"This is the result of our landlord's refusal to routinely blow down the line - not the recent city problem. Our hot water heating system needs maintenance and plumbers simply won't stay on top of it or are discouraged from doing so. I live in the A line along with many other cold, distraught rent-stabilized tenants. The pictured apartment also appears to be rent-stabilized. I have "tried to live" in spite of being unable to shower, wash dishes or take a hot bath on and off for 14 years. It happened often enough to have severely affected the quality of my life. That bathtub looks like it is full of bacteria-perhaps the H-pylori bacteria that continues to eat away at my stomach today. In addition to possible health ramifications, I have been made late and stressed so often after having to boil water, run for cabs and try to calm down before making appointments. Many times I have had to revise or simply cancel plans with friends to wait on hold, beg service to blow down the line, wait for plumbers to come witness the problem AGAIN and then do the clean up-often getting nauseated from all the Clorox.
Between the noise, construction, brown water, lack of heat etc. the quality of life here was and continues to be horrendous. It has taken quite a toll on my health and emotional well being. Had I found a rent-stabilized apartment somewhere else 14 years ago, I believe I wouldn't be in the state I am today. I am drained. The picture above is an example of what was coming out of my kitchen and bathtub faucet ALL WEEKEND. When I called service I was told, "no one is around." My son showered at a friend's house. Like many good citizens and TS tenants, I took showers in the city's dirty COLD water. I covered my cancerous breast - and bathed it separately in Poland Spring. After getting out of the dirty shower, I had my clothes close by as I know I will be trembling from the cold water and my cold apartment as this undesireable tenant doesn't deserve heat. I pay ONLY $1,745 a month to live on a filthy, noisy construction site.
Right now I have two leaf blowers right outside my window. I can't think. Tishman makes it clear that I am an undesireable tenant and am not wanted here. Believe me I want to get out but now I cannot afford to leave. Moving here was the biggest mistake I ever made."
- Nina, in response to "647 East 14th Street Sees Brown"
Between the noise, construction, brown water, lack of heat etc. the quality of life here was and continues to be horrendous. It has taken quite a toll on my health and emotional well being. Had I found a rent-stabilized apartment somewhere else 14 years ago, I believe I wouldn't be in the state I am today. I am drained. The picture above is an example of what was coming out of my kitchen and bathtub faucet ALL WEEKEND. When I called service I was told, "no one is around." My son showered at a friend's house. Like many good citizens and TS tenants, I took showers in the city's dirty COLD water. I covered my cancerous breast - and bathed it separately in Poland Spring. After getting out of the dirty shower, I had my clothes close by as I know I will be trembling from the cold water and my cold apartment as this undesireable tenant doesn't deserve heat. I pay ONLY $1,745 a month to live on a filthy, noisy construction site.
Right now I have two leaf blowers right outside my window. I can't think. Tishman makes it clear that I am an undesireable tenant and am not wanted here. Believe me I want to get out but now I cannot afford to leave. Moving here was the biggest mistake I ever made."
- Nina, in response to "647 East 14th Street Sees Brown"
We have no heat even though the temperature is in the 40s. I know it will do no good to call management because they will send someone in about 4 hours from now who will say the temperature is fine. It will be fine because I have the stove and a space heater on. What a way to live! Anyone thinking of renting here: DON'T!
sprinkler anti siphon valve's?
Are they installed? May be worth while looking into? if the water does not clear up. It looked like the DEp flushed the water mains last week (opened fire-hydrents). Are people still complaining about brown water?
Sprinkler anti-siphon valve's?
sprinkler anti-siphon valve's?
It looked like the DEP opened fire-hydrents last week to flush water mains, did that help? Are people still having issues with brown water?
Is the irrigation system tied to the potable water suply? If yes
Check your sprinkler anti-siphon valve's? Are they installed (correctly?) Was the system inspected by the city? sprinkler anti siphon valve's? may be a red-herring but may be worth while to check?
Nina, you are not alone! Some of us at 19 Stuyvesant Oval have the exact same problem with the hot water. Personally I have had dark brown HOT water on an intermittent basis for 15 years. This time it started the first week in October. Every time I call I remind them that I'm sure they have the issues with the hot water in my apartment in their database, so please just send someone over to blow out my line. The response is that they either want to send someone up to view the brown hot water or they have blown out my line on whatever dates. Since I've only had three days in the last 6 weeks where I had clear hot water for up to 24 hours, I seriously doubt they're blowing out my line whenever I call. I've known about the switch to the Croton water supply for years. I know that the cold water is discolored when the City does this in September or October, and that is not the problem with the not water in my apartment. I have suffered all the frustrations and indignities you described, but I doubt this makes you feel any better. Then again, I'm one of those old tenants who pay $100 a month rent, so why should they fix anything? So, angry as a hornet a couple of weeks ago, I e-mailed Tishman. I had clear hot water for a day that week.
