Looking For A Place to Sleep This Week?

If so, I have some very good news for you. I discovered not just one, but TWO places you can hang your hat!

First up, the St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation will be hosting a candle light vigil and sleep out at 202 Franklin Street tomorrow, January 30th starting at 6:30 p.m.

For those of you who are not in the know 202 Franklin Street caught fire nearly four years ago. Despite numerous demonstrations, making light of their plight at last year’s town hall meeting and the property being sold several times the necessary repairs needed to enable these rent-stabilized tenants (many of whom have lived here much longer than myself or most of the people reading this for that matter) to move back home have yet to get made. Inasmuch as I hate to get “preachy”, I want each and every person reading this to consider the following: how would you feel if you were driven out of your apartment by a fire and had to wait this long for the landlord (or in this case, landlords) to do the right thing and make repairs?

Not everyone in Greenpoint can afford to simply pick up and move. (Those of us who can should consider themselves very, very lucky.) What’s more, these people shouldn’t have to. As tenants they have rights under the law which should be enforced. If you agree with the previous statement (or simply want to learn more about 202 Franklin Street), please swing by tomorrow’s demonstration and let your voice be heard.

Vigil and Sleep Out
202 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222

There are two things I love about Greenpoint (and Greenpointers):

1. We have big hearts.
2. We are a very diverse lot this is what makes our community so cool.

And in the spirit of point #2 I bring you today’s second place to get a good night’s sleep. It invites diversity, albeit of a slightly different caliber.

I found the above flier at The Garden last night. As you can tell, none of the tabs have been ripped off. The reason for this is very simple: asking $1,100 a month for a furnished room (with a murphy bed, no less) IS a rip-off. Not content with merely perusing this printed solicitation, I checked out their ad on Craigslist as well*. Here are some highlights:

Alternative to the Hostel Blues!! Short-Term Furnished Room in House

1 room left, available for move-in February 1st. $1100/month – gas, electric, and wireless internet included. Tired of paying way too much for way too little? Here you can have your own private room, plus shared access to a huge kitchen (vegetarian friendly), living room, bathroom (!— Ed. Note) & backyard for about the same or less than you’d pay at a hostel in one of NY’s most intriguing up-and-coming neighborhoods! Short-term monthly housing OK. Great for English language students or vacationers in New York City for a couple of months or more. International students (Korean, Japanese, European, etc.) all OK…

Great location in Greenpoint! Minutes away from trendy Williamsburg or Manhattan’s Lower East Side. You can find laundromats, eclectic restaurants, video stores, fun bars, and just about anything you want within a few blocks.

House: A beautiful and large (especially for New York) pre-war house. On the first level is the living room, a half bathroom, and a large bright kitchen which is fully equipped. On the second floor are 4 bedrooms and a bathroom with a skylight and beautiful clawfoot tub. There are hardwood floors throughout the house and it gets plenty of light. We also have a backyard! The place is shabby-chic, clean, and a peaceful sanctuary not far from the excitement of NYC.

Room: The last remaining available room (emphasis mine— Ed. Note) is New York-sized (translation = small), but is very well organized and has everything you’ll need for your stay. It is a cozy room with a Murphy bed that folds up into the wall when not in use, to maximize the space. It has a large window and is nice & quiet. There is a built-in closet system.

It also goes on to say your new landlords (inn keepers?) are “laid-back, friendly and responsible people who have full-time jobs” and “celebrate diversity and would love to open our home to our friends in the international community”.

Having not met these people I will take them at their word. I do, however, have some very serious issues with their advertisement:

1. Their ad copy does not sound so much like an apartment share than a hotel or SRO.
   1. A comparison to a hostel was used not once, but twice.
   2. Why the emphasis on “short term”? If one were to rent (or sublet) a room wouldn’t a long term tenant be more attractive? Not only would you have the prospect of sustained monthly income, but you will probably attract a more responsible type of client. Just a thought.
2. Of course I am assuming this deal is on the “up and up”— and it probably isn’t. Do the people who are soliciting this room for rent own or rent the house in question?
   1. If it is the former, are they reporting the income?
   2. If it is the latter, is their landlord aware of this arrangement? I doubt it.
3. $1,100/month “rent” is a draconian amount of money to demand for a small room with a murphy bed. Even in Greenpoint.

Do I think someone should be able to rent a bedroom in his or her apartment, e.g.; an apartment share? YES, ABSOLUTELY. Should someone be able to lease rooms in his/her house in a manner more in keeping with a hotel (and in all probability making a tidy profit in so doing)? Absolutely NOT. There are hotels and then there are houses. Hotels are built and operated to manage transient populations, a house is not.

While I am fully aware this neighborhood is becoming less and less affordable nowadays, this advertisement (and what it proposes) is not only ridiculous but it also lowers the quality of life for everyone involved, tenants (be they foreign nationals or otherwise), landlords and neighbors alike. My advice: if you’re looking for a cheap place to stay go to the Greenpoint Hotel. Granted it is a dump, but at $450 a month it is a LOT more affordable.

