Deputy Inspector David Ehrenberg at a meeting of the 13th Precinct Community Council (Photo by Maria Rocha-Buschel)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Crime has been down in the 13th Precinct in the last month and is also down overall for the year, Deputy Inspector David Ehrenberg, the commanding officer of the precinct, told neighborhood residents on Tuesday.

Ehrenberg, who was discussing local crime stats at the most recent meeting of the 13th Precinct Community Council, said that the 12 percent decrease is partially due to a decrease in grand larcenies, burglaries and robberies, but the latter two crimes have continued to pose a problem throughout the year.

“Robberies and burglaries are the key numbers to look out for,” he said, adding that felony assaults are also up this month.

He noted, though, as he has mentioned at meetings in the past, that the assaults aren’t much of a concern for the precinct since those numbers are primarily due to the hospitals in the area and the fact that officers are sometimes injured by people there who are resisting arrest, rather than random assaults on the streets.

Addressing a recent increase in assaults by delivery men, including an alleged attempted rape in Stuyvesant Town by a deli worker, the deputy inspector warned residents to take precautions when food is brought up to their apartments. He added that letting someone inside also gives them access to and knowledge of valuables that might be sitting out.

“There’s no reason to let people see what you have in there,” he said.

Like in a number of previous meetings, Ehrenberg made note of the surprising number of people who are victims of preventable crimes, like theft of unattended property.

“Pocketbooks on the backs of chairs and laptops left out unattended are being stolen. Leaving these things out in the open like that, you’re asking opportunists to come out and take it,” he said. “It’s easier to prevent this kind of crime than it is to do an investigation and solve it.”

He added that especially with the holiday season coming up, residents should be mindful of what they leave out and visible in their cars.
“Even if you went shopping and you’re just running into a restaurant to grab a quick bite, don’t,” Ehrenberg said. “We make collars on this kind of crime all the time but after we get them there are 20 more out there. We can’t stop that; it’s too many people.”

At one point the conversation turned to the annual SantaCon pub crawl, which is scheduled for December 13. The event has often been the bane of neighborhood residents where the crawl takes place due to public drunkenness by countless Santas and the deluge of vomit and public urination that usually comes with it. Inspector Ehrenberg, however, said that the precinct isn’t concerned about any problems with the event this year because aside from a group of brawling Santas whose fight was broadcast on YouTube, the weekend of the event last year was not especially problematic.

“We’re not expecting any issues (with SantaCon) this year,” he said. “Last year we put extra cops out and we’re going to have extra police for it this year, but I don’t think there will be any problems.”

The crawl typically starts somewhere in Manhattan, then makes its way to Brooklyn, though the route isn’t announced until shortly before the event. It was recently reported by Gothamist that the crawl was headed to Bushwick this year, but those plans have since been scrapped, amNY reported, and it remains to be seen where it may head.

Ehrenberg then honored two plainclothes police officers with the Cop of the Month award for their work that led to the capture of two gunmen last month. As Town & Village reported on the incident in October, a man was stopped in a rental car because police suspected that he was in possession of fraudulent credit cards. He and the other man in the car were found to be in possession of two loaded .40 caliber guns. Ehrenberg praised the officers’ work in tracking the men down.

“We have people around here in possession of guns like elsewhere in the city but thankfully we don’t have shootings like in other commands because of the work that these guys do,” he said.

Ehrenberg also noted at the meeting that as of this past Monday, the precinct is online. The precinct started tweeting under the handle @NYPD13PCT.
“A lot of us are new to the Twitter thing but it’s a learning curve,” Ehrenberg said. He added that residents are still better off calling community affairs at (212) 477-7406 or 311 about quality of life issues.

TeantsPAC Treasurer Mike McKee (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot
As is well known by tenant activists, the State Senate has long been the realm where any tenant-friendly legislation, from MCI limitations to elimination of preferential rents, has gone to die. While it did seem likely that the Democrats would be controlling the Senate after Election Day, following a decision by rogue Democrat group, the Independent Democratic Coalition, to end an alliance with Republicans, the Republicans then managed to win a narrow, but still clear majority, making an alliance with the IDC unnecessary.

Some critics have been quick to put the blame on the Election Day results on nation-wide voting trends as well as low turnout during a non-presidential election year. Others have said the blame is Governor Cuomo’s for not making an effort to help the Democrat candidates.
Mike McKee, treasurer of Tenants Political Action Committee, is in the latter camp, saying he believes Cuomo would rather have Republicans running the Senate.

“I’m very cynical about whether we will get any help from the governor,” he said. “On the one hand it’s better to have a governor who wants the rent laws on the books unlike George Pataki, but to keep them the way they are — containing the seeds of their own destruction — is not the answer.”

As for what all of this will mean for tenants with the rent regulation laws up for renewal or expiration next year, McKee said while the real estate industry clearly has the edge with a Republican-controlled Senate, tenants may still have a shot at getting some meaningful reform. That is, if they’re willing to fight for it.

“We have some leverage we didn’t have three years ago if Shelly Silver chooses to use it,” said McKee, “things that can be traded.”

The leverage, he believes, is in the 421-a and J-51 tax breaks, which owners want to be passed and property tax caps, “which the governor very much wants.”
McKee made a point to note that he personally abhors the 421-a tax abatement since it subsidizes “billionaires buying condos.” But developers want it as well as J-51, with McKee saying they hadn’t been scared off by “Roberts v. Tishman Speyer,” which ruled that owners accepting those breaks couldn’t deregulate apartments in those properties. “Those programs are extremely lucrative,” he said. And, said McKee, tenants should keep their eyes on the prize, which is vacancy deregulation.

“We mean full repeal. Not simply raising the threshold like they did three years ago. They raised the threshold and called it a great victory and they’re still trying to spin it as a victory when it was a cosmetic change.” This was in reference to the amendment of the law that allowed landlords to de-regulate an apartment if the rent was $2,000 and the tenant’s income was $175,000 for two years, by increasing that amount to $2,500 or more and $200,000.

“We have rent stabilized apartments in Stuyvesant Town renting for $5,000 or more because politicians allowed the rent laws to be trampled,” McKee added.

What tenants can do, he said, is ask their Assembly members to put pressure on Speaker Sheldon Silver to get tenant-friendly legislation to become more than just one-house bills.

“Do I think Shelly Silver is likely to do this on his own initiative? No. He’s going to have to be pushed,” said McKee. “If he’s going to just posture and introduce bills that die in the Senate, and put out press releases saying how pro-tenant the Assembly is, we’re in trouble. The question is whether or not the governor and the speaker will use that leverage.”

What doesn’t need to be fought for, said McKee, is repeal of the Urstadt Law, which would return home rule on housing to the city. Focusing on that this year, he believes is a trap, since the odds of the Senate agreeing to to it are too slim.

“We need a lot of things,” he said. “We need MCI reform so MCI increases aren’t permanent and compounded into the base rent and reform of the Rent Guidelines Board and stopping the 20 percent vacancy bonuses. But without vacancy deregulation, none of those changes are going to mean anything, because without the rent regulation system, in a few years there won’t be anything left.”

McKee believes that close to 400,000 units of affordable housing have been lost in the past 20 years due to erosion of the rent laws. In 1996, 56 percent of rental units in the city were rent controlled or rent stabilized, based on figures from a city housing and vacancy survey that’s done every three years. Fifteen years later, in 2011, that number had been whittled down to 47 percent, based on the same source. “That should tell you something about the rate of loss,” he said. In some cases, this is due to condo or co-op conversion, but the majority of those cases are vacancy deregulation.

And as always, said McKee, tenants should also keep their mouths open — not to mention their wallets —in the effort to help TenantsPAC.
“I’m talking about money, I’m talking about bodies,” he said. “We have all volunteers so 95 percent of all we raise goes directly to the candidates we support.” (The other 5 percent goes to the organization’s phone, internet, and office rent expenses.) The money, however, never comes close to what the real estate industry spends to elect Republicans. (As of October 20, the Real Estate Board of New York had spent $1.9 million and owner group the Rent Stabilization Association spent $500,000.) Additionally, unlike REBNY, the RSA did this quietly, funneling the funds to a Washington, D.C.-based Republican State Leadership Committee which then gave an even larger amount to a New York group which spent heavily to elect Republicans, Crain’s reported on Friday.

The tenants do have one advantage though. “One of the things we bring to the table that the real estate lobby doesn’t is volunteers.”

He noted that many volunteers as well as donors have been residents of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. But for those whose rent demands don’t allow for large donations or work schedules don’t leave time for trips upstate to go door-knocking, McKee recommends phone banking as a good alternative for would-be volunteers. This can be done at home, usually in the evenings, and even after elections, since TenantsPAC phone banks in support of legislation.

As for why Election Day was such a dismal one for Democrat legislators and candidates, McKee believes Democrat voter apathy is partially to blame. While he was in upstate Kingston going door to door to campaign for Democrat Senator CeCe Tkaczyk, who ended up losing, he saw it firsthand.

“In non-presidential election years, Republican voters show up and Democrats tend to stay home,” he said.

Brewer, Stringer support TA’s conversion effort

ST-PCV Tenants Association President John Marsh at a previous meeting (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

The Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association will be holding its next general meeting on Saturday, December 6 at 1 p.m.

Topics will include recent legal issues, the annual review of Tenant Association activities, a conversion update, the Fannie Mae–Freddie Mac commitment to ST/PCV, what lies ahead in Albany post-election with respect to tenant issues and how New York City’s Comptroller’s Office and the Manhattan Borough President’s office will support the TA’s conversion effort.

