10 Midwood: A Place That Really Sucks
September 6, 2007 8:25 AM Subscribe
If piss were oil, 10 Midwood would be Saudi Arabia. It is a poorly managed, under-maintained, out of date, dirty, smelly bunker which makes the worst college dorm seem like the Governor's Mansion. [language and images may be nsfw]
MOVE.
posted by Debaser626 at 8:37 AM on September 6, 2007
posted by Debaser626 at 8:37 AM on September 6, 2007
Reminds me of St. Patricks day on McLean Avenue in Yonkers.
posted by Sk4n at 8:39 AM on September 6, 2007
posted by Sk4n at 8:39 AM on September 6, 2007
Oh. It turns out to be New York. Cue Billy Joel.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:40 AM on September 6, 2007
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:40 AM on September 6, 2007
I'd rather he cleaned the place up (directly or through taking action and getting the landlord to do it) than move. But he doesn't really seem to be doing either one. Is a slumlord going to be threatened by bad publicity, especially in blog form?
posted by DU at 8:43 AM on September 6, 2007
posted by DU at 8:43 AM on September 6, 2007
I am shaking right now because I hate 10 Midwood so much.
posted by Nelson at 8:51 AM on September 6, 2007
posted by Nelson at 8:51 AM on September 6, 2007
That's nothing! Go to New Orleans' French Quarter after Mardi Gras. It makes Midwood look like Rodeo Drive.
posted by wsg at 8:52 AM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by wsg at 8:52 AM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
MOVE.
It takes several thousand dollars to secure a apartment in Brooklyn, in addition to losing your security deposit when you break a lease. I bet they would move if they had the money.
Gunfire, traffic accidents involving revelers and floats and illegal narcotics use among thousands of participants have made this less about Caribbean culture and more about violence and criminal activity.
LOL FUD. Millions of people congregate on Eastern Parkway for the West Indian day parade (more of a festival), and the worst that happened this year was one person getting shot in the leg. The NYPD is out in incredible force for that event, it's probably the safest day in Brooklyn all year.
posted by eddydamascene at 9:20 AM on September 6, 2007
It takes several thousand dollars to secure a apartment in Brooklyn, in addition to losing your security deposit when you break a lease. I bet they would move if they had the money.
Gunfire, traffic accidents involving revelers and floats and illegal narcotics use among thousands of participants have made this less about Caribbean culture and more about violence and criminal activity.
LOL FUD. Millions of people congregate on Eastern Parkway for the West Indian day parade (more of a festival), and the worst that happened this year was one person getting shot in the leg. The NYPD is out in incredible force for that event, it's probably the safest day in Brooklyn all year.
posted by eddydamascene at 9:20 AM on September 6, 2007
The pictures of the street after the parade? Looked much cleaner than I'd expect. No one should have to deal with piss and urine, but, less bitching and more picking up trash wouldn't hurt.
Honestly? I'd have more sympathy without the pictures. There's trash on the streets? And birds?
I had dinner on McLean the other night.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 9:21 AM on September 6, 2007
Honestly? I'd have more sympathy without the pictures. There's trash on the streets? And birds?
I had dinner on McLean the other night.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 9:21 AM on September 6, 2007
Wow, does he overreact much? Is he new to the city? Is he paying $10,000 a month or something? Because that honestly doesn't look too bad. I've seen much worse. He's complaining about a mess on the steps? Hell, in the East Village in the late 80s we coexisted with dog sized rats who regularly came out of dog sized rat holes in the walls as we walked down the hall to the toilet - and there were androgynous mute homeless people living on the roof and crazy women and landlords who sent big hulking dumb guys over to collect the rent we were futilely trying to put on strike and we walked three miles uphill to school in the snow. Damn overprivileged youth of today bloggers.