And legal.

Miss Heather

*Lest this ad has been removed, click here for a screencap.

Matty Franz: R.I.P.

While running errands earlier today I made a most upsetting discovery: Greenpoint has lost one of its own.

It saddens me to report that Matty Franz (better known as the “You Will Rot in Hell guy” from Forgotten-NY Tour #30) has left us.

On the behalf of the attendees of the aforementioned tour and all of Greenpoint I would like to extend my deepest condolences to Mrs. Franz. Your husband was a very kind man (he always said “Hi” to me on the street after that tour) and gave many people a reason to smile.

You will be sorely missed, Matty. May you rest in peace.

Miss Heather

How to Spend a Monday Afternoon In Greenpoint

I received an email this morning from a woman named Brittany who has an excellent suggestion as to how to while away the remains of this beautiful day: follow the blood spots! She writes:

I often read your blog and I thought this might interest you…

It’s not dog shit but it’s just as gross. At the corner of Meserole and McGuinness

thanks

Click on the above image and behold the original on Brix Picks for yourself. Be sure to read the accompanying text, as it is equally charming:

I still have no idea what went on at the corner of Meserole and McGuinness, but there appears to be puddles of blood and, reportedly (by friends who saw it), there used to be a plastic bag full of bloody stuff.

You can see little drops throughout the neighborhood, some right outside the police station–they don’t mind though, because when I told an officer about the possibly gruesome site he said, “What do you want me to do about it?*”…

It should be noted that the Pit Stop Bar (home of the bouncing beer kegs) is located at the intersection where this blood was found. I walked by there around lunchtime and didn’t see anything amiss but I imagine the Mobile Wash unit probably makes it a point to clean up this kind of thing stat. but I have been told that as of 4:00 this afternoon it is still there. Check it out for yourself at the northeastern corner of McGuinness Boulevard and Meserole Avenue where it (per a tipster):

…trails all the way down meserole on the north side of the street, then crosses at manhattan goes right in front of Europa, the police station and all the way past the post office.

In closing, a number of you will be pleased as punch to know my trip was not entirely unfruitful: as it would happen, I found another yet to be documented bit of spatter on McGuinness Boulevard and Kent Street.

THIRTY INCHES WORTH of blood spatter, to be precise.

Even Hard Hat Hannah (who as a puppet possesses neither blood nor a central nervous system) noted that this must have hurt.

Miss Heather

*Perhaps he was too busy solving the double burglary that occurred two blocks away from the 94th Precinct’s Headquarters last month?

Photo Credit: Meserole Avenue spatter, Brix Picks

Greenpoint Photo du Jour: Mixed Signals on Freeman Street

Lenin or LaRouche, that is indeed a difficult question!

Miss Heather

You Pick The Movie at East Coast Aliens

Tomorrow, January 27 at 9:00 p.m. East Coast Aliens will be hosting a rather novel evening of cinematic entertainment where we, the attendees, vote on which movie you want to see. Here’s the scoop, per their web site:

The Apartment or The Beat That My Heart Skipped

It’s pick-pick night!

Check your facts, defend your pick, we vote and watch the winner.

They could not have selected two seemingly more different movies. Here are brief plot synopses from IMDB.

The Apartment:

Bud Baxter is a struggling clerk in a huge New York insurance company. He’s discovered a quick way to climb the corporate ladder – by lending out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. He often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits and one night he’s left with a major problem to solve.

The Beat My Heart Skipped:

Twenty-eight-year-old Tom leads a life that might be termed as criminal. In doing so, he follows in the footsteps of his father, who made his money from dirty, and sometimes brutal, real estate deals. Tom is a pretty hard-boiled guy but also strangely considerate as far as his father is concerned. Somehow he appears to have arrived at a critical juncture in his life when a chance encounter prompts him to take up the piano and become a concert pianist, like his mother…

Although the latter film sounds rather interesting, I have a confession to make: I am a Billy Wilder fan. Since The Apartment was directed by him I am more than a little biased. In addition, I have seen this film. It is quite good.

Those of you who disagree with my cinematic taste should be advised that doors open at 8:30 p.m. and the recommended donation is $6.00 per person.

East Coast Aliens
216 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, New York 11222
(718) 514-7625

Don’t forget what a very wise man once said and:

Vote early— and vote often.

Miss Heather

Greenpoint Photo Du Jour: Greenpoint Coffee House

As the weekend approaches I imagine a number of you are making plans. Among these plans is probably a loathsome avocation called “brunch”. Speaking as someone who does NOT want to eat waffles at 4:00 in the afternoon, I wish I could find the person who came up with this concept so I can take a brickbat to the side of his (or her) head. Thankfully I recently learned I am not the only Greenpointer who harbors this sentiment.

The chap sporting this shirt was at the Greenpoint Coffeehouse last Sunday afternoon. It should be noted that a number of his fellow patrons were partaking of “brunch”. When I asked him if I could take a picture of his shirt he gladly obliged, adding:

Spread the word.

Consider it done.

Miss Heather