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January 5, 2009

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I was in Mill Basin Saturday Night. We were on the Belt Parkway and decided to stop and see what the allure is!
While it was in the evening and dark, so therefore missing alot of the glitz.

We did find a house decorated to the max for Christmas. I will admit, the decorations were beautifully done. I'm not being sarcastic. It was gorgeous. I wish I had my camera! It made the houses in Dyker look bland.

If anybody is in the nabe and can take some pics (quick before they take down the displays) or has pics of the house, please share them. The house is on the corner of National Drive and Arkansas Drive in Mill Basin.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at January 5, 2009 11:02 AM

i have, for the first time since living in park slope, a gripe. against parents. :-/ im not a stroller hater, i swear... but here's the thing, ive noticed this going on every sunday night for the last couple of weeks.. it lasts about 2 hours. in the lobby all the parents and little kids (like under 5) flood the lobby (there are 4 apartments on the lobby btw?) it turns into a zoo. toys everywhere, strollers, screaming kids hitting balls on walls!? wtf? people live behind those you know? it was ridiculous. i wouldnt be able to walk the dogs passed this circus that was taking place in the hallway. i was sorta pissy so i decided to go outside and have a cigarette and i walked passed them and everyone was all friendly HAPPY NEW YEAR blah blah blah blah to me. so i felt bad hating on them, but at the same time, seriously, turning the lobby into a romper room is NOT COOL. btw noise doesnt bother me, i dont care, i cant hear it from my room, just the living room. anyway i just had to vent that. if anyone reading it is one of those parents in the building, sorry, i dont hate your or your crotchfruit, but it's just a weird thing youre doing in an apartment building's public space.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at January 5, 2009 11:08 AM

Crotchfruit?...hysterical!

Posted by: TownhouseLady at January 5, 2009 11:31 AM

Rob;

Do you live in a rental building? If so, why don't you speak with the landlord? If you live in a condo, take it up with the Board. In the latter case, it may not be helpful. I live in a Park Slope condo that is dominated by young families, and they control the Board too. The place is taking on a Romper Room look, and it doesn't seem to faze many of my neighbors.

Posted by: benson at January 5, 2009 11:41 AM

Rob,
Sunday evenings let your Pits off the leash in the lobby, and allow them play with the crotchfruit!

Posted by: bayridgegirl at January 5, 2009 11:53 AM

*rob*, my building has a huge common room off the lobby. it's decked out in crappy ikea lounge furniture and hand-me-down books; granted no one in the building EVER EVER uses the space, but the other day i saw a young father push all the furniture (and there is a lot) to the edges so his little kid could ride his bicycle around in circles! the best part was that the room is plush carpeted but the kid was still wearing his helmet. ha ha

but like hellaoooo, i know it's kinda cold out, but go outside!?

Posted by: bowl of dicks at January 5, 2009 11:54 AM

You have to nip this kind of behavior in the bud or it will rapidly escalate a la rob's experiences and probably benson's too.

Unfortunately it is likely that only an accident and then the ensuing lawsuit usually puts an end to anything like this very quickly.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at January 5, 2009 11:57 AM

Now there's a great lesson that kid is learning- the whole world revolves around me and my needs.

B.O.D.,I hope someone laid down the law to that young father. I love kids ("crotchfruit is a disgusting term, btw), but you do your kids no favors when you teach them insensitivity and lack of consideration.

Posted by: bxgrl at January 5, 2009 12:02 PM

let me just say this about my building: there are very few young families there, maybe 4 total, but one of them is the superintendant - which lives directly off the lobby and across the lobby from this enormous (and never used) common room. So the common is basically his kids huge playroom. Now, the indoor cyclist was not one of the superindendants children, but I am sure that if the super confronted the other young dad about it, no more playroom for his own kids!

Posted by: bowl of dicks at January 5, 2009 12:14 PM

it's definitely a rental building. i mean i can sorta understand since there is no outdoor space for the kids to play anyway and maybe it's too cold for the parks and stuff but it's just annoying. and ew @ half the kids playing the hallways are barefoot. ick. hahaha. also i dont want to be the one complaining to the super about it though. looking back tho, seriously, as a kid i used to play in the hallways running around with other kids all the time (these were projects tho!) so it's definitely not a class issue i guess, it's just weird that they have such structured play in the hall and they are just really really really young kids. it's a creepy scene too looking out your peephole seeing that haha. i asked my roommate about it and he said it seems to be a new phenonemon in the building and he hasnt seen it until this year and he's lived there 5 years.

