July Newsletter

July 2025 Newsletter

It’s hot out there!  If your air conditioner isn’t working, come to the Community Room to stay cool.  (The staff use it 12-1 for lunch.) And enjoy activities: Tuesdays at 6 PM get fit with ShapeUp NYC, and Thursdays at 2 enjoy board games and conversation – all free!

Rent increases for rent-stabilized tenants. The NYC Rent Guidelines Board voted for increases for lease renewals going into effect Oct. 1, 2025 through Sept. 30, 2026:

1-year lease renewal:  3%

2-year lease renewal: 4.5%.

If mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani wins, he has promised to appoint people to the RGB who will freeze the rent.  (No other candidate has made that promise.) If Mamdani wins before you renew your lease, you may decide to take a 1-year renewal. That will result in a lower increase (3%), followed by a few years of a rent freeze. If he loses, you may decide to take a 2-year renewal. (Tenants who are absent minded or very, very busy, should probably take 2-year renewals just to avoid forgetting to fill out the lease renewal every year.)

 Get rent bills by email and pay electronically – automatically.

Pay your rent bills automatically through ClickPay.

If you link it to your bank account, there’s no fee. If you link it to your credit card, there is a fee. You’ll get a monthly email in advance asking if you’d like to pay that amount. Even without ClickPay, you can get your rent bills by email. Contact Danny Hamer, 212-406-0030,  dhamer@stellarmangement.com

Doorman can only notify you of a visitor if . . . .

WANT THE DOORMAN TO CALL YOU BEFORE A VISITOR 

OR DELIVERY PERSON COMES TO YOUR APARTMENT?

Since the intercom does not work, we don't know if someone is coming up until they show up at our door.  if you would like the doorman to call you before a visitor or delivery comes to your door, tell him when you’re at the front desk.  Provide your phone number. 

 

Rent Guidelines Board increases for 2025-2026 lease renewals

LEASE RENEWALS 

FOR RENT-STABILIZED TENANTS

For a lease renewed any time from Oct. 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026: 

1-year lease renewal: 3% increase

2-year lease renewal: 4.5% increase

SCRIE and DRIE tenants get a higher “legal regulated rent” on their lease, but pay the same as they’ve been paying.

GOOD IDEA: If Zohran Mamdani wins the general election for mayor in November, take a 1-yearlease renewal. He’s promised to freeze the rent. 

Meet candidates for Manhattan Borough President at 7:30 on Thurs., May 29

Come to our Community Room at 7:30 PM on 

Thursday, May 29, 2025 to meet the candidates for 

Manhattan Borough President:

• State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and
• City Council Member Keith Powers.

and for some delicious snacks, coffee, tea, and conversation.

Did you know that the Manhattan Borough Presidents appoint our community boards?  

Borough presidents influence the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) by appointing community boards and voting on the applications. The staff of boroughwide economic development corporations are often closely aligned with the borough president, and work closely with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the primary coordinating agency of city-sponsored economic development.  [From Wikipedia.]

Since the "City of Yes" and "City for All" bills were passed, we'll be seeing more development - presumably with less space between buildings, taller buildings, and (with enough public pressure) more affordable housing for our friends, families, and others. 

The two main candidates for Manhattan Borough President are our own State Senator, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and the City Council representative for midtown on the east side, Keith Powers.   They'll be in our building a week from Thursday at 7:30 PM so you can meet them.  (We'll have refreshments too!)

Tonight's Freeze the Rent Rally - NEW LOCATION: Riverside Church

TONIGHT - Thurs., May 14 - Tenant meeting - Meet the Council Candidates

Tenant Meeting WED., MAY 14 at 7:30 - Meet the 3 City Council candidates - and more events!

Our tenant association is involved in a lot of events this month!  Join in. 

WED., MAY 14 at 7:30 PM 

TENANT MEETING IN OUR COMMUNITY ROOM 

DISTRICT 7 COUNCIL CANDIDATES

Shaun Abreu, Tiffany Khan,  and  Edafe Okporo.

We'll talk about tenant issues too and of course have refreshments.

______________________

THURSDAY, MAY 15 at 6 PM - RALLY AT ABYSSINIAN BAPTIST CHURCH

EMAIL SUE IF YOU'RE COMING!

________________________

THURSDAY, MAY 29 at 7:30 PM - MEET THE CANDIDATES IN OUR COMMUNITY ROOM

MANHATTAN BOROUGH PRESIDENT 

CANDIDATES

Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Keith Powers

ALL NEIGHBORS ARE WELCOME.

