A touching farewell to Modesto ("Ito") Santiago, long-time handyman

Modesto "Ito" Santiago is retiring on 8/30/2024 after 35 years working in this building - first as a porter and then as a handyman.  Many of us know him because of his kindness and willingness to help. 

So a lot of tenants turned out (not all at the same time) to wish him a wonderful retirement. We've grown older together!

Thanks to Rosa Delgado, the party's main organizer and food provider, Elsa Gonzalez who provided luscious cupcakes on a "Happy Retirement" stand

and Wilfredo Chau for the soda. 

And thanks to Ito for 35 years of friendly, always-there-when-you-need-him service.

You can see all the photos here. 

Tenant Meeting on Sept. 18!

News for Rent-Stabilized and Market-Rate Tenants

Goings-on in the building

There are lots of ways to keep fit and make friends in the building!

·      Tuesdays at 6 PM in the Community Room, join ShapeUp NYC with our own Jodi Brockington, an experienced fitness trainer.   It’s sponsored by the NYC Parks Department. 

·      Wednesdays at 10 AM in the Community Room, do some Tai Ji with seasoned 
trainer Sol Magzamen, who lives down the street.

·      Thursdays at 2 PM in the Community Room, join the Games Group for Trivia, bingo, and other activities.

·      Gardening around the building.  Contact Barbara Geller, barbarageller39@gmail.com.

Join our email list by emailing sue.susman@gmail.com. Your email won’t show to anyone else. You can ask questions and stay in the know!

News for rent-stabilized tenants

The Rent Guidelines Board ordered increases of

·      2.75% for a 1-year lease renewal and

·      5.25% for a 2-year lease renewal

for any lease renewals going into effect from October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025.  This puts Stellar ahead of the game, since landlords have been getting an increasing return on their investment since 1990.

News for market-rate (unregulated) tenants

Under the Good Cause Eviction law passed in June, Stellar must offer you a renewal lease unless you violated the old lease and

·      as long as your apartment is not part of your employment, and

·      if your current rent Is below $6,005 for 1 BR, $6,742 for a 2 BR, $8,413 for a 3 BR, or $9,065 for a 4 BR apartment.

The rent increase can’t exceed the lower of the Consumer Price Index + 5% (this year it comes to 8.82%) or 10%.  

This bill is a watered-down version of what tenants have been working for, so the law could improve with more tenant action in the coming year or two.

We had a great Pot Luck in May, and our next meeting will be Sept. 18, 2024.

JOIN US!

Beat the Heat in our Community Room!

Beat the Heat!

Source unknown. We'll happily give credit if you give name.

COOL OFF in our air conditioned 

COMMUNITY ROOM

(Staff lunch there from 12 to 1 every day).

Join our activities there too:

• Tuesdays at 6 PM: ShapeUp NYC with Jodi Brockington
• Wednesdays at 10 AM: Tai ji with Sol Magzamen
• Thursdays at 2 PM: Games (trivia, bingo, board games and more!)

The Pot Luck Party was a Blast!

Thanks to the Pot Luck Planners, 

   Debbie Gonzalez,

     Lydia Pitsirilos, and

        Maxine Soares

and to everyone who contributed food or work or money. 

We had ....

Bobby Moorhead's music,

great food from dozens of tenants,  

                                lots of dancing 

and fun and laughter - and even a kids' table. 

Check out some more great photos thanks to Chariss Boisseau, Debbie Gonzalez, Zena Gonzalez, and Laura Koulish.  If you took some snapshots, send them along for the album!

Tish, Janis, Chariss in foreground, 
lots of tenants outside behind them
(photo by Namita Prasad)

And thanks to our State Senator, Brad Hoylman-Sigal who joined us!

 

Join us TONIGHT for the Pot Luck Party - Sat., June 1st!

You're invited 

TONIGHT -  Saturday

6-9 PM in the Community Room

Creative Commons license, Wannapik

Food, Music & Fun! 

 with DJ Bobby Moorhead, 

     lots of neighbors,  

                     food, 

                    dancing, 

       our state senator, Brad Hoylman-Sigal

             

            and more!

Come for free if on SCRIE or DRIE or 

• bring food for 8 people OR
• volunteer to help out (check the link).

All tenants are welcome. 

Join us! 

Pot Luck Party - Saturday, June 1st!

FREE if you bring a dish for 8 people or volunteer to welcome, put out food, or clean up!

Fill out the flyer saying what you'll bring!

