Oh yeah, and don't you have any friends who are lawyers who could help you out?

Posted by: SJ at November 18, 2009 8:48 PM in response to Contacting Landlord

tybur6:

Don't you have friends who could help you move?

Posted by: SJ at November 18, 2009 8:35 PM in response to Contacting Landlord

Of course you do... If the contact info is not in the lease, just look up the building in acris or streeteasy to find the landlord's contact info.

If they don't know that the super is neglecting their duties, then fine. If they do, hire a lawyer and move out asap. There are a lot of great deals out there these days and no reason to suffer with a t-bag landlord.

Posted by: SJ at November 17, 2009 10:40 PM in response to Contacting Landlord

Of course you do... Just look up the building in acris or streeteasy to find the landlord's contact info.

Posted by: SJ at November 17, 2009 10:37 PM in response to Contacting Landlord

Square bounded by Carroll Street, seventh avenue, first street and prospect park. Polhemus/Fiske places. President between 8th and the park. Woodhull mansion and ethical culture society on ppw between 1st and 2nd. Agree with third street and montauk club as well. Maybe the Litchfield villa in the park too.

Posted by: SJ at November 15, 2009 11:23 AM in response to Need recs for Park Slope tour

At least the lord mayor didn't cancel recycling again...

Posted by: SJ at November 4, 2009 3:50 PM in response to Leafing

http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/recycling/fall_leaf_program.shtml#suspension

NYC Department of Sanitation
Fall Leaf Composting Collection Program

Suspension of Fall Leaf Composting Collection Program

Because of budget cuts, the fall leaf composting collection program is suspended until further notice.

Fall leaves will be collected with regular household refuse on regularly scheduled refuse collection days. Paper lawn and leaf bags are not required, since leaves will be collected as regular trash.

Since we will not have the raw material to create more compost, the compost giveback program is also suspended until leaf composting collections are restored.

PLEASE NOTE:
If the fall leaf composting collection program is reinstated, residents in leaf collection districts will receive a mailer detailing the collection dates and proper set out for leaf composting, as described below.

Posted by: SJ at November 4, 2009 1:58 PM in response to Leafing

I heard they canceled that for monetary reasons.

Posted by: SJ at November 4, 2009 1:25 PM in response to Leafing

The strand will send someone out with a van to buy them from you and carry them up from the basement.

Posted by: SJ at November 1, 2009 10:14 AM in response to Getting Rid of TONS of Books

NY has a warrant of habitibility. See: http://www.rentlaw.com/ny/habitability.htm

Posted by: SJ at October 29, 2009 7:50 PM in response to Bed Bugs

If it's on the historic registry, you should call them and tell them that their is an imminent threat to a protected structure.

Posted by: SJ at October 28, 2009 2:11 PM in response to City Tree Removal

200 Fifth

Posted by: SJ at October 28, 2009 8:59 AM in response to Best sports bar in Brooklyn?

Horsehair

Posted by: SJ at October 27, 2009 3:06 PM in response to Creepy Crawls in the Walls

Page 32 - http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/pubs/Rowhouse_Manual.pdf

Posted by: SJ at October 24, 2009 12:58 PM in response to Trees & Sidewalks

I agree with Babs and IrieMan...

1. I think we're all adults here and can draw our own conclusions about people's posts. Frankly, I'd rather have as much information as possible from a variety of sources and make my own judgments about credibility, usefulness etc... than have someone appoint themselves gatekeeper.

2. Joe: Let's keep it civil.

Posted by: SJ at October 23, 2009 2:04 PM in response to Using a Buyers Agent?

I used Buscarello and Sons and liked them. They also did my neighbor across the street's sidewalk and replaced their apron concrete with bluestone. They did a pretty good job all around and my neighbor's house looks good with the bluestone and the blue/gray concrete sidewalk. Also, I was able to significantly enlarge the tree pit parallel to the house, so hopefully this problem won't reoccur in the future. As to price, I can't quite remember as it was wrapped up in some other maintenance work I had done at the time, but 2k or so comes to mind.

Posted by: SJ at October 23, 2009 1:27 PM in response to Trees & Sidewalks

I had the sidewalk in front of my home replaced last year because of similar issues. As per the poster above, the general feeling that I got was that if your sidewalk is not really bad, the city would never get around to you because they repair the most dangerous situations first. As to getting a violation for signing up, anything is possible especially now that the city seems to be using that sort of thing as a revenue stream.

