Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association Chair Susan Steinberg, pictured at a June rally (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot
Nearly four months after Stuyvesant Town tenants rallied on the steps of City Hall to demand a seat at the table and continued affordability in the event of a sale, the ST-PCV Tenants Association said on Monday that Mayor de Blasio has still not taken a position on the TA’s condo conversion plan. However, the TA said that it still believes its non-eviction plan is the best way to preserve affordability at ST/PCV and tenant protections and is still hoping to sway the mayor.

This was mentioned as one of several points in a notice the Tenants Association put online on its website on Monday. While there was nothing new regarding the ongoing talks with the mayor’s office, which are aimed at preserving affordability at roughly 6,000 apartments, Susan Steinberg, chair of the Tenants Association said the TA just wanted to let tenants know the effort is still ongoing.

“It takes so long for anything to happen,” said Steinberg, “and when things are slow we want to make sure people understand that it doesn’t mean that nothing is happening.”

The notice follows many letters in this newspaper as well as countless comments made by tenants via blogs and social media speculating as to whether a conversion will ever take place and if it would even be able to pave the way for a return to stability in the community.
At this time, the TA admitted that there are still more questions than answers on the subject, and that its attorneys were also helping to explore alternative ideas.

Meanwhile, the TA noted its hope that CW and the city will “define the level and method of long-term affordability, including a potential conversion — before ST/PCV goes up for sale.”

“What we would define as affordable would depend to some degree on median income, what is considered middle class,” Steinberg said. “Three thousand for a one-bedroom, five thousand for a two bedroom is not affordable. I’m of the mind that affordable is not market rate, so a fireman could live here, a nurse could live here, a teacher could live here. Not five students crammed into a one-bedroom apartment.”

Reps for the mayor have previously said tax incentives or subsidies were a possible solution to keep affordable apartments affordable while also admitting there’s no turning back the clock for “Roberts” tenants and others paying the higher rents.

The TA also said in its release that it didn’t expect the recently filed litigation by Stuy Town’s lenders, represented by the hedge fund Centerbridge, to affect a sale other than possibly by slowing it down.

“We believe that Centerbridge is interested only in winning money damages from CW and not in owning the property,” the TA said. The TA also noted how in a recent report, CWCapital indicated that it would likely begin to “evaluate disposition alternatives toward the end of 2014/2015, subject to the ongoing litigation.”

Meanwhile, the TA realizes that in the event of a sale, Stuy Town will likely have other suitors besides the TA.

“I think that 80 acres in Manhattan is a magnet for probably all of the big name developers,” said Steinberg. “I’m sure all the big names in real estate are just eyeballing us.”

This week, Garodnick said he’s remained in frequent contact with de Blasio’s office as the financials of the property are examined.

“I am encouraged that the mayor is as engaged as he is,” said Garodnick. But, he added, “It is still very early in the process towards a resolution.”

De Blasio spokesperson Wiley Norvell, who confirmed the mayor hadn’t taken a position on a condo conversion, also said while the “good faith discussions” were ongoing, CW has said it wouldn’t take any action with regards to a sale.

A spokesperson for CWCapital declined to comment on the talks.

David Weiss founded Zip Code Flea with his wife Linda. (Photo courtesy of David Weiss)

By Sabina Mollot
Like most people who’ve lived in Stuyvesant Town long enough to remember the community’s annual, sprawling, outdoor flea markets, David Weiss and his wife Linda continued to miss it, over a decade after its being discontinued.
And, since they know many neighbors feel the same way, the couple decided to bring the event back the only way they could — online.

Three weeks ago, they launched a website called Zip Code Flea, on which anyone living in the zip codes of 10009 (Stuy Town) or 10010 (Peter Cooper, Waterside and Gramercy) can list items for sale, at a cost of $1 per listing.

Already, it’s seen a fair amount of activity with neighbors listing castaway goods that range from used children’s ice skates to Prada handbags to offers for services like tarot card readings. Users can also list items they’re giving away and a few freebies have made it onto the page already.

“We loved the flea market and everyone who remembers it says the same thing — how much they miss it,” said Weiss, a technology writer who runs a website called Sonic Scoop. “I kept saying, ‘we need to do something.’”

Having always been a reader of classified ads, he set up a site for classifieds, which Linda, an avid online shopper, helped design to make it look more like an online store. Initially, Weiss planned on calling the creation Stuy Town Flea. “Then I realized — these things are trademarked,” said Weiss. He then decided on Zip Code Flea, figuring that would also work if the service grows, as he hopes it will, beyond its hyper-local outreach.

“We really hope this can present people with an opportunity to be able to move their stuff,” said Weiss. “It also encourages people to reuse and recycle. Why get something new that has to be trucked in by UPS when there could be the same thing on sale in your building or next door?
“The other thing that’s really important,” he added, “is that people need money. This is a useful tool for raising a little cash.”

The Stuy Town flea market (pictured) stopped taking place over a decade ago. (T&V file photo)

Currently, the most common items for sale are clothes for children and babies and the site is aimed at being as family-friendly as possible. (Residents hoping to make a few bucks off of their old Playboys will have to look elsewhere.) As for how buyers pay for the goods once an item is sold and how it gets delivered is up to the buyer and seller to work out. Zip Code Flea doesn’t have a function enabling online payments, with Weiss expecting that most people will opt for hand to hand transactions.

“Because of our local landmarks that exist, people are a lot more comfortable being able to say, ‘I’ll meet you at the fountain,’ for example,” said Weiss.

But of course, there’s always the likelihood that not everyone using the site will have neighborly intentions.
In the terms of use, users are advised to watch out for anything that seems scammy. They’re also still expected to use their own due diligence, said Weiss, “and be careful in their dealings and meet in public if you like. We don’t have the capacity to police users (but) I don’t think we’re any different than other classified ads websites.”
That said, Weiss said he hopes the hyper-local angle will make his site a safer alternative to the online listings giant Craigslist.

“A lot of people don’t feel comfortable using it because it casts too wide of a net,” said Weiss. “The inspiration (behind Zip Code Flea) is the Stuy Town flea market. It was such a great way for people to offload the things they didn’t need anymore and get something new and it allowed us to see each other in this concentrated, festive atmosphere. We’re sorry as anybody that it’s gone. It’s important to allow people to connect in this way.”