Speakers will include TA attorney Tim Collins, Councilman Dan Garodnick, Congress Member Carolyn Maloney, NYS Senator Brad Hoylman, NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.

After the speakers, there will be an open mike question-and-answer session. Tenants will have an opportunity to line up before a floor microphone and ask about critical issues.

The meeting will be held at Middle School 104, East 20th Street between First and Second Avenues. Doors open at 12:30 p.m.

Parents of victim say their daughter won’t let attack ‘derail’ her life

Attempted rape suspect Juan Scott entered a plea of not guilty.

By Sabina Mollot

Juan Scott, the man arrested for the attempted rape of a woman in Stuyvesant Town as well as sexually abusing two other women made a brief appearance in court on Tuesday to plead not guilty. The plea was for all three incidents, with the attack on a woman in Stuyvesant Town in October being the most recent one.

Based on the nature of the alleged crimes, which include burglary that’s sexually motivated, Assistant District Attorney Brendan Tracy had recommended the judge give Scott a 20-year sentence as well as post-release supervision. In court, after being led inside in cuffs while wearing a t-shirt and jeans, the 26-year-old suspect said nothing beyond uttering the words “not guilty” three times.

After Scott was escorted out, the parents of the Stuyvesant Town victim spoke with reporters to say their 20-year-old daughter was doing well and was in class at NYU while court was in session.

“She’s strong, she’s doing okay,” said her father, who, like her mother, ask that their names not be published. “She’s not going to let a piece of trash derail her from where she wants to go.” He added that she planned to continue living in Stuyvesant Town and that he hopes the case won’t get sensationalized because of Scott being the cousin of a celebrity — actress Rosario Dawson.

“I feel sorry for her,” he said of Dawson. “I’m sure she wants nothing to do with this.”

On the plea of not guilty, the victim’s mother said, “For him to plead not guilty blows my mind.” Her husband added, “This is our due process. It’s something that makes you wish you could go back to the time when people were stoned. My wife believes in karma so I have to believe this guy will get what he deserves.”

Following the arraignment, the family was scheduled to fly back to the parents’ home in Riverside, California to celebrate Thanksgiving. The daughter is a third year student doing individual studies in NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and it’s also her third year living in the city. Her mother, who has two other adult children older than the one living in Stuyvesant Town, said her youngest daughter may go into marketing.

Andrew Bernstein, Scott’s Legal Aid attorney, didn’t take questions from reporters after court was adjourned.

In the Stuy Town incident, an intruder was seen on surveillance cameras following a woman into the building and into the elevator where he pounced on her. She fought him off, though she sustained some injuries, and he fled. The alleged attacker is seen in security footage running out the door and even climbing down a tree to escape.

The victim’s father said his daughter had been followed into the building after getting out of a cab only 40 feet away from the building. After getting arrested for the incident a couple of days later, Scott, who’d been staying at a former squat on East 13th Street, was also charged with sexually abusing a woman he’d been dating at a building on East 13th Street in September as well as another woman at a building on East 11th Street in June.

Council Member Dan Garodnick discussing bike-related safety issues at a press conference in Queens in 2012

By Sabina Mollot

Council Member Dan Garodnick is aiming to rein in cyclists who flout traffic rules. Noting that the problem of bike riders failing to yield to pedestrians has become an increasingly common problem on the East Side of Manhattan, the council member penned a letter to five precincts covering the area in the hopes of getting cops to step up enforcement of bike infractions.

In the letter, which was sent to the commanding officers of the 13th, 17th, 19th, Midtown South and Midtown North Precincts, Garodnick said that it’s no longer just delivery people who can be blamed for cutting off pedestrians or riding the wrong way in the bike lanes.

“Rather,” he said, “commuting and recreational bicyclists are equally often the culprits of such behavior. I have seen I myself repeatedly and it has been reiterated to me by countless constituents.”

Other problems he’s noticed include riding on the sidewalks and riding in the right direction on the street but outside of bike lanes. In those cases sometimes Garodnick said he understood cyclists were breaking the rules for their own safety so he also asked police for more enforcement of vehicles illegally stopped on bike lanes or those who don’t yield to bike riders.

Garodnick noted that he didn’t think enforcement should come via a “ticketing blitz” on select days but be a regular routine and he also suggested more cops be deployed on bikes specifically for this purpose. He also noted that he’d been in touch with Transportation Alternatives, and the organization had since committed to doing outreach in areas the precincts believe it might be helpful.

“I have too many constituents who are afraid to cross the street,” Garodnick told Town & Village. “Not just because of the cars, anymore. We need more constant enforcement of the rules.”

Since sending the letter last Thursday, Garodnick said he said he’d heard from precinct commanders who said they were aware of the problem. Indeed, inconsiderate bike riders are often the bane of community residents who voice their concerns at monthly meetings of the 13th Precinct Community Council. While Garodnick noted that Central Park, which is in his district, has had the most high profile issue with bike infractions, the rest of the district, from the Upper East Side down to Stuyvesant Town, has just as many.

In particular, “from 14th Street to 23rd Street, it’s a regular problem,” he said. “As it’s gotten safer to ride bikes in New York City, which is a very good thing, we need to readjust and focus our attention onto the rules that apply to everyone.”

Vet Jerry Alperstein

By Sabina Mollot

On November 7, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill benefiting veterans that was written by a Stuyvesant Town resident.

While he doesn’t work in politics, the resident, Jerry Alperstein, is a Korean war vet and also the New York Department Legislative Committee Chair of the Jewish War Veterans group.

He’d been researching veteran-related legislation in 2010, when he discovered a discrepancy in a 2005 law that left some city employees who’d left their jobs for military duty ineligible for an existing pension credit.

The discrepancy in the 2005 law came from most – but not all – city employees called to active military service between September 11, 2001 and December 31, 2005 being able to get the pension credit.

This was tied into a benefit program that allowed city employees called to active military service to continue receiving their full salary and benefits, including pension benefits, as long as they paid back their military pay or city pay (whichever was less) when returning to their city jobs.

However, city employees who elected not to receive their city pay while on active duty were not covered by the 2005 law. Alperstein said this wound up being 60-70 people.

After discovering the discrepancy, he got the support of the JWV to write an amendment to include those employees and then find a State Senate member and an Assembly member who’d be willing to sponsor the amendment in Albany.

After discussing it with an Assembly member he knows, Amy Paulin of Scarsdale, Alperstein said she advised him to pitch the amendment to city legislators, since the law would only impact city residents and legislators. And, in the interest of getting it passed, she advised him to choose majority party legislators.

He ended up reaching out to Democrat Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal of Manhattan and Republican State Senator Andrew Lanza of Staten Island, both of whom “didn’t need convincing,” Alperstein said.

The rest of the legislature, however, was another matter. Though the bill was introduced in 2011, it didn’t go anywhere until getting reintroduced in 2013.

Alperstein said he wasn’t worried during that time though.

“Bills have to run their course to build up support and for other organizations to notice them,” he said.

That year it did end up getting passed in the Assembly, and in 2014, it was passed by both houses.

Rosenthal, in an interview with Town & Village, said she wasn’t sure why it wasn’t initially passed by the Senate, but recalled that there was a problem with an actuarial note given by the city. The note had “drastically” overstated what the cost would be to the city if the pension credit were to be approved for the city employees. So Rosenthal had to convince Albany the figures were incorrectly inflated.

“I would have been for it whether it was costly or not,” said Rosenthal. “We all wanted to make sure it would go through.”

But not surprisingly, the bill encountered less resistance once it became clear it would impact only a small group of veterans.

Alperstein, who added that he was appreciative of Rosenthal and Lanza’s efforts in drumming up the support for it, said he has since been mulling the idea of getting involved in other veteran legislation in the future.

“I say it jokingly, that yes, I wrote the bill, but really it was just adding six words,” said Alperstein.

The six words, added in two different places, were “The New York City Retirement Systems.”

How one local organization is helping poor and isolated seniors

Project ORE Associate Director Jackson Sherratt and Director Tara Rullo at the center’s dining room (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot

Give us your poor, your homeless, your isolated, your elderly, your mentally ill, your hoarders on the brink of getting evicted.

This is essentially the mission statement of a nonprofit organization that has been based out of the Sirovich Senior Center building on East 12th Street for the past 28 years. Called Project ORE, its focus is on helping people who fall into those categories, as well as observant Jewish seniors, whether the assistance comes in the form a hot kosher meal or advocacy in housing court.

Project ORE is named after the Hebrew word for light as well as being an acronym for Outreach to the Elderly. It’s run by the Educational Alliance, the parent organization of Sirovich as well as the 14th Street Y. While almost all of its members are seniors, Project ORE isn’t technically a senior center. In fact, to even qualify for ORE’s services, participants have to be older adults who fall into three of the following categories: Homeless, formerly homeless, mentally ill, low-income, isolated (meaning no nearby family or support network) or Jewish. To find out if someone qualifies, a would-be client is invited to come by for lunch and then an assessment is done with an on-site social worker.

Around half of the organization’s members come from the surrounding neighborhoods of the East Village, the Lower East Side and Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village. The rest, however, arrive by train from Staten Island, Brooklyn and the Bronx. There are also some homeless members living in shelters, but just a handful.

“We have very few street homeless,” said the center’s director, Tara Rullo. “I would say most live with friends or family members.”

Still, there’s no shortage of housing challenges faced by members. Project ORE’s Associate Director Jackson Sherratt noted a recent example of a client whose income was too low to qualify even for low-income housing. However, by earning $16,000 a year, the same client was also considered too rich for Medicaid. As for what ORE can do, Rullo said if a client has a history of homelessness or mental illness, the organization can apply for supportive housing.