posted by mygothlaundry at 9:22 AM on September 6, 2007 [2 favorites]
posted by mygothlaundry at 9:22 AM on September 6, 2007 [2 favorites]
Not that I don't appreciate the vitriol, mind you.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 9:43 AM on September 6, 2007
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 9:43 AM on September 6, 2007
The only thing in that that gave me any sympathy for the guy was the bum sleeping on the steps. That's just creepy. But it still could have been worse. I knew a guy who once had to knock a crackhead unconscious because he went from begging for money to grabbing at him in some half assed attempt at a mugging. and that was in williamsburg for christ's sake.
posted by shmegegge at 9:45 AM on September 6, 2007
posted by shmegegge at 9:45 AM on September 6, 2007
I don't get it, did he not notice this stuff when he looked at the place before signing the lease? This guy comes across as one of those wankers who moves next tot he train tracks and then starts complaining about the train whistles blowing just like they have been for the past century.
posted by Mitheral at 9:51 AM on September 6, 2007
posted by Mitheral at 9:51 AM on September 6, 2007
Adding yet another unsympathetic voice to the chorus. He got cheap digs in a hot neighborhood and he's bitching about the trash? Boo freaking hoo.
posted by JaredSeth at 10:04 AM on September 6, 2007
posted by JaredSeth at 10:04 AM on September 6, 2007
pls tag passiveAgressive kthx
posted by boo_radley at 10:05 AM on September 6, 2007
posted by boo_radley at 10:05 AM on September 6, 2007
um, that's how my streets and my apartment building looks. that's called "city living".
posted by misanthropicsarah at 10:14 AM on September 6, 2007
posted by misanthropicsarah at 10:14 AM on September 6, 2007
oh puh-lease. middle-class suburbanite moves to a cheap apartment building in brooklyn, is shocked at living conditions. news at 11.
posted by gnutron at 10:37 AM on September 6, 2007 [3 favorites]
posted by gnutron at 10:37 AM on September 6, 2007 [3 favorites]
So let me get this straight. People living in cities on the East Coast put up with PUDDLES OF FUCKING URINE IN THEIR HOMES, and snark on people who bitch about it? How is a lobby filled with piss and dog shit acceptable on any level?
posted by peep at 10:41 AM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by peep at 10:41 AM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
He ought to spend less time MS Painting crime scene circles around *gasp* takeout containers and spend more time emulating his neighbor's blog at 163 Ocean.
Then again, that'd require more contstructive action and less hipster wit, so maybe not.
posted by rollbiz at 10:44 AM on September 6, 2007
Then again, that'd require more contstructive action and less hipster wit, so maybe not.
posted by rollbiz at 10:44 AM on September 6, 2007
Not so bad if you're homeless.
posted by StarForce5 at 11:10 AM on September 6, 2007
posted by StarForce5 at 11:10 AM on September 6, 2007
As one of the gentrifying white people living in the southeast-of-Prospect-Park area, let me say that not every one of us is a hyperventilating spoiled ninny.
YOU LIVE IN THE GHETTO, BITCH. PUT UP WITH IT. YOU'RE PAYING $800 FOR A REASON.
posted by nasreddin at 11:21 AM on September 6, 2007 [2 favorites]
YOU LIVE IN THE GHETTO, BITCH. PUT UP WITH IT. YOU'RE PAYING $800 FOR A REASON.
posted by nasreddin at 11:21 AM on September 6, 2007 [2 favorites]
Also, it's YOUR FAULT people in this neighborhood think white people want to make it Park Slope Lite and force them out.
I have adjusted to living with 3 inch long cocroaches, it doesn't even bother me anymore.
posted by nasreddin at 11:24 AM on September 6, 2007
I have adjusted to living with 3 inch long cocroaches, it doesn't even bother me anymore.
posted by nasreddin at 11:24 AM on September 6, 2007
at least they have an elevator.
posted by unknowncommand at 12:03 PM on September 6, 2007
posted by unknowncommand at 12:03 PM on September 6, 2007
Wow, the boondocks don't seem as bad anymore. I pay $520/ month (split with a roommate, so i pay $260) for a clean 2-bedroom with soundproof walls, free water and free Comcast cable, with a cool landlord and a 24-hour maintenance man who fixes anything.
