The Word On The Street: Williamsburg Bridge

thisway

Taken June 5, 2013.

From The New York Shitty Inbox, Part III: What To Do About Illegal Hotels?

airbnb239banker1350amonthMore 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.

active239banker622013hilighted

The Word On The Street, Part II: Allen Street

allenstreet

Taken June 5, 2013.

The Word On The Street: From NYC With Love

Williamsburg Bridge

WBbridge

Crosby Street

crosbystreet

1st Avenue & 6th Street

1staveand6st

Crosstown Local, Nassau Avenue

shouldhave

Rivington Street

rivingtonstreet

Taken June 5, 2013.

Credits/Props: Go out to Goggla for the heads-up/locale of the pay phone. Thanks!

From The New York Shitty Photo Pool, Part III: Bowery

Bowery

Anyone lose a giraffe? (Taken by Scoboco.)

From The New York Shitty Photo Pool: Fabulous

May 18, 2013 ·
Filed under: 10002, Lower East Side, Lower East Side Manhattan 

Fabulous Skater seen in Bowery

Taken by mistergalaxy.

From The New York Shitty Photo Pool: The Word On The Street

Post No Selfies

Taken by Scoboco.

The Word On The Street, Part II: PDA

May 7, 2013 ·
Filed under: 10002, Chinatown, Chinatown Manhattan, The Word On The Street 

PDA

From Chrystie Street.

New York Shitty Street Art Du Jour: Kim Jong Fun

May 7, 2013 ·
Filed under: 10002, 10012, SoHo, SoHo Manhattan, Street Art 

kjf

From Prince Street.

The Word On The Street, Part II: Dog Eat Dog

dogeatdog

Taken May 2, 2013.

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