This weekend, Stuyvesant Town residents marched concentration camp-style to the management office to obtain new ID Key Cards so they could enter their buildings since their front door keys no longer work. Fearing the standard lock/key system might be considered tre gauche to the under-19, trust fund dependent crowd Tishman Speyer has been feverishly marketing to, Tish Spy recently converted all of the front door locks to a new electronic system. Management feels the electronic ID Key Cards will somehow make the buildings safer by taking the place of a doorman, (an amenity real luxury buildings offer), but mostly likely the cards will just collect the times and dates residents enter and leave their apartments for future lawsuits.A resident hoping to reap the reward of a bad photo on a tacky plastic card, stood in line for over an hour this weekend at the management office. Management, oblivious to the fact that residents locked out of their buildings might come looking for key cards, had only two people on staff to handle the crowd of 45+ frustrated tenants. Surprisingly, they didn't torch the place.
Photo submitted by a Sty Spy
When you go to get your keycard at the Avenue C facility, you can see the bank of screens of the security monitoring cameras. Most are fixed on the subway exit/entrance on First Avenue, another few on some lobby, others are blank. But our vigilant protectors are a couple of fat guys sitting in front of the screens chatting to each other and stuffing their pieholes. I wonder if they are charging muggers access fees to the property now? Must be a very lucrative franchise.
They also charge $8 per key, but are more than happy to just attach the charge it to the rent.
H
You should call Dan Garodnick's office about the $8 charge. I didn't think a landlord could charge anything for access to one's building but only for replacement keys
So TS is charging us an MCI for a "service" we don't want and then have the audacity to charge us again to use it? WTF?
I bet a doorman would do a better job monitoring the commings and goings, maybe then my neighbor wouldn't be so obvious about his drug dealing.
Wait til they insist that we have electronic locks on our apartments and have to get a key card to enter our own homes. While we are out, they can go in and snoop around and read our mail, drink our beer, slip engagement rings into their pockets, count our money, watch our televisions, nap on our bed, bring in their girlfriends for some nooky on our beds, use our showers and towels (eeeww) and make calls to their friends and families all over the world from our phones.
I wish the ta would put the forums up again. I enjoyed reading them. They were a mine of information and sometimes very humorous. Some people who posted there were a pain in the ass, but they can be ignored.
Few people realize this.....but if management becomes pissed enough at us for complaining, all they have to do to is push a button and the electronic locks will prevent us from leaving the buildings, too. Sorry, there is no key card available to get you out!
Wow, that would suck if someone were to run a huge, refrigerator magnet across the door's lockbox...wouldn't it??? ;)
"it will also suck for you losers err um I mean tenants if NYC has another blackout.."
Funny, it seems there are only NY students in that photo!
Oh, and there is no $8 charge for a key card, unless you want more than you are allotted per apartment.
What's even funnier is that you can tell the age of people in a blury photo!
I think that the allotment is 4 per apt., then you get charged. (I still want to cash in my "keys" for the $8 each that I paid for them initially.)
I'm just going to go back to my old method--"Yo Tony, Let Me In, Would'dja?"
What IS their plan for a power outtage with regards to the electronic doors.. and such??
anyone know?
does that mean if the power goes out.. they just prop the doors open for anyone to roam?
that was an excellent point brought up.
There supposedly is a battery backup that powers the keycard system for a number of hours after a blackout.
When that battery dies, you can be sure that the security cameras won't be working at that point either, so the easiest way to get into the building would be to use a "brick key".
I expect that to be the case..
i agree with something i read before... that the cards are a way to catch illegal sublets.
i think thats the main purpose.. get the lowrenters out NOW...
i dont think safety is even factored in.. except in marketing.
We're not "LOWRENTERS". We built this community and have been living here for 60 years. It's market rate renters that are having sky high rent bills jammed down their throats, and don't forget it.
Do you really think that all (or most) of the stabilized tenants are all subletters or scamming the system in some way ? It's hardly the case.
hey Anonymous, a little touchy, aren't we? marketrate wasn't putting you down, just using a phrase ("lowrenters") which may be descriptive but is certainly not offensive.
Fact is we're all in this together. Remember there are some market raters who have been here a long time and are just as responsible for "building a community" as the rent controlled people are. I know several market rate renters who are families with young kids who are trying to put down roots here. Whether they or you or anyone else here decides it's worth it to stay here for good, well that's another story.
Amy,
The 65% majority that make up Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village are RENT STABILIZED, they are not RENT CONTROLLED.
Google is your friend. Do some research.
low-rent /ˈloʊˈrɛnt/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [loh-rent] Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective Informal. second-rate; bargain-basement.
Yes, Amy, the phrase is offensive.
How about "hypersensitive-discount-tenants" instead? Would that be more accurate?
Can we all please stop ! TS must be reading these posts and laughing that RS tenants are fighting with MR tenants rather than planning a meeting to deal with the problems caused by TS.
TS bought this complex with full knowledge of the RS laws and how many apartments were subject to RS. We RS tenants are not taking "advantage" of anything and we are sensitive about this issue because for more than the last 10 years the NYS Republicans and landlords like TS have been trying to eliminate RS and have succeeded in significantly weakening RS laws.
Let's stick together and fight TS and encourage the new Democratic majority in Albany to reinvigorate the RS laws.
Hey David, would "yunnie douchebag asshole" be accurate in describing you ?
Pardon my grammar, that should read:
Would "douchebag asshole yunnie" be accurate in describing you ?
Actually, the terms we prefer are 'shrewd', 'smart' 'mature'..'Hip', etc.The terms we prefer to call Market-Rate-payers are ..'The TAKEN'...'DADDY-PAYERS' or when noone is looking 'SUCKERS'....
After we walk away from greeting our new teenage neighbors, we actually all burst-out laughing!
BTW Amy are you reallllllly that stupid to use your real name (and the fact that you reside in PC/STV)?....Sheesh, these kids here are getting dumber and dumber...
I fear for the combined future IQ of New York residents with spoiled children like Amy and David here
Sorry..
i didnt mean to offend anyone.. i used to term "lowrenters" colloquially referring to those who arent "stupid" enough to pay "market rate" for the same apartment..
I was actually insulting myself.
i think ultimately those of us reading and posting pon this site are on the same side..
which is the side of being very unhappy with the way StuyTown is managed.
Some of us are mad becuase we are paying too much.. some of us becuase we have been here for a long time and feel we're being slighted.
either way.. it sucks.. and the real problem here is Tishman Speyer.
my apologies if i offended anyone.
Apology accepted. Market rate tenants can hold the same core values that long time residents have. I know MR families that I wish would stay and raise their kids here, but TS keeps giving them $400 or $600 a month lease increases.
TS is killing the community by driving out MR tenants who actually could afford to pay, and by creating Dorm Rooms out of apartments meant for families.