Why is Flatbush Gardens so great?

Well, great may be an overstatement. "A viable option"? Because of this:

http://www.brownharrisstevens.com/detail.aspx?id=940654 (link is dead, see image below).

350 sqft with one window facing the back ally for $375,000.

This is the neighborhood I lived in when I first moved to NYC 15 months ago; the neighborhood I broke a lease in to move to Flatbush Gardens. I went down there to see this place for something to do on a Sunday (not because I have anything close to the $37.5k you'd need for a 10% down payment (assuming one could get a 90% loan these days)). It's "cute as a button" as my grandma would say, but 350 sqft, and one window facing the back ally. Maybe, MAYBE, if it had a street view, but even then the other side of Court street is a boring cookie-cutter office building.

Anyway, they won't get more than 300k for this place, but the point is, 1000 sqft for 1200/month flat, or 350 sqft for whatever the crazy rent on a place with this "value" would be.

More news on the laundry front.

Management left a flier today. Did anyone else get this today? I ask, because it's dated November 10th. Anyway, it reads:



"Dear Tenant(s):



It has come to our attention that some tenants have installed a washing machine and or dryer in their apartment, which is illegal and a direct violation of the lease.



Please take notice that if you, or any tenant, is observed with a washing machine or dryer installed, Management will commence legal action to have it removed.



A washing machine or dryer causes severe damage to the entire building. Any cost incurred by management as a result of a washing machine or dyer [sic], will be charged to the tenant.



We would like to remind you, that management provides a state of the art laundry facility which all tenants are welcome to use.



Thank you for your cooperation."



First, hilarious. I actually considered this myself. Mostly as an exercise in engineering. It's very difficult to install a washer and dryer in an apartment that isn't set up for it. So, kudos to those who managed it.



Second, regarding "state of the art"; I refer you to my earlier post. It's difficult to feel "welcome to use" machines that don't work.



Third, I find their implied concern for the safety of their building dubious at best. Since it took them 4 days to fix the water coming out of my ceiling, and stop the water coming out of my radiator that was no doubt coming out of my downstairs neighbor's ceiling.



Fourth, months ago; several months ago; they delivered a memo similar to this about satellite dishes. They said if they weren't removed, management would remove them. What kind of threat is that? Why would anyone take them down if the consequence is someone else will do the work for you? Anyway, point is, there are still dishes up and those are A LOT easier to spot than washing machines and dryers.



Management vs. clean clothes... let the battle begin.

Rainy days. In my bedroom.

I came home to my bed soaked with a couple gallons of water.

My ceiling leaks. My radiator leaks too, which no doubt causes my downstairs neighbor's ceiling to leak. I called emergency maintenance 4 days ago to have them fix it. The security guy said he'd put me on the list. I said that's fine, but he should understand that the water will cause serious damage to their building. He said he understands that but there's nothing he can do. Needless to say they didn't show up.

I thought it was just my radiator (that leaked water and steam) causing it, and that I fixed it myself. However, I was mistaken. I awoke to a new drip drip drip in my bed. So I went down there to ask why they haven't fixed this serious problem yet. I was nice at first, then we fought. Having gotten nowhere, I next fought with the middle supervisor. These things are never successful, but for some reason it was this time. They sent someone over. My radiator still doesn't work 100% but it no longer leaks, and most importantly to me, the ceiling no longer leaks.

So, that's enough for me to call this a win.

Bubble - a drip from the bubble did most of the damage. There were several.

More damage was done when the bubble bust (insert wall street joke here).

And the resulting bed.

A single female's persective.

[The below "comment" is being upgraded to its own "post" without the permission of the author.]

As a single white female living here I thought my opinion might be of value. I come home after dark every night, sometimes as late as 3-4 am. I don't really feel afraid walking home seeing as it is well lit and I'm really close to the train. I go the first entrance to the complex b/c I figure if someone wanted to mug me, it would be less likely if I were on fbg property with the cameras and all.. I do get the occasional sexual comments but that happens everywhere. Like it has been mentioned before, the violence you hear about does not seem random. I've only heard a couple fighting in their apt one time, never anyone fighting outside, or anything worse.

The only complaint I have is that there's nothing to do around here and the grocery store kinda sucks. So I don't really hang out in the neighborhood. Also, I feel like I don't have much in common with the other tenants. I'm single, childless, educated, have a white collar job... So I feel like I don't fit the profile described in the news story, and don't really relate to a majority of the tenants, at least the ones I've encountered. All the tenants in my building have been here for years and years, so there's a nice sense of community, and they've all been very nice to me.

But I witnessed some dirty tricks by fgb on Sunday. Since the water problem over the weekend, apparently all the apartments on one side of my building had water running down the walls all day sunday (not my apt) and no one from maintenance bothered to come over. I know that they keep only one maintenance person working on the weekends so there is no way he can get to everything in a reasonable amount of time. But an emergency like that is serious and the excuse that there is only one person working is ridiculous and more people must at least be on call. One tenant accidentally turned on the bathroom light and things started sparking so the fire dept came. At this point water was leaking for 15 hours.