NYS Assembly Candidate Presentations - Thurs., May 2 at 7 PM

The Central Park Gardens Tenants' Association, the Park West Village Tenants' Association, and other neighborhood tenant associations are presenting a Zoom 

NYS ASSEMBLY CANDIDATES PRESENTATIONS

 THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2024,   7-9 PM

on Zoom (computer or phone)*

 

Hear them speak and ask your questions.

 

Candidates (in alphabetical order) :

Micah Lasher 

Eli Northrup 

Carmen Quiñones 

Melissa Rosenberg  

Join in to learn about the candidates to replace Assembly Member Danny O'Donnell who is retiring in June. 

PRIMARY ELECTION:  JUNE 25, 2024

Sad News: Mary Martin has died

The Central Park Gardens Tenants' Association 

mourns the loss of our neighbor

MARY MARTIN

who died on April 16, 2024, over 90 years of age.

Mary was an active member of our tenant association and building for most of her adult life. She made it her business to keep her finger on the pulse of our community and share what she learned.  Despite being extremely hard of hearing, Mary interacted with many neighbors - often from her wheelchair in her later years. 

Unfortunately, she left no information about any family, so if you have any - please contact Sue.

Summary of March 13, 2024 "Good to Know!" Tenant Meeting

We began with a moment of silence for Lueader Booker a long-time tenant who died on February 18th. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. Join our ShapeUp NYC free class on Tuesdays at 6 PM in the Community Room.  All tenants welcome. 
2. Get your recipe ready for our annual Pot Luck on Saturday, June 1, 2024.

And it's Good to Know . . . 

I. COMPOSTING - Why? How? 

What to Compost

The City will pick up ALL leaf and yard waste, food scraps, and food-soiled paper. This includes meat, bones, dairy, prepared foods, and greasy uncoated paper plates and pizza boxes.

What Not to Compost

Do not compost trash such as diapers, personal hygiene products, animal waste, wrappers, non-paper packaging, and foam products.

Do not compost recyclable materials. Learn more about what to recycle.

Hillary Bosch, outreach coordinator for the NYC Department of Sanitation spoke and we learned a lot. Did you know:

• It's ok (though not preferred) if you throw your food scraps WITH THEIR PLASTIC BAG into the compost bins on the ground floor?  The Department of Sanitation has machines that can separate plastic bags from the compostable scraps.

• The landlord can use any lidded container under 55 gallons that is clearly marked for compost scraps. So we're not stuck with the ones that are so hard to open and seal properly.  We've asked for some easier-to-use containers. 

• All our food and plant scraps become a substitute for liquid natural gas to  heat city buildings!  There's an anaerobic (no oxygen) digester in Brooklyn that turns all of our food and plant waste into fuel to heat homes and other buildings! So unlike some plastics that aren't really recycled and end up shipped elsewhere, every bit of our food and plant waste gets used.

→ Save your scraps in a container (on your kitchen counter, in your fridge or freezer) and empty them into the compost bins in the ground floor compactor room next to the elevators on your side of the building.   That's waste that doesn't go into our landfills, doesn't attract vermin,  and does go to good use!

II. BLOOMINGDALE AGING IN PLACE (for all ages). 

Jean Schmidt, president of Bloomingdale Aging in Place, spoke about that volunteer program.  

There's a group for anyone who wants to get involved - from knitting to tennis to theater or dinner outings to softball teams to exercise classes (or start your own) as well as free lectures and webinars ("BAiP presents") on Zoom. 

There are also a recommendations list for doctors and handymen/women, as well as a tech squad to help you with computer issues.  

You can find neighbors to help you get to and from the doctor or to keep you company - and you can volunteer to do that for others.  And it's all free.  Anyone in this neighborhood can join for free, regardless of age. 

III. ALBANY PREPARES THE BUDGET AND TENANT BILLS.

The legislature and Governor Kathy Hochul are discussing (arguing about) the April 1st budget. 

Landlords are exploiting their own warehousing of affordable, rent-stabilized apartments by insisting they must get a huge rent increase when a long-occupied apartment becomes vacant.  Claiming that those apartments are all too dilapidated to rent and need huge sums of money to bring back to habitability, they're demanding a big rent increase for a unit now vacant that was occupied for 10 years or more.  Of course, they're not answering WHY or HOW apartments in bad condition got that way:  landlord speculation and neglect. (Few tenants want to live in squalor.) 

So landlords are trying to bring back (under a new name) the "vacancy bonus" that they used to get and that was ended by the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act.  But:

• Many of the warehoused units are not dilapidated, and don't need huge investments to make them habitable.
• Landlords are demanding a "vacancy reset" bill S6352/A6772 - but that bill only makes the problem worse. 
• It would give landlords an increase but require no repairs or upgrades at all.
• It would give big real estate and small mom-and-pop landlords the same increases, regardless of need. 
• It would paint a target on the backs of all long-term tenants as landlords would want them out in order to get a big rent increase. 

