Greenpoint
Cafe Cito Bogota
New York Shitty Video Du Jour: North 10 Street
Filed under: 11211, Planet Entitlement, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn, Wow, WTF
A fallen tree proves to be a getting back to nature cum video opportunity.
(Taken June 18, 2013.)
North Brooklyn: A WiFi Survey
Filed under: 11211, 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
To preface: I am a very fortunate person. I have by any account a good life. I have a roof over my head and a husband who loves me. So much so he purchased me a new “smartphone” recently. He knows me well enough to know NOT to tell me how to use it. Thus when I noted I was getting WiFi notifications he offered to help me dismantled that bit of “intelligence”. I refused. Because the WiFi networks hereabouts are so darned interesting.
Once I showed him this corker which hails from Banker Street and Meserole Avenue, he understood.
The Grey Catsby can be found in Greenpoint. But as a rule, male genitalia/innuendo seems to be quite popular.
I cannot tell a lie: these made me erupt into peals of adolescent laughter.
Whereas this one struck me as being wishful thinking. Let’s face facts…
The I.T. and Internet world are ostensibly a man’s one— and if Dagobah exists it probably inhabits some hitherto undiscovered nook or cranny of Greenpoint. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say the Nassau Avenue stop of the Crosstown Local. It’s been rather “ripe” lately.
But last— and hardly least— something for all you uber-geeks out there…
From (where else) Greenpoint!
Overheard On Bedford Avenue Today
Filed under: 11211, Culture War, Gentrification, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
Head shops are the new Thai restaurants.
Indeed.
New York Shitty Street Art Du Jour: Mixed Bag
Filed under: 11211, 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Street Art, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
Taken June 10, 2013.
The Word On The Street, Part III: L Train
Filed under: 11211, Subway, The Word On The Street, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
Admit it, it made you chuckle. I certainly did. (Taken June 9, 2013.)
Williamsburg Photo Du Jour: Lorimer Street
Filed under: 11211, 11222, Subway, The Word On The Street, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
Taken June 9, 2013.
New York Shitty Street Art Du Jour: Mixed Bag
Filed under: 10012, 11211, New York City, SoHo, SoHo Manhattan, Street Art, Stuff That Makes Miss Heather Happy, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
A selection of work I saw while knocking around yesterday. I am certain those who live on or near Bedford Avenue have become all too familiar with the above “Draw Something” marketing campaign. Not surprisingly, this has been exploited primarily in an off-color manner by the population. However, as you can see with the above depicted hairy pussy someone went above and beyond the call. Yup, “Gato de la Cuidad” came home with yours truly…
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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