“We can help navigate the system,” she said. “There are more housing options available and we will research and push for that person to have housing. It can be difficult to navigate. If someone’s in a shelter we’ll advocate for them because once you’re in there you need someone on the outside fighting for you.”

Then there are the clients in rent-regulated apartments who end up facing eviction due to hoarding, or worse, hoarding that leads to infestations of bedbugs. While Project ORE doesn’t employ attorneys, its social workers have advocated for tenants in court and there’s also in-house psychiatric support available that’s specific to helping hoarders. The organization will also communicate with landlords and co-op boards to assure them they’re working with the resident to alleviate the problem. And while ORE’s staffers have certainly encountered landlords who don’t want to be cooperative, they’ve yet to see a case where an accusation of hoarding is just an excuse to get rid of a low-rent paying tenant.

“The problem is real,” said Rullo, “and quite extreme. There’s all kinds of risks associated with this behavior; there’s a risk to other tenants. If you hoard, your bedbugs are my bedbugs.”

Additionally, because it’s such a widespread problem, a current goal of the organization is to provide training on dealing with the issue to other organizations and agencies, from community boards to hospitals to the FDNY. “We’ve become kind of the face of hoarding,” said Rullo. “We’ve done conferences. We’re going to do a webinar.”

For clients with a problem, clearing out apartments is sometimes done through contractors, as well as onsite psychiatric help, as long as clients agree to it.

“It’s the client’s choice; we’re not going to do it behind their back,” said Rullo. But, she added, when faced with keeping their cluttered household or being made to move, the process isn’t usually resisted. “When there’s a risk to a rent-controlled or a rent-stabilized apartment, it’s a great motivator.”

However, not all Project ORE clients have problems that require intervention services. While many are facing some kind of crisis, social isolation is also a big reason for showing up to the center.

“This is a place where they can come in and make friends or partake in Jewish services,” said Rullo.

The kosher meals are also a draw, with the center serving 40-50 people for lunch each day. At the dining room, meals are brought to clients rather than having anyone wait on line. This, said Sherratt, is to make it as different from a soup kitchen as possible so clients feel welcome to stick around.

“You’re not getting line, you’re not getting a ticket. The idea is to have a place where you’re being served,” said Sherratt. Additionally, the dining area is going to be expanded soon, to make it more like a cafe. Clients will then be able to have coffee, tea or pastries from a mobile cart and have access to WiFi. “It’s another opportunity for socialization,” said Sherratt. “They can meet a friend or maybe hear some poetry or something.”

ORE’s headquarters, located in the building’s mezzanine level, overlook East 12th Street west of First Avenue, with the dining room its main common area. On a recent day after lunch was served, there were still half a dozen seniors sitting around either chatting or dozing at their tables. Several client-made paintings were on display on the walls. In a room nearby, a few others were watching a film.

One client who was sitting in the dining room, a resident of the East Village, said he started utilizing ORE’s services after finding out about them through a friend. The man, who asked that his name not be published, said his friend had gotten sick and ended up at Bellevue Hospital. When he went to visit him, the friend asked that he let someone named Lenny from Project ORE know that he was there. When the patient’s friend went to the center to find Lenny, who turned out to be a social worker, Lenny asked him if he wanted to stay for lunch. So he did.

Ten years later, the client still comes each day after walking over from his East 4th Street apartment. He does this, he said, for the exercise as much as for the meals, which come from a kosher caterer in Brooklyn. He also enjoys the center’s classes, which include Yiddish, a torah study group and fitness.

Funding for ORE’s services comes largely from grants from the UJA Federation of New York, as well as individual donations. The annual budget is $700,000 for Project ORE as well as for Safety Net, a sister organization that’s geared towards the needs of local seniors who are homebound. At this time, Safety Net has 172 members while Project Ore has around 200. Due to a steady demand for its services, which are all offered for free, Project ORE has always run on a deficit, and Rullo said the organization is going to have to start relying more on private funds.

“We can’t fundraise enough,” she admitted, “because it’s such a needy population.” Along with donations, the organization is also seeking volunteers, especially for the holidays, to do things like help serve lunch and connect with clients.

One volunteer who was interviewed by Town & Village, Stuyvesant Town resident Dianne Vertal, said she recently got involved with ORE after hearing Sherratt speak about its mission. This was at an event at her congregation, Town & Village Synagogue. Prior to that, she’d also heard about Project ORE from a friend who’d been doing a research project on Jewish poverty in New York. When her friend mentioned that ORE needed help for a Veterans Day lunch, Vertal volunteered.

“People think it’s one of the wealthier ethnic groups,” said Vertal. But, she added, “many of our elderly present a vast array of needs.”

Andreas Robbins

By Sabina Mollot

The family of Andreas Robbins, the Stuyvesant Town man who’s been missing since last Monday, believes he may have left the city, possibly for Washington, DC.

At least that’s what they are hoping, since when he last left his apartment on 14th Street, he was suicidal and had threatened to jump off the George Washington Bridge.

However, his girlfriend Alana Dakin said there’s so far been no evidence that he even went there, and the family’s since received a tip that he was seen at Union Station in DC.

Over the weekend Dakin posted a message on the website Reddit, which has since been removed, trying to get the word out in the DC area.

“He has been struggling with depression and has been talking constantly that he wants to leave NYC, so it is very possible that he changed his mind and ran. We had a small lead that he may have been spotted in DC, so I want to get his picture out in the DC area as quickly as possible,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, Elsa Stamatopoulou, Robbins’ mother, told Town & Village that the tip about him being in DC came from a stranger. As of Monday, however, she had doubts about that rumor’s accuracy.

“People are well-meaning and we follow each lead,” she said, but added, “it’s probably not (true).” Still, she said she thinks that “If he’s well and alive, he has left the city.”

Last week, police had to temporarily call off their search for Robbins, the New York Post reported. This was due to officers being reassigned to the protests over the court’s decision on the Eric Garner case. Robbins’ distraught father, Bruce Robbins, had told the Post then that his son was suicidal.

Stamatopoulou said that since then the NYPD has continued its search and she said she wasn’t angry about the reassignments last Thursday evening. “People sometimes politicize things,” she said. “It’s just a normal thing so I’m not looking to spin this.”

Andreas Robbins and Alana Dakin
(via Facebook)

She added that she hopes if anyone does think they see her son to please contact the family or police and to give Robbins a message.

“Say to him, ‘Andreas, your family and friends all love you. Come back to us,’” she said. “If what he wants is to disappear for a time, the only thing we want is to know he is safe and let him pursue whatever he wants.”

At the time of his disappearance, Robbins had his wallet with him as well as his passport. However, Stamatopoulou said that may not have been deliberate since he always carried it with him.

Melissa Patel, Andreas’s best friend and a former resident of Stuyvesant Town, said she’s hoping Robbins has simply taken off somewhere, as he has done once in the past.

She recalled how four years ago when they were in college, he messaged her on Facebook to tell her he’d left home and had gone to Spain.

“He asked me to get his valuables from his apartment,” Patel said. “I’m hoping (this is) just his reckless kind of behavior. I’m hoping it’s that versus something else.”

Dakin added that while there were no recent changes or traumatic incidents she was aware of that may have set him off, she said Robbins had been looking for a break from the city.

“It’s hard when you’re 25 and trying to figure out what you’re going to do with your life,” she said. “He’d been talking about wanting to leave the city since he grew up here and wanting to try something new.”

Robbins, who’s 25 years old, is described as being white, 6 ft. 1 ins. tall and thin with dark hair and brown eyes. He has a prominent birthmark on the right side of his nose and tattoos on both shoulders and a tattoo in Greek on his right forearm.

Robbins’ parents can be reached at (917) 318-9707.

Tenants pack the auditorium of the Simon Baruch Middle School for the Tenants Association meeting on Saturday. (Photo by Maria Rocha-Buchel)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel
While the future of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village remains as uncertain as ever, at a meeting held on Saturday, tenants got walked through what some of the legalese concerning the foreclosure that had been planned for earlier this year and then canceled means for the community.

This was one of the topics covered at the meeting, which was held by the ST-PCV Tenants Association and attended by around 500 residents who packed the auditorium of the Simon Baruch Middle School.

Council Member Dan Garodnick discussed how when the foreclosure was canceled, the deed of property was transferred to the senior level of the trust. He said that this means the bondholders now own the property but CWCapital continues to represent their interests. He noted that the agreement put in place means that CWCapital could represent the bondholders for a term of three years, which is renewable for a second three-year term. He added that they originally acquired the property for $3 billion and are open to the possibility of conversion but only if they get back the $4.7 billion they are owed.

When a resident asked later in the meeting why the amount had increased so much, Garodnick noted that it was due to interest and fees.
“A whole list of junk,” he said. “‘Special servicing fees,’ that’s what they claim to be owed.”

Garodnick also addressed a question from a resident about CWCapital’s parent company, Fortress. While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have pledged to not approve of any deal that reduced affordable housing, Garodnick noted that it was possible to cut Fannie and Freddie out of the process if CWCapital hands the property over to Fortress, although he noted that this scenario is unlikely.

State Senator Brad Hoylman speaks to the crowd, while Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh and Council Member Dan Garodnick listen. (Photo by Maria Rocha-Buschel)

Along with Garodnick, other local elected officials were in attendance to address the TA’s conversion effort, the state of affordable housing and other topics.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh were also at the meeting and were joined later in the afternoon by City Comptroller Scott Stringer, State Senator Brad Hoylman and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.