A statue of NSA leaker Edward Snowden gets wheeled into Union Square Park. Not long afterwards, the sculptor, Jim Dessicino, was told he had to remove it. (Photo by Brian Wagner)

By Sabina Mollot

On Friday afternoon, NSA leaker Edward Snowden made an appearance at Union Square Park. Although greeted with enthusiasm by some, he was nonetheless thrown out of the public space that has been home to countless political protests, by a government official.

Of course, it wasn’t the real Snowden, but a larger-than-life-size statue, which had been on display as part of the annual Art in Odd Places festival on 14th Street.

And as for the reason for its removal, it wasn’t anything political, according to the Parks Department, but the statue’s creator, Joe Dessicino, had apparently needed a permit to have the statue in the park, and he didn’t have one. The statue was scheduled to have been on display at the park from 9 to 5 p.m. but at around 1:45 p.m. the Parks Enforcement Patrol officer told Dessicino that Snowden had to go.

“It’s a funny way our parks are run; even our public spaces aren’t really public,” Dessicino later said. However, he also noted, in an interview with Town & Village, that the officer who told him to leave was very polite, allowing him ample time to cart the statue away to his nearby car. “He said, ‘Listen man, I love your sculpture, but you just can’t have it here. My boss will have my head,’” Dessicino said he was told.

A Parks Department spokesperson, Philip Abramson, later told T&V what Dessicino had been told, which is that the reason for the removal was the lack of a “special event permit.” “No permit was issued though so we asked for it to be removed,” Abramson said.

Edward Snowden statue at Union Square Park (Photo by Brian Wagner)

But prior to the statue leaving the park, it got plenty of attention from the press and passersby, especially international tourists. Those stopping to look and ask questions included a Swedish woman, a group from France, a group from Israel and a man from Tunisia. They also seemed to like the spot Dessicino picked to display the statue, he said, which was a few yards away from the Lincoln monument outside the playground.

The attention it was getting is why Dessicino believes he was singled out while other festival participants in the park got to stay.

At the time he was shutting down his installation, this reporter was in fact speaking to two other artists in the park, both of whom weren’t being confronted by police or Parks Enforcement.

However, one of the artists, Ienke Kastelein, had previously gotten kicked out of another space, the sidewalk in front of Stuyvesant Town. Kastelein’s installation was a bunch of traveling chairs that she was inviting people to sit on and, if they chose to, engage her in conversation.

“A lot of people were getting booted from their spots,” Dessicino said.

And apparently, that is nothing new. Ed Woodham, a teaching artist who’s the founder of Art in Odd Places, told Town & Village that the festival doesn’t apply for permits so artists getting shooed away from the park has happened many times before and artists are also often made to leave the sidewalks in front of various properties. Normally, the festival works around this by letting artists know which areas are typically problematic.

“This year it slipped through the cracks,” Woodham admitted.

Earlier, he’d spoken with Kastelein, who’s from the Netherlands, and who became concerned after being told by Stuyvesant Town’s Public Safety officers that she’d need to take her project elsewhere. At the time, some of the residents were sitting in the chairs.

“She was on the sidewalk in front of Stuyvesant Town and they told her to leave,” said Woodham. “They’re pretty protective.”

A spokesperson for CWCapital didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Ienke Kastelein, in front of her installation, “Walking with Chairs” at Union Square Park, was previously told to move on from a sidewalk in front of Stuyvesant Town. (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

But, while Union Square Park has also been typically a place where artists are shooed away, Woodham said one artist had fought successfully for the right to display his piece, “Tourist in Chief” there. This was in 2011, and AiOP participant Leon Reid IV had initially been turned down by the Parks Department in his request to put a Yankees cap, camera and shopping bags on the Washington monument. So, “he got a lawyer and forced the issue,” Woodham said.

This year, he noted how one of the artists behind a project called “Complimentary,” Leah Harper, was also initially given the “private property” argument by a building’s management employees. The installation was a candy dispenser that gave out compliments on paper instead of candy. The employees had argued that the machine was attached to a beam that was part of the building. However, after speaking with a curator, they eventually changed their minds and let “Complimentary” stay.

“They said, ‘We’ve been looking to have art around here, anyway’,” said Woodham, who added that the owner even expressed interest in getting more art in the future.

Things also ended up working out for another artist, Kevin Townsend, who was told he couldn’t draw in chalk on the sidewalk. He ended up drawing in chalk on the windows of the 14th Street Y, after the Y gave him permission to do so, and the drawings remained on view throughout the weekend. Woodham added that the frequent resistance to the installations can sometimes work in artists’ favor. He called Snowden’s ouster from the park “wonderful” for the festival and the artist due to an article it got in the Daily News and other publications, including this one.

Additionally, by the next day, Snowden was back in action, appearing on 14th Street at 9th Avenue. After the festival ended, the statue left the city, with its next destination the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art. As for why Dessicino chose the National Security Agency whistleblower as his subject, the artist told T&V he had a few reasons.

“This person was important and I think will continue to be important,” said Dessicino. “Monuments are normally commissioned by governments, but (his) self-sacrificial action is not going to be recognized, and that’s why I stepped in.”

He added that he and Snowden are just a year apart in age. “I thought that he’s become representative of what millennials could do,” said Dessicino. “We often get termed as being self-serving and self-involved.”

As for Kastelein’s installation, during an interview, she said she’d gotten the idea for the traveling sit-down experiment from a residency she’d done at a psychiatric hospital. Patients there, she said, tended to be “disconnected” from their environment.

“In Dutch when you ask someone, ‘Where are you?’ you’re saying, ‘Where do you sit?’ They would say, ‘I’d rather be elsewhere,’ ‘so it’s ‘I’d rather sit elsewhere.’”

“Walking with Chairs,” she added, had been responded to positively by the public. Certain areas, like Union Square and Stuyvesant Town, were the most successful spots along 14th Street, in terms of getting people to actually sit down. “This is one place where people don’t hesitate to sit down,” she said of Union Square.