Sigh. But it's a third-rate symphony.
posted by ELF Radio at 12:21 PM on September 6, 2007
Sigh. But it's a third-rate symphony.
posted by ELF Radio at 12:21 PM on September 6, 2007
You can pay that in Cleveland with a first-class symphony.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 12:27 PM on September 6, 2007
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 12:27 PM on September 6, 2007
It's amazing the amount of time they waste complaining about the problem.
I used to run a community site for people living at a building in the Navy Yards. I trying to make a place for concert announcements, want ads, get-togethers and that kind of information, but there was one guy who posted several times every day with every snitty little event that annoyed him and it just took over the site. It was the same thing, photos of mysterious stains, gum wrappers, cigarette butts, complaints about the elevator or the water pressure and all part of some vast conspiracy to inconvenience him. I finally gave up and closed the site. It's impossible for a normal person's hobby to keep up with an OCD sufferer or fastidious weenie when they get going. At least this person keeps it on their own blog.
posted by milovoo at 12:35 PM on September 6, 2007
I used to run a community site for people living at a building in the Navy Yards. I trying to make a place for concert announcements, want ads, get-togethers and that kind of information, but there was one guy who posted several times every day with every snitty little event that annoyed him and it just took over the site. It was the same thing, photos of mysterious stains, gum wrappers, cigarette butts, complaints about the elevator or the water pressure and all part of some vast conspiracy to inconvenience him. I finally gave up and closed the site. It's impossible for a normal person's hobby to keep up with an OCD sufferer or fastidious weenie when they get going. At least this person keeps it on their own blog.
posted by milovoo at 12:35 PM on September 6, 2007
So let me get this straight. People living in cities on the East Coast put up with PUDDLES OF FUCKING URINE IN THEIR HOMES, and snark on people who bitch about it? How is a lobby filled with piss and dog shit acceptable on any level?
I can see why it would sound like that's what people are saying here, but let me put it in a way that's friendlier to people who have never lived or worked in new york.
Lots of people live in places like that in new york because they can't afford not to. The people who own those buildings are called slumlords, and they take advantage of the poor and disenfranchised who live there because they know that those people don't have any clout with the authorities that would get them in trouble. Now, when some college educated suburbanite sheltered white boy and his girlfriend (much like myself and my ex-girlfriend when I lived in bk, mind you) move into the neighborhood and start complaining about the living conditions and saying things like "how do you people LIVE this way?!" it's like marie antoinette saying "let them eat cake." It's even more egregious when he doesn't do a damn thing to clean the place up and just bitches on his blog when his neighbors in all likelihood can't afford internet. He's paying nothing to live a short subway ride from manhattan, and what to him would have been "a great deal" to the majority of his neighbors is "the best I can get," except that where he feels cheated they had no such illusions. So yeah, the sympathy meter's hitting awfully low. Doesn't mean the living conditions are great, but when you've lived in neighborhoods because they were affordable, and then had people criticise them as being cheap and filthy you get a little sensitive to this kind of thing. It's understandable if you can't understand the attitude, but there is more to it than just "oh whatever, it's just piss."
posted by shmegegge at 12:42 PM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
I can see why it would sound like that's what people are saying here, but let me put it in a way that's friendlier to people who have never lived or worked in new york.
