Category Archives: Uncategorized
Protected: Conflict Story: The city’s skyline soon to be mirrored across the water
Protected: Hit the Ground Running – Profile of Fardad Sabzevari
The War on Rent-Control in LIC
“I’ve lived in this apartment my entire life,” Peter Diaz, 37, said as he sipped on his Coors Light beer. Located in the Long Island City (LIC) neighborhood in Northwestern Queens, Diaz’s rent-controlled apartment is cozy with two bedrooms, one of which is entirely occupied by DJ equipment. “I’ve been in court for about four years now,” Diaz continued, while staring at the vivid Manhattan skyline from the green steps of his fire-escape. “I’m fighting Vantage to keep my rent from rising four times.”
Diaz’s situation is not unique. Because the purpose of rent-control is to limit the price a landlord can legally charge a tenant, hostility can, and usually does, define the relationship between a tenant and landlord. Consequently, this hostility often leads to a tiring tug of war between the two. On one end of the rope is the stability-loving tenant who has lived their entire life in their rent-controlled apartment, on the other end is the disgruntled landlord who feels they are being scammed out of their rightfully-deserved profit. Compromise is generally reached in a court of law. Such is the case with many LIC rent-controlled apartments.
Hundreds of thousands of apartments are housed in 1,000 rent-controlled buildings throughout LIC, according to the New York City Rent Guidelines Board. Having recognized its close proximity to Manhattan yet cheaper property rates, realtors, landlords and business owners have been determined to capitalize on this neighborhood. “If you have the money to invest in LIC, do it, it’s a great investment because the rents are high and a lot of new developments are going up,” said Nicholas Zikos, a 25-year-old LIC resident and realtor at Zikos Real Estate. “I’m sure it seems unfair to landlords with rent-controlled tenants because they are not able to monetize on this flourishing market.”
Landlords have long claimed that the city has failed to understand their plight.To add insult to injury, the city recently enacted a new law stating that landlords cannot use bankruptcy as a way to get tenants to give up their leases. “Where does the city get most of its money? It comes from landlords and taxes.” Said Brooklyn landlord Reshit Gjinovic in a NY Times article by Mireya Navarro. “I hope he [de Blasio] wakes up.”
Yet still, while rent-controlled landlords are fearing the political repercussions of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s laws, which have been geared toward making housing more affordable for the poor, tenants are reveling in the love. “It’s refreshing to finally have a mayor who does what he said he was going to, as far as keeping his campaign promises to protect the lower-income population,” said Diaz.
On the opposing side, 32-year-old Jakub Strowski, an LIC landlord, said, “this law is horrendous, there have been times when I have had to pay for building maintenances out of pocket.”
From a landlords point of view, by getting rent-controlled tenants to give up their leases, they get to make capital investments, otherwise known as renovations on the apartments, which in turn increases the value of the property, raises the rent and finally, increases the return on their investments resulting in a profit. “I have three rent-controlled families living in my building, and it’s really taking a toll on my finances,” Strowski said.
To the landlords dismay though, by legal definition, rent-control restricts the right of any owner to raise rents tremendously or evict tenants, according to the government agency, New York State Homes & Community Renewals, but that does not seem to be stopping some landlords from trying.
In a recent example, Vantage Properties, a multi-family unit landlord, well known for buying out properties throughout Queens, Harlem, and Upper Manhattan, has tried illegal tactics on multiple tenants, such as refusing to accept rent, constant harassment, claims that they’ve never received the rent, and letting repairs go unfixed, according to Diaz.
Vantage is so frequently seen as a common enemy by tenants that in 2010 Governor Cuomo threatened to sue Vantage on allegations that they were trying to get rid of rent-regulated tenants, in order to raise the rent for new tenants. Eventually they ended up reaching a $1,000,000 settlement with the mayor, under the condition that Vantage would no longer harass their tenants, as reported by Charles V. Bagli for the NY Times.
“With rent-controlled apartments you can only increase a certain amount every year, lets say 3%,” said ZIkos. “I don’t blame them [landlords] for trying to evict rent-controlled residents, I understand exactly why they would.” While some landlords make solid cases for themselves, it appears the tenants have the law on their side.