Meanwhile, in Stuyvesant Town, participants were interested in making conversation. “I connected to several people and had a very nice conversation about not communicating with neighbors, so this was a perfect way to communicate.”

By Pat Hartnett Stone

It has been said that you can never go home again. Seven hundred plus baby boomers who grew up in Stuyvesant Town in the late 40s, 50s and 60s have proven that, indeed, you can go home again.

In 2010, Trina Bartimer Bruno, with the help of Susan Margulies Kalish and seven other friends, began a Facebook group (Stuyvesant Town & Peter Cooper Village: 1950’s-1960’s) and have been sharing stories of growing up in Stuyvesant Town ever since. I joined in September, 2013.

To quote Trina, “I realized that our experience was so unique. We grew up in a sort of village — sort of like suburbia in terms of the families and the schools and playgrounds with familiar faces — but all we had to do what step outside of Stuyvesant Town and there was the whole crazy quilt of Manhattan after the war. “This was a time of abundance in the U.S. and loads of new families starting up. Also, it was one of the only times of the strength of the large middle class. It was a time of Camelot and we were lucky to have lived this experience. I thought it was maybe worth it to mine this experience since none I knew outside of our neighborhood was experiencing this.” If someone wants to join, all they have to do is send a Facebook message to Trina Bartimer Bruno and she will take it from there.

One aspect of this group which attracted me was its diversity of membership. Growing up in Stuyvesant Town, you rarely explored friendships outside the circle of your grammar school of place of worship. I regret restricting myself in this way, but hindsight is 20/20. What is important now is that we have formed a “family,” if you will. We reminisce, laugh and sometimes argue. But isn’t that what families do?

Some of the group members still reside in Stuyvesant Town, some have moved as far as California and a few of us live nearby, which affords us the occasional visit “home.” One thing that struck many of us was how liberal the rules have become. When we were growing up, walking on the grass or riding an unlicensed bicycle warranted having your name taken by security. Your family received a warning if your name was taken several times, thus resulting in an official threat of eviction.

We share a common thread in the pictures of the décor of the times including starburst clocks, rabbit ears on our console TVs and the dreaded plastic slipcovers. Sharing pictures of the fashions of the 40s, 50s and 60s proved to be an interesting topic as well. Reminiscing about the simple games we played gave us all a good laugh. Skully was a popular game, similar to hopscotch. We would melt crayons in bottle caps and use them to play skully which was painted on the ground. There was always a good game of hide and seek taking place in the stairwells and some more adventurous activities, with mostly the boys, were riding the tops of the elevators or hanging on to the back of the area buses while on roller skates.

Recreational activities in the summer were plentiful. Several of the playgrounds turned on the showers so we could cool off. In those days, Stuyvesant Town did not allow air conditioning. Some took advantage of the 23rd Street pool while others took several trains to get to Rockaway Beach for the day. I would also like to add that a few of our members were recreational directors assigned to the various playgrounds.

Sam the ice cream man and Tony the policeman who assisted many of us crossing on Avenue A and 14th Street were just a few of those who were among our favorites. The structural change of the Oval fountains provoked many opinions, I can safely say that while the current fountain is lovely, the former design remains more popular among our group.

Many of have read Eleven Stories High and it was excellent. However, that was one girl’s perspective. The wealth of information in our dialogues is a real treasure. Seven hundred-plus members represents 700-plus stories. I will end this by saying that, yes, change is good. Yet, in the minds of the baby boomers of Stuyvesant Town, the magic of our experience will never fade, nor will our memories. I only hope that the children who are growing up in Stuyvesant Town today will come to appreciate their “village in the Big Apple.”

Pat Hartnett Stone is a human resources manager at Manhattan College.

Con Ed plant on Avenue C
(Photo by Sabina Mollot)

No parking on  Ave. C, 14-16th Sts. from Oct. 20-24

By Sabina Mollot

Con Ed announced last week that the utility would be embarking on a project that could last up to three months. The work, which has been described as maintenance, is to replace a transformer at the Avenue C steam plant.

The company had issued a notice on Friday that the work would begin on Monday, October 20 and on three dates, would be conducted between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. This would involve deliveries of heavy equipment and require the use of machinery and cranes. The three nights when work is scheduled to be done are: Thursday, October 23, Friday, October 24 and Monday, October 27.

To accommodate all the heavy equipment as well as an oversized trailer, there will be no parking allowed on Avenue C between East 14th and 16th Streets on both sides from Monday, October 20 to the morning of Friday, October 24.
Con Ed said there would be no service disruptions as a result of the equipment upgrade.

When asked why some of the work had to be done at night, a spokesperson for the utility, Allan Drury, said it’s because of the oversize vehicles that are needed to transport the equipment.

“Traffic issues require the deliveries to be made during off-hours,” he said.

Earlier this month, Town & Village interviewed a Stuy Town resident in a building at 14th Street and Avenue C, who said he’s been plagued for years by work that’s already been getting conducted at the Con Ed facility in the wee hours of the mornings. The work usually involves large equipment being moved around although the majority of the noise comes from oversized trucks entering and exiting the plant’s property.

Since the story ran, the resident, Sherman Sussman, told T&V he’s seen some slight improvement on the weekends, but is still frequently woken up by horns honking and other traffic noise coming from Con Ed during the workweek.

He seemed somewhat hopeful however after getting a notice about the upcoming transformer project from a Con Ed rep.
In a note to Sussman, the rep noted how transportation vendors have been alerted to minimize noise from vehicles idling or backing up in an effort to “be mindful of the community.”

Police are looking for a man they say tried to rape a woman in the elevator of her building in Stuyvesant Town early Friday morning.

It was around 4 a.m., when the man, who is described as Hispanic with dark hair, followed a 20-year-old resident into the building and then tried to rape her.

He finally fled the elevator after she screamed and struggled.

The suspect, seen in surveillance video, is seen climbing down a tree after running off to escape. He was wearing a black hooded sweat shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers. The building appears to be in the 600 block of East 14th Street.

The woman was badly injured and treated at Beth Israel Medical Center, according to a post on the ST-PCV Tenants Association website. In it, the TA advises neighbors to be not let anyone into their building that they don’t recognize.

