Les Paul

In high school when every kid seemed to be part of a garage band and wanted to be the next Guns and Roses or Metallica or the Traveling Willburys. The one common term among guitarists was Les Paul. The Les Paul was the holy grail amongst those musicians.

I forget where exactly but I believe somewhere near the East Village there was a club that advertised that Les Paul played there once a week. Being a jaded New Yorker, I would think about checking it out remembering how revered he was then forget about it.

Now I am really regretting never seeing him perform.

The Legendary Les Paul Dies at 94

Les Paul was a class act. Even when he was crippled with arthritis he figured out a way to play guitar without bending his fingers. And he was beloved by all.

Godspeed to you sir.

Honky Trek: Scarsdale?

I was actually trying to find the political cartoon Honky Trek: White Flight by Berkely Breathed. But this will do.

In the past year I have done copious amounts of coverage on Scarsdale.

Scarsdale passes gas

SCARSDALE IS F**KED!: Scarsdale launches the charm offensive.

Queens or Scarsdale Part 2: The Answer

Queens or Scarsdale Part 3: The Final Countdown


However this new development is huge because it impacts the future of Scarsdale.

Westchester Adds Housing to Desegregation Pact


By SAM ROBERTS

Westchester County entered into a landmark desegregation agreement on Monday that would compel it to create hundreds of houses and apartments for moderate-income people in overwhelmingly white communities and aggressively market them to nonwhites in Westchester and New York City.

The agreement, if ratified by the county’s Board of Legislators, would settle a lawsuit filed by an antidiscrimination group and could become a template for increased scrutiny of local governments’ housing policies by the Obama administration.

“This is consistent with the president’s desire to see a fully integrated society,” said Ron Sims, the deputy secretary of housing and urban development, which helped broker the settlement along with the Justice Department. “Until now, we tended to lay dormant. This is historic, because we are going to hold people’s feet to the fire.”

Now before you start calling me insensitive or evil, I want to get something very clear. I am pro affordable housing. In fact I took a class on the subject of affordable housing credits and was strongly considering getting into that part of the real estate industry because not only was it quite profitable, it was an area that would make a huge difference in people's lives. There is a gaping crevasse between the haves and have nots that keeps getting bigger and bigger. Affordable Housing is one of the tools to fill that gap.

Affordable Housing has the unfortunate stigma for bringing those elements to light. And it is going to be a cause for alarm. The reality is that affordable housing is about helping the people that are the backbone of America which are the teachers, firefighters, policer officers and sanitation workers. These are the people that run our communities and affordable housing will provide them homes they need.


However, the transition for Westchester particularly for places like Scarsdale is going to be quite rocky.



Below is my analysis.

The agreement calls for the county to spend more than $50 million of its own money, in addition to other funds, to build or acquire 750 homes or apartments, 630 of which must be provided in towns and villages where black residents constitute 3 percent or less of the population and Hispanic residents make up less than 7 percent. The 120 other spaces must meet different criteria for cost and ethnic concentration.

The county, one of the nation’s wealthiest suburbs, has seven years to complete the construction or acquisition of the affordable housing.

Seven years goes by very quickly. And with this deadline these areas are going to be hard pressed to come up with a plan that satisfies everyone.

Affordable housing is defined by a complex formula, but generally it is meant to help working families keep from spending more than a third of their gross income on housing. A family of four could make up to $53,000 as a tenant and up to $75,000 as an owner and still qualify.

There is no minimum income level, “but it’s not going to be no-income,” said Craig Gurian, executive director of the Anti-Discrimination Center, which filed the lawsuit. “This agreement is not focused on facilitating housing for the poorest of the poor.” The center is a nonprofit anti-bias advocacy and litigation group based in New York City.

The reason why there is no minimum is that could be used as a way implement steerage and redlining. For instance, in Scarsdale the only qualification is money. Which means you have to a lot of it. Without a minimum, Scarsdale can't use money as a barrier to entry.

Mr. Gurian said that while black and Hispanic residents have a disproportionate need for affordable housing, “this is an opportunity-creating agreement, not a guarantee” that the homes would go to minority members.

“Residential segregation underlies virtually every racial disparity in America, from education to jobs to the delivery of health care,” said Mr. Gurian.