Hipsters vs. Natives: How Gentrification Polarized Williamsburg
When one is walking down Bedford Ave in Brooklyn, the first thing to stick out are the vast amounts of businesses that are in the area. Whether its a small cafe that specializes in fruit smoothies or a book store that sells used books, there’s something for practically any person with varying taste. Such a thing couldn’t have been said about Beford Ave back in the ’80s and ’90s, since such businesses weren’t anyway near this part of Brooklyn.
One trend that’s taken the city by storm is gentrification, the renovation of formerly run down neighborhoods to make them more appealing to middle and upper class demographics. Several neighborhoods across the city have either been completely gentrified or is in the middle of becoming gentrified, and one such neighborhood is in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Over the last few years, the neighborhood has seen a significant change in both demographics and aesthetics. In the past, Williamsburg was seen as a run down neighborhood predominantly filled with eastern Europeans, Central Americans, and African Americans.
However, developers have sinced zeroed in on the neighborhood and started to develop new middle and upper class housing, as well as renovating existing buildings. Sure enough, a totally new demographic descended on Williamsburg: hipsters. Along with the new housing, throngs of independent businesses started sprouting up in the neighborhood to serve the new arrivals in Williamsburg. Within a few years, Williamsburg went from being a neighborhood that most New Yorkers wouldn’t have paid much mind, into a thriving and rapidly popular community.
The issue of gentrification has drawn many voices from both sides of the spectrum. From new residents, the basic consensus is that the new Williamsburg is a dramatically improved place to live. The general upkeep, the wide variety of businesses, and just the overall facelift lead to the conclusion from residents.
While some are glad about the rebirth of a once run down neighborhood, others aren’t as enthusiastic towards the changes. Several long time residents of Williamsburg don’t want their neighborhood to be labeled as a predominantly “hipster village”. Some consider that these new residents are taking away Brooklyn’s character as a rough and tough area of the city.
One such opinion came from Spike Lee last year. During a Q&A session with the Oscar nominated director, a question about gentrification in his home borough of Brooklyn lead to Lee going into a profanity laced rant about how whites were supposedly ruining the neighborhoods by gentrifying them and pushing out black people who have lived there before the changes started.
Kelvin Mata, a long time resident of Brooklyn, also weighed in on the gentrification issue. “I really don’t have any personal problem with hipsters and if they want to move to Brooklyn, more power to them. That said, I hate the fact that people are now gradually labeling the whole borough as a haven for those types of people.”
He then went on to explain how Williamsburg and Brooklyn in general during his childhood was a generally more gritty area that wasn’t all that appealing to those thinking about moving across the city. “I’ll bet you that none of these new arrivals in Brooklyn would even think about moving here 10 years ago. It’s like us real Brooklyn natives need to show the hipsters what it’s like to really live in this part of the city.”
Mata ends by stating that while it’s nice to see any neighborhood go through improvements that results in more people moving in, he doesn’t want it to lose its sense of character and uniqueness that makes it stick out amongst the rest of the city.
(Pictures by Ashley Feinberg; Gizmodo)
Protected: Buried in Bensonhurst- Conflict Story
Protected: Williamsburg
Writer Profile – Eddie L. Bolden Jr.
New York – Eddie L. Bolden Jr., 23 from The Bronx, has a passion for sports, music, writing, and news. As a senior at Baruch College, he is pursuing his Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Creative Writing after receiving his Associates Degree from the Bronx Community College in 2013.
Eddie Bolden became immersed in writing during his junior year in high school, where he received one of the highest grades in the English regents in the Bronx. He attributes his development in his writing proficiency to his high school teacher.
“Mr. Q pushed me to enhance my writing skills. He said I had a gift for it,” he stated.
He used to tell us “What the media doesn’t tell you can hurt you.”
Bolden has interned at The Brooklyn Game, a website focusing on the Brooklyn Nets, where he acquired some experience in publishing stories and although he loves writing about sports, he did not want to limit himself to one genre.
“I think I want to be able to do a little bit of everything,” he said about his future as a writer.
“It’s good to be multifaceted. I’m a creative at heart.”
Bolden recently published an article on the Baruch College’s award winning Journalism magazine Dollars and Sense, Where Typewriters Get a New Lease on Life.
“I’m so glad I was able to get that published,” said Bolden.
Bolden was awarded the Chris Brown Institutional Investor Journalism Scholarship for next semester and wishes to continue his writing career in hopes that he can better the world.
When not writing stories on sports, news or publishing articles, he is writing and editing his own music.
“I want to make sure I set myself apart.”