“Although our neighborhood is generally safe, we have had incidents — most recently the StuyTown Groper — so it’s important for everyone to stay alert, not just for themselves but for their neighbors and the security of the building,” the TA said.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.

*This article has been updated to include information from the Tenants Association.

Deputy Inspector David Ehrenberg at the 13th Precinct (Photo by Maria Rocha-Buschel)

Members of the community are invited to the next meeting of the 13th Precinct Community Council, which is scheduled for Tuesday, October 21 at 6:30 p.m.

The 13th Precinct Community Council meets on the third Tuesday of the month from September to June at the precinct, located at 230 East 21st Street, between Second and Third Avenues.

The Community Council provides a forum for community members to work with local police officers to address safety and quality of life issues.

This has been a busy month for major crime in the 13th Precinct’s catchment area, with an attempted rape in Stuyvesant Town, a heroin bust at Waterside Plaza and armed robberies of businesses.

Agenda for the meeting:

I. Report from the precinct’s commanding officer, Deputy Inspector David Ehrenberg

II. Comments and questions from the community.

The next meeting will take place on November 18. No meeting in December.

By Sabina Mollot

Police have arrested a suspect in the attempted rape of a woman in her building in Stuyvesant Town.

Twenty-six-year-old Juan Scott, who resided at 544 East 13th Street, has been charged with attempted rape.

It was around 4 a.m. On Friday, when a man followed a 20-year-old resident into the building and then tried to rape her.

He finally fled the elevator after she screamed and struggled.

The suspect, seen in surveillance video, was seen climbing down a tree after running off to escape.

The woman was badly injured and treated at Beth Israel Medical Center, according to a post on the ST-PCV Tenants Association website.

In response to the suspect getting collared on Sunday morning, Council Member Dan Garodnick praised the NYPD’s 13th Precinct and the Special Victims Unit.

“This was a horrific assault in our community, and we are lucky and grateful to have a police force that investigated this crime with urgency and competence,” Garodnick said. “I also want to thank the management and security of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village for working collaboratively with the NYPD. Residents of the community will rest easier knowing that an arrest has been made.”

Update: As of late Monday, the district attorney’s office said Scott had not yet been arraigned.

The building on East 13th Street where he was picked up is the squat where actress Rosario Dawson grew up. The Villager has since reported that Scott is Dawson’s cousin and has “boundary” issues with women. A source also told the newspaper that the Stuy Town incident was “an actual rape.”

In an email sent to neighbors early Tuesday John Marsh, the president of the ST-PCV Tenants Association, expressed his relief about the arrest but also his disappointment that residents hadn’t received any communication from management on the issue.

“No flyers were posted with the man’s image, even though PCV/ST management turned over security footage to the police. Neither were flyers posted about the Stuy Town Groper,” the TA said in the email.

In contrast, he noted, when there’s a major crime in the East Village, there are normally fliers everywhere.

“For the future safety of our neighbors we urge a return to the long tradition of PCV/ST management and NYPD’s timely sharing of safety awareness information with our community,” Marsh said.

Susan Steinberg, chair of the ST-PCV Tenants Association, said she thought this could be because “CW is a financial servicer and not really a landlord in the traditional sense. Perhaps they don’t understand some of the responsibilities they have towards tenants, but I think they have an obligation to keep the community updated on what’s going on.”

She also told T&V that there used to be plaques in each building lobby warning tenants “to shut the door behind you, even if it seems impolite.” But a few years ago, the plaques disappeared. She added that while the complex has had a reputation for being safe, it’s become less so since it became “luxury.”

CWCapital has not yet issued any comment on the alleged attempted rape or the arrest.

Captain Steven Hellman speaks at Tuesday’s meeting of the 13th Precinct Community Council. (Photo by Maria Rocha-Buschel)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

The main concern for most of the people attending the 13th Precinct’s community council meeting this past Tuesday evening was the attempted rape of a 20-year-old Stuyvesant Town resident last Friday. As Town & Village’s blog reported on Monday, 26-year-old Juan Scott was arrested in connection with the incident.

The main point of contention for many at the meeting, however, was the lack of communication to ST/PCV residents about the incident. ST-PCV Tenants Association president John Marsh and TA chair Susan Steinberg were at the meeting along with a number of other Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village residents trying to find out why management had not notified residents of what had happened.

Captain Steven Hellman, who was leading the meeting, said that he couldn’t speak to management’s relationship with the tenants but noted that the open communication the NYPD had with CWCapital and Council Member Dan Garodnick’s office helped facilitate Scott’s capture.

Still, a number of residents continued to express frustration at the lack of notices posted around the complex that could have served as a warning. Marsh added that there also used to be a much closer relationship between the NYPD, Public Safety and the tenants. “

With the large turnover in population, the young people who have been moving in are not as aware of these kinds of things,” he said. “There is a distance that has been created from the turnover but we’d like to see more safety awareness and we’d like to work with community affairs.”

While Hellman reiterated that he couldn’t comment on the relationship between the tenants and the owner, and noted that “the ink didn’t even have time to dry” on the flyers because Scott was arrested so quickly, he said that he understood the need for disseminating the information to residents and would try to work with Public Safety on communication with tenants in the future.

He also admitted that being relatively new in the precinct, he isn’t as familiar with how things work between tenants and CWCapital and asked if there was ever any kind of forum for airing grievances, somewhat like a community council meeting but for ST/PCV tenant issues. When tenants at the meeting laughed at the idea and responded that there wasn’t, he suggested that they start it up now.

“Let’s be pioneers!” he said jokingly.

Hellman also praised officers’ quick and efficient police work that led to Scott’s apparent encampment on East 13th Street, fingerprint evidence that connected him to the alleged crime and his arrest less than 48 hours after it occurred.

In addition to this incident, a major one for the precinct, Hellman said that crime was up in general in the last month, by 4.7 percent, although he noted that crime was down for the year by 1.1 percent. Grand larceny, historically a problem for the precinct, was down 12 percent for the month and is down 8 percent for the year, but there has been a spike in burglaries, with 23 in the last month compared to nine in the same period last year.

