Sunnyside tenants file class action lawsuit against landlord

From Sunnyside Post:

Nearly 70 tenants—many of whom live in Sunnyside and Woodside buildings–are part of a class action law suit that alleges that their management company has been illegally jacking up their rent by falsely inflating the cost of apartment improvements across its entire portfolio of properties.

The lawsuit, which has 67 plaintiffs, was filed Tuesday against Forest Hills-based Bronstein Properties, one of the largest residential landlords in New York City. The suit was filed in the New York Supreme Court on behalf of the named plaintiffs as well as all of Bronstein’s tenants who paid inflated rent between July 25, 2013 and today.

Many of the named plaintiffs are tenants from as many as seven Sunnyside and Woodside buildings.

The suit claims that Bronstein and its owner Barry Rudofsky have been in violation of New York City’s Rent Stabilization laws, which has led to unfair rent hikes.

Under the law, landlords are able to increase rent on rent stabilized apartments based on annual increases set by the Rent Guidelines Board, as well if there are major capital improvements to the buildings, such as elevators, new roofs or new windows, or if there is a vacancy or renovations to individual apartments.

The plaintiffs claim that many of the renovations to individual apartments were not done and the rents were increased illegally.

Kissena Park tennis courts need better maintenance

From CBS 2:

They claim the city has left their local tennis courts in disarray.

The Har-Tru clay courts require a lot of water to stay solid and safe. When they dry out, holes develop in the clay and nails start to surface.

Residents said the sprinkler’s timer system lasted only one season. Now someone from the parks department manually turns the sprinklers on, but the water doesn’t even reach the entire court.

CBS2 asked a parks employee to explain, but he wouldn’t say much.

“The people who put it in, they were supposed to – well, I don’t want to say,” he said.

MTA seriously needs to upgrade signals

From the Daily News:

The MTA has got a problem with delays when it comes to repairing critical signal equipment, according to an analysis the city’s Independent Budget Office released Tuesday.

Projects that keep signals in good working order can be months, even years, behind schedule, according to the budget office’s analysis of three Metropolitan Transportation Authority capital plans, from 2004 to 2019.

From 2005 to 2014, 19 out of 33 signal projects were completed late or will wrap up behind schedule. Meanwhile, nearly a third of projects begun over that time are still underway.

Signal malfunctions can be devastating, creating a ripple effect from line to line that can last for hours. The problems the malfunctions cause are complicated by the age of the equipment. Much of the signal work involves painstakingly repairing ancient parts that can date to the 1930s. An upgrade to a signal and track system on the Queens Blvd. lines at 71st. Ave. and Union Turnpike that should have been done in April was pushed back a whopping 14 months.

And this is the problem with our electeds. They like making headlines with splashy proposals for new transit systems, like BQX and light rail while the current system is allowed to go to pot.