No communities have been chosen to receive the homes, officials said. But according to the Anti-Discrimination Center, more than two dozen predominantly white towns or villages are eligible, including Bedford, Bronxville, Eastchester, Hastings-on-Hudson, Harrison, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, New Castle, Pelham Manor, Rye and Scarsdale.

I want to get something clear. There are black people in Scarsdale. However, from what I understand, it can be somewhat of a unique experience for young African American men. I will put it this way. They make sure they have their ID on them whenever they are out at night.

A federal monitor, James E. Johnson, has been appointed to ensure that the county abides by the settlement. Given that 120,000 acres in the county meet the criteria, the monitor “should have no difficulty making sure that Westchester ends its policy of allowing affordable housing to be off-limits in the most highly white neighborhoods in the county,” Mr. Gurian said.

Whoever owns those 120,000 is sitting on the catbird seat. Anyone who lives next to those acres is screwed. Anyone who knows those acres will milk their position for what it is worth. They will grab as many tax credits, grants and benefits they qualify. They will do everything they can squeeze out as much profit of those acres. They will sell those tax credits and they are also in a position of power when dealing with the town government. In fact if the town is smart they will take ownership of the land in order control the process as much as possible.

This affordable housing settlement is also a boon for real estate developers in Westchester, particularly those who have a ton of inventory that is sitting on the market. The smart real estate developer will do what they can to qualify for the Affordable Housing Settlement in order to sell off their inventory. This is especially bad for Scarsdale because there is real estate developer who has a condo development that specializes in Senior Housing. He also owns key buildings in the village and was planning to turn those into condos but with the housing crash, those plans are now put on hold. What do you think he is doing now? He is most likely switching gears and looking into affordable housing.

The lawsuit, filed under the federal False Claims Act, argued that when Westchester applied for federal Community Development Block Grants for affordable housing and other projects, county officials treated part of the application as boilerplate — lying when they claimed to have complied with mandates to encourage fair housing.

A Westchester official originally dismissed the suit as “garbage.” But the county was largely repudiated in February when Judge Denise L. Cote ruled in Federal District Court that between 2000 and 2006 it had misrepresented its efforts to desegregate overwhelmingly white communities when it applied for the federal housing funds.

Judge Cote concluded that Westchester had made little or no effort to find out where low-income housing was being placed, or to finance homes and apartments in communities that opposed affordable housing.

When you take money from Uncle Sugar, no strings are attached, just a very long detonation cord that will blow up in your face if you do not play by their rules. Awhile back I wrote about Scarsdale taking stimulus money it did not need.

Stimulated Scarsdale

I have not doubt that will also bite Scarsdale in the ass.

As part of Monday’s agreement, the county admitted that it has the authority to challenge zoning rules in villages and towns that in many cases implicitly discourage affordable housing by setting minimum lot sizes, discouraging higher-density developments or appropriating vacant property for other purposes. Westchester agreed to “take legal action to compel compliance if municipalities hinder or impede the county” in complying with the agreement.

It was unclear Monday to what extent localities could thwart the agreement, if any chose to do so. Mary Beth Murphy, the town supervisor of Somers, which is among the possible locales for new housing, said that while she was unaware of the agreement, “we certainly are committed to affordable housing and have amended our zoning legislation in recent years to create more opportunities.”

I do not envy the people who are part of these local governments. The next 7 years is going to be absolute hell. They are not only going to be heavily scrutinized by the federal government but they are also going to get a full body cavity by their constituents.

The agreement could spark challenges to suburban county governments across the country that have resisted pressure to undo decades of residential segregation.

Andrew J. Spano, the Westchester County executive, attributed the settlement to “a historic shift of philosophy” by federal housing officials. He said he had signed the agreement to avoid further litigation and possible penalties.

The county admitted no wrongdoing, attributed the judge’s ruling to a technicality and argued that since it had previously invested in affordable housing, “what is different is the locations where the housing must be built.”

“We are settling the lawsuit because we have no choice,” Mr. Spano said.