Stringer assured the crowd his office is committed to preserving affordable housing, especially given the recent Democratic losses in Albany.

“Our office is ready to partner with whatever plan this Tenants Association puts forward,” he said. “Even the most important and ambitious housing plan can’t make up the loss if Stuyvesant Towns and Peter Cooper Villages of the world are lost.”
Stringer added that it was his son’s third birthday, eliciting cheers from the crowd. But when State Senator Brad Hoylman, who spoke next, made sure everyone was aware that it was also Governor Cuomo’s birthday, the room was silent.

“It’s just a fact. We’re gonna need him,” Hoylman said apologetically among laughs from the crowd after the negative reaction.

Holyman then discussed the Democrats’ current fate in Albany.
“Unfortunately it’s not very different from what you see out the window: cold, dreary and windy,” he remarked.

Hoylman blamed poor voter turnout in the recent midterm elections for Democratic losses in the state. With the rent laws up for renewal next year, he said that the Republicans’ new operational majority will make protecting tenants more difficult.

“Some Republicans live closer to Cleveland than to Manhattan,” he said. “But physically making yourself known makes a difference. We have numbers on our side and a lot of smart people on our side.”

He added that legislation protecting tenants did get passed in 2011 when Republicans also had a majority so he encouraged residents to remain optimistic.

TA attorney Tim Collins also spoke to address specific questions and concerns about rent and MCIs.

Collins discussed rent and MCI concerns at the beginning of the meeting. Residents of 431 East 20th Street in Peter Cooper Village said that they had received MCIs for façade work at the end of November and residents from 601 East 20th Street and 2 Peter Cooper Road also received docket letters from DHCR about MCIs for façade work.

“How is it restoration and improvement?” one tenant asked, prompting laughter from neighbors. Collins agreed with the assessment, noting, “It’s not an improvement, it’s a repair.”

A notice from the TA that was released on Monday said that more buildings will likely be hit with the MCI for façade work. The statement encouraged residents to keep the docket letters they receive about MCIs from DHCR and send copies to the TA so it can keep track of which buildings have received them and help tenants fight the rent increases.

Another issue discussed was apartment inspections with tenants skeptical that management only needs to give a day’s notice to come in for inspections. However, Collins confirmed that this is correct. If management needs to get into an apartment to do any work or make repairs, the tenants need to be informed a week in advance but if they need to get in just for inspections, they only need to inform tenants 24 hours before.

Collins also addressed late fees that some tenants have been charged with, including tenants who have been charged but said they don’t have a provision for late fees in their lease.

“If you have been charged a late fee, talk to management because there is no legal recourse for the fee,” he said, adding that tenants with such a provision who have been charged more than five percent should be getting a refund. He noted that there is also some leniency for tenants who are late on their rent the first time and he recommended talking to management about the fee.

TA chair Susan Steinberg noted that the TA will be meeting with management on December 16 and would be able to address questions from residents raised at the meeting, including the lack of action from public safety concerning speeding electronic bikes, disruptive NYU students and residents who are in non-compliance with the floor covering rules.

Peter Stuyvesant Little League’s new president has written a book on coaching youth baseball. (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot
The 750 members of the Peter Stuyvesant Little League have a new leader after its president for the past five years, Peter Ramos, recently decided to end his run.

The new president is Jeff Ourvan, a literary agent and nonpracticing attorney who has three sons, two of them who are current league members. Ourvan is also the author of a book called How to Coach Youth Baseball so Every Kid Wins, which was published by Skyhorse in 2012.

This week, Ourvan stopped by T&V’s West 22nd Street office (his own office is just a couple of blocks away) and discussed his goals for the league as well as the significance of Little League to the kids who participate, playing baseball, softball or tee-ball.

“Little League for boys and girls is extraordinary,” said Ourvan. “If you’re eight or nine years old, this is what you live for.”

He added that his oldest son who’s now 15 and had played in Little League, still enjoys baseball and is even hoping to get into college with a sports scholarship.
On getting kids to want to play or just keep playing as they get older, Ourvan said the trick is to get them out of their comfort zones just a little with each practice and game.

“It’s creating an environment where a child can have fun but also challenge themselves,” he said. “Anyone can play.”

He also said parents’ support is crucial. This means not just dropping their kids off at games and practice but also playing catch with them.

Goal-wise, Ourvan said one of his priorities is to get more parents involved in coaching, which, as a 10-year-veteran of the volunteer practice, he is certainly an advocate of.

“It’s amazing to coach your own kid; it’s like a rite of passage in parenthood,” he said. “It’s fun to be on the field again giving support. And coaches have families and we work so we’re flexible.”

Ourvan has been on the board of the PSLL for the past five years, and on his moving up to president, he admits it wasn’t a hotly contested battle.
“Nobody wants the job,” he said. But he was also quick to note that the league is a relatively well-oiled machine with many parents eager to help out whether it’s by being in charge of concessions or handling the league’s insurance. There are also around 200 coaches.

“The league opened my eyes to the community of Manhattan,” said Ourvan, who lives in Murray Hill. “There’s so much of a family community feeling that I don’t think we noticed before we had a family. For parents, (little league) is a social opportunity and it’s fun.”

Another goal for this year is to keep older kids from leaving the league which tends to happen once players hit high school age. At that point, they’ll sometimes prefer to play on travel teams with their schools. However, Ourvan said he hopes they’ll stick around as coaches or umpires.

“A lot of these kids have younger brothers and sisters still in the league,” he said. “So we want to be able to retain some of those kids.”

The third of Ourvan’s goals for the league is to get it more competitive. Two seasons ago, the PSLL won a district title and he’s hoping for a state championship in 2015. He’s confident about player improvement since some of the league members will have an edge they didn’t have before, which is pre-season practice time at the newly tented Playground 11 in Stuyvesant Town. The spacious, heated tent, which has been branded by CWCapital as “The Courts at Stuy Town” opened recently and is currently housing a few winter sports programs.

Before its opening, management had approached the league to see if its members would be interested in a baseball clinic there, and Ourvan said they agreed without hesitation. While there is a fee for participants to cover the cost of pro coaches and some new equipment, the PSLL is not being charged for the space by CW. The clinic began on December 5, with around 160 kids showing up, and it will run through March.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for us,” Ourvan said, explaining that due to the cold winters in New York, it can be difficult for local kids to compete with Little Leaguers in other states like California or Florida who have more time outdoors. “To now have the extra months is going to be a huge help for our league.”

That said, he made sure to add it’s not about winning titles or games, but seeing kids improve and develop confidence. He recalled how last year one of his son’s teams had been struggling all season only to end up coming close to winning a big game.

“They almost made it to the finals and they were crying that they didn’t win,” said Ourvan. “They believed they were going to win. It ultimately was an amazing victory because they did their best and if you do your best you win.”

The 2015 season of Little League begins in April and registration for the Peter Stuyvesant Little League opened on Wednesday. Registration currently costs $175 per player and $150 for additional siblings. After January 10, the cost goes up to $200 per player and $175 for siblings, and can be done online at psll.org.

Photo of new studio apartment (Photo from pcvstliving.com)

By Sabina Mollot

For those looking for a cozy, new apartment facing the East River, the wait is over.

Stuyvesant Town’s new studio apartments on Avenue C have hit the market.

Town & Village reported in September that several new studio apartments were being built in the former management office building and that CWCapital was also adding a few terraces on a total of 11 new apartments.

While all apartments in ST/PCV are technically rent stabilized, those that are renovated aren’t offered at discounted rents and the new studios are no exception. Prices on the new units range in price and are listed as “starting at $3,162” for a 393 square-foot option to starting at $3,420 for a 459 square-foot option. The largest studio is around 500 square feet with the cost starting at $3,273. (It was noted in the listing that these prices include special incentives and offers.) The units feature upgraded platinum finishes, upgraded lighting and most have in-wall (under-window) air conditioning.

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

The in-wall air conditioning has also been popping up at other apartments in Stuy Town in recent months.

The prices and information were listed at Stuy Town’s official website, which also said the apartments would become available on January 1, 2015. Four are located at 315 Avenue C. The other is at 319 Avenue C.

For reference, prices on available one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments in ST/PCV this week range from starting at $3,099 to $3,329.

For Stuyvesant Town native Richard Luksin, eviction led to being homeless, more than once.

By Sabina Mollot

Richard Luksin, a former Stuyvesant Town resident, thinks everyone should experience being homeless once for at least two weeks. It is one of his holiday wishes, actually, since he believes it would make people more compassionate towards those who are homeless as well as the poor in general.

Luksin, a 69-year-old retiree now living in Minneapolis, may be a familiar name to some readers of Town & Village, since he’s a relatively regular writer of letters to the editor, usually reminiscing about the old days of Stuy Town when he grew up in the complex. But what most people don’t know about him is that he was homeless in New York, after getting evicted from his own apartment on Avenue C in 1979. He’d attempted to fight the owner in court for about 10 months, but it was really just prolonging the inevitable. He was after all, many months behind in rent with no way to pay it.

“I only worked at jobs I liked,” explained Luksin, “and the jobs I liked tended to pay minimum wage. I used to work at bookshops. I did that for about 10 years. And I liked to play in a rock band, and unless you’re famous you make no money doing that.”

After getting evicted, Luksin spent a good five months being homeless. To sleep, he’d ride the subway from the start of a line to the end, then do the same on another train. “Certain stations you could go to the bathroom,” he recalled. “Then you’d get back on the train.” His girlfriend was usually doing this with him, although when things would get too rough, she’d take a few days off from the routine and stay with family.

