by Kim M 
Two weeks ago Greenpoint resident and local watch repairwoman, Ms. Leokadia Trzaskowska, was sitting at her workbench, like every day for the past 26 years, and had the unimaginable happen. A NYC Marshal stormed into her shop, not get a watch fixed, but to announce that the 77 year old was to leave the premises immediately. With no time to spare, the woman grabbed her purse and watched in confusion as a…
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Greenpointers has covered Greenpoint & Williamsburg since 2007 — community boards, rezoning fights, local businesses, and the people whose lives and work give the neighborhood its character. Local news is collapsing across the country, but we're still here: independently owned, no corporate backing, no paywall. 18+ years, 280k+ monthly readers and followers, funded by the community we serve.
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I spoke to her, outside her shop, the day the police were supposed to come by and discuss paperwork. Imagine what she’s going to do now. Rents are so high. She’s never going to make it. What will she do now? The landlord needs to be shamed in more ways than one.
It’s awful. I can’t imagine losing my whole life’s work at 77 years old. Seriously, it was only a matter of time before she retired. Couldn’t the landlord let the woman end the rest of her years in peace? Shit, he already waited this long. Another year or two wouldn’t have killed him. Shame on him.
Don’t even rich “creative types” need their watches repaired every now and again? A neighborhood with just bars, restaurants, and nail salons isn’t very livable.
Would the small business protection act really provide recourse to a tenant without a lease? This is a sad enough story but I can’t imagine that it would, or that a law protecting people without written real estate contracts (which are de facto unenforceable) would be workable, practical or desirable.
man i love sunshine laundry and i know they were trying to expand the laundromat in the back and get a liquor license so they could serve at the laundry, but i really hope they didn’t have a hand in this. somehow i didn’t register it may affect the watch repair. that is super sad.
I don’t really understand how you guys can publish these diatribes against gentrification on the same site that’s basically an full-on advertorial for all the useless hipster businesses taking over and charging exorbitant amounts of money for stupid crap (yes, I’m talking about the Heatonist piece you just posted), driving up rents and making these scenarios inevitable.
Exactly.
Completely agree w/GL, I empathize with the lady losing her business, but come on…total hypocrisy coming from this site! Just make a fundraiser already for every business that can’t afford the rent.
One of your sentences after another, you empathize with the old lady and ridicule every business that can’t afford the rent –as if others’ greed was their fault. And in between both of them, you have the balls of accusing the site of hypocrisy? You wouldn’t know what hypocrisy is if it vomited on your face, just the same way you haven’t noticed the beam in your fucking eye.
Soooo, I think you are misinterpreting my comment. I am not criticizing the old lady’s business, I am criticizing the businesses that come in AFTER someone’s been kicked out and are willing to pay steep rents to hawk they’re high-priced frivolous wares or brunches–which also seem to be the types of businesses most represented on the other sections of this site. (But you know, if you’re having a tough day and just looking to spew vitriolic non-sensical insults at people, then never mind.)
Dear GL, I wonder if by now you’ve realized that my comment was directed to Emmanuel; not you.
Not only I almost quoted him –“empathize with the [old] lady”– but you’d also found another clue to my comment’s desired recipient if you had just paid attention to the overall indentation of the comments, which it is doubtlessly intended for such purpose.
I have to say, though, that it doesn’t surprise me your feeling alluded by my remarks to Emmanuel being the case that you also accuse others of your own faults –such as your claim that I am misrepresenting your comment.
And it doesn’t surprise me either your qualifying my observation as “non-sensical” as you likely didn’t understand what I said. Vitriolic, yes, though I ponder if you know the meaning of the word.
And, now, you may kiss my ass.
It’s a global balancing act of economic polarization. When governments encourage gentrification to come from within the community, I think that’s healthier. NYC is a magnet for dreamers. Someone once told me one should be wary of dreamers, to which I’d add, particularly if they’ve zero respect for the environment.
Here’s to drinking reality away.
1. @ the end of the day most people on this blog have contributed to pushing this woman and others out by demanding the type of services that come w/ the rent they are paying.
2. NYC is a place that is ever changing. Once upon a time, the Polish were not ‘native’ to this area, people get pushed out and come back etc. etc. etc.
1. Yes, the same that happened to Photoplay or even the HSBC branch at that corner (by the way, can anyone wrap their head about a bank not being able to pay rent?) . They had to close because we Greenpointers demanded the type of services that come w/ the rent we pay.
Oh, wait a minute, those places closed over a year ago, and no new service whatsoever has come to the area in their place. I think I’m going to ask my landlord to lower my rent based on fulfillment failure of my expectations.
Give me a break.
2. Have you ever heard of changing without ruining someone else’s life?
Give me another break.