Things are not looking too good for Tishman Speyer and their hellish Stuyvesant Town complex. For the past month residents have seen gas outages, heat and hot water outages, polluted brown water, and now mold.
A resident of 647 East 14th Street tells us how her apartment is sickening its occupants because of a mold outbreak.
"My boyfriend has lived in the Stuy for 9 years and I've lived with him there for three. Six months after my boyfriend moved into Stuy Town he contracted a strange illness which comes and goes. He'll be bedridden for 90-day periods and fine for years....then bedridden again. The only thing the doctors could come up with is Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
We've always been curious as to whether the town of stuy is the culprit, seeing as the only real cure we've found for his bouts of illness is for him to leave town.We recently ran a mold check on our apartment, lo and behold there is a form of mold called Aspergillus. Apparently, it's dangerous to live with 9 or more colonies of such mold in one's area of habitation. Guess how many colonies they found in our Stuy Town bedroom? 69! We're hightailing it out in December."
The resident e-mailed us this document from American Mold Lab that confirms the 69 colonies of Apergillus in the apartment.
On the plus side Tishman Speyer will most likely save some money in court fees since they are driving out both stabilized and market rate tenants with these unhealthy living conditions.
OMG! What does this mold look like? It was in the bedroom? I could understand it being in the bathroom (not that there should be mold anywhere), but how does it grow in the bedroom unless the room is very, very damp? Good luck and good health to you and your boyfriend in the future. Did you notify the landlord of the situation?
Jeez. Just when you think that the resident of 647 East 14th Street's situation is a Stuy Town anomaly, you find a website like this...
What to serve the good looking young mold inspector after he's taken a specimen collection of your Stuy Town apartment's floors, walls and ceilings and tested kitchen, bedrooms, and bath for airborne mold spore counts? Why a Molded Lime Jello Salad of course!
Molded Lime Jello Salad
In double boiler melt 16 large marshmallows. Stir in 1 cup milk. Pour over large package lime Jello and stir until dissolved. Add 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened. Beat with mixture. Stir in #2 can crushed pineapple, undrained. Add 4 ounce Cool Whip and 2/3 cup mayonnaise. Pour into Jello mold. Chill until firm, about 3 hours. Easy and delicious!
And what does the stylish Stuy Town hostess wear for her mold test? Well. This outfit is very smart!
How unhealthy is Stuyvesant Town? Let me count the ways: We have bedbugs, rat infestation, toxic mold, brown water, no heat, raw sewage from broken pipes on property, festering garbage in open dumpsters, toxic soil from underground gas storage from an earlier era, mice and roaches in the laundry rooms and recycling areas, washing machines that do not wash - and are used by medical students and lab workers and, of course, constant construction and digging projects that spew toxins into the air. Then, of course, there's the asbestos in the halls. My, I could go on but I fear the CDC would come and condemn the property and then we'd all be homeless.
Edna, that hostess outfit gave me the best laugh I've had in a long time! Thank you and Peace!
For the last few months we have been getting "Black Mold" on the ceilings and walls of our StuyTown Bathroom. We wash down the outbreaks with bleach, but the mold comes back in a few days.
This only started a few months ago, we have lived here for over 12 years????
This is TishSpy's method of driving out rent stabilized tenants who they can't prove own properties elsewhere. They pump chemicals through the showers that form toxic molds on the walls and ceilings and cause deadly, slowly painful respiratory ailments. And you know those little holes over the apartment door where they feed "harmless" Verizon/RCN/Time Warner cables? Well, they are being primed for the odorless lethal gas to be pumped in. Market rate tenants who complain too much are also on "The List" kept in the management office. I think we all need to purchase the loungewear that Ms. Doodle recommended.
Molded lime jello salad should be made with Stuy Town water.
I believe the noise, construction, garbage, mold, speeding bike riders, doggie doo, health threats & all unbearable conditions that killed the quality of life here are to drive everyone out. How much can people take? The mold issue is very scary. It's sad to experience the destruction of Stuyvesant Town. It should be criminal.
All best wishes to this couple who will flee from 647. It's outrageous that they have to.
Where's Erin Brockovich when we need her???
@Dave... Couldn't it just be resurgent mildew, too?? I had it years ago. Continuously. Bleach. Anti-fungicides in the actual paint. Finally, scraped the ceiling down to the plaster. Sealed the plaster. Let it cure (No, the Paint Dept. will NOT allow for cure time!!) for 3 weeks. Then painted it. Problem (finally!) gone.
Here.
... and it's been at least 10 years since then.
Peaches. I you scrapped the paint down to the bare walls, there is a good chance that you have lead poisoning.
You know, if I didn't actually live here myself, I'd think everyone on this site was a constantly-complaining nut job, and that no housing development that had been as well-touted as Stuy Town could have all these problems spring up in just three short years!
