Checking in, but no real news. Quite days at FBG.

I should have made a discussion forum, not a blog... Other people usually have more conversation starters than I do.

Hello! How are you? I greatly enjoy reading about your life and experience at Flatbush Gardens. You provided me with enough infomation to not move there. The picture you captured with the police patrol booth....oh...noooooooo, it gave me the Red Flag. Moreover, the execution that occurred on the roof top. I am suprise ur still there. Then that long list of repairs and maintenance issues, i dont see how you can tolerate that. To top it all, it used to be projects...ill, im not moving there. Projects today have issues like that(I guess its still projects)dont get me wrong i was considering moving there, but reading your entire blog today for the first time and seeing all those problems, No way!I hope everything is okay with you, i have not heard from u in a while. Oliva

I'm good. Thanks for asking. I guess I haven't had much to say lately. I'm glad you enjoy the posts. It's not my intention to cause anyone to move here or not move here, but if more information helped you make a better choice, then that's good. (Of course, if my one sided information caused you to make a bad choice, then I guess that's bad). Oh well. The day I posted about the execution I was particularly mad, and did want people to not move here, so I guess me and FBG are even now that you're not moving here. It's been what, almost 4 months, and only the one incident to report? Of course there are incidents I don't know about, but that's not a bad record. I still like it here.

By way of FBG news:
They turned the radiators on a couple days ago, so everyone can be nice and warm. One of mine leaks a little bit. I probably will put a towel around it instead of having it fixed, because I don't have time for their nonsense.
Also, I was told today that 85% (about) of the washers are broken. I often get home after 9pm (closing time) and couldn't confirm that today, but look out for a future "status of the laundry room" post, after I can confirm.

My continuously updated list of what's wrong with the apartment:

• The kitchen window is broken (though only one of the double panes, so it’s still closed).
• No change.
• The security gate on the kitchen window was removed and not put back up.
• I spoke with management. They said it's the resident's responsibility. I told them I understand that I don't have a right to one as a tenant in general, but I was told it would be left up and it wasn't (i.e. they are in breach of contract). They said to take it up with leasing. Leasing continues to ignore me. I've given up. I suggest anyone who sees a pre-renovated place, add to the lease a written statement that there will be a security gate. I may or may not install one myself, and if I do I may or may not sue for breach of contract, but I'm definitely done wasting time asking for it.
• The entry light has no cover on it.
  • Fixed on 7/22.
• The front door is missing two locks.
• I'm informed that they only install the one lock, and the half door knobs they left in the other two lock places are my responsibility to replace, if I want.
• There is no phone-jack in this apartment.
• I paid Verizon $50 to install one.
• The dinning room electric outlet does not work, and one outlet in the living room barely works.
• I fixed both of these, cost: $10 and 1 hour.
• The bottom hinge of the smaller bedroom is not properly installed, which means the door does not close.
• Fixed on 7/22.
• The bathtub is missing the drain ring and stopper.
• Fixed on 7/22.
• I requested that the child proof window guards be removed.
• I spent $45 on a tool to fix this myself.
• The radiator in the small bedroom is missing the control knob.
• Fixed 9/17.
• The bathtub does not drain.
• Emergency maintenance fixed on first day.
• Dirty laundry was left in the built in hamper thing.
• I cleaned on first day.
• Debris was left in the bathroom.
  • Emergency maintenance cleaned on first day.
• Was not given a mail key.
  • After several failed attempts, finally received my mail key on 7/13. (Ex-roommate's key was ready sometime after 7/13 and before 7/20, and she picked it up on 7/20).
• Elevator broke on 7/7.
  • Working again on 7/13
  • Broken again on 8/12
  • Working again on 8/13 (fast!)
  • Broken again on 8/16
  • Working again on 8/18
  • Broke sometime between 10/3 and 10/5 (I was out of town)
  • Working again on 10/7

Repair timeline:

Moved in July 3rd.

Gave them a list of things wrong with the place July 6th.

Asked why no one has called yet on July 20st. Was told I would be called tomorrow.

Asked why no one called as promised on 7/21, was told I'd be called by the end of the day.

7/22, still no one called, but someone came by and fixed a few things.

7/25, left a message in the morning asking why no one has ever called, and asking that someone call because I need to know if there is anything on the list they are refusing to eventually do so I can hire someone. I've now paid a month of DSL and yet do not have a phone jack in my apt. No reply.

8/5, called again, left a message at 10am. They replied fairly promptly at 3pm-ish. They now say that Management/Maintenance deals with all that, not leasing. I'll call them later.

8/6, wrote letters to management, maintenance, and leasing outlining the remaining issues, and asking that above anything, please just call to tell me what will or will not be done.

8/12, USPS returned leasing office's letter. Apparently, the mail people (who likely only work the FBG complex, can't find the giant sign that says "leasing office" on the 1403 building. I, unlike most, think the post office does an absolutely fantastic job, but they dropped the ball on this one. No response from FBG.

9/1, Wrote another letter to be included with my rent check. No reply.

9/9, Home sick today, so I went down there. They didn't give a crap that they've ignored me for 2+ months, and wrote down my problems. Wouldn't say when they'd be fixed, refused to take keys, and said I'd have to be home. I envision many days wasted at home with no one showing up. I went back to leasing and left a message.