While that bill may not pass, it could lead Albany to say "We'll just allow a higher increase for individual apartment improvements." (Under the 2019 law, that's limited to $15,000 - or an $83 rent increase - over 15 years.)  We don't want ANY more increases in our rents!

So please CONTACT GOV. HOCHUL to tell her to 

PASS

•  "Good Cause Eviction" (to protect market-rate tenants from eviction, huge increases and refusal to renew leases unless the landlord can show good cause)
• Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) giving tenants the first right to purchase their building - with financial and other support from a non-profit organization and the government - if the landlord decides to sell
• Housing Vouchers from the state for poor people who need them (on top of the scarce federal Section 8 vouchers)
• Social Housing - like the Mitchell-Lama we once were - to build more for low- and middle-income people, and

VETO S6352/A6772 and any further rent increase for Individual Apartment Improvements.

Our next tenant meeting will be mid-May, followed by our Pot Luck Party!  

Stay safe, and enjoy the Spring!

pexels-pixabay-67857

Tenant Meeting Tonight - Wed., March 13, 2024

Come hear about

→ The NYC Department of Sanitation on 

• Why should we do it? 
• What does the Department of Sanitation do with our compost matter? 
• How should we do it? 

→ Bloomingdale Aging in Place - a volunteer community group

• what activities?
• who can volunteer?
• what can you can help with?

→  Tenant bills:  contact Governor Hochul as the NYS budget gets finalized. MESSAGE:  I urge you to support "good cause," social housing, and vouchers, and veto any "vacancy reset."

Make sure she supports

• "Good cause eviction" (guaranteed lease renewals for market-rate tenants at no more than 3% increase - or a percentage of inflation - unless good cause is shown)
• Social housing agency to build more Mitchell-Lama type developments
• State housing vouchers for poor people

and opposes the very bad "vacancy reset" bill.  That bill, S.6352/A.6772  would let landlords set the stabilized rents of vacant apartments that had been occupied for 10 years of more at the "fair market rent" - which could more than double the rent.  That would 

• make rent stabilized apartments much less affordable 
• put a target on the back of long-term rent-stabilized tenants, as landlords would have a reason to get rid of them.

This bill could be a Trojan horse: even if this bill itself doesn't pass, it could lead to a "compromise" bill so landlords could get higher increases when the renovate an apartment. (Right now the increases are capped at $83.)

A day at the museum with Manny Vega

Ten tenants joined our neighbor, Artist-in-Residence Manny Vega for a tour of his Byzantine Bembé exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York.  With a sense of humor, an even greater sense of community, and lot of wisdom and joy, Manny shared his art with us. 

Click here for a few photos from the day.   (If you took photos or videos, please send them along and I'll add them to the album.)

We knew we were in the right place when we saw a model of Manny's head (by his mentor John Ahearn) at the entrance to the exhibit.  Then we followed Manny from one work to another as he talked about how his art came to be chosen by the museum, and about the community (both ours and East Harlem) that it reflects.  

The Museum of the City of New York reached out to him and loved his apartment. So they invited him to be artist-in-residence (the museum's first!) and to design the exhibit, with an emphasis on East Harlem.  Manny painted the space the color of his apartment walls, and organized some of his art to reflect the Latin and Afro jazz he loves - and that played in the exhibit as he spoke.  Some of the works showed how he learned different techniques: He showed us an acid etched piece he did, influenced by Goya, of the death of a member of the Young Lords. We saw quick portraits he painted of people who passed by his park bench, and beautiful, large detailed line drawings that reminded some of detailed wood or lino prints and recorded members of a Barrio band, including the lead dancer, Julia, and a male band member dancing on a drum, barefoot. 

Posters for East Harlem dances he had made as a community contribution showed the energy and music of the events.  And one wall was covered in pieces reflecting his Brazilian/African spiritual focus, with African and other deities,  each piece inspiring him to create the next.  

When he won a contest to do the artwork for the subway station at 103rd and Lexington Avenue, his work was put onto tile by Peter Columbo. That person rebuffed Manny's request to learn how to do that, so he went and bought tiles and taught himself techniques from the 4th century.  He became known for his tile work, now evidenced by the Tito Puente memorial that will be on the northeast corner of Central Park and 110th Street - a model of which is at the Museum.  

Some neighbors stayed for his 1 pm art workshop:  he wants everyone to see his art and want to create their own.  And he's promised to do a workshop in the building!

Many thanks to Manny himself for sharing his life and art with us with wonderful stories, and to Pat Jordan for organizing the event for our members. 

