The Stuy Town/Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association is organizing a weekend-long protest in front of the Stuy Town leasing office over the mid-lease rent hikes CWCapital is forcing on tenants.
Escape Stuy Town
A blog about the quality of life in Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village
NY1 Coverage of Stuy Town’s Roberts Rent Hikes
New information reported in the NY1 piece includes a statement from CWCapital saying they are reviewing the decision to have the rent increases take effect on June 1st and have decided to push the date back one month to July 1, 2013. Still, that would only give residents 45 days to find a new home.
Stuy Town Rent Hike Press Conference [Photos]
Photos from today’s press conference in front of Stuy Town’s leasing office on First Avenue. Tenants involved with the Roberts case are facing mid-lease rent increases, in some cases, over two thousand dollars.
Many tenants in Stuyvesant Town face big rent hikes after a judge’s ruling in long-standing court case
Source: NY Daily News
Some residents could be hit with monthly increases of $1,100 and have just two weeks to make the first payment or face possible eviction procedures
Many Stuy Town tenants are getting hit with big rent increases in the middle of their leases, the Daily News has learned.
Shell-shocked tenants will have to pay as much as $1,100 more per month — with as little as two weeks notice.
“I’m horrified,” said Kristen Farver, 38, who was among about 1,290 tenants who had rent increase notices slipped under their doors Tuesday.
Farver was told she’ll have to pay $700 more a month for the two-bedroom apartment she shares with her husband and two children. “It’s unfair,” she said. “You can’t tell people with children they have two weeks to come up with this kind of money.”
Tenants who can’t pay the new rent starting June 1 were told they’ll have 60 days to get out. The hikes arise from a legal battle that has been raging for years at the 11,200-unit complex.
The tenants initially scored a legal coup in 2009 when the state’s highest court upheld a tenant lawsuit charging that thousands of apartments had been illegally removed from rent stabilization protections. A temporary agreement at the time forced then-owner Tishman Speyer to slash rents.
But when a permanent settlement was reached in November, the new owners of the property, a group of bond holders controlled by CWCapital, were granted permission to raise rents in almost 4,000 units at Stuyvesant Town and nearby Peter Cooper Village.
Continue reading Many tenants in Stuyvesant Town face big rent hikes after a judge’s ruling in long-standing court case
Stuy Town Slammed with Huge Mid-Lease Rent Hikes
Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village residents involved in the Roberts case are being slammed with huge mid-lease rent hikes beginning in June. The rent increases range from several hundred dollars to over two thousand dollars. The tenants learned of the news today and have taken to the Tenants Association Facebook page to share their stories.
I take everything good back about Stuyvesant Town I have ever said. This place is HEARTLESS. What is a lease if they can increase your rent in the middle? A one bedroom went from $2975 to $3575 with a 15 day warning? WTF?? I can’t breath. This can not be happening. We have no laundry, no storage room, no bike room, just got a subpar intercom system that my name is not even on, no gym, no kids club, no library, all the amenities that I rented here for. And they are raising rent $600? Who are they trying to get to live here? WHO CAN AFFORD THAT for a one bedroom in this family community? NOT RIGHT. If I was encouraging you to move here, DO NOT. I will be protesting.
Said another tenant:
I just got an envelope on my door tonight too. We have 30 days to sign (June 1st) or 60 days to vacate. They want an additional $2,200 a month in rent. We are a family of 5 (with a baby) and love living here. Where will we find to go in that amount of time? We just signed a new lease (with increase of course!) in January. I feel so betrayed. We are talking a 33% increase mid-lease. That is around $26K more a year!
Councilman Dan Garodnick issued a statement saying, ”CWCapital has the right to raise rents in the middle of the lease term once this settlement is final. While this may become their legal right, any effort to raise rents on residents during their current leases will be met with sure and certain opposition from the entire community, the local elected officials, and the broader community of tenant activists.”
There is a news conference scheduled tomorrow morning at 10AM in front of the Stuy Town leasing office at First Avenue and 15th Street.
Town & Village newspaper wants to speak with tenants affected by the rent hikes and have asked they call their offices at (212) 777-6611 x104.
Update:
Stuy Town tenants have now taken to Stuy Town’s official Facebook page to vent about the astronomical rent hikes they face in 15 days.
Now that the lawsuit is settled, how are you now telling tenants rents will be increased $500-$1500 effective June 1st? Are you aware that is in just 15 days? That is barbaric!!!
NBC, FOX, CBS, NY1 & ABC will have be posting stories on Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper this week. Perhaps, you’ll smarten up and do something to change this!!!!!!
And:
Are you SERIOUS with the letter that was under our door today?! Rent is going up over $550 by JUNE 1st?!!?!
Your Sandy Damaged Belongings Are Now in the Bronx
We are getting word from The Stuyvesant Town Report that Stuy Town management is now directing residents to a facility in the Bronx to retrieve their stored items damaged by Superstorm Sandy.
Stuy Town tenants fume over bikini beauties sunbathing in children’s playground
Source: NY Post
This kiddie park is being taken over by a bunch of boobs.