Other times, when Luksin didn’t even have the money to get on the subway, well, “It was tough,” he said. “It was winter.”

Going to a shelter wasn’t an option. There weren’t that many in the city at the time and those that were there were too dangerous to consider. “They were extremely dangerous,” said Luksin.

Still, he admitted, being homeless to some degree was a choice. Before living on his own in Stuyvesant Town, Luksin had grown up there in his parents’ apartment in a nearby building. Eventually they moved to a suburb of Minneapolis, since his father had frequently had to travel in the Midwest for business, and was tired of the constant trips to and from New York. So when Luksin was given the boot by Met Life, he knew he could have just stayed with them for a while.

“I had wonderful parents, but I didn’t want to be a burden,” he said.

Then one day, while still in the city figuring things out, he happened to be sitting in the front row of a movie, where he met a woman. They smoked the same brand of cigarettes, were both Rolling Stones fans and they hit it off immediately. Although she’d been living in Queens with her parents, “She moved into the streets with me,” said Luksin. “Our love was that deep.”

While he did end up moving in with his parents in Minnesota for a while, when his girlfriend found a place in Queens, Luksin moved again to be with her. They lived in that apartment for 12 years, which, said Luksin, was better than being homeless, but just barely.

“That was another form of death,” he said, and before long, he was back on the streets.

And this time, he found them to be a much meaner place. Friends he’d previously relied on for an occasional place to crash had either moved from the city or died. One of the latter was a man who use to let Luksin sleep in the back of his store. This meant many more nights on the subway, and more days wandering familiar places that somehow felt different.

“I would sit on a bench thinking, I’ve been here a thousand times and now I’m here as a homeless person. I don’t belong and yet I do.”

Still, he added he was lucky in that he was never assaulted or harassed on the subway, with most of the other late night riders also just looking for a place to sleep.
He added, “If people had to go through this, like finding out where you’re going to go the bathroom next, they’d be much kinder to the poor. Republicans all think the same way that if you’re poor it’s because you don’t want to work.”

When reminded about the fact that he only chose to work at jobs he loved rather than do one that he didn’t, Luksin answered, “No one ever offered me that. I was well known for being in bookstores.”

One longtime job was at the Metropolitan Bookstore on East 23rd Street, which was frequented by Met Life employees. Another place he worked was on St. Marks Place, where Lower East Side legends Allen Ginsberg, Tuli Kupferberg and Abbie Hoffman were customers. He recalled how one time, Hoffman casually walked out with a book, informing Luksin, “I’m stealing this book. I’ll bring it back tomorrow.” And he did.

Following his second stint on the streets, once again Luksin moved back in with his parents. By then, it was 1993. His parents were getting older and Luksin’s return was also beneficial to them.

“Anyone would tell you I had the coolest parents,” he said. “They were wonderful people. They just wanted me to be happy.”

After they died, Luksin stayed in their apartment, until once again he was evicted. He said he wasn’t working at that time because he was focusing all his time and energy on music. After losing the apartment, he bounced around in the Minnesota shelter system. One shelter, he recalled, was particularly horrific.

“All ex-addicts, ex-cons, anything you can put an ex in front of, and some didn’t even have an ex,” he said.

The better shelters, however, had waiting lists of several years. Eventually, someone suggested to him that he apply for senior housing.

“They said, ‘People die all the time. You’ll get in quicker.’” So he did this and has been in his own apartment ever since. Luksin said has the best apartment in the building, but on the downside, “It’s in the middle of nowhere.”

(It’s safe to say if anyone has a cheap room to rent in Stuyvesant Town or even somewhere in an outer borough, he’s interested.)

After being away for nearly two decades, Luksin once again made a trip to Stuyvesant Town in the summer of 2013. Aside from the obvious differences from when he grew up in the complex, like the presence of dogs and the gleaming white Oval Amenities spaces, Luksin said he couldn’t help but notice the generation gap between newer and more longterm tenants.

“You could feel the animosity between the older and younger people,” he recalled. “It wasn’t directed at me, but I could still feel it.” But, he added, “I would still rather live there than anywhere else in the world.”

He in particular enjoyed living on Avenue C, although this meant as a kid he’d attended some of the neighborhood’s rougher schools like PS 61 and Seward Park High School. His junior high school was JHS 104, where his was the first graduating class.
It was also an opportunity to meet other Stuy Town kids who’d attended PS 40 previously and therefore “they were a different species.” PS 61, in contrast to PS 40, was, as far as Luksin remembers it, “a violent hellhole. There was no such thing as racial tolerance back then.”

Once in high school, he started learning to play guitar. He later joined a band called Cross, which was inspired by the style of the Rolling Stones. (Luksin also went by Ritchie Cross as a stage name.) The band played at places like Max’s Kansas City and The Ocean Club.

Luksin credits his friend, Daniel Silverberg, a kid from the Bronx, who wrote songs for inspiring him to do the same. “It was like osmosis. Hanging around with him, I instinctively knew some things.”

Interestingly while he never made money off his music in New York, somehow someone had gotten a hold of one of his songs in Germany (though Luksin has no recollection of ever recording) and started sending him royalties.
He has no idea who sent the money either and it wasn’t much.

“Twelve dollars here. A hundred dollars. It wasn’t often. There was a name (on the check) but it was in German. Hey, god bless you, Germany.”

These days, Luksin, whose last job was as an elevator operator, which he did for 10 years in Minneapolis, lives on Social Security. His rent is paid partially on Section 8.

When asked if he had any holiday-time reflections, he said, “There’s a saying that next to a circus, nothing leaves town quicker than the Christmas spirit. The principal disease (in this country) is greed. That this country has homeless people is a crime. It’s a shame. We have a minimum of five million people who are homeless when we have enough money in this country where everyone can have an apartment somewhere.”

He added, “Let’s hope this year is a new year and not just the same one over and over again.”

Santa (Town & Village publisher Charles G. Hagedorn) arrives at the Oval where he took over 250 photos with kids in 1949. (Photo from T&V archives)

By Sabina Mollot
While much of the talk about Stuyvesant Town these days is about how much the place has changed in recent years, one thing that’s managed to remain the same is the community’s celebration of Christmas and Hanukkah.
Putting up Christmas decorations and a nativity scene on the Oval along with an ornamented tree has been a tradition for decades. Another longstanding tradition has been having Santa take pictures with residents, from kids to seniors. It was in 1949 when Charles Hagedorn, the publisher of this newspaper, donned a Santa suit to hear the Christmas wishes of over 250 children in Stuy Town. The appearance was sponsored by the Town & Village Camera Club with proceeds from each photo taken going towards the Town & Village Polio Fund for the Willard Parker Hospital. (A total of $253 was raised.)
In the Stuy Town community, other traditions during Christmas time have included tree lighting ceremonies, caroling and the occasional concert. Hanukkah too has also been recognized, celebrated over the decades with menorah lightings led by a resident rabbi and activities for kids and families.

Bonnie Robbins, coordinator of children and family services at Mt. Sinai Beth Israel, stands by some of the donated toys. (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot
Each year during the holiday season, Town & Village holds a toy drive benefitting a local hospital and, thanks to our generous readers and other community members, hundreds of new toys were donated.

All of the toys (we stopped counting at 300 but there were plenty more) were brought to Mt. Sinai Beth Israel last Friday. As always, the toys are given to kids who are stuck spending their holidays in hospital rooms as well as the children of patients of the hospital’s outpatient programs and clinics. In many cases, those patients can’t afford for shop for presents for their kids.

For this drive, Town & Village partnered with Stuyvesant Town management, Waterside Plaza management and M&T Bank on First Avenue, who all provided convenient donation dropoff sites.

The drive, which began in mid-November, ended last Thursday. However, it was during the last week when many of the donations were made, including, in one case, an entire truck load at once. (This was after a Stuy Town family held a party at which guests were each asked to bring a donated gift.) The haul included Barbies, Lego sets, remote control operated helicopters, tricycles, sports equipment, jewelry making kits, board games, books, action figures, toy instruments and stuffed animals.

Bonnie Robbins, Ph.D., the coordinator of children and family services at Mt. Sinai Beth Israel, noted that the variety of donated items means it’s that much easier for hospital staffers to match gifts to kids’ interests.

While sorting out the toys at her office, Robbins said, “This year the community has really outdone itself in terms of its generosity and words cannot express how appreciative we are.
“The toys,” she added, “really make a difference between our kids having a happy holiday or not. Sometimes the presents they get from the program are the only gifts they receive. When they see them, their faces just light up and we want to thank each and every person for their thoughtfulness and continued support of what we do.”

The staff of Town & Village would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our readers for their generosity as well as to CWCapital/CompassRock, Waterside and M&T Bank, for their participation.
We also wish all in the community a Happy New Year.

Straphangers exit the L station. (Photo by Maria Rocha-Buschel)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel
Residents of Stuyvesant Town and Alphabet City received an early Christmas present from the MTA last Thursday when the transit authority announced that a new Avenue A entrance for the L train at the First Avenue station is in the works.

The MTA hasn’t yet secured the $300 million needed for the project, which would also include work at other stations. However, it is seeking the federal funding through the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) new Core Capacity grant program, which was formed specifically to address issues of system capacity.

There have been requests for an additional entrance at the First Avenue station for at least 50 years, as evidenced by a story in Town & Village in 1964. In the February 27 issue of that year, T&V reported that Federal Republican Club’s subway committee chairman George Comet had argued that the additional entrance was crucial because of new apartments that would soon be completed.