The suit by the Anti-Discrimination Center applied to towns and villages in Westchester. The federal government deals directly with the county’s larger cities, among them Yonkers, which nearly went bankrupt before capitulating in a housing segregation case that began in 1980 and dragged on for years. That city, which had concentrated public housing in its southwest, was forced to build on the east side, where more whites lived.

The agreement is subject to approval within 45 days by the county’s Board of Legislators, which is also required to approve a $32.9 million bond sale to help finance the housing. Without legislative approval, the litigation would resume and the county would be faced with having to prove at trial that it did not knowingly file false claims.

Spano has no choice but to settle. First of all money is tight and by settling they at least have some measure of control over the situation. Lawsuits are like fighting matches. The last thing you want to do is have it go to decision.

Most of the homes would be new construction, although some existing houses and apartments could qualify if the county made them permanently affordable.

As I stated before, an enterprising real estate developer can make a lot of money from this statement. Scarsdale is getting hit just as hard as the rest of the real estate market. They are sellers out there dying to get out. A smart real estate developer will buy out as many cheap houses they can find and create an assemblage. Knock them down and build multi-families. Where are they going to get the money? No worries. We are living in Obama's world. Uncle Sugar will provide milk money straight from the teet.

Of course expect outrage amongst Scarsdale residents who live in areas like Edgewood which is often referred to as the ghetto/Bronx/Harlem of Scarsdale. They are the most likely place where affordable housing will take root.

Now in this article they focus on these particular towns.

Bedford, Bronxville, Eastchester, Hastings-on-Hudson, Harrison, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, New Castle, Pelham Manor, Rye and Scarsdale.

They do not mention Edgemont? Why? Because it is part of the town of Greenburgh.

Look at the graphic below.



Because they are part of the town of Greenburgh. And there are areas of Greenburgh that already fit the qualifications of affordable housing. Yet, Edgemont is far enough away from those areas that it does not impact property values. Word of advice for you Edgemont kids. It might be in your best interest to shut the f**k up about saying you are from Scarsdale because it might attract unwanted attention.

As I stated before, this transition will not be smooth. There is going to be a lot of tension amongst these towns. Expect to hear a lot about this in the news. Especially a place like Rye. That community has a reputation of keeping to themselves, even if it means not enjoying their own public parks.The simple reason why people move to these towns is get away, and thre is no way I can say this without sounding like a douchebag, from certain elements. But that is the primary motivation of why people move to the suburbs. And honestly, it is not race thing. It is an economic thing.


There will be those who will join the white flight which will actually raise the property values in places like Edgemont because it will not be effected by the Affordable Housing program but will still retain its prominence.

I have no idea how this will effect the school systems. If the AT program does not pick up the pace, I would not be surprised that Scarsdale reverts back to Advanced Placement since it is already an established and it will be easier to implement in order to deal with the influx of new students.

There is also potential of further polarizing the residents of Scarsdale from their new neighbors. They might want to ensure their enclave status by taking measures that their children get a better education in the same institution that is shared by the affordable housing population. While being labeled as living in affordable housing could be a stigma. In other words, separate but equal. If it is ever proven that students from affordable housing are not given the same opportunities as their more richer brethren, Justice Soto-Mayor will lay the smack down when the case lands in the Supreme Court.

Or being part of affordable housing could actually a badge of honor and prove to be an advantage when applying to colleges.

I could go on and on with my analysis which may or may not come true. However there are two things that I know for sure. This will impact property values in Scarsdale and there will be an upward tick of white flight.

Dawn of a new age

I read this from those wacky Curbed people.



Related Cos. touts paperless lease process

I have been talking this for years.

Outsourcing rental brokers


Roll Call: What lies ahead

I stand corrected... on somethings

Rose Associates is already doing this.

The paperless application is going to be more prevalent even amongst smaller owners. In the near future there will be turnkey solutions that will many owners will run to in droves. It is simple really. Paper, although is cheap after awhile it takes up a lot of space. Go to any landlord's office and you will see file cabinets everywhere. Some landlords have to rent storage space for their records. The paperless application reduces all of that to one small server. And daily backups prevent any loss of data.

As I stated before, this is bad for brokers because one of the key rolesthey play is in preparing the leases for execution. If that is replaced by a website, what is the point of going to a broker? Eventually some enterprising individual is going to figure out how to adapt the paperless solution to condo and co-op board packages and people will be able to do them on their blackberries. This is also a bad thing for brokers.

