“So does someone call you guys and tell you to walk if the Union and the RAB don’t reach agreement?” I asked three staffers clustered outside my building, figuring a mass email called them to action.

“No, I mean a phone call or an email could be phony,” the doorman said, “and that could go viral and there’d be a real mess.”

“Then how do you know?”

“The Force shows up,” I thought he must have been watching too many Star Wars reruns.

Read more »

While most of us are helplessly awaiting the countdown to the strike, fielding robocalls from Cynthia Nixon supporting the doormen as we contemplate hauling our trash to the dumpster, a few among us are sitting pretty. Yes, it’s business as usual at a number of tony co-ops and condos that started out as hotels and remain under the aegis of the Hotel Trades Union, having snubbed the advances of Local 32BJ that is set to walk. Read more »

OK, it’s been two months since Senator Schumer announced to the press that he was proposing legislation that would protect residents in New York, and across the country, from sex offender supers, after a convicted rapist who was a super for three small buildings on the Upper West Side was found to have traded sex for rent reductions withresidents. Only it turns out the issue was raised weeks before by New York State Assemblyman Michah Kellner.So where do things stand now? Read more »

With the April 20th strike deadline looming, and empty schedules posted to embarass residents of luxury towers into filling in for those who may walk out, I decided it was time to cut through the noise and get the straight talk . How better than to ask the guys at the front door face to face. So I closed my laptop and went on a highly unscientific, though elucidating tour of a dozen Downtown buildings. Here's what I found out. Read more »

Depends on who you talk to. Ask the folks at the Realty Advisory Board and they’ll say things are different this time because buildings are being squeezed on all sides by rising costs and declining values. Talk to the people at the Union, 32BJ SEIU, and they’ll say it’s pretty much bargaining as usual. So what's the real deal? Read more »