But it's all real and it's disheartening as hell. I have read in other postings that folks want to DO SOMETHING CONCRETE.
Any suggestions? It kills me every time I write my rent check to know that I am paying good money and not getting half the satisfaction and safety that I used to get here five or six years ago.
Oh my God! I have had 5 sinus infections in the past 6 months. Last night I met someone else who lives here who has had such severe allergies that they thought she might have asthma.
Thought that it was due to the endless planting, ripping up roads, and construction in my building. But now I think I need to get my apt. checked. Has anyone else been sick?
Jay,
I recommend on-line banking. Having the money automatically taken out of my account makes it less painful than actually having to write a check.
But seriously, I do think that we need to do something concrete. Maybe a protest in the Oval? We could alert the press ahead of time.
Was anyone at the post-election rally on St. Marks & First? Just goes to show you how much noise a few hundred passionate people can make.
The problem though is getting people to show up. I protested in front of the Met Life building several times, and there were maybe, like 10 people there. Shameful, from a community of 25,000.
Maybe Beulette can start renting out space in her trailer for the poor, sickened Stuy Town residents who have to get out of our apartments!
The most effective place to protest is in front of the new Stuyvesant Town Leasing Office on 1st Avenue. It's perfect, with those floor to ceiling, end to end, windows. Have a few people protesting during the hours of operation. And the weekends too. Inform the press. Flyers could be handed out, describing the real conditions in Stuy Town. Some of the photos we've seen on this blog would make excellent posters. Do something like that (Tenants Association, anyone?) and you bet that Tishman Speyer will notice.
Sorry Non Compost Mentist, I'm moving into Beulette's trailer when she goes to MIT (I'll just have to put up with the kids and the dogs and Bud Peronne constantly calling and begging for a second date because he swears his rash has cleared up) because I have black slime coming out of my shower head an it's grossing me out. It's thick and gooey and I am scared of it!
Beulah - come join a protest and hit Bud and his friends where it will really hurt. (No - not on his rash, sweetie!) In the Tish Spy pockets.
I love the idea of 40 or 50 folks marching back and forth in front of the rental offices on First Avenue with simple placards that read simple statements:
Unfair Landlord
Mice and Roaches
Broken Washing Machines
Mold!
Filthy Hallways
Brown Water
Unending Construction
Rats!
Illegal Fees
No Heat
Gas Leaks
Dumpsters!
It's almost poetic..or at least poetic justice for the bums who run this place.
I'll be there...anyone else??
Would be nice if the Tenants Association ,whose mandate is to represent and organize the tenants, would actually do something so "bold" as to organize protests at the leasing offices.Time has long past for the TA leadership to wake up and smell the dumpsters!
In this city, you probably need a permit to demonstrate, but I'm not sure that there's any regulation against handing out flyers on a public street. The flyer could very simply tell prospective residents to check out http://stuytownluxliving.com before signing on the dotted line. I joined the StuyTown Tenants Association but have never been invited to a meeting of the organization other than the huge public forums they sponsor now and again. Not sure what their bylaws have to say about their mission.
You have a right to demonstrate. And you do not need a permit in most cases. From the NYCLU:
"New Yorkers have the right to engage in peaceful protest activity on public sidewalks, in public parks, and on public streets in New York City. This includes the right to distribute handbills or leaflets; the right to hold press conferences, demonstrations, and rallies; and the right to march on public sidewalks and in public streets. The City can and does impose certain restrictions on these activities, and in some instances one must obtain a permit before engaging in certain activity."
More here:
http://www.nyclu.org/node/1047
I'm no expert, but I don't think that's a picture of mold. While it may not give you a sinus infection, it might get you pregnant.
I'm no expert, but I don't think that's a picture of mold. While it may not give you a sinus infection, it might get you pregnant. And that was on your ceiling?
LOL I think that's the joke...
but the story of the mold is real...
Bio-Student,
Google Aspergillus as I did and you will find the picture I used for this post. That IS what the mold looks like.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Aspergillus&gbv=2
A few jackasses commenting on Curbed said things like "clean your apartment" and "60 years there's been no mold all of a sudden there's an outbreak?"... I'm paraphrasing but what people don't understand is that it is a problem now because of Tishman Speyer and their cost cutting efforts.
They routinely shuttle in workers with white vans early in the morning. I noticed them on 14th and A after readers had pointed them out to me. The guys are renovating apartments, adding new dishwashers and bathroom fixtures. When I was in ST I had two floods in my apartment, one in the kitchen, one in the bathroom. Both times I had workers come rushing to my apartment and they had VERY little grasp of the english language we'll say.