Lots of people live in places like that in new york because they can't afford not to. The people who own those buildings are called slumlords, and they take advantage of the poor and disenfranchised who live there because they know that those people don't have any clout with the authorities that would get them in trouble. Now, when some college educated suburbanite sheltered white boy and his girlfriend (much like myself and my ex-girlfriend when I lived in bk, mind you) move into the neighborhood and start complaining about the living conditions and saying things like "how do you people LIVE this way?!" it's like marie antoinette saying "let them eat cake." It's even more egregious when he doesn't do a damn thing to clean the place up and just bitches on his blog when his neighbors in all likelihood can't afford internet. He's paying nothing to live a short subway ride from manhattan, and what to him would have been "a great deal" to the majority of his neighbors is "the best I can get," except that where he feels cheated they had no such illusions. So yeah, the sympathy meter's hitting awfully low. Doesn't mean the living conditions are great, but when you've lived in neighborhoods because they were affordable, and then had people criticise them as being cheap and filthy you get a little sensitive to this kind of thing. It's understandable if you can't understand the attitude, but there is more to it than just "oh whatever, it's just piss."
posted by shmegegge at 12:42 PM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
...they know that those people don't have any clout with the authorities that would get them in trouble.
See, this is the problem. Why don't those people have any clout with the authorities, or maybe the question should be why do they need to have clout?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 1:14 PM on September 6, 2007
See, this is the problem. Why don't those people have any clout with the authorities, or maybe the question should be why do they need to have clout?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 1:14 PM on September 6, 2007
He's paying nothing to live a short subway ride from manhattan,
That's not a short subway ride.
Lorimer Street in Williamsburg is a short subway ride.
That area by the park is a medium-to-long subway ride.
posted by jason's_planet at 1:18 PM on September 6, 2007
That's not a short subway ride.
Lorimer Street in Williamsburg is a short subway ride.
That area by the park is a medium-to-long subway ride.
posted by jason's_planet at 1:18 PM on September 6, 2007
Lorimer Street in Williamsburg is a short subway ride.
Pfft. I'll take the Q over the L any day of the week.
posted by nasreddin at 1:21 PM on September 6, 2007
Pfft. I'll take the Q over the L any day of the week.
posted by nasreddin at 1:21 PM on September 6, 2007
Lots of people live in places like that in new york because they can't afford not to. The people who own those buildings are called slumlords, and they take advantage of the poor and disenfranchised who live there
So is it the landlord who is urinating and leaving dog crap and garbage all over the lobby?
posted by sevenyearlurk at 1:40 PM on September 6, 2007
So is it the landlord who is urinating and leaving dog crap and garbage all over the lobby?
posted by sevenyearlurk at 1:40 PM on September 6, 2007
Dear god, it's a decaying nacho!!
posted by DieHipsterDie at 1:45 PM on September 6, 2007 [2 favorites]
posted by DieHipsterDie at 1:45 PM on September 6, 2007 [2 favorites]
So is it the landlord who is urinating and leaving dog crap and garbage all over the lobby?
posted by sevenyearlurk at 4:40 PM on September 6 [+] [!]
Yes, that's what i was saying. You've cut right to the heart of the matter.
posted by shmegegge at 1:53 PM on September 6, 2007
posted by sevenyearlurk at 4:40 PM on September 6 [+] [!]
Yes, that's what i was saying. You've cut right to the heart of the matter.
posted by shmegegge at 1:53 PM on September 6, 2007
How is a lobby filled with piss and dog shit acceptable on any level?
That's the price you pay to live in the center of the known universe and have easy access to every type of ethnic food imaginable.
YOU LIVE IN THE GHETTO, BITCH. PUT UP WITH IT. YOU'RE PAYING $800 FOR A REASON.
Put up with it. Nice.
and the worst that happened this year was one person getting shot in the leg.
Well, if the worst thing that could happen to me at the parade is getting shot I'll have mark my calendar for next year.
I'm amazed at what people will put up with.
posted by MikeMc at 2:57 PM on September 6, 2007
That's the price you pay to live in the center of the known universe and have easy access to every type of ethnic food imaginable.
YOU LIVE IN THE GHETTO, BITCH. PUT UP WITH IT. YOU'RE PAYING $800 FOR A REASON.
Put up with it. Nice.
and the worst that happened this year was one person getting shot in the leg.
Well, if the worst thing that could happen to me at the parade is getting shot I'll have mark my calendar for next year.