More evidence that we are not out of the woods yet.

Bad Assets May Need More Support

Key takeaways

VALUE OF TOXIC ASSETS UNKNOWN

"No one has a good handle how much is out there," Warren said. "Here we are 10 months into this crisis...and we can't tell you what the dollar value is."

Estimates are that "somewhere between $600 billion and $1.5 trillion in toxic assets (is) spread across the balance sheets of the small and the large banks," Warren said, adding: "That's a lot."

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY TIME BOMB

The Congressional Oversight Panel said, however, that smaller U.S. banks faced billions of dollars in losses from delinquent commercial property loans and were far less able to raise capital and absorb losses than their larger counterparts.

An analysis done by the panel showed that under a scenario 20 percent worse than assumptions used in the Federal Reserve's stress tests, about 719 banks with assets between $600 million and $100 billion would need to raise some $21 billion in new capital to offset loan losses.

"Treasury must be prepared to turn its attention to small banks in crafting solutions to the growing problem of troubled whole loans," the panel said, adding that it should consider using similar stress tests -- along with pledges for additional capital -- on smaller institutions.

Brave New World indeed.

All Hands for Building Collapse

Breaking: Unstable Walls At 2 Fifth Avenue

Some wire reports about 2 Fifth Avenue, the post-war building just north of Washington Square Park (on the west side of Fifth): "10-12 FLOOR WALLS ARE BULGING" and "BRICKS ARE PULLING AWAY FROM THE 17TH AND 18TH FLOORS." Yikes! Apparently the Department of Building was called and authorities are preparing for a possible "minor collapse." And here's some history about the 20-story, 391-unit building—did you know there were originally 11 brownstones on the property—built by William Rhinelander for his family—between Washington Square Park North and 8th Street? When plans for this apartment building were released, there was a "Save Rhinelander" campaign. UPDATE: Now it's an "all hands" situation for a wall collapse

I am sure Brown Harris Stevens is freaking out. They have an office right next door. The city is going to take good care of this building since Ed Koch lives there.

Forget about the GIJoe movie but don't forget about John Hughes

This is what the GIJoe movie should have been.

As many of you know, the inspiration for the name of this blog came from a childhood comic book of mine, GIJoe. I still hold that comic and the cartoon in high regard. I have even met the great Larry Hama twice who took pictures with me and signed my comics.

Which is why I am not paying money to see the movie.

I had problems with the movie from the git go when they hired Stephen Sommers to direct it. I have read the background information, the spoilers and the comic book movie adaptation which confirm my worst fears for the film which is that they show very little respect for the source material.


Paramount already knows this movie sucks ass after word leaked about the test audience scores being the lowest in history and Stephen Sommers being let go and rehired. So they have waged a hearts and minds campaign by drafting critics sympathetic to their cause to spread the word of mouth that this is an awesome movie.

DO NOT BELIEVE THE HYPE! DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!





If you want to do something really constructive with your time. Rent a bunch of John Hughes films. Breakfast Club, sixteen Candles, Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Pay tribute to the man who played a key role the teen movie experience in the 1980's.

God Bless you John Hughes.

Another Douchebag

You think your life sucks? Watch this and answer the question.

I am beyond livid right now over this piece of trash that went on that shooting spree in PA. I have skimmed his words, which as far as I am concerned does not count as a blog. It is a website. If you want further details go to Gawker. I am not going to quote him, I am not even going to mention his name.

What really angers me is that the stuff he gripes about is bulls**t we all deal with. He talks about how he hates his job, that he hasn't gotten laid since last century, no woman wants to go out with him, he's lonely, he has no friends and he is completely unsatisfied with his station in life and feels that his life is one big zero.

So he figures by shooting some innocent people he will at least have a place in history.

This guy was actually the luckiest in the world and I will prove it to you.

He hates his job. First of all at least he has a job and a house which is more than most people have especially in the world we live in now.

He hasn't gotten laid since Thriller was first released and he is unmarried. There is actually an upside to this. He has never contracted a sexually transmitted disease and does not have to deal with unwanted pregnancies. Remember, like Kanye West says:

"18 years, 18 years. She got one of yo kids got you for 18 years"

Also dating costs money. The benefit of not dating was that he was able to save up for a house.