Flea Market this Sunday, 12-6 in Community Room

Freeze the rents, save the date: May 15 rally at Abyssinian Baptist Church

Housing Justice for All is trying to get to 20,000 signatures to tell the Rent Guidelines Board to freeze the rents!

Why? The Rent Guidelines Board just reported that LANDLORD INCOME ROSE 12% - on top of the previous year's increase of 10%.  So our rent money is making landlords a lot richer. 

Meanwhile, TENANT income did not increase and lots of tenants are paying 50% (or more) of their income in rent.  Many of us are on fixed incomes. 

What can we do to influence the Rent Guidelines Board? We can get a LOT of people to demand a rent freeze.  Our elected officials - and those they appoint to the RGB - have been known to respond to public pressure. 

If you have not already signed the petition to freeze the rent, do it now. You can CLICK HERE or use the QR code: 

(You don't have to be rent stabilized to sign the petition.)

Support candidates for mayor who agree that a rent freeze is needed. At the mayoral panel on April 3rd, every candidate agreed that given the 12% increase in landlord income, a rent freeze is appropriate now.

Come to the rally at the Abyssinian Baptist Church

132 West 138th Street on Thursday, May 15th in the evening.

We can go up together!

NY Tenant Calendar has a new QR code

If you want to keep up with tenant activities throughout the city, try the NY Tenant Calendar (in the right-hand column below our CPG Tenants' Association calendar) QR code:

Sad news: Helen Merber has died

The Central Park Gardens Tenants' Association mourns the loss of our founding member and friend 

HELEN MERBER

Helen died on April 6, 2025 after a long illness.  She and her then-husband Ivan Merber, with Jerry Nadler (now our Congressman) and Community Free Democrats (now part of West Side Democrats) were founding members of our tenant association. 

Professionally, Helen was an actor - an extra in crowd scenes - and a singer in the "Broadway at the Y" chorus of the 92nd Street Y.  

Always active, she served our tenant association in official and unofficial capacities as an officer, a board member, a floor captain, and signing people in at our pot luck parties. 

We offer our condolences to her son Alec, his wife Anastasia, and their extended family. 

A memorial will be held in May, with further details to come. 

Over 90 Attendees at a Wonderful Mayoral Panel

The Community Room was packed as mayoral candidates (in alphabetical order) 

• Council Speaker Adrienne Adams
• Former Chair of the NYS Assembly's Mitchell-Lama subcommittee and member of the Obama administration Michael Blake
• Comptroller (and former Council Member) Brad Lander
• NYS Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and
• Former Comptroller, Manhattan Borough President , and Assemblymember Scott Stringer

answered questions about affordable housing, retiree Medicare, NY as a sanctuary city, and more.  There was a lot of camaraderie among them, and several echoed each other's policies with additional ideas of their own. 

All the candidates supported a rent freeze by the Rent Guidelines Board this June for rent stabilized apartments, given the 12% increase in landlord incomes reported on March 27, 2025 by the Rent Guidelines Board. (Scott Stringer, Brad Lander, and Adrienne Adams had an unspecified "caveat.")  All supported funding more lawyers to represent tenants in Housing Court. 

All were concerned about the $80 million that the Trump administration took back from NYC, and addressed how they would keep the city running despite such cuts. Brad Lander noted that the federal government had paid the $80 million and subsequently withdrew it (without notice).   Details below.

This Thursday: Mayoral Forum in our Community Room

NEW LAW: EVERYONE MUST COMPOST FOOD SCRAPS

Starting April 1, 2025, everyone in NYC has to compost their food scraps.

What should I compost?

All the food scraps that you usually throw in y our kitchen trash should be separated for compost collection.  That includes food as well as greasy paper plates and pizza boxes.  

All plant waste like dead plants or leaves should also be composted. 

Hair and nail clippings too!

What should I NOT compost?

REGULAR GARBE: Pet waste, dead animals, and used cooking oil, medical waste, wrappers, hygiene products, and most other things that didn't grow from the earth. 

RECYCLE SEPARATELY: Paper, softcover books, glass, and plastic go in their regular recycling bins.

Where do I put my compost material?

Store it in a bag in your freezer till you're ready to bring it downstairs to one of the brown bins in the two compactor rooms next to both sets of elevators on the ground floor.   It's ok to use a plastic bag - but not a black one - to store your compost. 

