings and take home crafts using recycled supplies. A pet care event, featuring reps from local pet-related businesses and services, is scheduled for the following month on Saturday, May 9 from 1-4 p.m. at Playground 9.

Photos by Sabina Mollot

Jeff Nelson (Photo via Wikipedia)

By Sabina Mollot

Following a search for a former Major League Baseball player, the Peter Stuyvesant Little League announced Monday morning that Jeff Nelson, formerly of the Yankees, has been confirmed to join the kids on their opening day activities.

Nelson was the relief pitcher for the Yankees during the 1996-2000 championship seasons. He retired in 2007.

The opening day PSLL parade is scheduled for Saturday, April 18 in front of Hane restaurant at First Avenue and 20th Street at 8 a.m. From there the players will head into Stuyvesant Town, circle Stuyvesant Oval and then conclude the march at Con Ed field on Avenue C and 15th Street for a brief ceremony (around 9 a.m.).

This year, the PSLL had concerns it wouldn’t be able to have a retired pro player as a guest, which has been a tradition of the league, due to many players’ appearance fees going up.

Previous guests have included Dwight “Doc” Gooden, Keith Hernandez and Cecil Fielder.

Chef Jason Hall (left) and One Five Hospitality special events director Ashley Bradford (right) with Citymeals-on-Wheels recipient and Stuy Town resident Shashi (Photo courtesy of Citymeals)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Chefs from Union Square restaurant The Fourth treated homebound seniors to personally cooked meals from the restaurant last week. The meals were delivered as part of the Chefs Deliver for Citymeals program, in which highly-regarded chefs from various New York restaurants offer up their culinary talents and deliver the meals to elderly residents who are unable to cook or shop for themselves.

The most recent delivery from Citymeals on Tuesday, April 7 was made by chefs Marco Moreira and Jason Hall of The Fourth. Hall personally delivered some of the 200 meals to Stuy Town residents with Ashley Bradford, special events director at One Five Hospitality, which includes The Fourth. On the menu was dinners of Moroccan-spiced braised chicken with peas, carrots and Israeli couscous and the remainder of meals were delivered to residents in the Lower East Side.

Citymeals board of director’s co-president and chef Daniel Boulud and Citymeals board member chef Charlie Palmer launched Chefs Deliver in January, 2014. Citymeals-on-Wheels executive director Beth Shapiro said that Citymeals started the program in response to Hurricane Sandy and it has been available about three times in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village since its inception.

The most recent delivery from Citymeals on Tuesday, April 7 was made by chefs Marco Moreira and Jason Hall of The Fourth. Hall personally delivered some of the 200 meals to Stuy Town residents with Ashley Bradford, special events director at One Five Hospitality, which includes The Fourth. On the menu was dinners of Moroccan-spiced braised chicken with peas, carrots and Israeli couscous and the remainder of meals were delivered to residents in the Lower East Side.

Last April, restaurateurs Scott Conant of Scarpetta and Ryan Hardy of Charlie Bird delivered meals to seniors in Stuyvesant Town as part of the Chefs Deliver program. (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

Citymeals delivers weekend, emergency and holiday meals for homebound New Yorkers, many of whom are over 80 years old. All Citymeals recipients are chronically disabled by vision loss, arthritis, heart disease and other conditions, and almost all need assistance walking. Many recipients are also isolated, with more than 70 percent who live alone and 40 percent who rarely leave their homes.

Many are also at risk from malnutrition, making the program an important asset for their diets. The occasional meals from highly-regarded chefs are just a perk, and Shapiro noted that it isn’t just a coincidence that residents in Stuy Town were treated to a meal from a restaurant located nearby.

“We try to keep (the chefs) close to their neighborhoods,” Shapiro said. “Harlem chef Marcus Samuelsson made and delivered meals in Harlem when he participated. Local residents know him and he wanted to support his own community. Chefs usually want to stay within their communities, nourishing their own residents.”

Hundreds came out for the annual tradition, which, this time, featured a visit from former Yankees player Jeff Nelson. (Photos by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot

On Saturday morning, hundreds of young athletes and their families, mainly from Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, gathered for the annual Peter Stuyvesant Little League parade.

The parade, a decades-long tradition, is considered the official kickoff for a new season of local baseball, softball and teeball.

Led by a bagpiper, the PSLL procession snaked its way through Stuy Town, finally ending up at Con Ed Field on Avenue C. It was there where the kids were met by a former Major League Baseball player, Jeff Nelson.

Nelson, a relief pitcher who played for the New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners before retiring in 2007, admired the turf field the PSLL uses.

“I never had this when I was growing up,” he said. The player, who grew up in Baltimore, added, “It all starts here when you want to be a Major League Baseball player. I remember I was seven when I started.”

He also thanked the league for inviting him and seemed impressed by the PSLL’s size. “It’s great to see the support from the kids and especially the parents,” he said.

Nelson then threw the first pitch of the season, which was caught by Cubs Minors player Blake Levine.

Having an MLB pro player has become also become a PSLL tradition, and Nelson’s appearance was confirmed just last week.

Other invited speakers at the event included local elected officials, Council Member Dan Garodnick, State Senator Brad Hoylman and Comptroller Scott Stringer. In keeping with PSLL tradition, the politicians, who were there with their kids, kept their remarks brief and about sports.

Hoylman quipped that he wanted to see his daughter, Silvia, kick her love of all things princess related and get into baseball. “But it’s a work in progress,” he joked. Garodnick later mentioned that the recently opened Asser Levy Playground expansion is already being used for tee-ball games.

Jeff Ourvan, the president of PSLL, thanked CompassRock, a sponsor, for offering the league an opportunity to practice over the winter at the heated tent in Stuy Town that had been used for various sports programs over the winter. He also thanked the league’s other sponsors, which include Modell’s, Corbel Communications, Ess-a-Bagel and for the first time this year, the ST-PCV Tenants Association.

The rest of the ceremony was left to the kids with Kiki Kops singing the national anthem and Emma Slibeck reciting the Little League pledge. Ourvan then made parents recite the parents’ pledge, which is essentially a commitment to respect decisions by the umpires and to praise players’ efforts “despite the outcome of the game.” Then it was time to play ball, and Nelson also stuck around a while to sign autographs.

The league, which has around 750 members, celebrated its 59th anniversary this year.