OMG OMG OMG i have the funniest thing to tell!!!!!
---- is this ANYWHERE on the internet or in the papers?

friday night. around 6.. i witnessed TD bank, formerally the commerce get ROBBED!!!! walking my dog, the guy at the cash coin converter was filling bags with change. come back around the corner, he is gone and three kids hovering over the machine. walk a little further toward my building, those three kids RUNNING fast *(one had a limp btw! LOL) i noticed in one kids hand a huge cannister of change with a rubber sealish thing ont he top. they got into a black car in the middle of the block. i was going to go into the bank to describe the kids (three white kids who were definitely no older than 15 btw!). should i have gone in to the bank or called the cops immediately? i was so caught up telling everyone what happened i wound up not calling. my roommate said that bank gets robbed at least once a month. do they not even have security? the bank was packed at that hour! wouldnt they be on security camera? they werent wearing masks or anything. anyway, i figured this would be a good thread to post a crime spotting. i did laugh at the one with the limp. "hurry!" was all i heard one say hahah.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at January 5, 2009 12:31 PM

Are there any common rooms in your buildings? Maybe those could be used for play areas in bad weather?

Posted by: bxgrl at January 5, 2009 12:40 PM

no common rooms. all the basement rooms were converted with the lobby apartments in duplexes in the 90s. i say just stick some mittins on them and stick them on the roof! we have a great roof.. well except that the top floor got a whole bunch of cabins built with little mini yards on it for some of its apartments in the 90s too. so it's like a maze up there between what is common area and what belongs to an apartment.

lol @ the person with the little sectioned off roof yard complete with astroturf, flags, and a big wooden thingie that says home sweet home.

*Bfly*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at January 5, 2009 12:44 PM

Why doesn't The City of New York enforce litter laws?

***Bid half off peak comps***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at January 5, 2009 1:28 PM

ok
am kinda in shock listening to this - I had no idea this sorta thing is going on!
I mean a common room in an apt building for kids to play in, or worse the main lobby for the little scamps to go wild in?!?!?!
WHATTTTTTTTTTTTT???????????????????

I mean my husband and I are trying to have kids so obviously am not a hater here - but I grew up in Queens in an apt building my entire life and you know what? my mom took me to the park to play in the scary 70's & 80's

Why are people so oddly precious about their kids at the same time being completely rude to their neighbors!!!!

Posted by: gemini10 at January 5, 2009 2:04 PM

Alright, to change the subject, here is a question for DIBS and some of the other financial types on this site. I am curious about one aspect of the "Made Off" scandal that I can't seem to find addressed in the coverage. What did he tell his investors his basic strategy was? Or did he present his fund as a black box and simply advise would-be investors to assume he knew what he was doing based on his experience and purported returns? Did his phony statements to investors provide any detail as to where the money supposedly was? And, if so, was the money actually invested where he said it was, just not returning the gains that he put in his statements? Some analysts who say they raised questions a long time ago say that their numbers indicated that Madoff could not have legitimately earned his returns. What benchmarks or models were they using to try to mirror what Madoff was supposedly doing?

I am sure I missed some of this stuff as I wasn't paying attention the first day or two that the scandal broke, so sorry if this is old aht for some of you, but I really am curious.

Posted by: slopefarm at January 5, 2009 2:07 PM

From what I know:

1. it was a proprietary (if you want to call it black box) strategy that he rarely, if ever, expalained.

2. Don't know what he provided as far as statements of what assets were held. Hedge funds do not but if your assets are in separate accounts (usually long only accounts) then you would get one. I think he was more the former.

3.. Thirdly, these listed investments and performance numbers were apparently audited by that one man shop where no one ever was in the office!!!

4. There have been numerous meetings with the SEC and Madoff over the years and they never figured it out. How come????

5. There have been numerous people who have complained "in depth" to the SEC

6. It came out in today's FT that the chief investment officer at Merrill's Asset Management division sounded the warning internally before 2006 and Goldman Sachs Asset Mgmt said "it never felt comfortable with Madoff" because "it never understood the investment process or the returns." There's no financial incentive to become a whistleblower nor is there any penalty not to.

I'm just wondering if there's enough money left to pay all the lawyers!!!!! LOL

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at January 5, 2009 2:24 PM

Thanks, Dave. That all makes sense. I knew #3 and I think I just learned something like #4 today, and find it truly astonishing. Any word on whether any regulator did any actual forensics and missed it, or just a sit-down or two with Bernie. Given #1 and 2, I find it perplexing that any investor would invest "everything" in one, very opaque bucket. But apparently many of means and sophistication did.

Posted by: slopefarm at January 5, 2009 2:36 PM

They may have been "of means" but they certainly were not "of sophistication." I'm hearing a lot of stories coming out about many people looking at Madoff and his firm and just turning away with no more than a cursory look/see.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at January 5, 2009 2:41 PM

DIBS, I disagree that he never put out his strategy. It was an option-based strategy that was too sophisticated, perhaps, for your average unsophisticated investor to understand, but it was out there all the same. Those investors that attempted to replicate it were smart enough to realize he couldn't have been generating those returns. That's when he claimed it was a modified black-box thing.