There was an informal tenant meeting going on in the hallway after this and I overheard a woman talking about how she has had her belongings in trash bags for the past 2 years b/c leaking water is an ongoing problem that has been ignored. She was very angry and said they are ignoring her b/c they want her out so they can rent her unit for $1500. Unfortunately she's exactly right and tenant abuse is a problem all over the city, not just here. But so far, my needs have not been ignored. I've had to call maintenance a few time for urgent things and they came over w/in 2-3 hours, and sometimes within minutes. As a whole, I like it here.
My apt is huge, no roaches (!), and it's quiet which is important to me. But if you can afford a similar sized apt in a nice neighborhood, I would go for that. I wish I could have something in Park Slope or Brooklyn Heights but it's just not possible. $1000 rent is unheard of in places like that.

Packages and Produce.

Romy wrote:

Hey, great blog. I'm thinking about checking this place out, and I'm wondering if you or anyone you know has had experience with the package drop-off/pick-up facility and procedure there. Does that function smoothly? If so, that totally rocks!Also, it looks like FreshDirect delivers to your zipcode. Does anyone in the area/complex use it? This would be a major selling point for me, but if no one is using it, I don't know what the scheduling will be like. Thanks!

To which, I post:
You know, I thought I posted something about that, but I can't find it. The package room is only open Wed. morning/afternoon (9-3 ish, maybe) and Saturday midday, I forget. The package room is I believe run by the US postal service. Fedex and UPS don't know about it, and I tried to get them to deliver there once and they tried pretty hard but couldn't figure it out. So the deal is, it's fairly great for getting USPS packages. I believe (though I've never actually gotten a package) that no matter what day a package comes to you via USPS, it will be held in the room for you to pick up Wed. or Sat. This is good. They also said they would accept packages from UPS and Fedex etc. but you're on your own in terms of trying to time the Fedex/UPS delivery during package room hours. Also, I noticed a sign the other day that said "The package room is for SMALL packages only." I don't know what that means.

To me, other than incoming USPS packages, it's fairly worthless.

Also, a little annoyed that's one more thing FBG leasing lied about. They said it was open Monday to Saturday. I have most things delivered to work unless I'm sure it's coming USPS.

If you're used to a "full service" mailroom, either from work or a more "luxury" building... this is not that, or even close.

I've never tried FreshDirect at the apt, and I've never seen a truck outside (but I'm rarely home). I don't eat at home much and my post-church trip to key foods on newkirk is sufficient for me. The problem I have calling cars to take me to JFK is that the buildings are very poorly labeled. FD may have a hard time finding your building, and you may have to "guide them in" via phone, but I suspect delivery would go smoothly. There's lots of double parking room for a truck in the area, so that's not an issue.

I should try freshdirect though. Honestly, the produce in this area sucks. The big produce store is ok, but not air conditioned, full of flies, rarely has lettuce, and the smell of their dried fish section (which people actually buy from) makes me sick. They do have some decent fruit I buy, but not vegetables. Key foods usually has ok stuff. Standard urban grocery store quality. I used to make 12 salads with all kinds of stuff from the produce stand to take to work with me. After moving here, I tried, but it's just too hard to put together a salad worth eating with this stuff. So, yeah, I should try FD too.

Laundry Day!

Ok, so I've done laundry several times before now, but always forget to bring my camera.
First, the laundry facility (near the mail room) is quite large, with many machines. This is a good thing, because many are often broken. Also, I scoped out the private laundrymat, and they're a little more expensive. I remember when I first did laundry, I was impressed with the number of machines (in how it implies I'll never have to wait), and the size of the machines. By my count, there are 21 1x machines, 34 3x machines, and 5 5x machines. The 1x machines are pretty small. A little smaller than your usual small apartment washer. I'd say 4-5 towels or jeans, or 8-10 shirts and you've maxed out. Then of course the 3x are about 3 times that size, and the 5x five times the 1x size. The prices are not proportional, as the 1x is like 1.50, and the 3x is like 2.00, and the 5x is like 2.50. So, bigger is better for cost savings.

Please keep in mind as you read the below complaint (which is fairly outrageous) that I have done laundry at least 4 times already without having to wait for a machine.

Yesterday, I went to do my laundry and couldn't because 88.5% of the machines were broken! That seems like a lot. Actually, 78.3% of the machines were broken, but since only smaller machines worked, 88.5% of the capacity was broken.
By my count, 0 of 5 large (5x) machines were working, 2 of 34 medium (3x) machines were working, and 11 of 21 small (1x) machines were working. You can see that with 60! machines (totalling 148x (i.e. 5x5 + 34x3 + 21x1 = 148) there's quite a supply for people to use. However, with the outrageous level of almost 90% broken, it's not that convenient.

As I was in there counting some FBG employees started asking what I was doing. I said "counting". They said the machines were almost all down, and I said "yeah, are you going to fix them?" They said, something to the effect of "we don't fix them, the contractor has to come fix them." Another employee came up and said "what are you doing, are you with the contractor?" I said "no, I just count." We exchanged some banter, as I continued to give ambiguous and semi-smart-alic responses, and they continued to say the contractor screwed up the installation and needs to come fix it. One either called or pretended to call security, apparently not believing I was a resident and though maybe I was from the news (as if any news gives a crap that we don't have laundry machines). I was done counting so I left, but probably should have stuck around to see what would transpire if I kept counting and taking pictures. I do love confrontation, but the guys were appearing to be jovial during our "confrontation" so I didn't feel defensive and just went about my business (i.e. going to work when I was done counting).

Update: I went by the next day to take some pictures (which I'll post once I get them off my camera), and they were back to their usual 75% availability. So all is well again in the land of cheap laundry. Let the cleaning begin!

Washers

Dryers

More Washers

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.