“It sounds like a big number but we did have one good arrest,” noted Hellman. He said that career criminal Benjamin Guadalupe was recently arrested after he was caught breaking into an apartment. Guadalupe was allegedly involved in four different break-ins and Hellman made a point of noting that in three of those cases, the windows of the apartments weren’t locked, making it easier for Guadalupe to get inside and snag some expensive jewelry.

“It’s career criminals who are taking advantage of these crimes of opportunity,” Hellman said. “It’s very important to lock doors and windows. He doesn’t have incidences of extreme violence, but he is a bad guy.” Hellman noted that it’s still important to catch thieves in the act because even in cases where there is no violence involved, it’s possible that the people involved are violent criminals.

He pointed to a recent incident on October 8 in which two men were arrested by trying to make purchases at a New Balance with a fraudulent credit card and they were in possession of two semi-automatic guns. Both men are currently in jail and one of them had previously served time for murder.

Felony assaults also increased slightly in the past month but as Deputy Inspector David Ehrenberg has mentioned in previous meetings, these numbers are primarily due to the hospitals in the precinct and EMS workers being hit while treating patients, and Captain Hellman said that the recent increase is not much of a concern.

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Town & Village newspaper has been providing news for Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village for over 65 years, so here is a snapshot of what was happening in the neighborhood 50 years ago this week.

Police presence upped in Stuy Town

Considering the violent incident of attempted rape that occurred recently in Stuy Town, an article on the front page of the October 22, 1964 issue is especially relevant. The story noted that the area’s assemblymembers and the police were working together to increase security around the complex due to muggings, holdup and beatings that had been happening The Commanding Officer of the 13th precinct at the time, William Rockwell, agreed to have police officers go into Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village more often during their tours, particularly at night.

Assemblymember John Sullivan, a resident of 6 Stuyvesant Oval, and Assemblymember Paul Curran also suggested that members of the Auxiliary Police force who live in Stuy Town and Peter Cooper be deployed within the property and the commanding officer said that he would take action to implement the idea.

Gunman escapes in taxi

Another crime-related story in this issue described an incident in which a gunman escaped via cab after firing shots in a Chinese restaurant on Park Avenue South. Cab driver Arthur Brantman drove wildly in an unsuccessful attempt to attract police’s attention to the fact that he had an armed gunman as a passenger, the story said.

The shooter had just wounded the owner of the restaurant with one of four shots fired in the building. The proprietor managed to hit the gunman in the head with a glass ashtray but he ran out of the restaurant and, with blood streaming from his head, hailed Brantman’s cab, ordering the driver to take him to the 14th Street subway.

Brantman drove wildly to the station at Union Square where the gunman leapt out and disappeared into the subway.

A promotional photo shows what the Courts at Stuy Town will look like.

By Sabina Mollot

Last week, CompassRock announced, via its tenant emailed newsletter, that Playground 11 would soon become home to “The Courts at Stuy Town,” a center for various winter sports programs to be held under a heated tent.

The programs, which have separate fees, are for residents and their guests and include Super Soccer Stars, batting cages with the Peter Stuyvesant Little League, golf and instructional basketball for kids and basketball games for adults. During hours where there’s nothing scheduled, residents can still use the space for ping pong and basketball. There will also be free film screenings and arts & crafts, management said. The Courts are set to open on November 15 and run through March 1 with the hours of 9 a.m.-9 p.m.

Currently, registration is only open for the instructional basketball with Dribbl and Super Soccer Stars. Dribbl will be $360 or $450 depending on the session and the soccer program costs between $365 and $400 depending on the session.

Prior to CompassRock’s announcement, the Tenants Association gave neighbors a heads up via email blast that the indoor sports programming were on the way. The TA noted that while it would have appreciated if the owner had consulted with tenants before digging up the the area around the playground to start installing the electrical system, the center could be a positive addition as long as it doesn’t become disruptive to tenants in neighboring buildings.

This week, Tenants Association Chair Susan Steinberg said that while tenants haven’t really been asking questions about The Courts, the TA still has its own concerns. One is potential disruptive noise from the scheduled activities or the tent’s heating system. Another is making sure that users of the space are screened to make sure it remains for residents and their guests. Steinberg said another concern is security if the roof of the structure is tall enough to block out lighting.

“The TA is keeping its eyes on the progress of Playground 11,” she said.

Council Member Dan Garodnick added that the noise issue “has been raised with management and we will stay on top of them.”

In response, a CWCapital spokesperson that the tent should actually help reduce the noise.

“As far as noise, the playground will be open the same hours and have the same activities as in the summer, spring and fall, and we expect the tent will dampen much of the noise. We will monitor the noise and take additional mitigation steps if it is necessary.” The spokesperson, Brian Moriarty, added, “PCVST is a very active community, and based on the enormous popularity of the ice skating rink, it’s clear that people like to stay active during the winter too. So we’re very excited that people will now be able to enjoy the playground throughout the year, just as they have in the warmer months.”

Meanwhile, a couple of residents in buildings close to the playground, which is on the east side of the Oval, told T&V said they were still concerned about noise.

Jill Pratzon, a resident in a building overlooking the playground, said she and her husband would prefer the playground as it is.

“We value the quiet immensely. It makes the extra 15 minute walk to Avenue C from the L train count for something,” said Pratzon. “Our view is great, too; we can see the Oval across the basketball courts. The view and the tranquility are also amenities that we pay for; if we lose those, my husband asks, do we get an MCR? You know, a Major Capital Refund? Management says on their website that the sound will be minimized by the tent, but they don’t say that it will be eliminated.”

Pratzon also offered an update on Wednesday morning, noting that due to the bleating of a construction vehicle, there was “no need for an alarm.” Work began at around 8 a.m. “This is going to be a tall structure,” she noted.

Another resident, who didn’t want his name published, said his main concern was security and the structure blocking views around the playground. “We have a plethora of carts and construction vehicles and this will create blind spots along the pedestrian paths,” he said. He added that with the time it would take to assemble and then disassemble the structure, “for two months, this is going to be a construction zone.”

Nate and Robbi Marmur with their children Ellery and Gorel, dressed up as Peanuts characters.