As always, the obstacle was funding. The MTA, officially called the Transit Authority at the time, said that an entrance between Avenues A and B wasn’t possible because the “dollars required” were not available, which at the time would have been $750,000. John Gilhooley, the Transit Authority chief in 1964, told Comet that the TA’s engineering department had conducted a thorough study before arriving at that figure.

Since 1964, the population has only continued to increase, with ridership on the L train skyrocketing because of the growing population in Williamsburg. The MTA reported that more than 300,000 commuters use the L train on an average weekday, an increase of 98 percent since 1998. The MTA said that a new entrance would double capacity for the station and would serve 60 percent of the station’s ridership.

Work on the improvements, which includes changes to both the First Avenue and the Bedford Avenue stations, is expected to take a number of years, with construction on the new First Avenue entrance to begin first.

At a Community Board 6 Transportation Committee meeting almost a year ago, MTA representatives said the agency was considering a feasibility study and residents at the meeting emphasized that the crowds at the station were more than just a nuisance.

“It’s an accident waiting to happen,” one Stuyvesant Town resident said at the time, noting that the way straphangers congregate at the station’s only exit crowds the platform so much that it makes waiting for the train a hazard.

Another key part of the proposal includes the installation of elevators at both the First Avenue and Bedford Avenue stations to make them fully compliant with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

The transit authority’s request for Core Capacity funds is limited to “vertical circulation” and power improvements that will increase capacity on the L. The application for the funds is expected to take a number of years and the FTA will need to review the plan before a funding recommendation can be made.

The MTA included partial funding for the train’s improvements in the proposed 2015-2019 Capital Program and $50 million for the project was previously included in the 2010-2014 Capital Program.

Other infrastructure improvements that have been proposed for the L train include the addition of three power substations that would allow for two additional trains per hour.
The MTA is planning to coordinate these infrastructure improvements with the repairs to the tube that was flooded during Hurricane Sandy, although it hasn’t been determined yet when these repairs will take place. The repairs for that damage includes work on tunnel lighting, pump facilities, cables, tracks, signals, duct banks and other equipment.

CB6 chair Sandro Sherrod said that since hearing about the plans for the station’s improvements, he has invited Marino and Book to the committee’s next meeting on January 5 to discuss the proposal further.

Author Brenden Crowe is pictured shooting the puck. The player wearing the #21 jersey is Robbie McDonald. John Mastrorocco is the goalie. The boy closest to #21 is Phillip Spallino. Player #19 is Danny O’Shea. Other kids pictured are: Neil Crawford, Ricky Kirk, Eddie Mackey and Pat Mackey.

By Brenden Crowe

The greatest place to grow up in the sixties and seventies was Stuy Town. You had hundreds of kids playing in Stuy Town’s 12 playgrounds, not realizing that these friendships they were forming were not for a few years but for life. There was an unexplainable bond that Stuy Town kids had for each other. If you grew up on the same playground the bond was even stronger. If you lived in the same building, it was like you were family.

I grew up at 245 Avenue C on our side of the floor it was the same for families for over a quarter of a century. We had great neighbors, the Flemings, the Cordovanos and Wests and we could always count on each other if we ever needed help. Other families that lived there for decades were the Ryan, Collin, Clarke, Lyden and Delaney families. People like Mike Lyden always took an interest in my life. He would ask me, “When’s opening day for Little League?” or tell my brother Tim, “I heard you had a great time at the dance Friday night.”

When I was in second grade, I used to take Jimmy Delaney (first grader) to school at Saint Emeric’s. You were just taught to look after one another. When you went south of 14th Street in those days you had to be careful because it was a tough neighborhood. Charlie White of 271 Avenue C actually got shot in the leg going to Saint Emeric’s. A couple of Stuy Town kids got robbed going to school.

My father always taught me to see trouble a block ahead so you can make a left or a right hand turn. My brothers and the older kids taught us to be tough. When you walked to Saint Emeric’s you had to pass by Strauss Auto Parts store at 14th Street and Avenue C. There was no one ever in that store but somehow they made a living because it was there for over 40 years. Another establishment you would pass was Mousey’s bar on 13th Street and Avenue C. If you look in the dictionary for the word “dive,” you would see a picture of Mousey’s. They should have had a sign in the window, “underage drinking encouraged.” After you passed Mousey’s, you went east on 13th Street toward Avenue D and you had Haven Plaza on your right and Con Ed on the left. The Con Ed men would try to make us laugh and always gave us electric tape for our hockey pads if we asked. It was always comforting knowing they were there. When you got close to Avenue D, you made a right into an alley way. Once you made it past the alley way you knew you were safe and now it was time to have fun in the playground.

There were many games we used to play but my favorites were ring-a-levio and punch ball. The Saint Emeric’s playground was probably four times bigger than the average Catholic school playground so there was plenty of space to play. Ring-a-levio was usually played with seven or eight kids on each side. One side would start behind a safety line and each kid’s goal was to touch the Church wall which was about 100 feet away. Each kid would go off on his own and try to touch the church wall with about seven or eight kids trying to grab you. And kids didn’t grab you softly. The last two kids were usually the best athletes who got to run towards the wall together. They were known as the Big Two. If you were a member of the Big Two, you were moving up in the world. If one of the Big Two touched the wall he freed all the kids. You had to get back to base without being captured. If you were captured again it was really sad.

The other game was punch ball. All you needed was a rubber ball and chalk for the bases. It was played like regular baseball. The batter would throw the ball up in the air and punch the ball as hard as he could.
Playground 5 was the place to play punch ball. It was a rectangle playground being 200 feet long and 75 feet wide. The game was seven on seven (no pitcher or right fielder). If you wanted to hit a home run you had to hit it to dead center and it had to go between the “three trees.” You would see unbelievable one handed catches because you didn’t have a glove. Kids would slide on the concrete like it was nothing. I remember my brother Brian, Sid and Mike Lyden being able to reach the “three trees.” Other players like Frannie Sheehan, Pat Cavanaugh, and Kevin Keane seemingly could punch the ball just wherever they wanted. If you found yourself playing catcher or second base in punch ball you knew you were close to not being picked next time because they were positions that didn’t get much action.

One time my brother Timmy was playing punch ball with the older guys. It was the bottom of the last inning and a boy on third with two outs. Ronnie Driscoll, an older boy, came up to Timmy and said, “Timmy, I really want to win this game.” Timmy got a hit to win the game and Ronnie picked up Timmy on his shoulders. Years later Ronnie told Timmy he had a bet on the game.

One time Mike Cavanaugh hit a home run hitting a ball on top of Saint Emeric’s roof. When I think of Mike Cavanaugh I don’t think of him as a successful engineer but the boy who was the only one to hit a home run on the roof of Saint Emeric’s. When I think of Billy “Nat” Foley, I don’t think of him as a successful Wall Street executive, but the boy who made some amazing shots at Playground 9. When I think of Jim Nestor “Wolfe,” I don’t think of him as a successful writer but the clutchiest pitcher in the Knights of Columbus softball league. When I think of Eddie Mackey, a successful CPA, I think of Eddie Mackey, a successful CPA. The Mackey family has been a great family in Stuy Town for over 60 years.

At Saint Emeric’s, there were hardly any problems between the Irish and Italian kids from Stuy Town and the Puerto Rican kids from below 14th Street, some of whom lived in the projects across the street. The parents also got along famously and it definitely showed at Midnight Mass on Christmas when half the mass was in English and the other half in Spanish. There was great camaraderie. The only time there was tension was when one of the teachers in my brother Timmy’s class decided it was a good idea to put a production of “West Side Story” on with the white kids as the Jets and the Puerto Ricans as the Sharks.

When I was in third grade, I got invited to a party for Carlos Lopez in Jacob Riis housing project. I always heard how dangerous it was. If I had to go there by myself I probably would have been scared, but my mother took me to the party. It seemed to be an unwritten rule that if you were with your mother no one could bother you so I felt safe. Everyone had a great time at the party.

Stuy Town kids were good kids but no one I knew was an angel. Our third grade class got invited to the Bozo the Clown T.V. show. It was exciting and fun to be on a set. Roseann Keane was chosen to try and win prizes. She had to spin a Frisbee on a stick. I thought Roseann spun the Frisbee on a stick for a period of time. Bozo disagreed. Our mothers were best friends and I figured I would have gotten all the boy toys. When the camera started to span the students I didn’t make the best decision in my life when I gave the finger to the camera. A week later Bozo was going to be shown on T.V. My strategy was to sit in front of the T.V. and when they showed me flipping the bird to Bozo I would stand up and block my mother’s view. It worked. When I went to school the next day I was treated like a hero with lots of pats on the back. I still was worried about being called down to the principal’s office. I somehow got away with it.

Another time I was with my friend Johnny Messina. We went to Dalton’s malt shop on Avenue B. The Dalton brothers were hardworking men and also owned a fish store and a deli. Johnny and I walked into the malt shop and Johnny said, “Dalton, can you get me a chocolate milk shake?” Mike Dalton, who was probably in his early thirties, looked down at this 10-year-old boy and said, “That’s Mr. Dalton.” Mike Dalton went on for about three minutes why he should be called Mr. Dalton. When Mike Dalton finally finished Johnny said, “Dalton, can I get my milk shake now?”

Right below 14th Street, there was a gang called the Black Spades. They always wore their gang leather jackets. An off-shoot of this gang was called the Young Spades, who also wore gang leather jackets. They were young teenagers. One time the Young Spades were walking from Playground 4 to Playground 5 when Neil Crawford, John Mastrorocco and I threw dirt bombs at the gang. They immediately chased us.

