294fifthave52011.jpg
The Daily News had an article on a group of tenants who live in 294 Fifth Avenue in the Slope and say conditions in the rent-controlled building have deteriorated since the property went into foreclosure a couple years ago and a receiver was appointed to take care of it. The building’s boiler, for example, didn’t work for three weeks this winter, and the front-door lock is broken. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio held a news conference yesterday to support the tenants in seeking a court order that would force the receiver to make repairs. According to the article: “The slumlike conditions at 294 Fifth Ave. spotlight a growing concern: smaller apartment buildings that fall into disrepair in part because the building is overleveraged. ‘We think this is a growing problem around the city that the banks and lenders are not taking responsibility for,’ said de Blasio.”
Park Slope Tenants, de Blasio Team Up to Force Building Repairs [NY Daily News]


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  1. Landlord
    Words and music by Sting and Stewart Copeland

    I don’t want to rent a house from you
    I don’t know how you can expect me to
    I ain’t moving ’cause I know my rights
    Too many homeless on the streets at night
    You own a street and a block of flats
    You earn your living like the other rats
    You’ve no morality, what do you care
    You deal in poverty, you buy despair
    I ain’t moving ’till the baliff comes
    I’ve got no weapons, gonna get me some
    I ain’t moving ’till the baliff comes
    I’ve got no weapons, gonna get me some
    You go and call yourself a business man
    You’re just a parasite on Pyllosan
    You’re just a middle class middle aged shit
    You sold your granny for a three-penny bit
    You own a street and a block of flats
    You earn your living like the other rats
    You’ve no morality, what do you care
    You deal in poverty, you buy despair
    I ain’t moving ’till the baliff comes

  2. Jaggy…did you happen to see that the majority of the complaints for this building came from this one lady?

    Selective filtering of the information is one of your strong points.

  3. A rat done bit my sister Nell.
    (with Whitey on the moon)
    Her face and arms began to swell.
    (and Whitey’s on the moon)
    I can’t pay no doctor bill.
    (but Whitey’s on the moon)
    Ten years from now I’ll be payin’ still.
    (while Whitey’s on the moon)
    The man jus’ upped my rent las’ night.
    (’cause Whitey’s on the moon)
    No hot water, no toilets, no lights.
    (but Whitey’s on the moon)
    I wonder why he’s uppi’ me?
    (’cause Whitey’s on the moon?)
    I wuz already payin’ ‘im fifty a week.
    (with Whitey on the moon)
    Taxes takin’ my whole damn check,
    Junkies makin’ me a nervous wreck,
    The price of food is goin’ up,
    An’ as if all that shit wuzn’t enough:
    A rat done bit my sister Nell.
    (with Whitey on the moon)
    Her face an’ arm began to swell.
    (but Whitey’s on the moon)
    Was all that money I made las’ year
    (for Whitey on the moon?)
    How come there ain’t no money here?
    (Hmm! Whitey’s on the moon)
    Y’know I jus’ ’bout had my fill
    (of Whitey on the moon)
    I think I’ll sen’ these doctor bills,
    Airmail special
    (to Whitey on the moon)

  4. Dear landlord
    Please don’t put a price on my soul
    My burden is heavy
    My dreams are beyond control
    When that steamboat whistle blows
    I’m gonna give you all I got to give
    And I do hope you receive it well
    Depending on the way you feel that you live.

    Dear landlord
    Please heed these words that I speak
    I know you’ve suffered much
    But in this you are not so unique
    All of us, at times we might work too hard
    To have it too fast and too much
    And anyone can fill his life up
    With things he can see but he just cannot touch.

    Dear landlord
    Please don’t dismiss my case
    I’m not about to argue
    I’m not about to move to no other place
    Now, each of us has his own special gift
    And you know this was meant to be true
    And if you don’t underestimate me
    I won’t underestimate you.

  5. > Maybe if we lock MM and Benson in a room

    The gingham dog and the calico cat
    Side by side on the table sat;
    T’was half past twelve, and (what do you think!)
    Nor one nor t’other had slept a wink!
    The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate
    Appeared to know as sure as fate
    There was going to be a terrible spat
    (I wasn’t there; I simply state
    What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)

    The gingham dog went “Bow-wow-wow!”
    And the calico cat replied “Mee-ow!”
    The air was littered, an hour or so,
    With bits of gingham and calico,
    While the old Dutch clock in the chimney-place
    Up with its hands before its face,
    For it always dreaded a family row!

    (Now mind: I’m only telling you
    What the old Dutch clock declares is true!)
    The Chinese plate looked very blue,
    And wailed, “Oh, dear! what shall we do!”
    But the gingham dog and the calico cat
    Wallowed this way and tumbled that,
    Employing every tooth and claw
    In the awfulest way you ever saw–
    And oh! How the gingham and calico flew!
    (Don’t fancy I exaggerate–I got my news from the Chinese plate!)

    Next morning, where the two had sat
    They found no trace of dog or cat;
    And some folks think unto this day
    That burglars stole that pair away!
    But the truth about that cat and pup
    Is this: they ate each other up!
    Now what do you really think of that!
    (The old Dutch clock it told me so,
    And that is how I came to know.)

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