And join us at this Wednesday's meeting, "Good to Know!" in the Community Room at 8.  We'll share coffee, tea, cake, fruit and other goodies, chat, and talk with someone from Bloomingdale Aging in Place (for all ages), the NYC Department of Sanitation, and the local NY Public Library (Bloomingdale branch). 

Lots of goings-on!

 Join our wonderful activities!

• Saturday, March 9, 2024 - Tour Artist-in-Residence Manny Vega's exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York with our neighbor Manny Vega!  Meet in the lobby at 11 a.m. and go over to the Museum for a noon tour.   This is for tenant association members only (but you can pay your annual $10 membership fee when you come). 

• Tuesday, March 12, 2024 - ShapeUp NYC is beginning a weekly class at 6 p.m. in the Community Room.  All neighbors welcome!

• Wednesday, March 13, 2024 - Good to Know!   Come chat with your neighbors over coffee, tea, cake and fruit, and hear and ask questions of representatives of the local public library, Bloomingdale Aging in Place (for all ages!), and the NYC Department of Sanitation.  Learn why we collect food scraps and what happens to them - and why it's so hard to open and close those bins.  8 p.m. in the Community Room.   Masks suggested.   

Tour Manny Vega's exhibit with Manny on March 9 at Noon!

Our own Manny Vega is the very first Artist-in-Residence at the Museum of the City of New York.  He has offered to give

a private tour to members* 

of our tenant association on 

Saturday, March 9, 2024 at noon.

Contact Patricia Jordan to sign up!

If you're not yet a member of our tenant association, pay your $10 (annual) dues to Denis Hayward in 7K or Steve Koulish in 12C. 

(Pre-) Valentine's Day Fundraiser - This Saturday, Noon to 6 PM in the lobby

THIS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10th

Noon - 6 PM

 

LOBBY:   COME TO OUR PRE-

 

INFORMATION TABLE  &  FUNDRAISER

and SIGN A POSTCARD TO THE GOVERNOR!

 

♥ Pick up some information

♥ Sign a card to the governor to help all NY tenants

♥ Get some sweets for your Sweetie  and

♥ Show your love for the tenant association!

Summary of the Jan. 17, 2024 Tenant Meeting

We began with a moment of silence for Marichu Ras, who passed away on January 12th.

Announcements

• 
  If Stellar is coming after you - for example about paying the rent - please contact the tenant association right away.  Time matters, and there's nothing to be embarrassed about.  Everyone needs help sometimes. 
  

• 
  Valentine's Day Fundraiser on Sat., February 10th in the lobby, 12 to 6 PM.  You can pay your annual dues ($10) and the legal fund contribution if you can afford it, and pick up some sweets for your sweetie.

• Winners of the "We Want to Hear From You!" contest:  Ayana Dixon announced the winners:  Linda Greenman, Ellen Zacarolli and Abraham Irwin (a commercial tenant).

• Logo contest:  Can you draw? paint? use a computer to design?  Design our Central Park Gardens Tenants' Association logo - for use on flyers and enlarged on a banner!  Deadline: Feb. 28, 2024. 

• Community Board 7 positions open. Apply now!  Deadline: Feb. 23rd at 5 PM.  

CLICK ON "READ MORE" FOR THE BULK OF THE SUMMARY. 

Tenant Meeting this Wed., Jan. 17th: Socialize, learn, and share

Come at 

7:30 PM for the coffee, tea, cake, and fruit, and stay for the 

8 PM meeting!

At Wednesday's tenant meeting we'll talk about 

• candidates to replace our current Assembly Member Danny O'Donnell
• changes in the law for 2024 that affect YOU
• what laws we still need to get passed, and
• building issues.

Bring your questions and your suggestions. 

In the Community Room just behind the doorman's desk in the lobby. 

Sad news: Marichu Ras has died

The Central Park Gardens Tenants' Association

mourns the loss of 

MARICHU RAS

who died at the age of 95 on January 12, 2024. 

We extend our condolences to our son, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and to Luci who worked for her for many years. 

There will be visiting 

Wednesday, January 24th and Thursday, January 25, 2024

5-9 pm

at the Riverside Memorial Chapel

180 West 76th Street

New York, NY 10023

Tenant Meeting Wed., Jan. 17 evening!

Come to our 

TENANT MEETING 

on 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 17, 2024 

in the 

COMMUNITY ROOM

   7:30 - Coffee & cake

    8 PM - Meeting

Creative Commons

Learn about the 2024 laws that affect YOU
(one of which we helped get passed!) and what we need to get passed in 2024!

Also: 

• Be a part of history
• Logo contest
• Building issues