Co-eds and sunbathing beauties are baring teeny bikinis in Stuy Town’s playgrounds — pushing out children and outraging soccer moms.
Locals began heating up last weekend when the play zone near 20th Street Loop looked more like the Playboy Club.
“A lot of side boob on the playground this weekend,” one resident quipped on The Stuyvesant Town Report blog.
The site’s anonymous author griped: “This playground should NOT be used for sunbathing. We’ve heard that complaints were made, and now it’s time for management to . . . show some balls.”
“Think of the children!”
One soccer mom called it “a weird place” to sunbathe.
“There’s too many kids in here,” said Janine Cranmer, 46. “Sunbathe at your own risk.”
On Friday afternoon, two dozen scantily clad women soaked up rays as kids played in the shaded corners.
And last weekend, security guards booted tanners from the lawn after a kids-soccer league complained.
“A body’s a body, and they need to get over themselves,” said Katie Friedman, 23, a Hofstra grad who moved to the development in August.
She does yoga in the space, called Playground 10, an artificial lawn without equipment.
“I pay just as much rent as they do,” Friedman said. “Just because I don’t have a child doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to be here.”
Continue reading Stuy Town tenants fume over bikini beauties sunbathing in children’s playground
Related
Stuy Town’s Bikini Beauties Vs. Soccer Moms [Stuyvesant Town Report]
Stuy Town Residents Upset Over Side Boob From Sunbathers [Gothamist]
Soccer moms’ outrage as bikini-clad students invade children’s playground to sunbathe [Daily Mail]
3 Burglaries Confirmed in Stuy Town
The Stuy Town Tenants Association has confirmed a third burglary on the property coinciding with intercom repair work being done.
The first burglary occurred at 610 East 20th Street, the second at 319 Avenue C, and the third at 620 East 20th Street. All totaled the criminals have stolen approximately $55,000. in jewelry and valuables.
On the first two robberies the Tenants Association reported:
The Tenants Association has received two separate reports of burglaries, one at 610 E 20th, the other at 319 Ave C. According to the residents and investigating detectives, there was no sign of forced entry in either instance. Intercom repair work was underway in both buildings. Reports of two more burglaries are being verified at the time of this writing.
In the recent burglaries in two Stuy Town apartments, one resident lost $5,000 in jewelry, the other, $10,000 in jewelry. Both burglary cases—third degree grand larceny, a very serious Class D felony—are under investigation by the NYPD and Public Safety.
The TA also recently received two separate and presumably unrelated complaints from residents who returned home to find their doors left open by workers who had entered their apartments for repairs. Both of these “door left ajar” reports were from buildings receiving the new intercoms. One of the reports was from the building where one of the burglaries occurred and in the same time frame.
Then on May 8th, the Tenants Association confirmed a third burglary:
A third report has just been confirmed in a third building, 620 E 20th St, again intercom related work, no forced entry, value of loss near $40,000 (forty-thousand dollars). A police report has been filed and public safety notified.
At Sean Sullivan’s disastrous Town Hall meeting the other night, Stuy Town’s head of Public Safety, Chief McClellan, confirmed the first two burglaries. He stated Public Safety is changing their procedure and Public Safety officers will now be present in the apartments with the outside contractors doing work.
Burglaries Plus Unauthorized Apartment Entry in Stuyvesant Town [STPCV TA]
Burglaries at 3 apts. in Stuy Town [Town & Village]
Sean Sullivan’s Train Wreck Town Hall
Residents who attended Tuesday’s Town Hall meeting hosted by Sean Sullivan, STPCV’s Property Manager, were witness to nothing short of an upper management train wreck.
The minimally publicized event along with its unaccommodating 5:30PM meeting time was designed to draw a small, mostly senior crowd and it was evident Sullivan was counting on this. There were approximately 50 people in attendance, mostly seniors, but also a determined group of residents who came for answers Sean Sullivan was either incapable of giving or flat out didn’t want to.
Sullivan spoke for about ten minutes before someone in the crowd asked him to state his name and title. Once public speaking 101 was completed the topics discussed included replacing the keycards with real keys, maintaining backup lighting during blackouts, broken elevators, broken laundry rooms, broken intercoms, the 80% carpeting rule, noise complaints and the procedure to handle them, bed bugs, a string of recent thefts, renting to college kids, lack of lighting on the PCV road, and employees entering apartments without permission to name a few.
Deadline Nears For Stuy Town, Peter Cooper Village Residents To Claim Settlement Money
Source: NY1
The final push is on for community leaders in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.
Last fall, a class-action lawsuit was settled for nearly $70 million after residents claimed their landlord unfairly removed rent protections and overcharged them. Now, with the deadline to file claims looming, much of the money promised to residents sits unclaimed. A door-to-door effort is underway to notify people.
“We want to make sure that there’s nobody out there that does not take advantage to something they’re owed,” said Manhattan City Councilman Dan Garodnick.
The settlement covers people who rented more than 4,000 apartments from January 2003 through December 2011.
Continue reading Deadline Nears For Stuy Town, Peter Cooper Village Residents To Claim Settlement Money
