Media release of Oct. 13, 2022, announcing SPARC Kips Bay (Science Park and Research Campus), the plan for the 25th Street Brookdale site, formerly proposed for a sanitation garage.

https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/747-22/mayor-adams-governor-hochul-plan-first-of-its-kind-job-education-hub-growing

Posted 10/13/22

As sometimes happens, a TA board member finds it necessary to leave the board before their term ends as was the case recently with Steve Mullen. Steve was elected in 2022 and had already plunged into board activities, including working on a tenant survey and staffing the TA’s table at the flea market.

In accordance with the TA's bylaws, which state that vacancies in the board may be filled by a vote of majority of the board then in office, the board appointed attorney Jonathan D’Errico to Steve’s seat. Jon has already been volunteering as a Building Leader and as a non-board member on the TA’s Legal Committee. Jon also serves on Community Board 6 and founded Better Tomorrow NYC, a nonprofit organization to benefit diverse and at-risk youth in NYC public schools. He and his family live in Peter Cooper Village.

Posted 10/10/22

Since the proposed congestion pricing zone includes all of Manhattan below 60th Street, the TA submitted this statement to the MTA and the Federal Highway Administration.

Posted 9/22/22

What the four primary candidates said about housing, congestion pricing, bail reform, our lawsuits, clean energy and more. They said a lot, but there's plenty of white space.

Posted 8/11/22; updated 8/11/22

The Rent Justice Coalition, which the STPCV TA is part of, released this response to Mayor Adams's reaction to this year's high rent increases. https://assets.nationbuilder.com/stpcvta/pages/10/attachments/original/1656087613/2022-06-23_RJC_Statement_on_Eric_Adams_RGB_Response.pdf?1656087613

Rents will go up significantly for leases starting Oct. 1, 2022. Read our statement.

The Tenants Association held its annual meeting to announce the election of board directors and present a financial report. Following that we were joined by elected representatives and attorney Tim Collins, who updated us on issues of importance.

Elected to the board were incumbents Anne Greenberg, Lynn Janovsky, and Jeanette Sheehan-Snow, and new directors Rebecca Carroll, Julia Gaber, Steve Mullen, and Steve Nowicki.

Video of the meeting.

The city’s Rent Guidelines Board has begun meeting to decide on adjustments to rent-stabilized rents (that’s all of us) on lease renewals as of October 1. The final vote will be taken in June.

What’s different this year? We have a new mayor, who has just appointed two new members to the nine-member RGB, one an owner member and one a public member, Arpit Gupta.

An important vacancy: the second tenant member to speak for and defend the interests of all NYC rent-stabilized tenants.

Big question mark: how friendly Mayor Adams is to tenants, and how friendly the new public member will be. He's been quoted as saying he's a "little skeptical of rent control." The five public members generally vote as a bloc.

What we already know: landlords are crying poverty, despite keeping off the market an estimated 20,000 apartments (one industry estimate is as high as 70,000). They say they're willing to release the apartments if they can just charge a vacancy bonus (a percentage added to the rent when an apartment turns over)—exactly what was abolished by the 2019 housing law.

What we have to do: Tenants need to speak up, tell their stories, and fight for a fair adjustment to their rent—an adjustment does not have to mean an increase. It can be a freeze or a rollback.

The RGB schedule of meetings, including video of the March 31 meeting, and reports prepared by RGB staff are available. The Income and Expense Study has been published.

Thursday, April 14, at 9:45 a.m. the RGB will discuss the Price Index of Operating Costs and the Mortgage Survey Report.
Wednesday, April 20, at 9:45 a.m.: Income and Affordability Study
Tuesday, April 26, 9:45 a.m.–12:15 p.m.: invited testimony from owner groups
Tuesday, April 26, 1:00 p.m.–3:30 p.m.: invited testimony from tenant groups

Dates and deadlines for giving in-person or written testimony are still to be announced.

We encourage our neighbors to read the RGB reports: they’re not hard to understand, and important details appear in sidebars.

How to watch the video of these meetings on YouTube or listen on your phone

Sign up for RGB email announcements

Posted 4/10/22

On March 26, 2022, various electeds, representatives of the mayor, and TA president Susan Steinberg did a walkthrough of the 14th Street and First Avenue corridor. For more than a year, tenants and local business owners have complained about conditions, but despite all efforts, the sidewalk is blocked, the bus stop is obstructed, and conditions are unsanitary, among other issues. Many do not feel safe and are concerned for the safety of the schoolchildren in the area. Following the walkthrough, this letter was sent to Mayor Eric Adams and was signed by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, State Senator Brad Hoylman, Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, and City Council Members Keith Powers and Carlina Rivera. Note: the south side of 14th Street is in Carlina Rivera's district and within the bounds of the NYPD's 9th Precinct.

Posted 4/8/22

Blackstone has withdrawn its permit requests for the fossil fuel power plants in Stuyvesant Town, according to Basil Seggos, the state’s commissioner of Environmental Conservation. Instead, Blackstone is planning to submit new permit requests for lower emissions just below the DEC threshold. As a result, the plants would not need state permits and would avoid the DEC permitting process.

Seggos’s comments were made during an exchange with State Senator Brad Hoylman at a legislative budget hearing on February 1, 2022. Blackstone pulled its application at the end of November 2021.

Instead of a full state review, the power plants would be subject to the CEQR (“seeker”) process, or City Environmental Quality Review. CEQR disclosure would still need to be in compliance with state standards for an environmental review and would provide for public participation.

Seggos indicated to Hoylman that he would send a letter explaining the change in Blackstone’s strategy, but as of this date, the letter has not been received.

STATUS OF THE TWO PLANTS
CHP 1: Avenue C
Due to the efforts of the Tenants Association, tenants, and our elected representatives, the plant, although built, is not operational. It needs the necessary permits, environmental studies, and community review and input.

CHP 2: 20th Street, under Garage 1
Blackstone’s plan was to use this much larger plant to generate electricity to export to Con Ed for the remainder of ST and for PCV. But PCV is on a different city lot from ST, and the electricity and steam cannot be allocated across lots. We don’t know whether Blackstone (1) intends to build a plant with the same capacity as originally planned and generate excess electricity to export to Con Ed (“peaker plant”), (2) scale down the plant, (3) construct a separate plant in PCV, or (4) something else.

CITY AND STATE POLLUTION REDUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS
Both the city and state have announced ambitious goals for reducing pollution.

Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA): this state law sets a “goal of a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030, and to reach economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2050. The state remains focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, while ensuring that at least 35 percent with a goal of 40 percent of the benefits of clean energy investments are directed to disadvantaged communities.” The Stuyvesant Town plants would add pollution to that from the massive 14th Street Con Ed plant and affect NYCHA developments south of 14th Street and north of 23rd Street.

OneNYC 2050 is the city’s strategy “to confront our climate crisis, achieve equity, and strengthen our democracy.”

Posted 3/3/22