WILDLIFE AROUND US
NYC Urban Park Ranger spoke on the wildlife around us. Ranger Rob
Mastrianni told us
The NYC Parks Department has wonderful programs – bird
watching in the snow, camp-outs for kids, and more, all year round.
KEEPING RENT STABILIZED RENTS LOW
Each June, after a series of hearings, the Rent Guidelines
Board determines rent increase percentages for all rent stabilized tenants in
NYC. The RGB’s first meeting this year is Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 10 AM – and a
coalition of groups is rallying before the meeting in lower Manhattan at 1 Centre Street, 9 AM.
Among other things, we need an evening hearing
closer to where we live.
The RGB determined last year that cumulative rent increases
for the past 30 years or so far exceeded inflation and actual landlord costs
for the same period of time. So the RGB ordered a “rent freeze” (no increase)
for those renewing for 1 year. But if
the increases were too big, why did those renewing for 2 years (as is our
choice) have to pay an increase? Roll
back the rents!
Should YOUR apartment
be rent stabilized? If you are paying full market price
for your apartment, check
whether you might be able to get your apartment back into rent regulation
POT LUCK PARTY on MAY
21!
We’re having our annual Pot Luck on Saturday, May 21, 2016, from 6-9 PM and will be honoring the building’s
maintenance staff. We eat, we talk, we
sing, we eat some more, we play music, we eat . . . you get the picture. If your household brings food or drink (no
alcohol please) for 10 people or you help out, it’s
free. Otherwise, a small cost per household. What can you bring or do? Fill out the flyer and return it to your
floor captain or to the box that will soon be in the mailroom.
BUILDING ISSUES
- Laundry: We're thrilled to get new machines - although they're costing us more per load. Unfortunately, the new laundry machines require credit or debit cards to add a minimum of $15 to the laundry cards. That means poorer tenants without credit/debit cards must buy a pre-paid card just to load their laundry cards. That’s not fair, and we’re trying to get it fixed. In addition, some of the machines are too high for short people to reach. They really had to keep the high cement pedestals? At least Stellar should provide a stool! Recently, a tenant’s bag of clothes was taken from the laundry room. We don’t know whether it was an outsider (pretty much anyone can walk in by naming an apartment), or a tenant. If you took the black bag in error, please give it to the guard.
- Smoke: The landlord is trying to go after the tenant(s) smoking up the west side stairwells with marijuana – with the smell going into our apartments. The smokers are putting their tenancy here at risk.
CITY & NEIGHBORHOOD
Zoning : The NYC Council passed the Mayor’s housing proposals, “Zoning
for Quality and Affordability” (ZQA is primarily for more affordable senior
housing), and “Mandatory Inclusionary Housing” (MIH requires building
affordable units for any development – although not necessarily in the same
building – where the zoning permits larger buildings). The Upper West Side community boards were
concerned about taller buildings coming in under ZQA, but that has now been
ruled out for our neighborhood. It will
be up to the local City Council person to determine the levels of affordability
(MIH) in areas whose zoning is changed to permit bigger buildings. Our City Council representative, Mark
Levine, wrote, “The MIH plan includes apartments targeted at New Yorkers
earning as little as $24,000/year (singles) or $31,000/year (family of 3). Even
deeper levels of affordability will be achieved in most upzoned neighborhoods
through City subsidy. The plan also includes housing directed towards working
class and moderate income families.”
Church-to-condo on
CPW?
That project is still up in the air, with North
Development Group’s Joseph Brunner suing
the people he bought the church from when approval for the condo conversion
didn’t go through.
Got questions or
comments? Contact us!
The Executive
Committee
Sue Susman, sue dot susman at gmail dot com
Na'ava Ades, naavaa [at] gmail dot com
Joan Browne, joanbrownefaison aT gmail d o t com
Denis Hayward, denis (dot) hayward {AT} gmail dot com
Rich Jordan, richj214 [a T] aol {dot} com
Steve Koulish, eskoolman (at) yahoo [d o t] com
Ray von Dohren, vondohren {a t} comcast [dot] net