On Saturday afternoon, hundreds headed to the Oval for Stuyvesant Town’s annual Halloween fair for kids. Thanks to sunny skies and weather warm enough for kids to wear their costumes sans jackets, the crowd was even bigger than usual. This year, the free event also included live music, a pumpkin patch, crafts, bounce houses and a pop-up haunted house. There was plenty of creativity from families for costumes, including Peanuts characters (complete with Lucy’s psychiatric help stand), a homemade sanitation truck, a Day of the Dead character and some attendees also dressed up their dogs for a pooch costume contest.

The next big event scheduled to take place in Stuy Town will be the opening of the ice rink on Halloween. Kids who come in costume will get in free.

(Click through for more photos from the event. All photos by Sabina Mollot.)

Peter Cooper resident Blake Rodriguez of DCTK9, with other dog walkers, walks a dog close to home in August. (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot

In September, new doggie daycare center Happy Dogs, which is located on First Avenue north of 23rd Street, sued a former trainer the company had worked with, accusing Blake Rodriguez, a Peter Cooper resident, of poaching customers and starting a competing business, Dream Come True K9 (DCTK9).

The problem, said Ien and Jennifer Cheng, who own Happy Dogs, was that during the course of their working relationship, Rodriguez said he wanted to open his own rehabilitation center for dogs with behavioral issues. Though they knew this, they became concerned that despite his having signed an agreement not to compete, his center, located a mile and half downtown of Happy Dogs in Manhattan, would do just that by offering overnight boarding as Happy Dogs also does.

The contract called for him not to start a competing business within three miles of of Happy Dogs after the working relationship had ended. Happy Dogs also accused Rodriguez of illegally boarding dogs in his apartment.

A month after the suit was filed, last Thursday, a judge at a city Civil Court heard arguments from both sides and while he didn’t come to any decision, indicated he didn’t think Rodriguez’s dog walking and training company posed much of a threat to Happy Dogs. Noting that DCTK9 is a startup while Happy Dogs has two locations (one in Kips Bay and another in McCarren Park in Brooklyn), Judge Robert Reed said, “It’s like a gnat causing annoyance to an elephant.”

Reed brought up how many dogs there were in the city, saying that just that morning he’d been emailed an ad for a doggie daycare service “and I don’t have a dog.” He added that he wondered why Happy Dogs was so worried about losing clients when “there’s a lot more people with dogs within that three mile radius” of Manhattan.

Happy Dogs owner Jennifer Cheng at the First Avenue facility in 2013 (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

In response, attorney Robert Landy, who was representing Happy Dogs, said that while Happy Dogs didn’t consider itself unique, it was trying to keep its clients from being poached by Rodriguez. The lawsuit had stated that the Chengs had seen testimonials on DCTK9’s website from former clients of Happy Dogs. In response to Reed’s earlier comparison of the two businesses, the attorney said that he “wouldn’t consider Happy Dogs a giant elephant,” but agreed that Happy Dogs was a bigger operation. He said the company recently expanded so that there are now 30 employees.

Landy added that Rodriguez and the Chengs had worked on the group training sessions held at Happy Dogs together and as a result Rodriguez got confidential information about the company’s clients and their dogs’ needs. He also said that during a time after the working relationship had ended but when the Chengs and Rodriguez were still trying to renew it, there was a lot of back and forth on what Rodriguez was going to do with his company, with boarding being a murky subject.

Rodriguez’s website, he added, initially described DCTK9 as a one-stop shop for various dog-related services. But DCTK9, in a written response to the lawsuit, had said Rodriguez had been unaware of this at first since he hadn’t been the one to designed his recently revamped website. The website also utilized SEO services aimed at bringing more traffic to the site. This, Rodriguez’s counter-complaint explained, was the reason for the “one-stop shop” wording. In court, Landy said he found that difficult to believe.

“The defendant will say what’s most useful for himself and then back away from it,” said Landy.

Reed, however, said he was concerned that “stopping (Rodriguez) from being able to go off on a new venture, I don’t know if that’s in keeping with public policy.” He also said he thought the two businesses’ neighborhoods’, DCTK9’s on the Lower East Side vs. Happy Dogs near Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper and Gramercy Park were different in the latter ones “have a bit more money.”

In arguing for DCTK9, attorney Aglaia Davis said Rodriguez doesn’t advertise or solicit clients, and when he gets calls, refers the caller to his website to make sure what the person is looking for is training or walking as part of a training program, rather than daycare. “If someone was to say, ‘I don’t want to be with Happy Dogs, anymore. I’m looking for somewhere to drop off my dog and pick it up at 5,” DCTK9 wouldn’t be able to offer the service, she said. “Their businesses are not competing.”

At this point, Reed said he couldn’t even understand why there was a dispute.

Following the arguments, Rodriguez who’d been present at court, said he thought “this whole thing is silly.” He said the only dogs he offers boarding to are the ones participating in his training program or that have used the training program in the past.

“We do make an expectation for dogs we’ve trained,” he said. “It’s not for everybody. It’s not daycare.”

He also denied boarding dogs in his apartment in Peter Cooper Village.

“I have a center. That’s where I live. I have a dog,” he said.

The Chengs weren’t present at the court appearance, and Landy declined to make any further comment. A spokesperson for CW declined to comment on whether or not Rodriguez has boarded dogs at his home.

By Mark P. Thompson, president of the Samuel J. Tilden Democratic Club

In the past Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village were known as one of the state’s most important voting blocs. Where else could a candidate stand on a street corner for a few hours and greet thousands of people who knew about all the issues of the day and were definitely voting? Big turnouts – even in ho-hum races – forced politicians to pay attention to our needs, coming to us for support and making sure that our opinions were taken into account. Our City Council member and state representatives had a special respect for us, as did  others; they all knew that the Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper “squeaky wheel” voting bloc needed to be respected.

But what has happened? The number of voters here has declined, partially due to the changing demographic of our local population, partially due to the apathy that has struck voters everywhere.  But why is it so critical that all of us vote in this election – and that we vote on the Democratic line rather than one of the splinter party lines? It’s because our homes are threatened;  the ability to afford growing rents is being slashed away by an aggressive landlord’s MCIs and other fees, and various public agencies allow it all to happen. It’s because the predators are circling overhead, hoping to buy and alter the community forever. It’s because if we don’t vote and show that we are a unified force to be reckoned with, the city, state and feds will write us off as just another disinterested bunch of people who can always rattle some chains but don’t vote and therefore doesn’t deserve more attention than some needier people in another borough.