If he had wife and kids he would be freaking out right now because he has to deal with the fact he has mouths to feed while the sword of Damocles hangs above his head.

He feels insignificant in his lack of accomplishments. Accomplishments are a pain in the ass. There is always a price for each great achievement which require work and effort. The scary thing is even if you do your best the result is jack squat. There is nothing wrong with settling. At least you know what you are getting.

Surrounded by idiots. Dude. They are everywhere.

Friends suck. Friends can be wonderful but they also be a pain in the ass because you have deal with their bulls**t too. Especially if you have friends who are complete douchebags and treat you like crap.

He has an over domineering mother. All mothers are over domineering. That is what mothers are supposed to do. It is from this domination that children are developed for better or for worse.

He has an older brother who was a a$$hole. All older brothers are a$$holes. I think it is important to have an older sibling who is an a$$hole because then younger siblings are able to develop the proper skill sets to endure and navigate under an oppressive regime.


The future holds nothing for him. The future is what you make of it. You have no control over anything but yourself. So whatever is thrown your way, you have to make do with what is given.

All the things he rants are problems that are easily solved.

Has no girlfriend or wife? There are a ton of internet dating sites out there where he could have found a mate. And if he did not want to spend the money there is always craigslist. If you got the money, get yourself a mail order bride. When all else fails, there is always porn

Idiots and a f**ked up family. Part of our life's work is learning how to deal with family members that we do not like and dealing with the a$$holes. These are elements we are never free of. This can be simply solved by avoiding all family gatherings and not dealing with people in general. That means becoming a hermit. Or trying to adapt to these type of people.

That void of feeling completely useless or not amounting to anything could have been filled by volunteering or engaging in some type of charitable work. Helping others provides great meaning to one's life. If he wanted fame or fortune, there is plenty of opportunities online. From making porn to doing something stupid. Look at those people who made that wedding dance video. Nothing special about that. Just a bunch of young people dancing down the aisle. But they got on the Today Show. He could have gotten his 15 minutes without killing innocent people.

Yeah. He was 48 years old but he still had a lot of years ahead of him and being single and unattached meant he had complete freedom. He was actually the master of his own fate because he had not other obligations other than to himself. He could have left the country, traveled, find a job overseas and begin a new life.

Maybe if he had traveled and saw what real human suffering was, what real anger and hate was. Maybe he would have realized that he was acting like an idiot.

And even after that, if he was still unable to shake what he felt the need to express himself through violence, then he should have gone for professional help. If that did not work than he should just done himself in first. At least some innocent people would have been alive.

Just waiting to bite us in the ass

Awhile back there was a building I was doing an open house in and while waiting for buyers and I was talking shop with the super of the building. We were discussing the new development that had opened up around the corner and with a smile he shook his head saying that he would never buy into that development. Before becoming a super he was in construction and from what he saw of that new development it was a disaster waiting to happen.

Which brings me to this article.

New York Faces Huge Backlog in Retests of Concrete

Nearly a year after New York City said it had a plan to retest the concrete in an untold number of buildings because a testing company was suspected of failing to perform required tests or falsifying results on scores of projects, only a handful of buildings have been retested.

The City Department of Buildings first learned of the allegations against the company, Testwell Laboratories, in June 2008, and two months later, an official said that the agency had developed a plan to begin the required retesting. In October 2008, when several company officials and employees were charged in the case — accusations that involved some of the city’s highest-profile construction projects — the Buildings Department received a formal list of the affected buildings.

One of the many words of wisdom that Mama Grunt bestowed upon her brood was to never buy a home that was recently built or was built that had never been inhabited before. Always buy a home that has a record of habitation.

During the last boom, building materials were in high demand due to the fact there was a ginormous construction going on in China. There were lots of rumors about developers cutting corners to keep down costs. Which makes this situation so f**king scary.

There is a huge possibility that New York City has a number of potential collapsing time bombs. It may not happen today, it may not happen tomorrow, it may not happen for the next ten years. But if the NYC government has dropped the ball on quality control, we may be looking at this in the near future.