Just so ya know... the STPCVTA Bulletin Board (Forums) are back up.
To Peaches: No, they're not.
Tenant,
I actually tried to get on yesterday and couldn't. Same today. I tried clicking on TENANT'S OPINIONS and THAT link worked. Why the regular URL isn't working is beyond me. That said, here's how I got on:
http://www.stpcvta.org/forum_takedown/index.php
Don't know what the phrase "takedown" means, in the middle of the address- I just know that it worked. There are already a few new posts, too.
Thanks, Peaches.
I hope the usual whiners haven't found out about it though.
Hi. I just found LL and just in time. Thanks so much. I thought I was the only one being driven crazy.
IANAL, but I think the success ratio for the non-renewal witch hunt is begging for further action. Swearing out affidavits stating that 339 tenants were "illegal" and getting 2 evictions means something wasn't done right. Some lawyers signed papers they must have known contained false statements. That's a violation of their professional oath.
If enough people complain about these hired guns abusing their public duty, there will be an investigation, and possibly sanctions or disbarment.
At the very least, lawyers who discover their lies have consequences might think twice about signing papers for the 18% MCI increase due to the landscaping "improvements." It's just money to TS, but for the lawyers, it's their livelihood.
Is this worth posting to the Tenants' Association page, or will they shut down the thread? I think even as few as 100 complaints for the handful of lawyers who actually signed the papers would spark an investigation with proper followup.
http://stuytownluxliving.com/2008/10/tishman-speyers-witch-hunt-burns-339-innocent-tenants.html
http://www.nycbar.org/Publications/reports/show_html.php?rid=164
What is so very sad about this whole situation is that there are so many ways that the landlord can wear you down. The construction issues have actually been ongoing since 1991 when MetLife decided to replace the casement windows with the user-unfriendly windows that are now in place and have stripped the complex of any sort of charm that may once have graced the tall, boring brick towers. Next came repointing of the buildings that took an ungodly amount of time and turned out to be more noisy with drilling, etc and less than adequate, requiring more repointing. They were especially annoying if the staging site was just underneath one's bedroom window and each morning, six days per week, a worker started to bang the trough that held the mortar the day before to loosen what had hardened overnight. I questioned the project manager one day and suggested that they empty the trough each night. Du'oh, never happened. It was also exacerbated by the fact that there were dumpsters on 20th Street that were used for the repoint waste, which were picked up and replaced about 4 am each morning. I forget whether that was before or after the rewiring. That was another messy project carried out by what seemed to be less than skilled workers and questionable as to the extent which MetLife was paid by RCN for the project and what MetLife subsequently charged tenants as an MCI. The rewiring was billed as a project that would allow one to use the microwave in the kitchen and the hairdryer in the bathroom. Just try it--the circuit breakers will be triggered and you will need to reset them. The lights dim when the ACs kick on. Thought that was supposed to be a thing of the past. Did I mention the rehab of the entrances? Another endless project that required backdoor entries ad infinitum and ad nauseum with construction lights hanging in the hallways too. Oh yes, somewhere along the way there came the new low-flow toilets. Well, let me just say that most deposits require a minimum of two flushes, so what was really saved? I noticed that once the heavy equipment and golf carts and other vehicles started to drive on walkways that I don't believe were intended to support them, lots of bad things started to happen. One notable incident for me was when the water main serving our building broke! I spent a very sleepless night while the diggers and delvers dug up the main and repaired it. When I finally got to sleep around 5 am or so, I was grateful. Next thing I knew, there was a banging on the door about 6 am. It was the very same morons who kept me up all night telling me that the water was back on! Meanwhile, I've put up with the 1940s style kitchen. I wash dishes by hand. I finally relented and asked for a new frost-free frig after my fingers received cold burns when they stuck to the surface of the freezer in the Ralph Kramden model frig while I was defrosting it. For a while, I paid extra each month for the less-than-state-of-the art frig we now have; it's since been incorporated into the base rent and has pushed us further toward the $2K rent limit that would destabilize us, the limit that our lying politicians have said should be upped to keep pace with inflation since the limit was set in 1997. And along they way, they replaced the old water heaters, removed some asbestos, and painted the room. Their friends at DCHS said that it was yet another MCI, although they disallowed the asbestos and painting, I believe. I think DCHS also allowed them to charge for new roofs. I have always thought of roofs as a given, not an MCI. Of course, through the years there has been the brown water and wet bathrooms as pipes above burst and sent water cascading down. We now have a trap above the bathtub so there is easy access when the pipes let loose again. Well, I liked living here. I put up with this stuff. I could live with it given that I had a reasonable rent and lived in a community where I felt at home. Now....fugghedaboudit. They want me gone. I am nearing the $2K limit even though I don't make enough money for them to destabilize me. That doesn't mean that they won't try. This is my primary residence. That doesn't mean they won't issue a golub notice. I will have to jump through their hoops and possibly pay an attorney if I want to keep my apartment. Is it worth $10K or so to stay here for another 2 years, given all of the insults that I have borne and will bear? I don't have a lot of faith in the TA or elected officials to help me on a personal level. That is how the landlord is able to wear me down. Unfortunately, I have no place else to go so I guess I will just have to deal with the ongoing stress.
