I want the Roebling Inn to open. And soon!

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at November 23, 2009 9:23 AM in response to Open Thread

I know this isn't helpful or anything but...If I had the time, I'd drive that cross country for you for the price of gas. And I'd treat it better than most people treat their kids.

That is a gorgeous machine. Truly.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at November 2, 2009 1:43 PM in response to Moving Car from Coast to Coast

Oh wait...that's a two way bike lane on a one way street! You'll never get to the park, just give it up and hang out on your terrace.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at October 2, 2009 3:02 PM in response to Prospect Park West to Get Bike Lane

Thanks to all of Bloomy's bike lanes, I'm training myself to look both ways on one way streets. Without bike lanes, people rarely cruised against traffic. Now with all these effen green lanes you have to pretend you're in London. I cross Clinton at Livingston St everyday, and everyday I almost get nailed by a biker coming off the bridge going the wrong way. SO, my advice if you are heading to the park, look right as well as left.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at October 2, 2009 2:57 PM in response to Prospect Park West to Get Bike Lane

Bad pot?

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at October 2, 2009 2:39 PM in response to Bad Smell from Tenant

It needs the neon backlit fountains. Please tell me there are neon backlit fountains in the courtyard. I will back off my "renter only" stance, raid the portfolio and snatch up a place here.

Where's Gravesend anyway?

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at October 2, 2009 2:31 PM in response to The Venetian Unveiled

Having something handed to you is the epitome of the American Dream.

When you get your property tax bill that goes toward educating someone else's children...don't forget to kick and scream and moan.

The other part of said "American Dream" is pulling that ladder up behind you - like you never even saw it.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at October 1, 2009 4:13 PM in response to Downpayment as a Gift

These guys are good dudes. I heard yesterday that this open house will involve 350 Maine lobsters. 350! Holy lobster bake!

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 29, 2009 4:54 PM in response to StreetLevel: Henry St Pharmacy Reopening as a 'Farmacy'

"I used to have an Akita. You think put bull shit is big, LOL!!!!"

HA HA! Its true!! I swear an Akita actually shits out MORE than it eats. There's on old man on my block with an Akita. When I see him when I walk my doggie, I help him pick up his Akita poop because it looks too heavy for him. Its actually a sight to behold.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 25, 2009 3:12 PM in response to Dog Pooping in Front of House

The only major gaffe is that Brooklyn got compared to Tooting...which is an INSANE comparison.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 22, 2009 12:34 PM in response to Brooklyn's Nod from the Daily Mail

I'm around the corner. And there were signs up, just with the wrong date. Was supposed to be done last week but wasn't. Never understood why DOT does that, puts up signs saying street will be paved on X date. And then do it on Y date without changing the signs in advance.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 22, 2009 10:40 AM in response to Sleepless on Livingston

Yeah, covering it doesn't seem feasible. Its not slide-two-pieces-of-tunnel-together-underwater Big Dig unfeasible.

But here's a stupid question...what's wrong with it the way it is? Do we really need to spend billions to make 3 minutes of the 7 minute walk to the "Columbia Waterfront district" from the F train slightly more attractive?

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 21, 2009 3:07 PM in response to What to Do with the BQE Ditch

"HSW: Are you a fan of that British actress with that name?"

LOL Yeah! I thought that was way too esoteric for someone to pick up on. But I spent an entire weekend once watching the entire Foyle's War series. Which was just sooooo good. I wish I wouldn't have shot the wad all at once though because now I have to wait for the new season.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 18, 2009 5:59 PM in response to Park(ing) Day on Fulton

I for one (apparently the only one) like it. I think the city should be less car centric honestly. I absolutely LOVE CityStreets. I don't see this as any different in philosophy. They use 50 parking spots in the entire 5 boroughs once a year to make a point about how astro turf pretty entire avenues could be if there weren't cars on them. The city allows it since they hock the GreenNYC plan.

I have to drive from my office all around New Jersey twice a week, but I know people that drive across Brooklyn to work. I have a friend that commutes from Brooklyn Heights to the far west side in the 50s. That kind of stuff seems excessive to me. But its not rare unfortunately.