I'm amazed at what people will put up with.
posted by MikeMc at 2:57 PM on September 6, 2007
I'm not very sympathetic to his plight. Fine the bum is creepy and the piss is gross, but that's about it. I can't believe that he's getting his knickers in a twist over drinks cans or the odd nacho. I sincerely hope that he's cleaning these things up, otherwise he's just a wanker. Actually he is a wanker anyway, but if he just bitches and doesn't do anything about it then he's a whiney wanker. And no one likes a whiney wanker
posted by ob at 3:37 PM on September 6, 2007
posted by ob at 3:37 PM on September 6, 2007
Well, if the worst thing that could happen to me at the parade is getting shot I'll have mark my calendar for next year.
You do realize that Milwaukee's violent crime rate is comparable to New York's, right?
posted by eddydamascene at 3:57 PM on September 6, 2007
You do realize that Milwaukee's violent crime rate is comparable to New York's, right?
posted by eddydamascene at 3:57 PM on September 6, 2007
So, the World Bank lists 60 countries as having high-income economies. Just for ducks, I went and grabbed the most recent population estimate of each from Wikipedia. Their total population is at least 1.012 billion (short-scale). Given that 10 Midwood looks to be kind of Second-World (I speak from experience), that means 1.012 billion is roughly the number of people whose standard of living is better than 10 Midwood's. That leaves about 5.6 billion whose standard of living is the same or worse. Of those 5.6 billion, 1.1 billion are living on $1 a day or less, and another 1.6 billion between $1 and $2.
Meanwhile, between network connection fees and waste of employable time, our whiny friend here is probably losing at least $2 a day just to complain about a dirty floor.
... For the record, I have also been in the "out-of-date, dirty, smelly bunker" of an abandoned turn-of-the-century coastal fortification, now an out-of-the-way state park. Let me tell you, 10 Midwood has nothing on its squalor.
posted by eritain at 4:21 PM on September 6, 2007
Meanwhile, between network connection fees and waste of employable time, our whiny friend here is probably losing at least $2 a day just to complain about a dirty floor.
... For the record, I have also been in the "out-of-date, dirty, smelly bunker" of an abandoned turn-of-the-century coastal fortification, now an out-of-the-way state park. Let me tell you, 10 Midwood has nothing on its squalor.
posted by eritain at 4:21 PM on September 6, 2007
YOU LIVE IN THE GHETTO, BITCH. PUT UP WITH IT. YOU'RE PAYING $800 FOR A REASON.
That's really funny, if you don't live in New York. Also amusing is hearing about the poor downtrodden masses in the slums of Brooklyn who are so destitute that $800/mo. is all they can scrape together for rent.
Disclaimer: I lived in New York once and I'd live there again in a heartbeat IF I EVER WIN THE FREAKING LOTTERY AND CAN AFFORD WHAT YOU PEOPLE PAY IN RENT. Of course it's fucking filthy; none of the people who go about cleaning things for a living can afford to live there anymore. Though the tolerable Chinese takeout was cheaper than anywhere else I've lived. Maybe I could work nights and sleep in fits and starts on the ferry.
posted by enn at 9:32 PM on September 6, 2007
That's really funny, if you don't live in New York. Also amusing is hearing about the poor downtrodden masses in the slums of Brooklyn who are so destitute that $800/mo. is all they can scrape together for rent.
Disclaimer: I lived in New York once and I'd live there again in a heartbeat IF I EVER WIN THE FREAKING LOTTERY AND CAN AFFORD WHAT YOU PEOPLE PAY IN RENT. Of course it's fucking filthy; none of the people who go about cleaning things for a living can afford to live there anymore. Though the tolerable Chinese takeout was cheaper than anywhere else I've lived. Maybe I could work nights and sleep in fits and starts on the ferry.
posted by enn at 9:32 PM on September 6, 2007
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posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:31 AM on September 6, 2007