I found a mason who got the permit from DOT and had a root slicing appointment as per the last paragraph on page one of the parks department pdf http://www.nycgovparks.org/web/download/download.php?file=/sub_your_park/trees_greenstreets/trees_sidewalks/Trees_and_Sidewalks_Brochure.pdf I can't remember exactly what the guy from the city said, but he basically told the mason what to do in terms of slicing the roots to make sure that it was done properly and the tree was protected.

It took about two hours to break up the old concrete and pour the new stuff and it turned out that no roots needed to be cut because the soil had built up over the years from the rain and pushed up on the concrete, so I guess that was lucky.

One caveat: I would make sure someone watches the concrete as it dries as I had to shoo off at least two delinquents who were trying to write their names in the concrete before it dried.

Posted by: SJ at October 23, 2009 12:52 PM in response to Trees & Sidewalks

Maybe they're scouting for a movie?

Posted by: SJ at October 21, 2009 2:56 PM in response to People with Camcorder?

That's great info brooklynstyle... Thanks!

Here is the link: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doitt/html/consumer/consumer_cable_service_form.shtml

Posted by: SJ at October 14, 2009 1:10 PM in response to High Speed Internet

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dsny/html/collection/special_schedule.shtml

Posted by: SJ at October 14, 2009 11:17 AM in response to Seeking Safe Home for Toxic Goop

Fios would be great... but it's not coming for a long time. Why I don't know. You could get DSL through verizon, but it's not as fast. If you don't have bandwidth issues, this might be a viable option.

I can only speak to park slope in re: time warner and the problem stems from the fact that the infrastructure has not been updated in many places since they first ran the cables in the 80s and there are a high volume of customers using that infrastructure today.

We had/still have this problem on my block and the only way to get time warner to do anything about it is for you and your neighbors to complain all at once... write a letter, everyone call for service at the same time etc... and threaten to cancel your service and switch to direct tv and dsl if they don't fix the problem.

Posted by: SJ at October 14, 2009 10:37 AM in response to High Speed Internet

Someone is doing/did work on the water main in your vicinity and some dirt got into the line/some sediment was stirred up. Wait/run your cold water until it clears up. Unfortunately, the sediment will get into your hot water heater when it pulls "fresh" water in, so you might consider turning it off. Also, I think that the sediment can damage it but am not sure, so you might want to drain it.

Posted by: SJ at October 10, 2009 9:56 AM in response to Brown Water Everywhere

1. Stakeout the block in the morning when people often walk their dogs to find out where they live; or

2. Borrow a friend's dog and take them up/down the street and induce barking in front of each house... wait to see if the offending dog barks in return.

Posted by: SJ at October 8, 2009 8:34 PM in response to Dogs Barking...Constantly

If you're nervous about the public transportation issue, it's every bit as bad as you think.

Posted by: SJ at October 3, 2009 4:59 PM in response to Living in Red Hook.... Should I?

Sorry... It's not the gatehouse but the Brooklyn Improvement Company (the irony), and it was built by Litchfield just down his then driveway (hence 3rd street is wider than all of the other streets in park slope).

See: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/oldstone/3rdstreet.html and http://www.callalillie.com/archives/2004/06/pippin_on_third.html

Posted by: SJ at October 1, 2009 7:34 PM in response to Thursday Blogwrap

This is the gatehouse at the beginning of the driveway (now 3rd street) for the Litchfield Mansion in Prospect Park.

Posted by: SJ at October 1, 2009 5:15 PM in response to Thursday Blogwrap

See post from yesterday in re: real estate agents.

Posted by: SJ at September 30, 2009 4:34 PM in response to Local Realtors?

This house used to have a wrought iron fence around the stoop area that was painted lime green and white.

Posted by: SJ at September 30, 2009 1:29 PM in response to House of the Day: 233 Garfield Place

I have this problem with a round 12 inch drain and the only good solution I have found is to be vigilant about raking/cleaning the garden.

My neighbors (who used to have the same problem) recently redid their backyard and put in a rectangular drain about 2 inches wide by 10 feet long running almost the whole length of their backyard covered with a grate over it. This seems to work very well.

Posted by: SJ at September 30, 2009 12:22 PM in response to Leaves over drainage in garden

http://www.fuckedinparkslope.com/home/the-park-slope-vs-westboro-baptist-church-smackdown.html?SSScrollPosition=268

Posted by: SJ at September 28, 2009 11:06 AM in response to Ceiling Collapse Shuts Down Slope Synagogue

Maybe you should talk to the person at wnet who handles your annual donation about this issue... I'm sure they can give you some answers.

Posted by: SJ at September 24, 2009 12:14 AM in response to TOH Brooklyn/ Channel 13

I use arecibo 7187836465 or eastern 7184996227 both are as reliable as car services get in brooklyn.