I know...to each his own. I don't like car exhaust that much. You don't like smokers that much. And the bikers hate the fact that run in the bike lane. But still, we all should get a chance to make our points before we resume strangling each other.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 18, 2009 1:38 PM in response to Park(ing) Day on Fulton

So who were the other Dutch sailors in town the last couple weeks? I understood they were going up the Hudson to Albany. My husband got smashing drunk with them at the Brooklyn Inn and scored a ticket to Albany. Maybe if I find these guys in the right bar I could score a ticket to Amsterdam.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 16, 2009 11:17 AM in response to Closing Bell: Flat-bottomed in Red Hook

Wow. I really like the Rugby Road house at that price.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 11, 2009 4:40 PM in response to Open House Picks

Waiting 2 hours for a $25 pizza is racketeering.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 10, 2009 2:02 PM in response to Closing Bell: Pizza and the Mob

rob:

Don't hate the playa, hate the game.
Its better this way, honestly. If I were uninsured, I'd be driving your tax rates up by looking for entitlement programs or your insurance rates up by using the ER and never paying the bill.

Now I'm covered...and unless your 401K is chock full of this company...and my illicit spousal benefits are driving the share price down (which I doubt) this is all much better for you...I'm doing you a service buddy.

If you'll pardon me...Mama's going to Floyd's to score me some St. Francis students on a three day weekend.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 4, 2009 12:14 PM in response to Adventures in Advertising

Oh. A cougar is an older woman who marries a younger man. Well how old is Courtney Cox? WTF? And why 'cougar?' Do they live a long time or something? And I'm really not connecting either of those two things with a CG Brownstone at all. This is surreal like a Dali.

The sad part is: I swore I'd never get married...and then I lost my health insurance. Some people get married to random people for green cards. I married a former co-worker for health benefits. I'm a Blue Cross cougar.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 4, 2009 12:00 PM in response to Adventures in Advertising

I know that President Street block. What a rude million dollar awaking living across the street from #198 is going to be.
Did the broker mention you get your very own junkie occasionally sleeping on the stoop for that price?

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 4, 2009 11:47 AM in response to Last Week's Biggest Sales

Basil Hayden.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 4, 2009 11:30 AM in response to Gift for Great Attorneys?

I'm 30. My husband is 62. Am I a cougar? If I am, that might be worse than being a Communist. But where's my sign?

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 4, 2009 11:23 AM in response to Adventures in Advertising

Seems like a lot to furnish doesn't it? I'm against that much space for one reason and one reason only. My in-laws will come to town and NOT get an overpriced hotel room rammed down their throats. Because of the cost of a hotel room, they only visit once a year. If I had that much space, they would be here every weekend. I can't live like that. I therefore shudder when I look at that picture. Because someone inside is miserable and hiding from the mother in law.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 4, 2009 11:20 AM in response to Bay Ridge McMansion

I vote for Prospect Lefferts Gardens as well. Easy commute and good transportation. Prospect Heights is definitely maybe as well. Even try down Eastern Parkway close to Franklin stop a bit over the border into Crown Heights. I also like Kensington, but I don't think the commute is any better than from Bay Ridge because its on the FG train side. I prefer the other side of Ocean Pkwy and Coney Island Ave (South Slope/Ditmas Park) that might be worth looking at. Not much nightlife down there though but Cortelyou Road is kind of cool. Just thinking about the F and G makes me want to gouge my own eyes out.

The best advantage to using a broker at the price point you are looking at, is sometimes owners can be a touch flaky about taking your deposit and getting you the lease. Of course I don't mean any one here :) The broker will keep the owner moving to score the fee...and if you are coming from Boston, that may be well worth. Sleeping in the Hotel Chelsea waiting for your cell phone to ring, only to find out the apartment has been rented to someone else is not fun. Even better might be to find a share through Craigslist for a short time...a few months. Then you can physically get acquainted with a neighborhood before signing a lease.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at August 28, 2009 10:37 AM in response to From Boston to Brooklyn by 11/1

Awesome. There are office smokers left! I know this sucks for you OP because you don't like smoke. But I just had to comment and show my appreciation for a by-gone era. Because I LOVE smoking.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at August 15, 2009 9:55 AM in response to Smoking in the Workplace

Christ on a pony! Is that really what it takes to get white gunk off brick? When water and a scrubby failed I figured there was some kind of dangerous chemical made for cleaning dirty household masonry (preferably something that leaves just enough residue for the dog to lick.)
is brick porous? I have some dangerous ideas, but will just let the white gunk stay if it becomes too adversarial.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at August 1, 2009 10:41 AM in response to Cleaning brick?

