Happy New Year, everyone! Since
we had a special election tenants meeting in December, we’re just providing an
update this month.
LATE RENT BILLS
Rent bills came on Dec. 31st
last month – too late for most people to pay by the first of the month.
If you’ve paid by the 10th
of the month, there should be no late fee.
Market-rate tenants: Check your lease
about whether late fees are allowed.
Rent stabilized tenants: Late
fees are not allowed because we
didn’t have them under Mitchell-Lama. If
you’re charged a late fee, don’t pay it and let the executive committee
know.
To pay by the 1st of the month, add your base rent + your
electric bill (plus your garage rent if you’ve got a space there) and walk the
check or checks over to Stellar’s office at 70 W. 93rd St. or mail the envelope to the Stellar office at 158
William St., 10th Fl., New
York, NY 10038.
If you find yourself repeatedly paying on or after the 15th
of the month – and Stellar has taken you to court for nonpayment – please
contact a member of the Executive Committee.
GOV. CUOMO CITES LACK OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING.
In
his Jan. 9, 2013 State of the State address, the governor proposed building or
preserving 14,000 units of affordable housing – in the face of the 365,000
shortage NYC faces.
Meanwhile, he’s accepted that the State
Senate will be led by the GOP and a breakaway “Independent Democratic
Conference” alternating leadership each week. Since both the GOP and the IDC
members have been cool to tenant issues, this legislative session will be a
long slog for tenants. Fortunately, the
rent laws don’t expire until June 2015 – by which time we will be a stronger
force!
If you see one in your
apartment – on the bed or wall or elsewhere, call Stellar immediately, and write your name on a requisition slip for
the exterminator. If you deal with it right away, it’s not fun but not a
big deal. If you wait, they spread.
They breed in clean
homes and dirty ones, the Waldorf Astoria and local movie theaters. So don’t be
ashamed: just act. Stellar will
exterminate for free.
MEASURING APARTMENTS
Stellar is measuring one apartment in
each line. – mainly on the 5th and 12th floors. It says
its bank wants accurate statements of the area of each apartment. We don’t know what Stellar’s bank dealings
are. If you can’t be home when they come in to measure your apartment, leave a
note: “I am happy for you to measure my apartment, but I need more than 24
hours’ notice since I work.”
NOISE Are you hearing loud, grinding, intermittent
noises that may be coming from the elevator? Let the executive committee
know. K-line residents seem particularly
vulnerable.
EMERGENCY NUMBER & KEY –
Please leave a key and an emergency number for the building staff to call. You can leave the key with the building staff
or with a neighbor. Just make sure that
the building staff know which neighbor. Sometimes tenants have needed
help – and can’t open their own doors.
Carlos has emergency number cards in his office.
SMOKING in stairwells sends unwelcome smoke into all the apartments that abut
the stairwell. That goes for cigarettes
and for marijuana - and the people in those apartments really don't want to inhale it. So please don't smoke there.
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Jan. 28 – The Park West Village History
Group is hosting a panel discussion on the history of Frederick Douglass houses
and other public housing in our neighborhood.
6-8 PM, Children’s Aid Society, 885 Columbus at 104th St.
The Executive Committee
Sue Susman, Na’ava Ades, Joan
Browne, Rich
Jordan, Steve
Koulish, Greg Murray