For the details see:
http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2008/12/16/madoffs-not-so-unique-options-strategy/

Posted by: denton at January 5, 2009 2:55 PM

denton...you're right. I think it wasn't able to be replicated because the sums of money he was "supposedly" managing were too large for that type of strategy.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at January 5, 2009 3:01 PM

"I notice BRG does not get QOTD yet again!!! Flatbush stomps on Bay Ridge!! News at 11"
- Posted by: daveinbedstuy at January 5, 2009 3:44 PM (HOTD)

I noticed DIBS NEVER got QOTD. Bay Ridge kicks Bed Sty in the posterior!!

Posted by: bayridgegirl at January 5, 2009 4:00 PM

My guess is that the current baby bubble in Brooklyn is likely to burst soon.
The Breeders Cup races will resume operations in the suburbs where they really belong.

Posted by: sam at January 5, 2009 4:18 PM

Dave, re: sophistication, I think what I meant to say is that people who, by all appearances, ought to have been sophisticated enough, nevertheless put all their money in Madoff's fund without kicking the tires at all. Anyone with the means to invest with Madoff had the ability to at least hire some sophistication if they didn't have it themselves. I don't have a lot to invest, and I do not consider myself financially sophisticated, but even I know enough not to invest all my savings in one place, and not to take risks I don't understand on at least an elementary level.

Posted by: slopefarm at January 5, 2009 4:33 PM

slopefarm, you may be misinformed. Whlie I suppose some rich people like to use their time investigating the fine points of their investments, most do not. The most important thing for the rich is trust. trust of the person or institution that is handling your money. It is a very human thing really. This guy was golden. People trusted him entirely. That's how he got so many people to go in on his pyramid scheme. Life is not so complicated. You're playing golf in an exclusive country club, some hotshot guy, who you hear practically invented the NASDAQ single-handledly says: "I'll let you in to my little hedge fund if you can commit half a mil". Badda-bing! as they say. That's how I see business being done among the elites. It's a class thing and a trust thing. Totally.

Posted by: sam at January 5, 2009 4:48 PM

I agree with you totally slopefarm.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at January 5, 2009 4:49 PM

this thread got so boring so fast :(

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at January 5, 2009 4:54 PM

this thread was boring from the start :)

Posted by: bayridgegirl at January 5, 2009 5:05 PM

gemini10- i grew up in an apartment project in the Bronx but we were lucky because the projects were designed around courtyards, miniparks, and common rooms tenants could sign up to use. when we couldn't go out my poor mother had the onerous task of keeping us amused.

My sister lives in Amalgamated Housing in the Bronx- another beautiful complex, which also has common rooms tenants can use. one of those is used as a day care and nursery school room. another goes for events or the odd need. a friend lives in a Co-op in Manhattan and they also have common rooms that tenants can use for various things- so seems to me those are good things and far from unusual.

The lobby playroom, however, is inappropriate- can't blame the kids if they grow up inconsiderate and feeling entitled. Many parents do feel that having kids entitles them to extra consideration and privileges. ever trip over a baby carriage blocking the subway door in rush hour?

Posted by: bxgrl at January 5, 2009 5:09 PM

Sam,

I don't disagree with your description of what actually happened, I am just amazed that people operate that way. In your golf course example, I would want some more info before I did anything and, no matter how good it sounded, I wouldn't put in more than 5% of what I had to invest. To me, that seems like common sense and there is no reason why someone should see it differently just because tehy are rich. It is the people who invested everything they had in his fund that astound me. I don't believe in wizards and i don't know why people in a better position than me to know better didn't know better.

P.S. Sorry Rob, we'll try to come up with something funny tomorrow. Sorry about the noisy kids in your building. I am a Slope parent (past the stroller stage, mind you) and i think that situation isn't right. Say something in a nice way to one of the parents; you might get somewhere. Sometimes when the whether is cold and the kids are bouncing off teh walls, parents get a little desperate to give their kids some run around time. But most reasonable parents know to back off when they learn they are encroaching. Give it a shot and report back.

Posted by: slopefarm at January 5, 2009 5:14 PM

Here you go, Rob....just for you.
George Carlin....classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCljFYn3zTY&feature=related

Posted by: bayridgegirl at January 5, 2009 5:32 PM

say something to a parent??? In Park Slope???
Are you mad?
They will think you are a child molestor or deranged mastadon. These people live in their own bubble. Their relationsdhip to the rest of the human race at this point in their lives is tangental at best. The "unchilded" are looked upon with particular disdain and fear. "they must be so jealous"... really, the only thing to do is to give them a wide berth. don't get in their way. they are baby-holics.

Posted by: sam at January 5, 2009 7:10 PM

Sam,

Knock it off with that B.S. I've lived in the Slope for 23 years, the last nine as a parent, the first 14 as "unchilded." I get along very well with my neighbors, some of whome are parents, some are grandparents, and some do not have kids. They can say anything to me. Same goes on my old block and within my old coop. And, you may not believe this, most of the parents I know in the neighborhood are the same way.

But, just in case you are right, I suggested that Rob report back. Let's get some real data on this topic.

Posted by: slopefarm at January 5, 2009 10:15 PM

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January 5, 2009

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