Thurs., April 3 - Hear MAYORAL CANDIDATES on tenant issues!

Tenant Meeting TONIGHT with Councilmember Shaun Abreu

6 PM Tonight : Call to Freeze the Rent

This weekend NYS Tenant Bloc, its sister organization Housing Justice for All, and many other groups were out ALL OVER the city knocking on doors to talk to neighbors for a RENT FREEZE!

There are 2.4 million rent stabilized tenants -- we make New York, New York. And we deserve to stay.

Can you join NY Tenant Bloc for our February 12 6 PM mass call for renters across the city to learn more about how you can join the fight to win a rent freeze?

RSVP NOW

(Pre) Valentine's Day Fundraiser this Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025 in the Lobby

(Source of image is not clear. I'll happily add credit if anyone knows the source.)

Summary of the Jan. 22, 2025 meeting

The meeting began with a moment of silence for Lydia Pitsirilos, Lavina Edwards, and Mae Eversley, all three a big loss to our community.

____________

LOTS of people brought delicious desserts: Thanks to Elsa Gonzalez for her guava and dulce de leche cupcakes, to Joan Browne for her brownies, to Letty Orellano for her bread pudding, to Namita Prasad for her pakoras, to Steve Koulish for mixed fruit, to Sekhar Ramakrishnan for clementines, to Laurie & Nicole Barton and Alan Fox and others for cookies, and more!  So we had a sweet meeting to go with our coffee & tea (thanks Denis Hayward!).

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Save the date: OUR VALENTINE FUNDRAISER will be on Saturday, February 1, 2025, in the lobby, thanks to Rosa Delgado and Debbie Gonzalez.  

Johntex, CC BY-SA 3.0 

<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

Please donate individually-wrapped sweets to Rosa in 2T.    As usual, we'll have great information for tenants, good music and good company.  Plan to pick up some sweets for your sweetie - and you can even pay your tenant association dues ($10/year). 

Get a ticket for the March 14, 2025 benefit performance of Augusta by playwright/actor Renée Flemings for the Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center, which provides mental health and related services in Harlem. The Bowen Center is chaired by Patricia Jordan, of our tenant association executive committee, and its treasurer is Ray von Dohren, who is also on our executive committee. When a tenant is performing a great service for the community, others hop on that bandwagon.  The Bowen Center has also helped some of our tenants. 

All tenants welcome at our tenant meeting Wed., 1/22/2025 at 8 PM

Sad News: Lavina Edwards has died

The Central Park Gardens Tenants' Association mourns the loss of our long-time neighbor 

LAVINA EDWARDS

Lavina has died after a long illness.  She moved into the building around 1990 with her two daughters.  They grew - and she found herself often caring for her beloved granddaughter.  In Lavina's later years, her daughters cared for her. 

Lavina always had a smile for her neighbors. The tenant association offers condolences to her daughters Janice and Roxanne and the extended family.

Arrangements to be announced. 

Share your favorite dessert at our Jan. 22 tenant meeting!

Let's talk about heat and other building issues and

upcoming CITY elections and 

we'll hold our tenant association elections

at our 

TENANT MEETING 

Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025

8 PM

in the Community Room.

BRING YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT TO SHARE!

20041027 tatsu, CC BY-SA 4.0 

<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>

via Wikimedia Commons

Can you bring a special dessert to share? We'll provide coffee/tea/soda, and perhaps some basics - but it would be great if you could bring your favorite dessert.  Fruit and sugar-free desserts are welcome too. 

And it's a good time to bring your dues ($10/apartment each year)!

HEAT (or lack of it)

Stellar's system apparently takes an average of temperatures in the building (using those little boxes put in some apartments) and provides heat accordingly. 

Image Credit: HPD

Our apartments are supposed to be heated to 68° during the day (6 AM to 10 PM) and 62° at night (10 PM to 6 AM).  

But many tenants on the top floor are chilled - and even some lower floor tenants are too cold. 

So:

• Check the temperature in your apartment. You can get a digital thermometer and put it in the middle of any particular room.  If it's less than the legal temperature...
• Call 311 and put in a heat complaint.  Send the complaint number to sue dot susman AT gmail dot com.

If you're on the 15th floor, use a heater.  If you don't have one, ask Stellar to provide one. (They might have a few for these apartments.) Then make sure Stellar gives you a discount on your electric bill - as Sako said they would.  We don't have any amount or percentage yet!