We ran through Playground 11 and when I got to the other side of the playground, I got my pass key out and ran into 14 Stuyvesant Oval. Every Stuy Town kid had a pass key for all 89 buildings. We got away. Somehow the Young Spades found out John’s name. I saw Mrs. Mastrorocco the next day and she said, “If they know John’s name I think they should know your name too.” I remember thinking that that was the worst idea I ever heard of.

The author and friends on the playground–(Front row) Ricky McDonnell, Brian Mastrocco, Timmy Crowe, with his face covered is Brendan Crowe, (Back row) Kevin Keane, Jimmy Mastrocco, Bobby Curran, Ken Sidlowski, Ray Stout, Brian Crowe and Mike Lyden

Most Stuy Town kids stayed on their playground or the one closest to them until they were 11 or 12 and then they branched out. Whatever playground you lived on was the sport you played. Playground 7 was the mecca of Stuy Town hockey even though Playground 5 and Playground 1 also played hockey. We had a hockey league at Playground 7. Playgrounds 9 and 11 were basketball playgrounds. Our Playground was Playground 5 where we played football, hockey and punch ball.

My brother Timmy and his friends Mike Cavanaugh, Danny O’Shea, Rickey McDonnell, Marc Smalley and Robbie McDonald, just to name a few challenged the Playground 11 boys — Billy Jaris, Paul Gannon, Billy Kiernan, Jake McGarty and Jimmy Murtha to a game of football. This was definitely a Playground 5 sport. It was always exciting to play kids from another playground in any sport. I was proud of the Playground 5 boys, winning the football game 5-1, with my brother Timmy catching two touchdowns. When the Playground 11 boys challenged Playground 5 in basketball, they crushed the Playground 5 boys.
Stuy Town had the greatest athletes because we played sports all the time. There were no emails, phones, computers or Instagram. We played hard and played all day long. Kelly Grant played professional basketball in Europe. Donny Jackson was the quarterback at Columbia. Kevin McQuaid set football receiving records at Fordham. John Owens had the Catholic school track record for the 100-yard dash. Mike Lyden and Richie Maier were stars playing hockey in college. In one game Mike Lyden scored a hat trick and my brother Brian and his friends threw their hats on the ice. Roger McTiernan was the M.V.P. in the Xavier-Fordham football game; 35 years later Roger’s son also won the M.V.P.

The boys weren’t the only great athletes in Stuy Town. Nancy Murphy was three years older than me and I would watch in awe how well she competed against the boys. Nancy was the prettiest tomboy and was excellent in football, basketball and punch ball. Gina Ribaudo along with Rosemary Bennett and Dianne D’Imperio led the Epiphany eighth grade girls in basketball to the Manhattan Catholic school championship. Gina, in a foul shooting completion at the Police Academy, was 15 for 15.
We all played hard and had fun doing it. Barry McTiernan once told my wife Margaret, “Stuy Town guys don’t like to lose.”

If we weren’t playing sports we were finding fun things to do. I remember my brother John and his friends jumping off the garage ventilators which were about 15 feet high and jumping into the snow drifts. I remember scores of kids sleigh riding on Playground 5 hill and sleighing underneath a two-foot chain. God must have been watching after us because no one broke his neck. Once in a while my father or another parent would take us up to Pilgrim’s Hill in Central Park and go sleigh riding on some big hills. We played a game called “Animal,” where one kid had the football and all the other kids tried to tackle him. We had snowball fights, went skitching, played scullies and played tackle football in the snow in the playground. We had great games of manhunt. One kid at Playground 7 took the long fire hose out of the staircase and turned the water on in the winter full blast. Instead of playing roller hockey the next day, kids brought out their ice skates.

Kids from Immaculate Conception and Epiphany would have water balloon fights. Once, kids from Immaculate chased Padraic Carlin, Brian Loesch and me with eggs, shaving cream and water balloons. Unfortunately Brian didn’t make it. Mrs. Loesch had to do an extra load of wash that night.

One time I was going home and I heard two people screaming my name from the roof. It was Jimmy Murtha and Jeanie Collin who locked themselves on the roof. I went up to unlock the door. The roof was one place that Stuy Town kids found love.

I’m proud telling people I grew up in Stuy Town. We had so many characters but even better guys and girls. We were raised by parents from the greatest generation who all seemed to think alike. Kids moving away from Stuy Town was extremely rare. There was such stability. There was no keeping up with the Joneses because we all lived in the same complex. I wouldn’t trade my growing up in Stuy Town for anything in the world.

The kids of Stuy Town are now in their 50s and 60s but many are still called by their nicknames. People still call my brother Brian Birdie. People still ask D.A. Hopper what D.A. stands for. Donald Hopper would tell them it means, “Don’t ask.” The kids of the 60s and 70s do get together periodically. Bubba Kiely has had his turkey trot party for over 40 years. Stuy Town guys go to the racetrack at Monmouth once a year and always have a great time. My brother Timmy, among others, have golf outings to keep in touch.

Unfortunately we also see each other at wakes and funerals. One of Stuy Town’s best passed away last month. His name is Jimmy Capuano. He was a great athlete, played guitar, was tough and loved to laugh. He was a great father and husband. You know how much he was loved because you were waiting on line at Andrett’s Funeral Home for over an hour. I would make a winning bet that Jimmy is playing guitar right now for the choirs of angels.
God bless Jimmy, his family, and the people who grew up in the playgrounds of Stuy Town in the 60s and 70s.

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

The end of the calendar year brings with it the promise of new beginnings with the start of a new year, and this week Town & Village spoke to some residents of Stuyvesant Town to find out what resolutions they’re hoping to stick to, whether it’s starting up good new habits or breaking old bad ones.

Some young mothers in the neighborhood had their children in mind when thinking about changes they might make in the New Year.

“One I was thinking about was not to raise my voice as much,” said Stuy Town resident Allison El-Gamal, indicating that she was talking about her two kids, who were riding their scooters around the Oval fountain.

Lauren Griffin, who has lived in Stuyvesant Town for almost five years, said that she’s been too worn out since the arrival of her youngest child six weeks ago to think much about resolutions.

“If I had to make one, it might be to sleep more,” she said, laughing. She added that although she does usually make the commitment to giving things up for Lent, she doesn’t usually make New Year’s resolutions.

Estrella Vanhoek, who has lived in Stuyvesant Town for almost 30 years, said that her resolution is to be healthy. “It’s important to be proactive,” she said. “I have arthritis so I want to improve my knee.”

Other residents had less tangible goals for the year.

A resident of 12 years, Diane Pannullo, said that her resolution this year was going to be to let go and not worry as much. “I used to make resolutions like, learning Spanish or learning something new but I’ve learned that I’m just not going to do it,” she said. “Then I don’t do it and I feel bad. So this is something I could stick to.”

After thinking about it for at least a minute, Danielle Hudson echoed Panullo’s sentiment. Her friend, who was just visiting the area, originally hadn’t decided on any resolutions but was inspired by Hudson’s response about living a more carefree life. “I’ll second that!” she said.

Interestingly, the men questioned about their resolutions all said they didn’t have any.

Susan Steinberg, pictured at a June Tenants Association rally (Photo by Sabina Mollot)

By Sabina Mollot

They want how much?
At a recent meeting of the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association, tenants were told by Council Member Dan Garodnick about how the property’s bondholders say they’re owed $4.7 billion. A far cry from the roughly $3 billion in senior debt that was initially believed to be the amount CWCapital would have to recoup on the disastrous Stuy Town deal of ’06, the comment by Garodnick drew a collective gasp from the audience.

As Town & Village previously reported after the meeting, the $4.7 billion figure was explained as being due to interest and fees.
“A whole list of junk,” Garodnick informed neighbors. “Special servicing fees, that’s what they claim to be owed.”

The figure is also the same amount that Fortress, CW’s parent company, planned earlier in the year to bid on the complex.

While this amount would be reflected in the price of individual units in the event of a conversion, the TA maintained last week that it is still interested in bidding and a conversion, and that the TA’s partner, Brookfield Asset Management, is also still on board.

“It’s not a wonderful position (to be in),” Susan Steinberg, chair of the Tenants Association, said this week, while reflecting how at one point the property had been valuated at around $2 billion. “It’s creeped up more than twice that. The insider price is not going to be as appealing.”
But, she added that the TA’s talks with the mayor’s office on preserving affordability were still ongoing. “I’m hoping a structure for a sale will be reached that is palatable for everybody,” she said. “The 4.7 billion reflects a lot of interests, but I’m not giving up. I’m not being discouraged. It’s not over until the gavel bangs down and you hear the word ‘sold.’”

The mayor has so far not taken a position on the TA’s goal of a non-eviction condo conversion, though he’s focused on preserving affordability at the approximately 6,000 apartments in ST/PCV that are still in fact affordable.

Meanwhile, Garodnick said he too still believes a condo conversion is the best way to maintain stability at the property, where the smallest units, five newly built studios, currently range in rent from $3,162-$3,420.
“I think giving people that choice has great value for the deal and for people who live in the community,” said Garodnick.

This week, this Town & Village reporter quizzed a few residents to see if they thought purchasing their apartment would be in the cards for them – should an actual offer ever be made.

In response, one resident of five years answered, “hell yeah.
“I’d buy my apartment and my neighbor’s apartment,” he said.

