StuyTown fights against deregulation
BY GABE HERMAN
Facing possible deregulation of some
apartments this summer at Stuyvesant
Town-Peter Cooper Village, the
complex’s Tenants Association filed a legal
action in New York State Supreme Court to
request legal protection of the apartments
under last year’s tenant protections legislation
passed by New York State.
The 2009 Roberts v. Tishman Speyercourt
case ruled that apartments had
been illegally deregulated and must be reregulated
because owners were receiving
J-51 tax benefits, which are designated for
owners of rent-regulated buildings.
That case’s settlement stated that apartments
would no longer be subject to rent
regulation when the J-51 benefits ran out,
marking June 2020 for when the rent regulation
would end.
When Blackstone acquired the complex
in 2015, it made an agreement with the
city to keep 5,000 units affordable. The
agreement also included subclasses of units,
including the “Designated Roberts Units,”
the recent filing noted, said to be open to
deregulation on or after July 1, 2020, with a
5 percent rent increase cap on some of those
units for five years. Another group of apartments
in the 2015 agreement was “Market
Units,” the March 5 filing said, which had
Protesters outside Stuyvesant Town on March 5.
no rent or income restrictions and “may be
subject to Rent Stabilization, as applicable.”
The Tenants Association filing states
about these two groups of apartments,
“Over the next two years, leases are expected
to end for at least several hundred
tenant households falling within these
groups… their status as regulated tenants
with renewal rights and rent guidelines
protection (now at 1.5% for a one year
renewal under NYC Rent Guidelines Board
Order #51) will or may be challenged by the
Defendant-Owners.”
The filing says the New York State
Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act
of 2019 should be applied to the units and
override previous rulings related to J-51 and
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
deregulation, but that there has been no indication
that this will happen, and “this presents
the possibility of widespread litigation with a
multiplicity of suits along with a potential for
conflicting judicial determinations.
“Given the sizable and potentially harsh
consequence,” the document continues, “on
families and individuals faced with the possibility
of losing rent and lease renewal protections
under the rent stabilization laws,
Plaintiffs respectfully come to this Court
for a declaration of their legal status.”
When Blackstone was asked for comment,
a spokesperson said, “We welcome the
Court’s involvement, but to be clear, no tenant
subject to the J-51 program has seen an
increase in rents above those legally allowed
under rent stabilization. We are confident
that the Court will reaffirm the 2012 Roberts
settlement, which explicitly stated that these
J-51 units should no longer be subject to rent
regulation as of June 2020.
“We could not be prouder of what we
have done for the residents of Stuy Town.
We voluntarily restricted 5,000 Stuy Town
apartments as affordable, spent hundreds
of millions of dollars in capital improvements
across the property, and massively
improved service levels—doubling resident
satisfaction since our ownership.”
Blackstone added that it will keep the
5,000 apartments affordable that were
agreed upon in 2015, with average rents
of $1,800 monthly. Concerning the 6,200
units that would be affected by the Robertscase,
average income is $262,000,
Blackstone said, and the units are above the
decontrol threshold but remain regulated
solely because of the current J-51 tax benefit,
though they are currently near market
rate at about $4,000 monthly.
The Tenants Association filing states that
the 2019 tenants protection legislation repealed
high rent/high income deregulation,
“and units subject to stabilization on June
14, 2019 remain subject to rent stabilization
regardless of future vacancies or high
rent/high income status.”
More at amny.com.
Neighborhood policing issues raised in Gramercy
BY EDDY MARTINEZ
During a neighborhood listening tour at the New
York Police Department’s Training Academy in
Gramercy, some residents called for greater police
presence in the neighborhood to deal with issues of loitering,
drug use and menacing. But Chief of Patrol Fausto
Pichardo, along with few residents, disagreed, arguing that
more empathy is needed.
“I am afraid; I was never afraid before,” an audience
member said as she complained about the lack of street
lights by the Bellevue Men’s Shelter at E. 30th street and
1st Avenue, which she said, has led to crimes in the area.
Another audience member said that a neighborhood
park had become dangerous at night.
Pichardo looked on as an elderly woman complained
about “wayward” children loitering in her apartment
building near Park Avenue in Gramercy Park. She
claimed that they were “invading” the building, dealing
drugs, and assaulted the super of her building, ripping
off his shirt in the process. Pichardo responded by asking
her if arresting teenagers who needed social services
would be the best solution. “The answer is no, absolutely
not. All we’re doing is criminalizing a bunch of kids,”
he said.
Richard Aguirre, 50, of Kips Bay, agreed. He believes
that the best solution isn’t more arrests but communication,
not just between police and residents but between
PHOTO BY EDDY MARTINEZ
older residents and young people. “When you interact
with them, and you get to know them, you come to
realize they’re broken people… once you sit down with
them, then you see that they are just individuals who
are crying out for help,” he said.
Pichardo said during the meeting that young people
need to be seen as a potential resource and told the
audience that young people have been an integral part
in planning out NYPD contingency plans. He explained
to the audience that police cannot be everywhere and
reminded the audience that while their concerns are
valid, Gramercy Park and Kips Bay are not suffering the
same level of issues as other neighborhoods.
Veronica Vargas Lupo, 36, of NoMad and a member
of NYC Moms for Safer Streets, said “There’s been a lot
of incidents; behaviors that put our children at risk…
we would like to see more safety for our children.” She
wants more police, but she also agreed that there has
to be a multi-pronged approach. “There are a lot of
underlying complexities around (the) seriously mentally
ill, drug addiction. And I do feel that we as a city are
doing them a disservice.”
Lauren Curatolo, the Project Director of the Midtown
Community Court was at the meeting to tell residents
about the services her organization offers. She saw the
meeting as a positive step in the right direction. “They
expressed pretty directly that this is empathetic policing
and really understanding what the needs are of people,
and trying to address that instead of criminalizing
poverty.”
Maria Trinidad, 70, who lives in Kips Bay, and is
affiliated with the Midtown Community Court said
that the police need to build stronger relationships
with residents in the area. “Yes, there’s always room
for improvement, like keeping them together, not every
two or three months separating, bringing a new NCO,”
she said.
Ali Farahnakian, a former Saturday Night Live writer
and founder of the People’s Improv Theater said during
the meeting that, “It has to be looked at through the
filter of there but for the grace of God go I, if we don’t,
there is no empathy.” He was met with applause.
Schneps Media March 12, 2020 3
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