9/17, (0ver a week since last reported, 2.5 months since first reported) fixed radiator. I suspect that I'll have to sue over the remaining issues if I want further repairs.

My continued quest to get my keys back.

I left my keys with leasing so that they could finish the apartment. Of course they aren't fixing anything, so I've been trying to get my keys back for a month now. Apparently only one person has access to keys and this person is never there. I went Tuesday to get them, and again, the person wasn't there, so I left a message with the desk girl asking them to get the keys tomorrow and leave them in an accessible place so the next time I come back I could get them. So I went today, of course they're still inaccessible, and of course they claim they never got the message. Which is all fine, grossly incompetent, but fine; however, despite 2.5 months of not doing anything and 1 month of not being able to simply produce my keys, they have the nerve to be rude to me. Like it's my fault they run the most disorganized operation I've ever seen. Whatever, I'm losing patience fast.

I was home sick today so I went to get my keys. They gave me one of them. Nothing is ever easy (at least not here).

Oh, and they said currently Leasing and Management were fighting over who should have to take care of problems with the apartment. Really? I'm sorry, they should be fighting over who gets to take care of tenants.

I got my keys back. They only gave me the apt key, and not the outside door key. However, after another call, and another visit, they went over to management and got me to outside door keys. They were very nice this time. They've either figured out I blog about their attitude, or are genuinely in a better mood over there. I don't envy their job. I mean, there must be a large percentage of annoying, rude, and difficult people in these buildings. Though I try to minimize my annoying and difficulty, and eliminate any rudeness, that may be why I can't get them to do much for me.

Anyway, all's well that ends well.

Execution at Flatbush Gardens.

Honestly, I wasn't going to post this, because I try to keep this to my experiences, and the experiences of those I personally know, and I didn't really see this. However, people have the right to know, and ok, I'll admit it, I'm rather annoyed at FBG right now because though I've been patient with their incompetence and the fact that they don't have a maintenance department, the last time I went to ask them for something they were very rude and that's just too much for me. It's one thing to be incompetent but try to be pleasant while you're ignoring people.

Anyway, a guy was executed by someone on the roof of one of the buildings here a couple weeks ago.

http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7273110&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/08/23/2008-08-23_excon_shot_dead_on_brooklyn_roof-2.html


Two interesting follow-ups, (1) police were patrolling the area for a few days after that, and had this weird observation booth set up on Newkirk (though that may or may not be related; see picture below), (2) the ex-roommate said she saw a group of people out in the courtyard after the incident, one of them was clearly upset at another one of them for having talked to the police and they were fighting. The upset one's girlfriend was trying to pull him away and as she did he made threatening gun motions with his hand, as one might suspect implies the intent to kill him for whatever reason. Anyway, I don't know. The ex-roommate is thinking about moving in July because of the incident. I don't really consider it grounds for moving, though now I may move out because of the rude incompetence of management.

Section 8 discrimination.

I was in the leasing office the other day (not today, but the other day), and I heard the desk girl take a call to the effect of: "Yes we accept section 8 vouchers, but we currently do not have any section 8 unit vacancies, please call back later."

Isn't that illegal? I thought the state legislature passed a law that landlords with more than 6 units cannot discriminate based on source of income. Maybe not.

(And of course, once again, no waitlist, just time wasting "come back later because you don't have anything better to do with your life.")

More elevator breaking.

So, this one was worth a picture. Someone on the fifth floor totally busted the elevator door.

Shocking!

So, if you've read earlier posts, you know that two of my outlets did not work. I replaced them myself. Took about an hour, and outlets only cost like $5 each (retail, I hear they cost like a quarter in bulk). Anyway, one of the old outlets is below. Both outlets were the same, totally broken. It's beyond obvious that no one even looked at them during the referb. So outlet checking/replacing is not something that should be assumed will be done.



However, the wiring on the outlets was still very good. Which is a relief, because I added an outlet to my bathroom (since the bathroom did not come with an outlet). The wiring (which they had to have seen since the switch and light were new installs) was totally striped (from age). There was literally two feet of exposed wire in there. I'm shocked the place hadn't burned down yet. I fixed the wiring in the bathroom, but I hope the rest of the place is as good as the broken outlets, and not as bad as the bathroom, or I'm quite scared.

Bonus exercise!

The elevator broke again sometime during the day. I had to carry my bike up to the top floor. It's good exercise. As outlined in my "what's wrong with the apt" post, I sent maintenance a letter. I've yet to get my phone call. Anyway.

Update: Took less than a day to get it up and running this time.

Fresh whole goat.

I find this odd. Posted outside the "meat" grocery store, along with 100 other ads for the week:

Up until today, I honestly didn't know where one could buy a whole goat. If anyone has a recipe for whole goat, please post and I will buy a goat.

Silent policy shift.

So, it's been over a month since I told them about the things that needed to be fixed when I moved in. They never responded or called once, though did come in and fix a few small things one day. I called them back again, and they finally called me back. However, they now say that leasing no longer handles any of it, and I should call management/maintenance. Super. That would have been nice to know when they made the decision. Anyway, I've had enough fun for one day, I'll send them a letter later.