Oh yeah, here is the contact info for the disciplinary agency:
New York City : 1st Department
Chief Counsel
First Judicial Department
Departmental Disciplinary Committee
61 Broadway, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10006
(212) 401-0800
Fax: (212) 401-0810
"The rewiring was billed as a project that would allow one to use the microwave in the kitchen and the hairdryer in the bathroom. Just try it--the circuit breakers will be triggered and you will need to reset them."
You are SO right!!!! It blows out my fish tank too!
regarding lawyers signing false statements... what constitutes a false statement. most of the the things they cited in my golub notice were true, but easily refuted (for example: they said i had a "work relationship" in florida, yes, i but i live in pcv. they said i lived in florida... well i did... but my apartment in pcv was legally sublet and i moved back once sublease was over.) what they also alleged was that a john or jane doe lived in the apartment currently... um... no. i do. was that allegation a false statement an attorney shouldn't have signed their name to?
i would be happy to participate in any activity that would make pcv/st better. lived here for 21 years and an amazed at hos cranky people (including me!) have become since tish spy took over.
regarding lawyers signing false statements... what constitutes a false statement. most of the the things they cited in my golub notice were "true", but easily refuted (for example: they said i had a "work relationship" in florida, yes, i but i live in pcv. they said i lived in florida... well i did... but my apartment in pcv was legally sublet at the time and i moved back once sublease was over.) what they also alleged was that a john or jane doe lived in the apartment currently... um... no. i do. was that allegation a false statement an attorney shouldn't have signed their name to?
i would be happy to participate in any activity that would make pcv/st better. lived here for 21 years and an amazed at hos cranky people (including me!) have become since tish spy took over.
To Sympathizer...we can sympathize...we have had no heat either...while other tenants in other buildings are complaining of too much heat and even turing on their air conditions! Clearly, the new heating sensor system is another TS failure that tenants--full rate and stabilzed--are forced to endure--. Heating engineers have said that the system is unpredictable and unreliable in large residential settings except in the Sunbelt where electricity is the main heating source. This is so dreadful...so meanspirited...so utterly inhuman. But the Oval Amenities all have heat. Odd, isn't it!
My apt. has been freezing since the beginning of the season and I have been calling to complain non-stop. They eventually send someone to check it (anywhere from 4 hrs. to a day and a half later), at which point I get a lecture, meant for a two-year-old, on the new heating sensors.
The weird thing is that, whenever they come, the heat is miraculously on. Yesterday I spent the whole day bundled up in multiple layers of clothes (including a scarf!), and when they finally arrived here in the evening it was warm.
Strange. Maybe the "sensors" are triggered by the number of complaints that they get per builidng.
Our apartment is always freezing. Yesterday was the worst - no heat at all. Somebody should take a photo of a thermometer in their apartment with the temp reading below what Tush-Scum claims it needs to be before they legally have to provide heat (58 degrees), so Luxie can post it. I'm certain the temp in my apartment has been below that many times, and still no heat. Unfortunately, I don't own a digital camera, but if this continues I'll try and pick one up.
It has to be at least 68 degrees, though that is actually not very warm (blame Jimm Carter for that). My apartment is freezing too because the heat just comes on for a while and then goes off. Yesterday it was cold all day and I called mismanagement at about 4 pm. A young guy came over at 10 pm! The heat was on then, but what an exercise in futility to send someone several hours later. If I didn't have a space heater in the bedroom I would not be able to stay in this apartment.
Using space heaters and ovens for warmth = tenement conditions. Outrageous.
Now is the time to check your smoke detector batteries...between all of the pot and cigarette smoking in the 5-occupant dorms and all of the ovens and space heaters n other apartments, this place is a fire hazard.
Maybe that's what Tish Sty is hoping...then they can get the insurance money and rebuild real luxury.
Thank you, cold and miserable. You're right....the legal temp is 68 degrees. Great point about the smoke detectors, URI.
Temp is 40 outside, no heat all this evening and my pipes are cold!
Yesterday the temp outside was warmer then today and there was heat.
There does not seem to be a rhyme or reason for the lack of heat. This is a Mockery of a travesty of a sham!
2AM and clanging pipes have been keeping us up for an hour. Called security, the pipes just keep on clanging.This place sucks. WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING.