Greenpoint
Lorven Pharmacy
Culture on the Cheap
Quicklink: PIX11
This item was brought to my attention by my comrade over at Queens Crap. I encourage each and every one of you, gentle readers, to give it a look-see. As you are doing so please bear the following in mind:
- Not only is the business in question located in the 33rd City Council district.
- It is located a short walk from Councilman Levin’s office.
A. Very. Short. Walk.
I have to wonder what he thinks of this. Maybe an intrepid journalist reading this tome will ask him?
P.S.: Elsewhere one very bright individual brought up a rather interesting question. Do not the operators Jessie’s Deli understand that they face the possibility the(ir) guests may consume/quaff their edibles/drinkables? I for one think this is a very valid question. Maybe they are factoring that in via the rate/deposit?
Quicklink: Special Moments In Internet Plagiarism Edition
Filed under: 11222, Fuck This Shit, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Plagiarism, Planet Entitlement
Hmm. Something about this article seems eerily familiar. Oh wait, I remember! I emailed the good news about Jonathan and his $99.00 a night RV (all the way down to the baby wipes) on July 19th to Queens Crap. 10:34 PM, to be precise.
Queens Crap, in turn, published it. YESTERDAY. To whom shall I send an invoice for my research Ms. Dai and/or DNA.info?
UPDATE, 10:17 PM: it would appear that Curbed has given proper attribution (if not a link-back) to the proper sources. Ms. Dai has been asked for comment. Repeatedly. *chirp* *chirp*
UPDATE, July 22nd 1:32 PM: It would appear that Gothamist and the New York Daily News have jumped on the band wagon. So to speak. I have been assured by Ms. Carlson the Gothamist article will be amended so as to reflect the true sources. This leaves the latter. As for Ms. Dai, she claims that the editorial staff at DNA.info made her drop the sources. Pretty funny since, after being called on it, they have seen fit to mention them now. This is shit you, as “consumers” of “news”, should think about…
The Word On The Street: Clearly New Yorkers Do Not Agree
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Street Justice, The Natives Are Getting Restless, The Word On The Street
The anti-Airbnb rhetoric at the Greenpoint Avenue stop of the Crosstown Local continues! I am certain this sterling operation will be pleased that as of midnight, July 26th, service will be suspended for five whole weeks. I imagine this will buy them some (more) time to hire more lobbyists and retool their laughably bad advertising campaign? Maybe they’ll even read this? I can only hope so…
Crosstown Local Photos Du Jour: The Brown Word
Filed under: 11222, Crosstown Local, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Street Justice, The Natives Are Getting Restless, The Word On The Street
Taken July 18, 2014.
Crosstown Local Photos Du Jour: And On It Goes…
Filed under: 11222, Crosstown Local, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, The Natives Are Getting Restless
The above morsels of Greenpoint goodness were shot on the Church Avenue bound platform at Greenpoint Avenue. I for one am really enjoying the evolving commentary on this poster. On a related note, there is some blue-chip material to be found on Airbnb’s Twitter feed as well. Follows is my favorite thus far:
On a final a decidedly not funny note is this recent broadcast of the Leonard Lopate show wherein Senator Liz Krueger talks about Airbnb. She mentions among many other things that this company is lobbying Albany— hard— to essentially scrap housing regulations altogether. Disturbed yet? You should be, gentle readers…
Crosstown Local Photo Du Jour: Au Contraire
Filed under: 11222, Crosstown Local, Fuck This Shit, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic
The dissent here was done via Sharpie Marker— as opposed to yours truly’s middle finger)— but the sentiment is more or less the same. On a related note, Airbnb’s advertising campaign (so as to win over the hearts and minds of New Yorkers) has merited attention from the New York Times. This article regarding the “sharing economy” is also quite interesting. Pardon me for asking, but if money is exchanged isn’t that commerce?
P.S.: Am I the only person who is wondering exactly how many of these depicted Airbnb “hosts” are paying the applicable taxes for and have permission from their landords for engaging in this “sharing”? Anyone?
Quicklink: Huffington Post
Filed under: 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, New York City
Choice quote:
Airbnb renters say they can offer an experience hotels can’t — the opportunity to live like a native in funky neighborhoods off the beaten tourist paths.
(You can read the rest here.)
Trust me: any ambivalence you may have on this matter, gentle readers, will change quite quickly when the users of this wonderful “service” walk into your apartment at 9:30 am on a Saturday morning and hand your husband (clad in his pajamas) their luggage…
Credits/Hat tip: Queens Crap
Now At The Astral: Airbnb
Filed under: 11211, 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
One can only wonder what Cara’s rent-stabilized neighbors (Yes, the Astral is a rent-stabilized building!) would think about someone leasing a one bedroom apartment therein for $650.00 a week. I doubt they would be very pleased— but who knows? In any case, potential clients might be interested to know there’s ample availability later next month— but caveat emptor:
She appears to be charging $120.00 per night on Fridays and Saturdays.
P.S.: Oh yeah, while I am on the subject of hotels— a booking of four will net you a bottle of wine at this place…
From The New York Shitty Inbox, Part III: What To Do About Illegal Hotels?
Filed under: 10002, 10003, 11206, 11211, 11222, Bushwick, Bushwick Brooklyn, Criminal Activity, East Village, East Village Manhattan, East Williamsburg, East Williamsburg Brooklyn, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, New York City, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
More specifically: What do I do when I learn that a fellow tenant is renting out his/her apartment via Airbnb? E.g.; What recourse do I have when some drunken asshat breaks my front door lock at 2:00 a.m. in the morning or simply walks in and hands my husband his luggage?
A tipster writes:
Heather!
Illegal Hotels, formally known as transient occupancy units (TOU’s) are Class “A” residential units that have been converted for short-term stays of 30 days or less without adhering to the fire codes, tax laws, Certificates of Occupancy and zoning restrictions of hotel use. The illegal conversion of residential buildings into hotels presents serious problems for permanent residents, limits the supply of available housing – in particular, rent-regulated and low-income housing. By lacking the necessary fire-safety measures that legal hotels are required to have by law, which are more stringent than multiple dwelling buildings, TOU’s also present substantial safety hazards to permanent, legal residents as well as short-term guests; many are dangerous firetraps.
The Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (“OSE”), headed by Kathleen McGee, pulls together the various enforcement agencies to go after TOUs when they are reported. I know people don’t believe it, but for this people need to file 311 Complaints, being sure to tell the operator that they want it to go to OSE. Kathleen has worked to get complaints that are incorrectly taken for HPD or DOB re-routed to her shop (and has been largely successful).
The District Manager or local elected officials can also forward complaints directly to Kathleen, and can even do so anonymously. It can be hard to get OSE out immediately, unless there is a present and imminent fire hazard, but they are very good at going out to problem locations (ie: repeated complaints or severe activity). They have been stepping up their enforcement recently.*
So far, there isn’t much proactive enforcement based off of sites like AirBnB, although with recent changes in the law, which raised the fines for landlords and allows tenants to be fined as well, some landlords have started to patrol the websites to catch tenants and proactively inform OSE.
*No shit.
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