The resident wouldn’t provide his name, explaining that his company represents the property’s lenders. But, he added, he thought any such possibilities were far in the future. “It’s going to be a long time. It’s not just a matter of being able to buy or not. It’s getting the necessary permits and in terms of upgrading the place, all of this is complicated. People are in rent stabilized apartments that haven’t been renovated since the 50s. Do you charge rent stabilized people equally? What if you’re paying $5,000 a month? I pay three times what my neighbors are paying. Two of my neighbors pay less than $1,000.”

He also said he tenants those in unrenovated apartments would find ways to buy, too. “You can always find someone to lend you money like family,” he said, “and then you can turn around and sell. I’ll lend my neighbor the money so she can sell to me in six months.”

Another resident, a woman who lived in Stuy Town for over 50 years, said she couldn’t answer the question without knowing the price.

“You can’t ask people if they could afford it if they don’t know what the price is,” she said. Still, she was open to the idea. “I would consider it because this is a very ideal place to live in New York. Even though I’m a senior, I would think of it more for my daughter more so than to live here. A lot of seniors would do it for their children.”

Another senior, however, felt differently.
John Pertusi, who’s been a resident for 47 years, said, “I’m 85 years old. I have no prospects for the next 15 or 20 years. So I certainly would be personally opposed to it.”

Lance Levitt, an 18-year resident who works for a small software company, said he was interested if the price was within the realm of reality.

“It’s always been a thought,” said Levitt, who lives in an unrenovated apartment. “They’ve been talking about it since the first sale. If it’s affordable we can do it, if not we can’t. It’s pretty black and white.”

He added that his stepmother also lives in Stuy Town and if he could, he would want to help her buy as well.

One resident for over 30 years told T&V he wouldn’t even consider buying until a policy is put into place that would “get rid of the transients.” However, he doesn’t think that will happen, nor does he believe CW is in any rush to sell, anyway.

“They’re waiting for the 1947-1953 people to pass on to increase the percentage of (vacant) apartments. It’s a business. It’s a waiting game. They’ve waiting this long. Can they wait another year?”

VIDEO SHOWS MAN BEATEN
OUTSIDE OF WHOLE FOODS
Gothamist reported that a video was uploaded to LiveLeak on Monday that captured the beating of an unidentified man outside the Union Square location of Whole Foods. The video, which has since been removed, shows people who appear to be Whole Foods employees repeatedly punching and kicking the man who was attempting to get into the store after hours. The blog noted that the incident allegedly occurred on December 30. No arrests have been made but Whole Foods told Grub Street that the team members who have been identified so far have been placed on administrative leave.

DRUG ARREST OUTSIDE STUY TOWN
Police arrested 52-year-old Kenneth Spulka for possession of a controlled substance in front of 527 East 14th Street last Friday at 5:20 p.m. Police said that Spulka was in possession of a pipe with alleged crack cocaine residue.

ASSAULT AT IHOP
Police arrested 28-year-old Quincy Robinson for assault in front of the IHOP at 235 East 14th Street last Thursday at 6:34 a.m. Robinson allegedly hit another man on the head and cheek. Police said that the victim was bleeding from his head and had pain in his chest.

MAN ARRESTED FOR ‘STOLEN’ PHONE
Police arrested 21-year-old Tredez Colbert for petit larceny in front of the Bounce Sporting Club at 55 West 21st Street last Thursday at 2:33 a.m. Colbert allegedly swiped a Galaxy cell phone from a coat that was lying on a chair. A witness said that Colbert attempted to throw the phone to the ground after security approached him. Colbert was also arrested for possession of stolen property.

DRIVING WITH SUSPENDED LICENSE
Police arrested 45-year-old livery cab driver Dale Lama last Tuesday at 2:46 a.m. at the corner of East 22nd Street and Third Avenue. Lama was driving his livery cab when he was involved in accident. Police said that after checking his license, they found that it had been suspended.

WOMAN ARRESTED FOR ‘SKIPPING’ CAB FARE
Police arrested 21-year-old Israa Chegi for theft of services at the corner of Third Avenue and East 18th Street last Thursday at 5:07 a.m. The driver told police that Chegi and three men got into his cab at a downtown location. When they arrived at Third Avenue and East 18th, the men left without paying. Chegi allegedly refused to pay the fare. Police said that when she was arrested, Chegi said, “I want to act like a child.” She then fell to the ground, getting cuts on her knees in the process.

WOMAN ARRESTED FOR ‘ASSAULT’
Fifty-year-old Seynabou Diaw was arrested for assault inside the 13th precinct last Friday at 6:55 p.m. Diaw allegedly punched the victim in the face, causing pain to her lips. Police said that the incident occurred in an elevator at Bellevue Hospital inside 462 First Avenue.

TJ MAXX ‘SHOPLIFTER’ NABBED
Larry Roman, 26, was arrested for petit larceny inside the TJ Maxx at 620 Sixth Avenue last Tuesday at 7:24 p.m. Roman allegedly took merchandise from the shelf, concealed it inside his coat and attempted to leave the store without paying. Roman was also charged with theft.

BARNES AND NOBLE ‘THIEF’ BUSTED
Police arrested 25-year-old Orel Fligelman for petit larceny and possession of stolen property inside the Barnes and Noble at 33 East 17th Street last Friday at 4:29 p.m. Fligelman allegedly placed merchandise from a shelf into his bag and attempted to walk out without paying for it. Police said that he was also in possession of a Tommy Hilfiger leather jacket with tags and a security seal. The goods stolen from Barnes and Noble were worth $241.29.

‘THEFT’ AT AMERICAN APPAREL
BY FORMER EMPLOYEE
Twenty-year-old Andrew Titaley was arrested inside the 13th Precinct for petit larceny last Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Titaley is a former employee of American Apparel and he allegedly stole three pairs of shorts from his old place of employment. Police said that Titaley walked into the dressing room and took off the tags, which a store employee found, and Titaley allegedly left the store without paying.

CREDIT CARD THEFT
Police arrested Eugene Smith, 31, inside the 13th precinct last Sunday at 2:15 p.m. for grand larceny. Smith allegedly took credit cards from the victim’s home and used it to make purchases without permission. Police said that Smith was also in possession of methamphetamine and ketamine. Smith was also charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of stolen property.

WOMAN ARRESTED FOR ‘CHILD ABUSE’
Police arrested 35-year-old Irene Peraza for endangering the welfare of a child last Wednesday at 8:22 p.m. inside 1186 Broadway. Peraza allegedly slapped her daughter, who is under 17, and also scratched her hand. The victim told police that the argument started when she tried to stop her mother from drinking because the daughter felt that her mother was drinking excessively. Peraza was also charged with assault.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF AT LOCAL RESTAURANT
Forty-five-year-old James Sanders was arrested for criminal mischief inside the 13th precinct last Monday at 8:15 p.m. Sanders allegedly damaged the front desk computer screen intentionally while inside Cafeteria at 119 Seventh Avenue.

Lucas Chu of NY College Rentals

By Sabina Mollot
While many longtime residents of Stuyvesant Town would be quick to argue that there are enough college students living in the community already, one entrepreneur is hoping to become the go-to person for students seeking a sublet at the property and said he’s arranged a few sublets already.

Lucas Chu, 27, has set up a website, nycollegerentals.com, aiming to connect would be subletters with residents looking to rent out their apartments for two to six month periods throughout Manhattan. However he’s currently pushing to do more in Stuy Town and the East Village, in particular Stuy Town due to its popularity with NYU students.

“I want to make that area my focus,” Chu told Town & Village on Tuesday. He’s found the sublets there and other neighborhoods south of Harlem through online listings, but said recently tenants and would-be subletters have also begun reaching out to him. “I want to represent more apartments in Stuy Town; there’s a lot of interest from NYU students,” he said. “So far I’ve handled three. I want to do more.”

The way it usually works is, after a tenant expresses interest, “I come over and assess the apartment. I take photos, I put up a listing,” Chu said. Listings go on real estate websites like Trulia and Streeteasy.

The service is free to the tenant offering the apartment, while the student pays a fee of 13.5 percent of what the rent costs each month of the stay. In order to comply with the illegal hotels law, which says residential units can’t be rented out for stays of 30 days or less, he’s made a point to make the arrangements a minimum of two months. Sublets can be for up to two years.

Chu, in his online bio, said he used to work for the Corcoran Group but recently branched out on his own and that he learned about working in real estate, including property management, from his father.

He’s been arranging sublets over the past year, he said, noting that some people just don’t want to get locked into a one or two-year lease. He also currently runs a commercial video production company called Melty Cone. His real estate website went up about six months ago, though this week, it attracted the attention of the Stuyvesant Town Report Blog for its push to get residents to sublet.

When told by this reporter about how the growth of the student population in recent years has also coincided with an increase in quality of life complaints from longterm tenants, usually of rowdy behavior and excess noise, Chu said, “There’s always anger when change happens. I guess I’ll do my research.”

When asked for CW’s thoughts about the new subletting service, Brian Moriarty, a spokesperson for the owner, said while management had no relationship to the company, it wouldn’t be CW’s place to tell Chu not to market a legal service to residents.

On his website, Chu notes that NYU “recommends our real estate services to all their students.”
However, a spokesperson for NYU, when questioned by T&V, said that isn’t exactly correct, although NYCollege Rentals is mentioned on the university’s website on a page offering information to students to aid in their apartment searches. NYU spokesperson Philip Lentz, said, “The site is listed among other sites in our resources for students. It’s not an endorsement.”

The mention of NY College Rentals also notes that NYU students get a discount on the broker fee though the company isn’t affiliated with NYU. NYU’s website also says that there are around 250 graduate students living in Stuyvesant Town in apartments leased through the school.