BNA’s office inside the Chase Bank at 1002 Brighton Beach Avenue. Source: Google Maps
In an event that had to be rescheduled to a later date, the Brighton Neighborhood Association (BNA) will be hosting a “Senior Benefits” workshop at 11:00 a.m., February 22 inside BNA’s Chase Office, 1002 Brighton Beach Avenue on the corner of Coney Island Avenue (inside Chase Bank’s Community Center — just come inside, turn left, walk past the tellers, and look for the red sign).
Representatives from the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA) will be conducting the meeting and BNA staff will also be on hand to answer and help address any of your housing-related issues.
The meeting will be conducted in English, with Russian and Spanish translators on hand. Light refreshments will be served. Bring your friends and neighbors!
BNA’s office is located inside the Chase Bank at 1002 Brighton Beach Avenue. Source: Google Maps
In the first of a series of three February meetings, the Brighton Neighborhood Association (BNA) will be holding a housing meeting on “Senior Benefits and Housing,” February 8 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at BNA’s office, 1002 Brighton Beach Avenue on the corner of Coney Island Avenue (inside Chase Bank’s Community Center — just come inside, turn left, walk past the tellers, and look for the red sign).
Roy Carmona, representing the NYC Department of Aging, will be discussing Section 8, SCRIE, DRIE, HEAP, SNAP (food stamps), as well as any housing issues and concerns you may have.
The meeting will be conducted in English and Russian. Light refreshments will be served. Bring your friends and neighbors!
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development offers residents of New York the opportunity to earn a robust housing education in an extremely convenient manner.
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation seeks to inform New York City owners of residential buildings and tenants about laws, services, and projects pertaining to housing. The department’s Public Education Unit offers free podcasts, online courses, and videos regarding topics such as residential safety, housing lotteries, and housing code violations. You can watch or listen from your computer at home!
The unit is excited to announce its three most recent podcasts, with many more to come:
- The HPD Housing Code Violations podcast- educates the public on why housing preservation and development professionals write violations and how they can be cleared.
- The No-and-Low Cost Home Energy Saving Tips podcast- teaches homeowners and tenants how to conserve energy and lower their bills.
- The Healthy Homes podcast- tells participants how to avoid conditions in the home that can be detrimental to the health of residents.
Check out these podcasts online, and see what you think of them.
The Public Education Unit also teaches in person classes in person classes on health concerns pertaining to homes. Topics include mold, pest management, bed bugs, and carbon monoxide. Classes are offered at 100 Gold Street in Manhattan. If a group of 20 is gathered, instructors can travel to the location of your choice.
To learn more about this opportunity, or if you have any questions or inquiries, call (212)-863-8830, or email poe@hpd.nyc.gov. You can also subscribe to receive e-mails from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development with information about housing education classes by visiting the NYC HPD E-mail Update Subscription Center.
Bryan Eisenberg thought things were getting better after he brought the fight with his landlord online. After Sheepshead Bites’ report about his website and his tensions with his allegedly abusive landlord, other news outlets picked it up. Government agencies started paying a little more attention, and the landlord, NYPD officer Mehtab Malhi, was shamed into making improvements (though he did threaten a lawsuit).
The late-night banging and doorbell ringing at 2842 Brigham Street stopped for several days. The garbage was cleaned up and the roach problem eliminated. And the obstacles barricading their basement were removed.
But that didn’t last very long.
We checked in with Eisenberg, and he and his blog indicate that whatever strides they had made in their battle with the landlord have mostly been undone.
Eisenberg claims the Malhis have engaged in an illegal eviction, taking their property and throwing it outside. They’ve also bolted the second egress from the apartment, creating a fire hazard. And, last but not least, the ringing – oh the ringing! – has returned.
Just this morning, Eisenberg updated the blog detailing last night’s ringing. He wrote, “Between the bell ringing and their floor banging I’ve been up since 2am, my 2 year old has been up and fully awake from about 3am and my 10 year old is up as well.”
But this time he’s got a little bit more than just his word – which Malhi called into question in our last report. This time, Eisenberg caught the ringing on video. The video, above, was taken by a small camera that monitored the front door. Here’s Eisenberg’s narration:
Pay attention right under the tree, in the white space is our house number and right below that is the bell. You’ll see twice the door on the left open, the the screen door opens just a bit and the hand creeps out to disturb our sleep. The first time is about 17 seconds into the recording.
2842 Brigham Street, as drawn by Eisenberg's 6-year-old.
A lesson for landlords: if you’re going to pick a fight with a tenant, don’t do it with a social media guru of international acclaim. They might just air your dirty laundry.
That’s the lesson being learned by the property owners of 2842 Brigham Street – an address that may well live on in infamy thanks to a new website bearing its name: www.2842brigham.com.
Founded by Sheepshead Bay resident Bryan Eisenberg, the newly-launched website chronicles his family’s battle with landlord Mehtab Malhi. Malhi bought the house in October and, according to Eisenberg, it’s been constant clashes since then. To top it all off, Eisenberg said Malhi has attempted to enforce his tyrannical rule by abusing his power as a police officer, calling in favors from colleagues.