Posted by: SJ at August 29, 2009 10:41 AM in response to Good car service in CH/CG?

You have to excuse the regulars... They're generally more interested in bsing around than actually being helpful.

Try http://maps.toxicstargeting.com/ or http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/main/index.jsp or maybe contact the EPA or the NY Department of Environmental Conservation or NYPIRG.

Posted by: SJ at August 6, 2009 2:36 PM in response to Toxicity Problems on Properties

It's highly doubtful that your lot would not have an issue if two adjoining lots have issues... These sorts of things tend to leech into the surrounding soil over time.

Posted by: SJ at August 6, 2009 12:58 PM in response to Toxicity Problems on Properties

You will be 4 blocks from slope gym on 7th and union. Also, there is a crunch on flatbush and 7th.

Posted by: SJ at August 4, 2009 4:27 PM in response to Park Slope Gyms

It's got to be incredibly disturbing for your neighbors to find out that you and your architect neglected such an important consideration... They must be wondering what else you've missed and if there are any dangerous conditions that will negatively impact them in the future.

Posted by: SJ at July 30, 2009 5:26 PM in response to Neighbors - Wall Sharing - Law

Agree with Senator Street... Moreover, I have seen numerous instances where someone double parks in front of a car that needs to leave and the car's owner has called the police and the police have towed the double parked car. If you don't leave a note, you're quite possibly setting yourself up for a long day down at the navy yard.

Posted by: SJ at July 29, 2009 1:28 PM in response to Help with Double Parking Rules?

They're replaying it now on wliw/21. I think the first episode was this week.

Posted by: SJ at July 28, 2009 9:50 PM in response to This Old House

I use urban arborist.

Posted by: SJ at July 25, 2009 11:23 AM in response to TREE GUY (OR GAL) NEEDED

J&R on seventh avenue.

Posted by: SJ at July 22, 2009 3:39 PM in response to A/C Installation (HELP!!)

Try J&R on seventh ave in park slope.

Posted by: SJ at July 13, 2009 3:14 PM in response to Window Air-Conditioner Install?

Before I turn the heat on for the winter, I have my plumber come and check the boiler and then turn the heat on really high and bleed the air out of each radiator until a steady stream of water comes out. Normally, I do this twice as the system will sometime settle... You can get the appropriate radiator key at any hardware store.

Posted by: SJ at June 16, 2009 11:01 AM in response to Bleeding Radiators?

My girlfriend has allergies and we got a room unit down at HD for the bedroom and it has significantly decreased her symptoms... Depending on what your kid's allergies are, you might consider closing the window as well, at least during high pollen/allergen time periods. Leaving the door open will decrease the effectiveness of the unit, but the air in the room will still be cleaner... One spends 1/3 of their life in the bedroom, having non-allergy inducing air at night not only makes one sleep better, but will help one's allergies during the day.

Posted by: SJ at June 10, 2009 2:26 PM in response to Room Air Filter for Allergies

I didn't go to see David Byrne, but in past years those individuals who choose to pay $325 for gala seats are confined in an area near the stage and the larger fenced in area is free for everyone. If you were in an area that needed to have a TV, then you probably in the wrong place.

That being said, I have no problem with anyone having a good show at the band shell free or pay... How could this be bad?

Posted by: SJ at June 10, 2009 9:20 AM in response to Pay Concerts in Prospect Park

Montgomery street is on the other side of the park from Montgomery Place. If you're talking about Montgomery Place, it is a particularly nice bock... Light traffic, beautiful architecture, close to 2/3/Q, supermarket etc...

Posted by: SJ at June 4, 2009 2:34 PM in response to Park Slope Prices / Sq. Ft.?

Concur with the recommendations for the portable air conditioners, but would double the BTUs for a normal ac unit rather than go with 60%. Also, it makes a lot of sense to get a good unit (delonghi etc...) because the noise level of the lower quality units are about 50% more than normal acs. If you want... I have a 10000 btu Continental unit that is super loud that I'd be happy to part with for a low price (I've already cut the window insert to fit a small window).

Posted by: SJ at June 1, 2009 3:35 PM in response to Window AC - less than 18'' wide

No. There is no easy way to get to that area without a car. The bus down van brunt is pretty much the only bus in that area and the F is very far away. On the bright side, I think they have ferry service to lower Manhattan from IKEA.

Posted by: SJ at May 18, 2009 11:55 AM in response to Red Hook

No the 2/3 is right around the corner from the entrance.