I was told repairs could not be made to my kitchen or bathroom until the walls had dried all the way through in a couple of months. Eventually they got around to scraping the lead paint out of the kitchen (it was stated on my lease there was lead paint in the apartment) and had replastered and repainted twice because the wall was still wet internally.
When a pipe breakes within a wall and pours who knows how many gallons through the building and it settles, of course there is going to be mold. I have a hard time believing that my old apartment was the only one that experienced this damage as the break was on the 5th floor and water spilled all the way to the ground level.
People making comments about the tenants needing to clean their apartments really need to grow up. This is not a case of a pizza crust under the sofa. When there is legal documentation showing the apartment is unlivable you should all be concerned.
OMG! 1. There is mold coming out of the joint connectors of my kitchen faucet and I wash it every day
2. Until Sunday morning we had no heat for 10 days NO HEAT! NONE..and on Sunday it lasted 2 hours...on a day when the wind chill was 38 degrees. And not just us...all our neighbors......
3. The Oval Lounge Sunday "Brunch" has enough food to last 25 minutes and then NOTHING...NOTHING..but screaming kids, shouting parents, loud music, and moms changing the infants dirty nappies on the rug in from of everyone. EEWWWW! So much for a high class Sunday brunch. Back to Venieros.
4. Dozens of empy apartments are visible now. Not difficult to understand.
LL, You did not have to go to all that trouble. lol
I believe you!
The real joke is that TS is trying to pass Stuytown-PCV off as luxury living.
You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a PIG. In this case, TS is hoping that people can't see the pig the through the forest they planted.
I think I have a new slogan for TS advertisements;
"STUYTOWN-PCV, IT'S LIKE LIPSTICK ON A PIG"
http://www.thereblogging.com/ThereBlogging/D912B3BD-3F7F-475D-8433-85EF77641208_files/pig-lipstick.png
Stuytown/PCV new mascot
I have lived in Stuyvesant Town for almost 30 years and it was never considered a pig before because nobody put lipstick on it and tried to pass it off as luxury. It wasn't luxury and nobody claimed it that it was before it went "market rate." What it was was a safe, clean, comfortable middle class residential development and we loved it. It really hurts to see the way it has been so abused by TS (and MetLife for a few years before it was sold) because they have tried to make it into something it was never meant to be. It breaks my heart that my beloved home has become an object of derision and has become so because it has been so neglected and mistreated by those who are trying to make it into something it was never meant to be and their motivation is undiluted greed and avarice.
"The rape of Stuyvesant town"
Very well said.
By ignoring the infrastructure and concentrating on
the smoke and mirrors, TS has turned this place into a Pig wearing lipstick.
The reason so many of the posters on Curbed are jackasses is because that site is edited by Joey the Jackass.
Oh Bio-Student,
I hope that I'm not pregnant. First of all, I've been taking way too many anti-biotics. Secondly, I don't want to bring a baby into this hell-hole.
Well if you are in a "motherly way", It's Most likely TS's. They are screwing us all!
St worked well for more than half a century because it was planned by experts who understood the realities of urban living and the intricacies of creating an urban community for nearly 25,000 people. For that half-century ST contributed fire fighers, police officers, teachers, bus drivers, rapid transit personnel, postal personnel to the vibrant life of this city and were encouraged to live in that city as well. There were many rules and regulations many of which were necessary to make the new community work for generations to come; and residents obeyed the rules because they were appreciative of clean, safe homes with a park-like setting for them, their children and their children's children. ST wasn't smart, fancy, upscale,convenient. There were few "amentities" beyond a clean apartment and a safe walk home. The buildings looked like NYCHA "projects" and they still do and always will if they are not demolished by T/S or the next owner that buys the complex from the financially troubled TS. Yet ST was HOME: safe, clean, dependable, comfortable. That's all. The vision has been violated, safety, cleanliness, dependability and comfort give way to danger, crime, dirt, and lack of heat in the cold, noise, and utter nonsense. The imagination boggles when one tries of think of where it will go next; what will happen...
Dear Old Timer, you are so right. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. When I saw the link chains around the grass come down, I knew there goes the neighborhood! However, the upscaling of ST is part of the upscaling of NY. Money talks. I remember when I was 13, living in Queens, all my friends were being evicted from the railroad flats from the east 40's thru 70's for new hi-risers and offices, that was almost 50 years ago. Manhattan (and the boroughs) is becoming a home only for the rich, big business and the unfortunate poor. People didn't know to look at the bigger picture - what was happening 50 years ago was bound to hit home sooner or later. I guess we will all be on welfare. What can one do when the powers that be have the money and the power. Can we salvage ST and kick out TS, hope TS goes bankrupt and we buy the complex? Unfortunately, not with such a transient population. A community of transients is the "community" upscaling created. It's very sad and scarey.