So I get an email yesterday from a fellow blogger and wouldn’t you know it – she was the previous tenant in my exact apartment. How fucking random is that?
Here are her woes as an Astral tenant.
Seems she had the same issue as I did with the bathroom ceiling collapse. Apparently they “fixed” it before I moved in but as I know it wasn’t really fixed then since it fell when I moved in. And they were going to just do another patch job before I pointed out that there was an actual steady leak causing it. For the record, it was fixed in September and no problems since.
It also seems she too had bedbugs like so many other tenants. I had bedbugs and I had Tommy do a couple of treatments, threw away my wood bedframe and have not seen or been bitten in two months. It helped that I use an air mattress and don’t have much furniture. The place is only two rooms and I’m not looking to entertain in 200 sq feet of space. Bedbugs are a real issue in the city and well, if I have the possibility of dealing with them pretty much anywhere, I may as well deal with them in a rent stabilized place exactly where I want to live.
I also really want to express that Tommy has been nothing but helpful and on the ball when it comes to problems in my apartment. The ceiling collapse, the bedbug issue, the time I got locked inside my apartment with my boyfriend on the other side. He always says hello, is very helpful and is a good guy.
Tommy’s told me about the young people who move to the building with nothing but a suitcase and the next month they have an apartment full of furniture – off the street and out of the thrift shops. I have to say I agree with him. They’re hanging out on Williamsburg bar couches and bringing home critters from whatever previous hipster from McKibbens brought with ’em. And then they infest the building so people like me, Emily and Stella have to deal with the shit.
I luckily was not infested with them. If I was I might be singing a different tune. I live pretty sparingly and they really don’t have anywhere to hang considering I’m not one to leave clothes around, have an airbed and no rugs or anything. A little bit of poison every few months and those bastards stay away.
Maybe I have a thicker skin being that I’m born and raised here, but there’s no fucking way I’m letting some glorified mosquitoes of the night get me to move.
Yeah, i live in the astral too for about 5 years and have to say I’ve heard these horror stories but never experienced them. I lived in actual hellholes before at much more exorbitant rates and i find tommy and edwin and the gang to be both charming and mildly helpful. More amusing than anything else.
I don’t think you can go in expecting very much. It’s a huge rent-stabilized building in a forgotten district. it is what it is.
Lovely Lady J – I’m really happy to hear that the bugs haven’t been a driving force to change your life. You’re right – they ARE just bugs, and they are manageable if you’re in the right frame of mine. Unfortunately, I had an apartment full of things I’d collected over my years on this earth, and as a result of the bugs, everything except my metal desk, my clothes, and my books (which I microwaved/baked individually upon leaving the apartment so as to kill bedbug eggs) was lost in the Great Bedbug Purge of 2007.
And yes, my communication problems were always with the management, and never with Tommy. He was very sweet and very attentive to the apartment’s many problems. But it’s SUCH A CUTE PLACE!!! I’m happy that you’re happy there – I have so many good memories that far outweigh the bad ones.
I had an apartment full of things I’d collected over my years on this earth, and as a result of the bugs, everything except my metal desk, my clothes, and my books (which I microwaved/baked individually upon leaving the apartment so as to kill bedbug eggs) was lost in the Great Bedbug Purge of 2007.
Oh my goodness – my heart goes out to you, Stella! I’m so sorry to hear that.
At the very least, I’m glad to hear the good outweighed the bad. 🙂
I put an application in for a unit at the Astral today and now I’m having second thoughts. All of my furniture is brand new and 100% bedbug free. I’ve lived in a building in “prime UWS” (blah blah) for two years and can’t imagine having any worse problems (massive mice infestation / roaches / leaks / etc.)
Should I have second thoughts about renting in the building? Or am I being paranoid?