But Eisenberg’s got a few friends of his own. A best-selling author of books about online marketing and social media, Eisenberg sought to harness the power of the web to bring attention to his cause. After launching the 2842Brigham.com blog, he broadcast its posts to his network of thousands on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere.
“The number one reason I chose to bring this online is that there is little support online or anywhere for tenants who live in two-family homes,” said Eisenberg. “Sheepshead Bay is full of these, as you know. I want to create a resource for people who may go through this and don’t know what to do.”
For only $4,999,999, this can all be yours. Source: Curbed
Ever wish you could live in the lap of luxury, like, say, somewhere sophisticated on Central Park West, but hate that you wouldn’t have stunning vistas and easy access to the beach? Well, fret no more all you dreamers — for a scant almost $5 million, your real estate fantasies can surely come true.
In these troubled times, if dropping a cool $4,999,999 for a three bedroom, two bathroom Brighton Beach condo is no financial object for your bad affluent selves, has Prudential Douglas Elliman got a sweet deal for you, according to a post on Curbed:
Our brains short-circuited when we clicked on the listing for Penthouse 2A at 125 Oceana Drive East in Brighton Beach. The 3BR, 2BA condo that the listing describes as “the best oceanfront penthouse in Brooklyn” is also the most expensive property currently on the market in Brighton Beach, with an ask of, brace, $4,999,999. Because the $5 million psychological barrier is really the problem here.
So, do we have any takers? Any wanna-be Huguettes out there? And can someone please tell me what that thing is poking its head over the top of the lounge chair on the left. Because I have got no idea. It looks like an evil gargoyle.
Robert Haggerty was taking an afternoon nap when a neighbor woke him with shouts that his Lake Avenue home was on fire yesterday. The legally blind longtime Sheepshead Bay resident bolted out of bed and out the door, in time to find the home next door ablaze, and flames licking the side of his house.
“I’m just glad somebody woke him up, otherwise he’d be dead,” said a close relative who lives up the block.
In the bungalow colonies, wooden homes nearly 100 years old line the alleyway with little room in between. Only about three feet wide, the “avenue” in front of their home is nothing more than a walking path, and fire trucks are denied access. A small fire can quickly wipe out a community.
Luckily for Lake Avenue residents, scores of firefighters made it to the scene, linking hoses together and containing the blaze that started at 8 Lake Avenue in about 20 minutes. While Haggerty’s home next door had severe damage, and many of his belongings are headed for the trash, he did manage to save a prized possession: an urn with his deceased wife’s remains.
But, to Haggerty and other neighbors, the fire itself wasn’t much of a surprise. They say the property owner is a slumlord with a record of abuse.
With the weather getting a bit nippy, it’s time to remind landlords and their tenants that “Heat Season” began on Friday, October 1. That means if you’re a tenant, you’re entitled to a warm, well-heated dwelling – and if you’re landlord ain’t shelling out for it, you better take some steps to secure your rights.
Heat Season runs between October 1 and May 31, and building owners are required to provide tenants with heat under the following conditions:
Between the hours of 6:00 AM and 10:00 PM, if the outside temperature falls below 55 degrees, the inside temperature is required to be at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit; and,
Between the hours of 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM, if the temperature outside falls below 40 degrees, the inside temperature is required to be at least 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
Tenants who are cold in their apartments should first attempt to notify the building owner, managing agent or superintendent. If heat is not restored, the tenant should call the City’s Citizen Service Center at 311 (311 can be accessed outside of New York City by dialing (212) NEW YORK). For the hearing impaired, the TTY number is (212) 504-4115. The Center is open 24-hours a day, seven-days a week.
If a building owner fails to provide heat and hot water during the winter or has a serious history of flagrantly disregarding obligations to provide service to tenants, Housing Preservation and Development’s Housing Litigation Division (HLD) may sue the building owner in Housing Court.
There is another huge mortgage problem on the horizon, one that will even more directly burden the taxpayer than the current crisis: Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans.
Let’s compare what happened during the mortgage crisis and what’s happening now.
Before, if you didn’t have money to make a down payment on your new Sheepshead Bay condo, no problem! Banks were giving out dollars like crazy and so the purchasers would take out 100 percent financing. Sometimes they would even walk away from their purchase with money in their hands after they purchased a unit for a few million.
We know how the story ends. It’s not a stretch to say the majority of people who purchased homes in the West Village, Park Slope, Sheepshead Bay, or anywhere in New York City with 100 percent financing have either foreclosed, are behind in their mortgage payments, or are having issues.
Now, if you don’t have money to make a down payment on your new Sheepshead Bay condo, no problem! Buyers are still being offered almost 100 percent loans. But this time it’s backed by the government through the FHA. So taxpayers are insuring housing loans, not private companies. Worse still, those loans are making up the fastest growing part of many lenders’ businesses.
There is another huge mortgage problem on the horizon, one that will even more directly burden the taxpayer than the current crisis: Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans.