Posted by: SJ at May 13, 2009 12:48 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 1 Plaza Street West 2 BR

I don't have a bathroom on the first floor and I've never thought that one was necessary. I have one in the basement directly under the kitchen, one on the second floor and one on the third floor, so one is never very far away.

Posted by: SJ at May 13, 2009 10:23 AM in response to Kitchen vs. First Floor Bath

Of course you do... If the contact info is not in the lease, just look up the building in acris or streeteasy to find the landlord's contact info.

If they don't know that the super is neglecting their duties, then fine. If they do, hire a lawyer and move out asap. There are a lot of great deals out there these days and no reason to suffer with a t-bag landlord.

Posted by: SJ at November 17, 2009 10:40 PM in response to Contacting Landlord

The super handed me the lease already signed by the landlord. The lease doesn't have his contact info. The super is a guy who's hard to deal with- he acts like it's an annoyance to fix problems in the building and refuses to do so. I give my rent to the super and have complained to him multiple times and reported it to 311. I will have a look at those sites and see what I can find.

Thank you all.

Posted by: althea at November 18, 2009 8:59 AM in response to Contacting Landlord

If these are common area issues and not just your own unit, get the other tenants involved as well.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at November 18, 2009 9:08 AM in response to Contacting Landlord

How did you rent the place? Through an agency? If so, contact them to find the LL.

Posted by: Arkady at November 18, 2009 9:28 AM in response to Contacting Landlord

The landlord has is just the way he wants it, imagine being a LL and not having to deal with tenant complaints and just have to deposit checks every month? Doesn't sound like much work to me. SIGN ME UP! It's amazing how many landlords have this approach, they shoose to be a landlord, but don 't want to deal with the responsibilities. If there's management invloved, that's different, but if you're dealing with the super directly probably has orders NOT to give you the number. The reality is you're probably in a absentee landlord situation. Meaning your landlord doesn't want to do shit. Track him down, acris and streeteasy were mentioned, propertyshark.com is another outlet to get his number. FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS AS A TENANT!! Track him DOWN!!

Posted by: IrieMan at November 18, 2009 9:48 AM in response to Contacting Landlord

Of course you can communicate with the LL directly, rather than his agent. Looking at past behavior, though, shows you that he most likely does not want to get involved. You don't say what the issues are, and whether they are annoyances or lease-breaking breeches.
So, in brief, you have have the "rights", but it doesn't mean you should.
You need to define your goals (problems fixed, move out early, other?), figure out if they are achievable (reach out for free help at your Housing Court), and pick the tactic that will most likely succeed. I don't know the particulars, but I doubt chasing your absentee landlord will do the trick. Your super is probably very secure in his position, which is why he is unresponsive to you. For all you know, he might be the nephew or godson of the owner, or the son of his best friend in grade school.

Posted by: Maly at November 18, 2009 9:58 AM in response to Contacting Landlord

Of course you can communicate with the LL directly, rather than his agent. Looking at past behavior, though, shows you that he most likely does not want to get involved. You don't say what the issues are, and whether they are annoyances or lease-breaking breeches.
So, in brief, you have have the "rights", but it doesn't mean you should.
You need to define your goals (problems fixed, move out early, other?), figure out if they are achievable (reach out for free help at your Housing Court), and pick the tactic that will most likely succeed. I don't know the particulars, but I doubt chasing your absentee landlord will do the trick. Your super is probably very secure in his position, which is why he is unresponsive to you. For all you know, he might be the nephew or godson of the owner, or the son of his best friend in grade school.

Posted by: Maly at November 18, 2009 9:58 AM in response to Contacting Landlord

Remember the LL isn't God, he isn't your employer, he doesn't sign your paychecks.
He is a nothing to you.
get his info and call him directly, tough shit on the super.

Posted by: STARGAZER at November 18, 2009 10:00 AM in response to Contacting Landlord

By the way -- I always find it funny when folks say, "Just pick up and move" or "Get a lawyer, and find yourself a new place! There's plenty of places to live." I by funny I mean infuriating.

Let's say my budget is $1300/mo.

Umm... since I've just moved a year or two ago my savings are pretty much crap.. So, do you want to float me the $4000 is costs to move? I need first, last, security, a moving truck... oh, and probably a 10% commission check for the frat boy at the realtor that I had to use to find the place. So, that's another $1600 or so. So, can you float me $5,600 for my move?

Posted by: tybur6 at November 18, 2009 10:08 AM in response to Contacting Landlord

Oh yeah, and can you pay for the lawyer you want me to get because I'm breaking my lease. Oh, and maybe the cash I'll need to settle the contract I just defaulted on?

Posted by: tybur6 at November 18, 2009 10:09 AM in response to Contacting Landlord