But what is really at stake here? No, it’s not just reelecting someone to office and voting against some redistricting proposition hidden on the flip side of the ballot. It’s about sending a firm message to our elected representatives – and others who should also be listening to us – that we demand they protect our homes, keep our streets safe, encourage businesses to  open and stay open, help our seniors with supportive programs, and improve our schools.

The best way we can protect our interests is to show that people in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village are important and care by voting. When voting, you will have a choice among several parties on the ballot. It’s important to vote in the Democratic column. This gives the leadership of New York’s leading party proof that we demand its attention; since candidates have always been elected through the Democratic line it’s important to throw our weight there rather than with one of the splinter groups that won’t have any elected candidates.

Beyond the actual decision of which candidate wins, the vote totals are used to calculate a ariety of other functions. Over the years, as voter turnout has declined and votes were siphoned off to other parties, our neighborhood has gradually lost its voice to other communities. With a bigger Democratic backing, our elected representatives, including our Democrat City Council Member Dan Garodnick (former president of the Tilden Democrat Club), will have the ability to use a strong showing to fight for us, and our other elected officials (all Democrats) will need to take more notice of us.

How can we as a community remain relevant and regain our stature, so that our government actually works for us instead of ignoring us? We must vote on Tuesday. We must encourage our friends and neighbors – especially those who claim it’s not important – to vote for our Democratic candidates in the Democratic column. It’s our best chance at protecting our community.

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Police arrested Luis Corpeno, 27, for an alleged attempted rape that occurred in Stuyvesant Town at 510 East 20th Street on Saturday after midnight. The victim told police that Corpeno was delivering food from the deli Fraiche Maxx, located at 213 Park Avenue South, to her apartment and asked to use her bathroom after he brought the food up.

After using the restroom, he allegedly threw her on the couch and attempted to rip off her clothes. According to the criminal complaint, he grabbed the woman’s face and told her to kiss him. When she refused, he allegedly pushed her onto the couch and tried to rape her.

However, the woman managed to push him away and Corpeno fled down the stairs.

The victim then called police and Corpeno was arrested at the deli soon after. He was also charged with sexual abuse.

A call to Corpeno’s attorney was not immediately returned.

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney chats with a voter in Stuyvesant Town. (Photo courtesy of Congress Member Maloney)

By Sabina Mollot

On Tuesday, three local Democrats easily held on to their positions as voters, along with re-electing Andrew Cuomo as governor, also re-elected Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, State Senator Brad Hoylman and Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh.

Maloney won with 79.85 percent of the vote, defeating former seminary student and former Pfizer employee Nicholas Di iorio, who got 20.15 percent.
Di iorio had fought tooth and nail for each vote though, having sent out near daily press releases blasting his opponent in the weeks leading up to the election on everything from her trip to China to secure a panda for New York to failure to get many bills passed in Washington. For this he labeled her ineffective.

He’d also hounded his opponent for a debate, and did eventually succeed in wearing her down. The only debate of the campaign took place at a newspaper office in Queens last Thursday, focusing on issues of interest to that part of the district.

Meanwhile, by Tuesday morning, Maloney reported doing well with voters she encountered while campaigning.
Many told her they’d be giving her their vote, though she quickly added, “I probably shouldn’t say that. Of course they’re not going to tell me if they weren’t going to vote for me.”

After casting her own vote at the 92nd Street Y, Maloney also made several stops throughout the district, including popping by Stuyvesant Town in the afternoon.
Some voters had gripes about long lines to cast their votes, although this year, without a presidential election, lines weren’t exactly spilling out of polling place doors.“It’s definitely lower (turnout) than in a presidential year, but people are coming out to vote,” said Maloney. She added that she would work on trying to keep lines shorter in the future, either by pushing for more polling sites or the creation of smaller voting districts.

She also said that if reelected, “I’ll be focused like a laser on affordable housing and making sure Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do not finance anything that removes affordable housing.”
Other goals included making it easier for people to buy homes, doing away with excessive bank overdraft fees and getting a bill for women’s equality passed, that has, since Maloney’s been in office, failed to do so.

Nicholas Di iorio talks to a voter in Brooklyn. (Photo courtesy of Nicholas Di iorio)

On Tuesday, Di orio was also making various campaign stops around the three-borough district, starting on the Upper East Side, where he lives not far from Maloney, Greenpoint, Brooklyn and later Queens. At around 11 a.m., he was in Manhattan, after voting at Knickerbocker Plaza on 91st Street.

He said for the most part voters he was encountering were familiar with his campaign, having read interviews with him in Town & Village and other newspapers.
When voters stopped to chat with the candidate, typically they had questions that were economy-related. This is where he felt his background working to save money for a pharmaceutical giant worked in his favor.

“It’s been a great day so far,” said Di iorio said. “A lot of the legislators in Congress talk about growing the economy but they haven’t spent time working in economics. That’s one of the differences between me and Congress Member Maloney. I’m trying to help companies and small businesses hire more employees.”
His platform was based around cutting corporate taxes to keep jobs from going overseas.

Later, when asked about the contentious nature of the race, Maloney dismissed her opponent’s steady stream of criticism as a typical Republican tactic.
“The Republicans do not fight on issues,” she said. “They try to destroy the person.”

But not all Republicans used tough guy tactics in this race — or even any tactics at all. Hoylman and Kavanagh both sailed to reelection thanks to their opponents, Stuyvesant Town resident Frank Scala, and East Villager Bryan Cooper, respectively, not running active campaigns.
Kavanagh won with 85.06 percent of the vote, while Cooper got 14.94 percent. Hoylman got 85.66 percent while Scala got 14.34 percent.