I'm a little "meh" on Lucali. I lived around the corner from them since they opened until a few months ago (although I still frequent the area.) On a bad day (1/2 of the times I've had pizza there) it wasn't "the best" although its still the only pizza my husband will eat. But the thing about pizza is: its the type of food you get in a hurry when you don't want to cook (at least in my mind.) So to wait that long for pizza seems to be an anathema to me. Plus its expensive pizza. For the price we would just go to Fragole instead. So yeah, living literally around the block from America's best pizza, I ate it exactly twice. Decent pizza, just wildly inconvenient and hard to justify for the cost...hmmmmm.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at July 31, 2009 2:21 PM in response to Looks Like Lucali is Coming to the South Slope!

This isn't real advice I admit, but I saw the topic and had to reply.
I say go to Africa! My husband and I went in January. If you travel midweek, Emirates will find you a round trip for under a grand to a bunch of different locations (depending on what kind of art you are looking for.) There might even be cheaper options to South Africa, if you are adventerous enough to go overland (not recommended.) Besides that, $50 for the visa and you may want to consider a yellow fever jab and malaria pils (my insurance paid for 80% of those.)
But when you get there, you'll be shocked at how cheap art is. I say this because we went with a friend who is the "exporter" for a mutual friends gallery, which sadly is in Chicago. The amount of art they let me bring home through customs was crazy. Easily, over $1500 American, which cost about $200 to buy there. We could have bought a bronze for less than $100 US but didn't want to pay extra freight on Emirates on the return with all the other stuff we had. Oh! The woodcarvings ( made of all non protected old growth trees of course... Gulp)
That, and it's a filthy cheap and awesome vacation.
But to answer your question, I have no idea where to buy African Art in NYC. But yeah, you should go to East Africa.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at July 31, 2009 10:09 AM in response to African Paintings

Thank you everyone for very helpful responses! Great forum here :) I know that this is a contentious issue. I guess the best way to proceed would probably get through to the end of this lease, which isn't that far away. I'll probably talk with the landlord then and see if I could make these changes and make sure he won't raise the rent. Every interaction we've had so far has been good and just about every tenant in the building is long term and has done somethings like painting etc. I actually have a nice fridge still boxed sitting in storage upstate I got off a contractor who couldn't use or return it and its not like its appreciating in value as an antique. If the landlord agrees I'd rather just enjoy the thing and give it away in a few years. Otherwise its just going to sit there until I find the motivation to sell it on Craigslist.

I don't think the apartment is under market because of the kitchen exclusively. I would guess that the real lack of natural light is what makes people say "its not quite what we're looking for." We've had our blinds closed for 8 years though on the parlor floor, never really was a consideration for me. Plus the layout is fairly strange, its like a modern lofty boxy space attached like a parasite to a classic townhouse room. We saw it and thought 'look, ooh, now we can BOTH be happy!' But its probably not what another couple would jump on. Like I said, the kitchen is not really bad. Its just inefficient and I enjoy cooking maybe a touch more than the average person. The rest of the changes could be made with a couple hundred dollars, which is what I feel like I'm spending wrinkling my nose and saying "let's get takeout."

But no, of course I would never even think of doing things without a landlord conference. The lease says that and its just common sense. I once lent my brother-in-law my car and he put on fancy rims as a "surprise." I was livid. That's an obvious one.

The thing is we probably will never buy in the city. We're many years into our respective careers but I'm slowly working on a doctorate to teach. IF I do get offered an academic position somewhere and we do leave the city, we don't want to be tied to property. That's in the 5-7 year master plan and there's no way if we bought would we accumulate the equity for it to be worth all the associated costs nor is there any guarantee that the ROI would be as good as what the portfolio will look like by retirement. Particularly now we'd have to take a loss to buy and then cross our fingers. That's not to say I take any side in the buy vs. rent issue. Its just that buying isn't for us.

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at July 20, 2009 4:15 PM in response to Comestic Renos on a Rental?

Oh yeah. I would neve touch anything without talking to the landlord!
But I know the former tennant made a couple of improvements out of pocket that were really nice. He actually added a ceiling fan that he did get a permit for. He also added some permanant shelving that made two walk in closets much more efficient. He also added some nice permanent lighting to the yard. The previous tennants said they used the landlords
regular contactors at his suggestion too.
I know some people "upgrade" things to suit their own wierd personal tastes. But this would be more like adding some functional improvements. I've put together a house to show so I know better than to add anything like that!
He's a nice guy and I'll talk to him. It's not about the $$. Just want to make it work a little better without coming off like I want the landlord to eat the cost of the investment for me because it's his property. I am planning on being here for a while. Thanks for your response! Very much appreciated!

Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at July 20, 2009 8:34 AM in response to Comestic Renos on a Rental?