State Senate candidate Frank Scala

Scala, who’s the president of the Albano Republican Club and the owner of a Fifth Avenue barber shop, said he only ran for State Senate after being asked by the Republican County Committee. But he didn’t seek attention beyond participating in a candidate forum last week hosted by the 17th Precinct Community Council, which his opponent didn’t attend.
And this wouldn’t be the first time in recent years that local candidates have run just to have a Republican on the ballot. In Manhattan, there hasn’t been a Republican elected since the late Roy Goodman left the State Senate in 2002.

Cooper, who, like Scala, has run for office locally before, told Town & Village he had been genuinely interested in running for Assembly, but had wanted to try doing it in a “grassroots” way. He didn’t build a campaign website or attempt to get press, choosing instead to walk around the Lower East Side and the East Village, mostly, as well as Stuy Town where he said he’s noticed a “strong Republican presence.”

“People do come to our club meetings,” he said, referring to the Albano Club, in which he’s a district leader. “People feel like our interests are not being represented. We need a Republican, especially on the Lower East Side.”
Cooper, a production assistant and Navy veteran, said he’d been hearing disgust from his neighbors about corruption in Albany and Cuomo’s handling of the Moreland Commission’s dismantling. Lack of jobs was another concern.

Assembly candidate Bryan Cooper

“We want more businesses to be here, less taxes. There’s more unemployment and the homeless situation has risen. Why is this? Businesses are leaving New York.”
He also said that following Mayor de Blasio’s efforts to end stop-and-frisk, he’s found that people no longer feel safe.
“Ever since they stopped stop-and-frisk, people are like, ‘I’m out of here,’” he said. “What’s the point of having a police force when your hands are tied? What’s the problem with stopping and asking a question or checking your bag?”

On his low-key campaign, he explained it was mainly due to money reasons, but he also wanted to see “how effective it would be,” since he is already planning a run for State Senate. “Maybe if this doesn’t work out, I’ll learn my lesson.”

Brown water gushes into a tub at 278 First Avenue

By Sabina Mollot

Residents of a Stuy Town building were in for a nasty shock when they turned on their faucets last Friday morning and saw brown water gushing out.

One resident at 278 First Avenue, who first discovered the Stuy Town tea after 2:30 a.m., said he was told by a property manager later that morning that a major pipe had burst.

At around 7:30 a.m., he was informed the problem had been fixed and that he could just let the water run until it turned clear. As far as he could see, though, it was still brown.

When asked about the pipe, a spokesperson for Con Ed told T&V he hadn’t heard about the problem and a spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Protection said he hadn’t either. However, he noted that of the 2,000 water leaks the DEP is called to fix each year, 80 percent of them are directly related to the pipes of private properties rather than city lines.

A spokesperson for CWCapital didn’t respond to a request for comment on where the pipe had burst.

In a separate incident on Monday, 19 buildings had their water shut down temporarily in the afternoon due to a water main break on the Avenue C Loop. Management announced on Facebook that the water was shut down so that emergency repairs could be made and that the water would be turned on again in the evening.

Impacted buildings were: 245, 271, 277, 281, 283 and 285 Avenue C, 605, 615, 625, 635, 645, 647, 649, 651, 653 and 655 East 14th Street and 6, 8 and 10 Stuyvesant Oval.

A tree near 440 East 20th Street was cut down.

By Sabina Mollot
Last Tuesday afternoon, a Stuyvesant Town resident walking past 440 and 430 East 20th Street said she noticed that a very tall, mature tree was in the midst of being cut down.
The resident, who asked that her name not be published, told Town & Village she’d asked a nearby Public Safety officer what was going on and was initially told that the tree was just being trimmed for safety reasons.
She was also told it had to do with the tree being in the way of a ramp for disabled residents that was going to
be built alongside the building.
The building already has a ramp but according to the officer, that one wasn’t up to code.

The stump of the tree was later removed as well.

The resident added that after she stuck around a while, it became clear that the tree was actually being cut down, so she headed over to the new management office to make a complaint about what seemed like unnecessary arborcide as well as the lack of notice that a tree would be coming down.
That’s when she said she was told by a property manager that the tree was actually diseased.
She didn’t get a response as to the lack of notice though other than management tends to get overwhelmed due to all the work going on at the property at any given time.
After returning later in the day to the spot where the tree had been, the stump that had been there briefly after it was chopped was also gone.
A spokesperson for CWCapital did not respond to a request for comment on the tree.

Some of the donated toys from a previous T&V driveBy Sabina Mollot

By Sabina Mollot

With the holiday season around the corner, Town & Village is asking readers and community residents to help spread cheer by participating in our annual holiday toy drive.

This year, the drive will deliver gifts to Mt. Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center. Toys will then be distributed to children of patients of the hospital’s outpatient clinic programas as well as to children who’ll be spending their holidays in hospital rooms while undergoing medical treatment.

Gifts appropriate for children of all ages are welcome with items for older kids (13 and 14-year-olds) being the highest need. Due to hospital policy, the donated items must be new. Partnering with T&V on the drive this year by providing convenient dropoff points are CWCapital/CompassRock, the management of Waterside Plaza and M&T Bank.

Through December 12, toys may be left at:
• The new Stuyvesant Town management office at 276 First Avenue
• M&T Bank at 397 First Avenue near 23rd Street
• Waterside Management Office, 30 Waterside Plaza
• Waterside Swim & Health Club, 35 Waterside Plaza
• Waterside Community Center, 40 Waterside Plaza, Level A
• The Town & Village office at 20 West 22nd Street, 14th floor.
Bonnie Robbins, PhD, co-ordinator at Mt. Sinai Beth Israel, said gifts from drives have made a world of a difference to the children the hospital serves. In many cases, their families would not be able to provide them with any presents .

TD Bank on First Avenue (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot

The TD Bank located across the street from Stuyvesant Town on First Avenue and East 19th Street was robbed on Monday afternoon, police said.

The robber, who’s described as Hispanic, was dressed in blue pants, a blue jacket and had a blue scarf covering his face when he entered the bank at around 1:45 p.m. He then passed a note to a teller demanding cash, and got away with $206 and a dye pack. The robber fled west on East 19th Street and managed to get about halfway down the block when the dye pack exploded.

Police are still looking for the man, but didn’t have a physical description for him.

The bank closed for the day after the incident.